# Red Eclipse is a 2010s arena shooter still being maintained, with a cooperative map editor > The redeclipse/base repository holds the source for Red Eclipse, an open source arena shooter built on SDL and OpenGL with parkour mechanics and a built-in Tesseract-powered editor that supports cooperative online map making. It suits a player who wants a free arena shooter without microtransactions, and it is a game that has been in development for two decades rather than a finished product. **redeclipse/base** — Base environment for Red Eclipse and associated source files. - Repository: https://github.com/redeclipse/base - Website: https://redeclipse.net/ - Stars: 541 · Forks: 120 - Language: C++ - License: not declared - Published: 2026-10-22 · Updated: 2026-10-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/redeclipse-base ## An arena shooter with the movement as the point Red Eclipse is described as an old-school arena shooter for the modern age, building on decades of hardcore action from Doom through Quake, Halo, Team Fortress and Mirror's Edge. The one-line pitch is to run, gun and parkour your way to the next frag. Parkour is the distinguishing feature rather than a mode. The feature list names wall running, boosts, dashing and other tricks as gameplay elements rather than extras, which means the movement is how the game is played rather than a flourish. That is the same lineage as Mirror's Edge, and it is the reason the game appeals to players who find a standard arena shooter too flat. The other headline features are a set of popular gamemodes with an array of mutators and variables, so the same map can produce very different matches, and a built-in editor that the README describes as capable of creating release-quality maps cooperatively online. The project is free and open source software with no microtransactions or other payments necessary, and it is available for Windows and GNU/Linux. The primary language of the repository is C++, and the project describes itself as being built using SDL and OpenGL, which the README gives as the reason it can be ported to many platforms. ## The Tesseract engine and what the editor actually does The README's address to creators is the part that goes beyond being a shooter, and it is worth quoting in substance. For creators, the full power of a highly expanded Tesseract engine is at your fingertips in the included realtime easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, which is capable of creating maps both offline and online with other people in cooperative edit mode. Two things stand out. The editor is realtime and WYSIWYG, so you see the map as you build it rather than compiling and loading, and it is a cooperative mode rather than a hosted multiplayer lobby with shared cursors, which is a rarer feature in a game editor. For the game side, the mutators and variables system is the equivalent of an extensible rules layer. A map plus a mutator set plus variable values produces the match, and the fact that both are named as separate concepts suggests the community is expected to author their own. The source tree backs this up. The repository root holds src/ for the engine and game code, data/ for the game content, config/ for configuration, doc/ for documentation, and bin/ for binaries. There are launch scripts at the root: redeclipse.sh and redeclipse.bat for the game, and redeclipse_server.bat and redeclipse_server.sh for the server, which is the dedicated server build. A .gitmodules file is present, so parts of the tree are submodules, which usually means a vendored third-party library rather than project code. ## Where to get it, and the two ways to run it The README is explicit about distribution, and the arrangement is unusual enough to note. This game is primarily distributed via Steam. For the most bleeding-edge version of the game, or for those who are unable to get a Steam account, it is possible to compile the game from source, following the Install Guide. So there are three routes. A Steam copy, which is where most players will be. A downloadable package for Windows and GNU/Linux, linked from redeclipse.net/download. And a source build for the bleeding edge or for people without a Steam account. The reason the source build is offered separately is worth stating plainly: this is a free and open source game, and requiring a Steam account to obtain it would put a gate in front of something anyone is entitled to build. The same logic appears in the community channels, with a Discord server and forums where you can talk directly to the developers, contributors and supporters. The install instructions themselves are not in the README. The Install Guide at redeclipse.net/docs/Install-Guide is where the build steps live, and the README links it as the thing to follow. There is no one-line build command given here, so if you are compiling from source, that page is the actual documentation and the repository is the input to it. The homepage is redeclipse.net, and the README points to a download page and a development repository section of the same site. ## Two decades of development, and the release tags show it The release history explains a lot about where the project is. The listed releases are v2.0.0, the Jupiter Edition, from 2019-12-19; v1.6.0, the Sunset Edition, from 2017-12-21; and v1.5.8, the Elysium Edition Patch 2, from 2017-01-17. So the newest tagged release is from the end of 2019, while the last push to the repository was on 2026-10-18, and the repository is not archived. The development branch is where the current work happens, and the releases are editions rather than patch numbers, which matches a project with a long, irregular history rather than a continuous release train. That gap between the newest tag and the most recent commit is the key fact for anyone evaluating this as a base for anything. The project is alive and being pushed to, and the shipping artefacts on the website and on Steam are considerably older than the source in front of you. For a game that means the difference between playing the last edition and playing a build from the development branch, which is where new content and fixes land. The README's own