Repolode
Submit
taisei-project

taisei-project/taisei

A free, open-source fan game set in the Touhou Project world: a top-down bullet-hell shooter written in C11 with SDL3 and OpenGL.

View on GitHubWebsite
Stars
1,668
Forks
139
Open issues
34
Last commit
2 days ago

What is it?

Taisei Project is a fan game set in the world of Touhou Project, a doujin series known for its ensemble cast and soundtracks. It is a top-down vertical-scrolling curtain fire shooter, a genre built around pattern recognition and practice. The game tells its own original story with its own music, art, and mechanics, so prior knowledge of Touhou is not required.

The project is written in C11 and uses SDL3 with an OpenGL renderer. It is officially supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and it also runs in WebGL-enabled browsers such as Firefox and Chromium-based browsers. Precompiled binaries are provided on the Releases page, and an experimental Nintendo Switch homebrew build exists.

Developers can build from source on POSIX-like systems with Meson, and replay, screenshot, and settings files are stored in a platform-specific directory that can be overridden with an environment variable.

Key features

  • 01Classic top-down bullet-hell gameplay with pattern-based dodging
  • 02Official builds for Windows, Linux, and macOS
  • 03Playable in WebGL-enabled browsers such as Firefox and Chromium
  • 04Written in C11 using SDL3 and an OpenGL renderer
  • 05Buildable from source with Meson

Use cases

  • Playing a free Touhou-style shmup without buying a commercial title
  • Studying a cross-platform C game codebase built on SDL3 and OpenGL
  • Trying the game in a browser without installing anything
  • Contributing to an open-source shooter project

Quick start

  1. 1

    Download precompiled binaries from the GitHub Releases page (Windows, Linux, macOS)

  2. 2

    Clone the source with submodules

    git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/taisei-project/taisei
  3. 3

    Set up and compile the build with Meson

    meson setup build/
  4. 4

    Compile and install the game

    meson compile -C build/

Things to know

  • Building from source is recommended only on POSIX-like systems; Windows source builds are not the primary path.
  • Source builds require several dependencies listed in the build documentation.

Topics

#game#shmup#danmaku#sdl#opengl#touhou#cross-platform#glsl

FAQ

What is taisei?
A free, open-source fan game set in the Touhou Project world: a top-down bullet-hell shooter written in C11 with SDL3 and OpenGL. Taisei Project is a fan game set in the world of Touhou Project, a doujin series known for its ensemble cast and soundtracks. It is a top-down vertical-scrolling curtain fire shooter, a genre built around pattern recognition and practice. The game tells its own original story with its own music, art, and mechanics, so prior knowledge of Touhou is not required.
Is taisei free to use? What license does it have?
taisei is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is taisei still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to taisei was on Nov 5, 2026.
What can I use taisei for?
Playing a free Touhou-style shmup without buying a commercial title Studying a cross-platform C game codebase built on SDL3 and OpenGL Trying the game in a browser without installing anything Contributing to an open-source shooter project
How do I install taisei?
Download precompiled binaries from the GitHub Releases page (Windows, Linux, macOS) Clone the source with submodules: git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/taisei-project/taisei Set up and compile the build with Meson: meson setup build/ Compile and install the game: meson compile -C build/
Where can I get taisei?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/taisei-project/taisei

Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.

Related projects