Dead Jim

Dead Jim is an open-source TypeScript bridge/runtime for bringing SkelForm-authored 2D skeletal animation into Phaser 4.

Bones: "He's dead, Jim."

The reference pipeline is:

SkelForm authoring
      ↓
Dead Jim source adapter
      ↓
normalized skeletal runtime
      ↓
Phaser 4 renderer adapter

Why Dead Jim?

SkelForm provides a free and open-source 2D skeletal-animation authoring workflow. Phaser is a mature, MIT-licensed HTML5 game framework. Dead Jim bridges those worlds with a small, explicit TypeScript runtime layer rather than requiring a proprietary skeletal-animation runtime.

Dead Jim is an independent community project maintained by Curadh Creative / Wolris. It is not an official SkelForm or Phaser project.

Current status

Phase 1 complete / pre-release.

The completed Phase 1 runtime discriminator proves:

• SkelForm v0.7.2 source import through an isolated adapter;
• normalized bones, transforms, sprite attachments, and animation clips;
• renderer-independent pose evaluation;
• deterministic clip playback and looping;
• modular attachment/style swapping;
• deterministic two-pose blending;
• Phaser 4.2.1 rendering through an adapter;
• a public browser sandbox exercising the complete path.

The library distribution boundary is also validated: Dead Jim emits ESM JavaScript and TypeScript declarations, packs an intentional file set, and installs/imports successfully in a clean consumer smoke test.

Dead Jim is not published yet. The first public pre-release [email protected] is authorized and in release preparation; tagging and publication remain behind the final release-preparation merge boundary.

Advanced mesh deformation, IK, physics, state machines, multiple adapters, and a custom animation editor remain deliberately deferred until real runtime evidence requires them.

Repository structure

• assets/ — public project artwork and repository assets
• examples/phase1/ — self-contained browser sandbox for the Phase 1 runtime path
• docs/DESIGN_BIBLE.md — public product principles and scope
• docs/architecture/ — architecture decision records
• docs/roadmap/ — active execution lock, process, and backlog
• docs/THIRD_PARTY.md — upstream projects and license boundaries
• docs/RELEASE_POLICY.md — pre-release versioning and release-note policy
• CHANGELOG.md — canonical public release notes
• AGENTS.md — repository rules for AI-assisted development
• src/ — runtime implementation
• tests/ — deterministic runtime/import/renderer tests
• scripts/ — package/build validation helpers
• validate.cmd — Windows validation entrypoint

Phase 1 browser demo

From the repository root:

npm install
npm run demo:dev

PASS when the arm keeps animating, the blend slider changes the motion continuously, and the style button swaps cyan/magenta attachments without interrupting playback.

Library artifact validation

Build the emitted ESM library and declarations:

npm run build:lib

Validate the package boundary without publishing:

npm run package:check

That command builds the library, packs it locally, verifies the packed contents, installs the tarball into a clean temporary consumer, imports representative runtime APIs, and typechecks representative public types. It does not publish the package.

Validation

On Windows:

validate.cmd

Or directly with npm:

npm install
npm run validate

Full validation covers typechecking, 45 deterministic tests, the Phase 1 production demo build, and the package consumer smoke path.

Licensing

Dead Jim software and documentation are released under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

Important upstream boundaries:

• SkelForm editor — GPL-3.0; used as an external authoring tool and format target, not copied into Dead Jim.
• skelform-js — MIT; useful upstream/reference runtime for interoperability.
• Phaser — MIT; the first renderer target and a peer dependency for the Phaser adapter.

Project artwork and branding are not granted under the MIT software license. See assets/README.md.

See docs/THIRD_PARTY.md for upstream license details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.