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Prisma Engine targets Android using Vulkan 1.1+ as its rendering API and GameActivity as the native app entry point. The Android project lives under projects/android/PrismaAndroid/ and can be built either through Android Studio or via Gradle on the command line. Gradle automatically compiles GLSL shaders to SPIR-V during the build, so you never need to run glslc manually — drop .vert and .frag files into the assets directory and the plugin handles the rest.

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Requirements

  • Android NDK r25 or later — set ANDROID_NDK_HOME in your environment
  • Android Studio — for IDE-based builds and device deployment (optional for command-line builds)
  • Vulkan 1.3 support on the target device — most devices released after 2020 qualify
  • CMake 3.20 or later — bundled with Android Studio, or install separately
Vulkan 1.1 is the minimum required by the engine at runtime. Vulkan 1.3 is recommended for access to dynamic rendering and other features used by the forward and deferred pipelines.

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Project directory structure

The Android Studio project is self-contained under projects/android/PrismaAndroid/. 
projects/android/PrismaAndroid/
├── app/
│   ├── src/main/
│   │   ├── cpp/          # JNI glue code
│   │   ├── java/         # Android Activity (MainActivity.java)
│   │   ├── assets/       # Runtime assets (shaders, textures, fonts)
│   │   └── res/          # Android resources (icons, strings, etc.)
│   └── build.gradle.kts  # Gradle build config
└── ...
JNI glue code that connects the Android runtime to the engine lives in projects/android/PrismaAndroid/app/src/main/cpp/. The native entry point (android_main) is implemented in src/runtime/android/AndroidRuntime.cpp.

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Building with Gradle

Gradle is the recommended way to produce an APK. It invokes CMake internally for the native layer and handles asset bundling, shader compilation, and packaging in a single step.
1

Navigate to the Android project

cd projects/android/PrismaAndroid
2

Build a debug APK

./gradlew assembleDebug
3

Install to a connected device

./gradlew installDebug
To open the project in Android Studio, choose File → Open and select the projects/android/PrismaAndroid directory. Android Studio detects the Gradle project automatically.

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Building with CMake presets

You can build the native engine and runtime layers directly with CMake presets. All Android presets target arm64-v8a. 
# Debug
cmake --preset engine-android-arm64-debug
cmake --build --preset engine-android-arm64-debug

# Release
cmake --preset engine-android-arm64-release
cmake --build --preset engine-android-arm64-release
Set ANDROID_NDK_HOME before configuring if Gradle is not managing the NDK for you: 
export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=/path/to/ndk
cmake --preset engine-android-arm64-debug
cmake --build --preset engine-android-arm64-debug

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Automatic shader compilation

The Android Gradle plugin compiles GLSL shaders to SPIR-V automatically during the build. You do not need to run glslc or any shader compiler manually.
  • Source location: app/src/main/assets/shaders/**/*.vert, **/*.frag
  • Output location: build/intermediates/shader_assets/**/*.spv
  • APK inclusion: the compiled .spv files are bundled into the APK automatically
Place new shaders in app/src/main/assets/shaders/ and the plugin picks them up on the next Gradle build. Shared GLSL sources (used on both Linux and Android) live in resources/common/shaders/glsl/.

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Loading assets at runtime

On Android, all file I/O goes through the Android AssetManager — standard filesystem paths are not available for APK assets. The engine provides helpers in src/runtime/android/ShaderVulkan.* and src/runtime/android/TextureAsset.* that wrap AssetManager calls. 
// Load a compiled SPIR-V shader from the assets directory
auto vertShaderCode = ShaderVulkan::loadShader(
    assetManager, "shaders/skybox.vert.spv"
);

// Load a texture from the assets directory
auto texture = TextureAsset::loadAsset(
    assetManager, "textures/android_robot.png"
);
Place runtime assets in projects/android/PrismaAndroid/app/src/main/assets/. Textures, fonts, and other non-shader assets are placed there directly; shaders are compiled from assets/shaders/ at build time and their .spv outputs are included automatically.

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Audio

AAudio (Android’s native low-latency audio API) is planned but not yet implemented. The current audio backend on Android is SDL3, enabled via PRISMA_ENABLE_AUDIO_SDL3. The PRISMA_ENABLE_AUDIO_AAUDIO option will be introduced in a future release.

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Conditional compilation

Use the standard platform guards when writing Android-specific code: 
#if defined(__ANDROID__)
    // Android-specific path
#endif

#if defined(PRISMA_ENABLE_RENDER_VULKAN)
    // Vulkan-specific path (always true on Android)
#endif
All available PRISMA_ENABLE_* options are defined in cmake/DeviceOptions.cmake.

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