NostrGame ENGINE

A game engine and framework for building games and applications integrated with the Nostr ecosystem

Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays

Crossplatform

Linux Windows Android Browser MacOS iOS OpenXR
Native performance on Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android and Web Browsers, with planned support for iOS, PCVR and AndroidVR.

Decentralized

p2p networking privacy ads Interoperable
True peer-to-peer networking eliminates server costs, while optional privacy-first monetization and platform-agnostic profiles give developers and players full control.

Nostr inside

Social Matchmaking nostr drm nostr auth
Built-in Nostr integration provides serverless social features, decentralized matchmaking, and secure content distribution without central authority or gatekeepers.

Bitcoin

Microtransactions In-Game wallet
Bitcoin Lightning integration for microtransactions, in-game purchases, and player-to-player commerce with minimal fees and instant settlement.

RoadMap

Nostr Game Engine develops in milestones, each adding new capabilities.
Some features roll out earlier than their milestone, especially those needed for demos or experiments, check the roadmap for highlighted items to see which features are already available.

FOUNDATION

The project starts as a series of modules for the battle-tested jMonkeyEngine.
A JVM-based high-performance, royalty-free, open-source modular game engine.

A high-performance Nostr client designed for real-time applications is developed and integrated into the engine.
nostr4j standalone library
Player authentication via Nostr local and remote signers.
nge-auth engine module
The network stack module is replaced with high-throughput, serverless, encrypted P2P using RTC over Nostr signaling, enabling easy development of decentralized games and apps.
nge-networking engine module
Simple GUI module for 2D user interfaces and HUDs.
nge-ui engine module

v0.0.x NGE

This is the first pre-release of Nostr Game Engine (NGE), which includes the P2P networking and essential Nostr functionalities, including player authentication and profile, event signing, and relay subscription.

The P2P network stack enables direct player-to-player connections, using Nostr solely as a coordinator, while actual traffic is P2P.

Experienced devs can already build on top of this to create decentralized games and apps for:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • MacOS

Using JVM-based languages.

This release is accompanied by a tech demo showcasing the engine’s P2P networking capabilities, which can be found at github.com/NostrGameEngine/sea-of-nostriches-demo

A privacy-preserving ads framework is built on top of Nostr.
nostrads standalone library
The ad framework is integrated into the engine for in-game, immersive advertising.
nge-ads engine module
Context-aware advertising support is achieved by enabling developers to create metadata areas within the virtual world of their games.

v0.1.x In-Game Ads

This release brings many bug fixes and improvements, but the main feature is in-game advertising powered by the nostrads protocol, designed to bring ads to Nostr in a privacy-friendly and permissionless way.

This release is accompanied by a tech demo showcasing the ad system in action github.com/NostrGameEngine/adcity-demo

Android support.
nge-android engine module
WebGL2-based renderer and browser support.
nge-web engine module

v0.2.x

At this stage, the engine has been fully ported to TeaVM and Android.
Games and apps built with Nostr Game Engine can now be deployed to:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Android
  • MacOS
  • Web Browsers
The template application is updated to support the new build targets. All the previous demos are ported over to the new template and built for the web platform.

Second Phase

The second phase of development begins

Gamer profile over Nostr
Achievements over Nostr
NIP-58
Matchmaking over Nostr
Player‑to‑player text chat over Nostr
NIP-17
Proximity and area text chat over Nostr
NIP-28
Improve component system with spatial components

v0.3.x Social

The engine provides modules and abstractions to implement social features in games.

Educational Interlude

Enough features are in place to start building games and apps.
We'll pause new feature development to focus on education and outreach, creating tutorials and videos that showcase the engine and help new developers get started.

A unified input system is built to support a wide range of input devices from a single abstraction.
An OpenXR backend is built into the engine.
PC VR support: apps can be displayed in VR headsets connected to a PC.
Android XR support: apps can be displayed in standalone VR headsets that use Android and OpenXR.
Interoperable game objects: NIPs define a common format for game objects that can be shared across games and experiences, allowing players to carry their items and inventory with them.

v0.4.x Nostrverse

Developers can build immersive XR experiences and traditional games that can interact through a common set of interoperable NIPs.

NWC capabilities are added to nostr4j.
In‑game NWC Bitcoin wallet.
In‑game node‑less Bitcoin wallet.
Bitcoin microtransactions.

v0.5.x Payments

The engine provides capabilities to implement microtransactions and in‑game payments using Bitcoin.

Google ANGLE‑based rendering backend that unifies all platforms under an OpenGL ES 3.0 core feature set.
iOS release support built on top of the Google ANGLE Metal backend.

v0.6.x ANGLE

The engine supports a new render backend based on Google ANGLE, translating OpenGL calls to the best underlying graphics API per platform.

iOS is added as a new build target, allowing developers to reach a wider audience.

Programmable pipelines.
started at riccardobl/jmonkeyengine
Improve rendering parity with Blender and global illumination.
Tiled deferred rendering.
Improved post‑processing stack.
Internals overhaul and cleanup.

v0.7.x Overhaul

Full backward compatibility with jMonkeyEngine is dropped as the engine shifts toward a more modern architecture with programmable pipelines at its core, giving developers full control over the execution flow.

The primary rendering technique is switched to tile‑based deferred rendering to improve performance with complex lighting and high‑resolution (4K+) rendering.

The engine internals are cleaned up and refactored; deprecated features are removed and the codebase is prepared for upcoming releases.

Nostr‑based DRM.
Web deploy to Nostr and Blossom.
nostrdeploy
Nostr‑based release management.
based on NIP-51 sets and NIP-94

v0.8.x Distributed Distribution

Games built with the engine can be distributed fully P2P over Nostr markets and licenses are managed by a Nostr‑based digital rights management system.

2D world building module.
3D voxel engine module.
World paging module.
World persistence over Nostr.

v0.9.x Worlds

The engine is extended to support massive voxel‑based worlds with optional Nostr persistence (on supported relays).

This enables developers to implement modern gameplay mechanics without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Final revision of gaming related NIPs for interoperability.
Frame generation and super‑resolution.
Final touches.

v1.0.x NGE!

First stable release of the engine.

v2.x.x TBD

  • Voice chat with RTC Nostr signaling
  • Proximity voice chat with RTC Nostr signaling
  • Augmented Reality support
  • AI capabilities added to assist with content generation and player interaction
This project is still in early development, and many features are not yet implemented This page contains some AI generated imagery as placeholders, as the roadmap progresses they will be replaced with actual engine screenshots and videos.