Kitten Space Agency, a spaceflight simulator by Dean Hall's studio RocketWerkz, was built using the framework.
BRUTAL Framework
BRUTAL: A Free Open-Source Game Development Framework
Dean Hall, creator of the survival game DayZ, released BRUTAL as an open-source framework that can be used freely for commercial projects with proper attribution. The framework has been in development for four years and represents Hall’s response to developers’ growing dependence on Unity and Unreal.
Key Features
Core Design: Custom interop layer providing C# access to native APIs and libraries
Supported Libraries: Mathematics, memory management, strings, job scheduling, logging, localization
Platform Support: Windows and Linux
Tech Stack: Latest C# and Vulkan
Real-World Usage
RocketWerkz (Hall’s studio): Used for Kitten Space Agency, a spaceflight simulator
Ludeon: Foundation for Waylith engine used in the strategy sim RimWorld
Philosophy
Hall emphasizes that BRUTAL is a framework, not an engine—allowing developers to use it directly or as the foundation for a custom engine. He argues that developer independence relies on tool independence, though acknowledges that Unity and Unreal remain the right choice for many projects.