--- title: Dean Hall releases Brutal, a source-available C# game... description: Dean Hall, creator of DayZ, has released Brutal, a C# game development framework built by his companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz. Unlike Unity or Godot, Brutal is... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/dean-hall-releases-brutal-a-source-available-c-game-framework-oyhn32qga twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Dean Hall releases Brutal, a source-available C# game framework | daily.dev og:description: Dean Hall, creator of DayZ, has released Brutal, a C# game development framework built by his companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz. Unlike Unity or Godot, Brutal is... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/dean-hall-releases-brutal-a-source-available-c-game-framework-oyhn32qga og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/oyHn32qGa.png og:image:alt: Dean Hall releases Brutal, a source-available C# game framework og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Dean Hall releases Brutal, a source-available C# game framework **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 7 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Dean Hall, creator of DayZ, has released Brutal, a C# game development framework built by his companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz. Unlike Unity or Godot, Brutal is a low-level framework (not a full engine) giving raw access to Vulkan, unmanaged memory, and job scheduling, with no built-in renderer or editor, aimed at experienced programmers. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS via NuGet. The license is a modified MIT requiring attribution (credits mention, logo, notice.txt), making it source-available rather than fully open source, though a commercial license without attribution requirements is available. Six projects use it so far, most notably Kitten Space Agency and Ludeon Studios' Waylith engine for RimWorld, which reportedly delivers 2-4x performance gains after moving off Unity. Hall frames the release as a reaction against Unity and Unreal's lack of accountability, and warns that agentic AI workflows could deepen vendor lock-in for studios. ## Content Dean Hall, the creator of DayZ and founder of RocketWerkz, has released BRUTAL, a C# game development framework. It was built by his companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz and has been in development for four years. ## What it is BRUTAL is not a game engine. It's a lower-level framework with a custom interop layer that gives C# direct access to native APIs. It is built on Vulkan and focuses on keeping allocations and overhead low. Supporting libraries cover math, memory management, strings, job scheduling and unmanaged memory. There is no built-in renderer or editor. You build your own architecture on top of it, so it suits experienced programmers more than newcomers who want an all-in-one tool like Unity or Godot. It supports Windows and Linux, and macOS through NuGet packages. Documentation is still largely missing. ## License BRUTAL has no royalties. It uses a modified MIT license that requires attribution: a notice on the credits screen, the logo on display, and a notice.txt file. A separate commercial license can be bought to skip the attribution. Strictly speaking that makes it source-available rather than fully open source, though it is free to use commercially. ## Who already uses it Hall says six projects already run on BRUTAL. Two are named: - RocketWerkz's Kitten Space Agency - Ludeon Studios' new Waylith engine for RimWorld, built after the game moved off Unity. The port is reported to have brought 2-4x performance gains. ## Why Hall made it Hall presents BRUTAL as a response to over-reliance on Unity and Unreal. He argues that those vendors aren't accountable enough to the developers who depend on them. He also warns that agentic AI workflows could deepen vendor lock-in and make it easier to extract revenue from dependent studios. He stresses that Unity and Unreal are still valid choices for most developers. The pitch is clear enough. Whether many studios want to give up an editor and write their own architecture is a different question, and the missing documentation won't help. ## Questions this post answers ### What is Brutal, the new C# game framework from Dean Hall? Brutal is a source-available C# game development framework created by Dean Hall's companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz. It gives developers raw access to native APIs like Vulkan, unmanaged memory, and job scheduling through a custom interop layer, but has no built-in renderer or editor, meaning developers build their own architecture on top of it. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS via NuGet. _Developers evaluating low-level alternatives to Unity or Godot can follow Brutal's progress on daily.dev._ ### What license does Brutal use and is it actually open source? Brutal uses a modified MIT license that requires attribution, including a credits screen notice, display of the Brutal logo, and a notice.txt file, which makes it source-available rather than strictly open source. There are no royalties. Studios that prefer not to meet the attribution requirements can purchase a separate commercial license instead. _Studios weighing licensing trade-offs for game tech can track framework terms like these on daily.dev._ ### What performance gains did Ludeon Studios get from switching RimWorld's engine to Brutal? Ludeon Studios built Waylith, RimWorld's new engine, on Brutal after moving off Unity, and reports performance gains of 2-4x. Waylith is one of six known projects currently using the Brutal framework, alongside RocketWerkz's own Kitten Space Agency. _Teams considering an engine migration can follow real-world results like this one on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [DayZ creator says frameworks are the future of game dev](https://daily.dev/posts/dayz-creator-says-frameworks-are-the-future-of-game-dev-0okotbwwi) · Game Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How Rust LTD Built The Deep Firearm Simulation in Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 2](https://daily.dev/posts/how-rust-ltd-built-the-deep-firearm-simulation-in-hot-dogs-horseshoes-hand-grenades-2-0wsmnvgvg) · Unity · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#c#](https://daily.dev/tags/c#) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/dean-hall-releases-brutal-a-source-available-c-game-framework-oyhn32qga) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Dean Hall releases Brutal, a source-available C# game framework","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dean-hall-releases-brutal-a-source-available-c-game-framework-oyhn32qga","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/dean-hall-releases-brutal-a-source-available-c-game-framework-oyhn32qga"},"datePublished":"2026-10-15T14:55:48.669Z","dateModified":"2026-10-16T09:41:22.127Z","description":"Dean Hall, creator of DayZ, has released Brutal, a C# game development framework built by his companies Ahwoo and RocketWerkz. 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It gives developers raw access to native APIs like Vulkan, unmanaged memory, and job scheduling through a custom interop layer, but has no built-in renderer or editor, meaning developers build their own architecture on top of it. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS via NuGet. Developers evaluating low-level alternatives to Unity or Godot can follow Brutal's progress on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What license does Brutal use and is it actually open source?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Brutal uses a modified MIT license that requires attribution, including a credits screen notice, display of the Brutal logo, and a notice.txt file, which makes it source-available rather than strictly open source. There are no royalties. Studios that prefer not to meet the attribution requirements can purchase a separate commercial license instead. 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