Kēne

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Kēne is a Rust/Bevy desktop visual-novel engine with a separate native editor. Eiyashou (.shou) is its native authoring format. WebGAL scripts and LetsGal Studio projects are supported through compatibility loaders; WebGAL support is maintained, not being expanded toward full parity.

Open the editor

Install Rust 1.97.1, then run from the repository root:

cargo editor projects/test-project

cargo editor opens an empty workbench; one or more project paths open project windows. The editor can browse and edit native Eiyashou projects. In those projects, config.yaml, configured manifests, and scripts/**/*.shou are writable; compatibility projects and other documents are read-only. Until the new demo is ready, the local projects/test-project path points to the LetsGal Studio source at projects/letsgal. The commercial example content is not tracked; in a fresh checkout, supply another project path. This compatibility project is read-only in the Editor.

Preview needs a compatible, prebuilt Engine executable. For a source checkout, build it once before pressing Start in Preview:

cargo build -p keine --bin keine
cargo editor projects/test-project

The two development binaries then sit together in target/debug/. The editor also accepts KEINE_ENGINE=/path/to/keine if the Engine is elsewhere. Editor and Engine must use the same authoring protocol; mismatched builds fail the handshake. The standalone macOS packaging instructions are in T24.

cargo dev editor is not an editor command. cargo dev <project> runs a game project. Use cargo editor <project> for the authoring UI.

Run the example

cargo validate projects/test-project
cargo dev projects/test-project

cargo dev enables hot reload and both native and FFmpeg video features, so it needs the relevant development libraries. If FFmpeg is unavailable, run without its video features:

cargo run --features hot-reload -- dev projects/test-project

For a formal release, convert project media to canonical WebP and Ogg Opus before running cargo bundle <project>. The local LetsGal project is a temporary development example. cargo bundle writes a complete desktop release to target/bundle/ by default:

target/bundle/
├── keine[.exe]
├── game.haku
└── data/
    └── <content-id>.taku

Distribute the whole directory. With no project argument, the release executable finds the sibling game.haku; it does not need to be launched from that directory. Production image assets must be WebP and standalone audio must be Ogg Opus. Other supported development inputs do not silently enter a shipping build. The first operation requiring a publisher identity creates .keine/publisher.hakutaku-key; back it up and never distribute or commit it. See Project CI for formal releases.

Commands

These cargo commands are repository aliases from .cargo/config.toml:

Command	What it does
cargo editor [project ...]	Open the editor; Preview uses a separate Engine
cargo validate <project>	Check a project without opening a window
cargo dev <project> [--sync]	Run with hot reload; --sync follows an open LetsGal project
cargo bundle <project> [--output <dir>]	Build the complete game release
cargo pack <project> [--output <dir>]	Build only Hakutaku resources, without the Engine
cargo migrate <source> <target>	Convert supported compatibility content into a new Eiyashou project
cargo remap <project> <old=new>... [-y]	Update references after separately converting assets
cargo perf <project> [options]	Measure runtime frames or startup (--startup)

cargo migrate reads its source without rewriting it and refuses a conversion that cannot preserve the source semantics. cargo remap changes references, not media files. cargo bundle <project> --benchmark builds a separate benchmark package. Run cargo <command> --help for command-specific options.

The installed keine executable exposes only commands compiled into that build; publisher and hot-reload commands are not part of the normal game release. The editor is a separate executable, not a keine subcommand.

Projects

Input	Root entry	Authoring status
Native Eiyashou	config.yaml and .shou scripts	Editable in the editor
WebGAL directory	config.yaml	Compatibility input; read-only in the editor
LetsGal Studio	project.json	Compatibility input; read-only in the editor
Hakutaku package	game.haku with data/	Packaged runtime input

Game saves, settings, and profiles live in the platform user-data directory identified by the project's stable ID, not beside a read-only release. Supported project formats are detected from project content and configuration; the old machine-wide engine.conf adapter/video switches are not used.

On macOS, dev/scripts/bundle-macos.sh <project> <app-name> <bundle-id> creates a game .app. Native projects require a reverse-DNS bundle ID in argument 3; LetsGal projects can derive it from project.json.id. This is separate from the standalone Editor/Engine application pair.

Game controls

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+A / Ctrl+K	Auto / Skip
Ctrl+B / Ctrl+R	Backlog / replay voice
Ctrl+H	Hide or restore the textbox
Ctrl+Q / Ctrl+L	Quick save / quick load
Ctrl+S / Ctrl+O	Save / load
Ctrl+, / Ctrl+T	Settings / title
Hold Ctrl	Fast-forward
Esc	Close or go back

These are game shortcuts; the editor has its own editing shortcuts.

Develop Kēne

cargo fmt --all --check
cargo check --workspace
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets
cargo test --workspace
cargo validate tests/fixtures/native-smoke

crates/core/ owns the Bevy-free model and execution; crates/loader/ owns project and format adapters; crates/authoring/ owns the Editor–Engine protocol; crates/editor/ owns the workbench. The root src/ owns the Bevy runtime, scene, UI, media, and storage. Project state and acceptance limits are tracked in docs/PROJECT_STATE.md.

Further reading: project structure, resource limits, content loading, saves, Hakutaku packaging, and WebGAL compatibility.