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Overview

Every Talon game follows a standard game loop pattern. This pattern initializes the window, runs the main game loop, and cleans up resources when done.

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Basic Game Loop Structure

Here’s the fundamental structure of a Talon game: 
import "raylib" for Color, Raylib

// 1. Initialize the window
Raylib.initWindow(800, 600, "My Game")
Raylib.setTargetFPS(60)

// 2. Main game loop
while (!Raylib.windowShouldClose()) {
  // Update game state here
  
  // Render
  Raylib.beginDrawing()
  Raylib.clearBackground(Color.RayWhite)
  
  // Draw your game here
  Raylib.drawText("Hello, Talon!", 20, 20, 40, Color.Black)
  
  Raylib.endDrawing()
}

// 3. Clean up
Raylib.closeWindow()

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The Three Phases

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1. Initialization

Set up your window and configure game settings: 
var screenWidth = 1000
var screenHeight = 1000

Raylib.initWindow(screenWidth, screenHeight, "raylib [core] example - basic screen manager")
Raylib.setTargetFPS(60)

// Initialize game state
var currentScreen = GameScreen.Logo
var framesCounter = 0

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2. Main Loop

The main loop runs continuously until the window is closed: 
while (!Raylib.windowShouldClose()) {
  // Update Phase
  // - Process input
  // - Update game logic
  // - Handle collisions
  
  // Render Phase
  Raylib.beginDrawing()
  Raylib.clearBackground(Color.RayWhite)
  
  // All drawing calls go here
  
  Raylib.endDrawing()
}
All drawing calls must be between beginDrawing() and endDrawing(). Drawing outside this block will cause errors.

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3. Cleanup

Always clean up resources when your game exits: 
Raylib.closeWindow()

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Complete Example with Game State

Here’s a more complete example from the Talon examples: 
import "raylib" for Color, Raylib, KeyCode

var screenWidth = 1000 
var screenHeight = 1000

Raylib.initWindow(screenWidth, screenHeight, "raylib [core] example - basic screen manager")

var currentScreen = GameScreen.Logo
var framesCounter = 0

Raylib.setTargetFPS(60)

while (!Raylib.windowShouldClose()) {
  // Update
  if (currentScreen == GameScreen.Logo) {
    framesCounter = framesCounter + 1
    if (framesCounter > 120) {
      currentScreen = GameScreen.Title
    }
  }

  if (currentScreen == GameScreen.Title) {
    if (Raylib.isKeyPressed(KeyCode.KEY_ENTER)) {
      currentScreen = GameScreen.GamePlay
    }
  }

  // Draw
  Raylib.beginDrawing()
  Raylib.clearBackground(Color.RayWhite)

  if (currentScreen == GameScreen.Logo) {
    Raylib.drawText("LOGO SCREEN", 20, 20, 60, Color.Yellow)
    Raylib.drawText("Wait for 3 seconds...", 290, 220, 20, Color.Gray)
  }

  if (currentScreen == GameScreen.Title) {
    Raylib.drawRectangle(0, 0, screenWidth, screenHeight, Color.Green)
    Raylib.drawText("TITLE SCREEN", 20, 20, 40, Color.Blue)
    Raylib.drawText("PRESS ENTER to JUMP to GAMEPLAY SCREEN", 120, 220, 20, Color.DarkGreen)
  }

  Raylib.endDrawing()
}

Raylib.closeWindow()

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Advanced Pattern: Separate Update and Draw

For larger games, it’s common to separate update and draw logic into a Game class: 
import "raylib" for Color, Raylib
import "./game" for Game

var width = 600
var height = 800

Raylib.initWindow(width, height, "My Game")
Raylib.setTargetFPS(60)

var game = Game.new()

while (!Raylib.windowShouldClose()) {
  // Update phase
  game.update()

  // Draw phase
  Raylib.beginDrawing()
  Raylib.clearBackground(Color.new(20, 20, 20, 255))
  game.draw()
  Raylib.endDrawing()
}

Raylib.closeWindow()
This pattern keeps your main loop clean and delegates game logic to separate modules. See the Project Structure guide for more details.

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Hot Reload Mode

When running with the --hot flag, you need to check for stop signals: 
import "builtin" for Build

while (!Raylib.windowShouldClose() && !Build.shouldStop()) {
  // Your game loop
}

Hot Reload

Learn more about hot reload mode for faster development

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Delta Time

For smooth, frame-rate independent movement, use delta time: 
var dt = Raylib.getFrameTime()

// Update positions using delta time
_ball.rec.x = _ball.rec.x + _ball.vel.x * dt
_ball.rec.y = _ball.rec.y + _ball.vel.y * dt

_paddle.rec.x = _paddle.rec.x - PADDLE_SPEED * dt
Multiplying movement by delta time ensures consistent speed regardless of frame rate.

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Next Steps

Wren Language

Learn more about Wren syntax and features

Hot Reload

Enable hot reload for faster iteration

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