phrase for that branch is the bleeding edge version, and it recommends a development copy for people who want it. The homepage is redeclipse.net and the project is described as free and open source by the people for the people, with contributors who are regular people who volunteer their time or donate in the spirit of the project. ## The credits block, and what the project says about itself The README ends with an ASCII-art credits table, and reading it is the clearest picture of the project you will get. The active developers section names seven people: Quinton Reeves, Lee Salzman, Slawomir Blauciak, Ricky Thomson, Ludwig Boscolo, Viktor Hahn, Paranoid Individual, Lovable Fox, Drachen Computer and Renato Pagge, each with their handle. The contributors past and present section is far longer, with names paired with handles in the same format, including Christopher Dratz, Dale Weiler, Jeff Cope, Jonathan De Nil, Kevin Meyer, Petar Kolesnikov, Sam Gentle and many others. A table of that size is the honest signature of a volunteer project with a long memory. This is not a studio with a rotating contract roster; it is a project where the same people have been shipping a game for a very long time. The README's self-description is consistent with that. In a true open source by the people for the people nature, the project says it tries to work closely with the gaming and open source communities to provide a better overall experience, aiming to create a game environment that is fun and easy to play while still having elements to master. Those last four words are the design brief, and they are a useful filter for expectations: an easy to play arena shooter with depth to master, not a competitive esports title. The topics on the repository are game, game-engine, hacktoberfest, main-project and source-code, so the repository is explicitly positioned as the main project rather than a plugin or a tool. ## Where Red Eclipse is the wrong choice Three situations argue against it. The first is if you want a finished, polished product with modern netcode and a maintained release cadence. The newest tagged release is from 2019, the development branch is where the current work is, and the README itself frames the Steam build and the downloadable package as separate from the bleeding edge source. A game that has been in development since the 2000s and is still called old-school for the modern age is not going to feel like a 2026 release. The second is platforms other than Windows and GNU/Linux. The README lists those two as the available platforms, and although the SDL and OpenGL foundation is cited as the reason it can be ported to many platforms, a port is a port. If you are on macOS or on a console, you are outside the supported set. The third is if you want to extend the game rather than play or map it. This is a game, not an engine you build on, and the extension surface is the gamemode and mutator system plus the Tesseract editor, not an API you call. The alternative in the same direction is one of the commercially maintained arena shooters, which will give you matchmaking, anti-cheat, a content pipeline and server uptime that a volunteer project cannot match. The difference in approach is what you are buying: Red Eclipse gives you movement mechanics that feel good, a map editor with cooperative editing built in, and no payment of any kind, while the commercial route gives you polish, opponents at your skill level and infrastructure. If your reason for playing an arena shooter is how the movement feels, the free route is the better value. If your reason is winning matches against other people, it is not. ## Conclusion Red Eclipse fits a player who wants a free arena shooter with movement mechanics more advanced than a plain movement shooter and who is willing to build from source rather than rely on a store package, or a mapper who wants a real editor with cooperative editing built in. It does not fit anyone expecting a polished modern release, since the newest listed tag is v2.0.0 from 2019 while the last push to the repository was on 2026-10-18. Grab the Windows or GNU/Linux package from redeclipse.net/download to play, and read the Install Guide before compiling, since the build follows the Install Guide rather than a one-line command. ## FAQ ### What is Red Eclipse? Red Eclipse is a free and open source arena shooter for the modern age, built on decades of action shooters from Doom through Quake, Halo, Team Fortress and Mirror's Edge. It features parkour gameplay with wall running, boosts and dashing, gamemodes with mutators and variables, and a built-in editor for making maps cooperatively online. ### How do I get Red Eclipse? The game is primarily distributed via Steam, and packages for Windows and GNU/Linux are available from redeclipse.net/download. For the bleeding edge version, or if you cannot get a Steam account, you can compile from source following the Install Guide linked from the README. There are no microtransactions or other payments. ### What engine does Red Eclipse use? The game is built using SDL and OpenGL, which the README gives as the reason it can be ported to many platforms, and it uses the Tesseract engine, a highly expanded engine whose full power is exposed through the included realtime WYSIWYG editor. ### Is Red Eclipse still being developed? The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-18, while the newest listed release is v2.0.0, the Jupiter Edition, from 2019-12-19. The README offers a development copy from the Git repository for the most bleeding-edge version. ### Can Red Eclipse maps be edited cooperatively online? Yes. The built-in editor is realtime and WYSIWYG, and the README says it is capable of creating maps both offline and online with other people in cooperative edit mode, for release-quality maps. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/redeclipse/base/issues) - [Project website](https://redeclipse.net/) - [README](https://github.com/redeclipse/base/blob/master/README.md) - [redeclipse/base on GitHub](https://github.com/redeclipse/base) - [Releases](https://github.com/redeclipse/base/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/redeclipse-base