A setup tool for libGDX Gradle projects.
📥 DOWNLOAD 📥
To generate a project, download the latest application
jar and run it (usually double-clicking will do), or run the following command manually (replacing the VERSION appropriately):
java -jar gdx-liftoff-VERSION.jarYou should use Java 17+ ! Android tools now require your installed JDK to be version 17 or higher. You can still target other releases, as low as 8 typically, while building with any of the JDK versions 17 and up. Java 21 works now, but when Java 22 is released (or if you are using an early access build), it won't work right away. That's just how Gradle is. When Gradle releases a version that expands JVM compatibility, we try to update quickly to that version.
If you have any trouble, you can try our new 🐛Troubleshooting Guide🐛.
In addition to most features of the original gdx-setup, the gdx-liffoff tool offers:
- Project templates. You can choose one of many project skeletons highlighting various libGDX features.
- Instant input validation. Your project data is validated as you type it in.
- Other JVM languages support. You can choose additional languages for your project, like Kotlin or Scala. Their standard libraries, Gradle plugins, and appropriate source folders will be included.
- Customization. You have more control over the versions of software used by your application.
- More third-party extensions. Their versions are fetched from Maven Central or JitPack, so your project is always generated up-to-date.
- Automatic configuration for tricky extensions. If you're having trouble setting up Artemis-ODB, Lombok, or several other libraries, Liftoff does some extra work, so you don't have to.
- Preferences support. Basic data of your application is saved, so you don't have to fill it each time you generate a project.
- Optional Gradle runner. You can optionally execute Gradle tasks after project generation. Gradle doesn't have to run for a project to be created.
- Supports all libGDX backends. Do you need the LWJGL2, LWJGL3, and/or Headless backends? Liftoff provides simple checkboxes to add any and all official platforms, plus some special other modules.
- Convenience features. If you have JetBrains Toolbox, you can open a just-generated project in IDEA with one click (it needs "Generate Shell Scripts" set in Toolbox). If you use Eclipse, you can still import Gradle projects normally.
- Up-to-date. This project prides itself on updating quickly after releases of major external components such as Gradle or libGDX itself.
- More backends are supported. The headless backend has been part of libGDX for a long time, but wasn't easily accessed in gdx-setup; it is a checkbox here. TeaVM, an increasingly-popular alternative to GWT for browser-based applications, is also here, and works with Kotlin and other JVM languages as well as it does with Java.
Gdx-Liftoff is a relatively straightforward GUI application; you enter a project name/package/path, you select options
on the tabs you want to change, and you click "Generate Project". After that you can open the project in the path you
specified, or open it more quickly in IDEA if it's installed how Liftoff can see it (using
JetBrains Toolbox, most likely). You can add official extensions such as
Box2D on the Extensions tab, or third-party extensions such as Artemis-ODB on the Third-Party tab. You can also
choose languages on the Languages tab, and starting templates on the Templates tab. If you want to use Kotlin, a Kotlin
template is recommended (such as Kotlin Logo).
Some things are structured differently in Liftoff projects, compared to gdx-setup projects. Where gdx-setup puts almost
all configuration in /build.gradle (in the project root), including for subprojects like android or html, Liftoff
puts only shared configuration in the root build.gradle, keeps all user-configurable version information in
/gradle.properties, and moves per-project configuration to /core/build.gradle, /android/build.gradle,
/html/build.gradle, etc. Liftoff also calls the project that depends on LWJGL3 lwjgl3, since you can also create a
project that depends on LWJGL2, and that's called lwjgl2. You might need to change references to the "desktop" module
(as gdx-setup calls LWJGL3) to lwjgl3, since that's the most likely desktop module you would be using.
If you're adding dependencies to build.gradle files, you will probably need to add them to /core/build.gradle rather
than /build.gradle in the root. Some dependencies may also need parts added to /lwjgl3/build.gradle,
/html/build.gradle, and so on. If a library says to add lines to the dependencies section, that almost always means
the block inside dependencies { }, but not inside buildscript { }. There are often two dependencies blocks, and
you generally want the last one. Templates selected in Liftoff handle this automatically.
For more details on how to use the application and how it works, see the usage guide. If you would like to contribute to the project, you might find the architecture document helpful.
When submitting a pull request, please format the application with the ktlintFormat Gradle task.
The project was forked from the czyzby/gdx-setup repository.
@czyzby and @kotcrab have created the original application,
as well as a set of libraries that it depends on (gdx-lml and VisUI respectively). Since then, the project is
maintained by @tommyettinger. Graciously, czyzby came back and made a wide variety of improvements, so big
thanks there! Thanks also to @metaphore, who now maintains gdx-lml (which this uses).
@raeleus created the Particle Park skin for scene2d.ui, which was adapted to be the default skin added to new projects (if the "Generate UI Assets" option is selected). "Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino and students of MA course of Visual design" has created the Titillium Web font that the skin uses (under SIL OFL license).
Other project contributors include @Mr00Anderson, @lyze237, @metaphore (again!), and @payne911. People who haven't directly contributed code have still helped a lot by spending their time to test on platforms like macOS and iOS; @JojoIce is one of several people who made a difference regarding iOS. And of course, many thanks go to all the early adopters for putting up with any partially-working releases early on!
The randomized icons chopped up and used for Android projects come from the OpenMoji project. If you want to use these icons in a less-mangled format, there's openmoji-atlas to access these emoji from libGDX conveniently.
Good luck, and we hope you make something great!
