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Core Concepts ​

Teaching an old robot new tricks!

2dog is Godot, backward! ​

Traditional Godot applications have Godot control the process lifecycle:

Godot Process
→ GodotSharp (.NET)
→ SceneTree → Scripts

2dog rolls over:

.NET Process 
→ twodog.Engine → Godot (as library) 
→ GodotSharp
→ SceneTree → Scripts

Your .NET process controls startup, frames, and shutdown. Godot becomes a rendering, physics, and audio library that your application drives.

libgodot ... ?! ​

2dog uses libgodot, a shared-library build of Godot Engine. It is loaded by a .NET process, supports direct P/Invoke calls to native APIs, and retains full access to GodotSharp managed bindings.

The native library (libgodot.dll, libgodot.so, or libgodot.dylib) ships in the 2dog.win-x64, 2dog.linux-x64, or 2dog.osx-arm64 NuGet package. 2dog.engine references the appropriate packages automatically.

Each platform package ships three native variants of libgodot: debug (assertions and error checking), release (optimized for production), and editor (TOOLS_ENABLED, editor APIs, resource import). Generated hosts map the Debug, Release, and Editor .NET configurations onto them with TwoDogVariant; Build Variants is the complete guide.

GodotSharp ... ! ​

After startup, the full GodotSharp API is accessible:

csharp
using var engine = new Engine("MyGame", args: args);
using var godot = engine.Start();

// Access the scene tree
SceneTree tree = engine.Tree;

// Load and instantiate scenes
var scene = GD.Load<PackedScene>("res://my_scene.tscn");
var instance = scene.Instantiate();
tree.Root.AddChild(instance);

// Use any Godot API
var viewport = tree.Root.GetViewport();
var physics = PhysicsServer3D.Singleton;

I have a Main Loop now? ​

Unlike traditional Godot, the host explicitly pumps Godot in its main loop:

csharp
while (!godot.Iteration())
{
    // Godot processes physics, rendering, input, and your frame logic here.
    if (someCondition)
        break; // Exit when you decide
}

Iteration() returns true when Godot wants to quit, such as when the window closes.

Single Instance only (for now.) ​

Only one Godot instance can run per assembly load context at a time. Sequential restart is supported. See Single Godot Instance for examples and an experimental isolated-hosting path to kind of get multiple engines after all.