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KernSmith.MonoGameGum

Runtime bitmap font generation for MonoGame + Gum games.

Install

dotnet add package KernSmith.MonoGameGum

Targets: net8.0, net9.0

Setup

One-line initialization in your game's Initialize() or LoadContent():

using KernSmith.Gum;
using RenderingLibrary;

CustomSetPropertyOnRenderable.InMemoryFontCreator =
    new KernSmithFontCreator(GraphicsDevice);

Gum will now use KernSmith to generate fonts on demand whenever a BmfcSave is loaded. No .fnt or .png files need to exist on disk.

Selecting a rasterizer backend

By default, KernSmithFontCreator uses FreeType. On platforms where native libraries are unavailable (e.g., Blazor WASM), pass a backend explicitly:

CustomSetPropertyOnRenderable.InMemoryFontCreator =
    new KernSmithFontCreator(GraphicsDevice, RasterizerBackend.StbTrueType);

How It Works

KernSmithFontCreator implements Gum's IInMemoryFontCreator interface. When Gum requests a font:

  1. GumFontGenerator (from GumCommon) maps the BmfcSave to FontGeneratorOptions
  2. KernSmith generates the bitmap font atlas in memory
  3. KernSmithFontCreator converts atlas pages into MonoGame Texture2D objects
  4. A BitmapFont is constructed and returned to Gum

Registering Fonts

Registering font data explicitly is recommended for all platforms to ensure consistent cross-platform rendering. Some targets may not have access to system fonts, but even on desktop this guarantees identical results regardless of what is installed on the OS. Register fonts before initializing KernSmithFontCreator:

using KernSmith.Gum;

// Recommended — uses TitleContainer.OpenStream, works on all platforms
KernSmithFontCreator.RegisterFont("Roboto", "Content/Fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf");
KernSmithFontCreator.RegisterFont("Roboto", "Content/Fonts/Roboto-Bold.ttf", style: "Bold");

The file-path overload uses TitleContainer.OpenStream internally, so the path is relative to the title container root (typically the Content directory). This is the simplest approach and works on all MonoGame platforms.

For fonts loaded from embedded resources, archives, or HTTP, use the byte[] overload instead:

using KernSmith.Gum;

byte[] fontData = File.ReadAllBytes("path/to/font.ttf");
KernSmithFontCreator.RegisterFont("MyFont", fontData);

Registered fonts take priority over system fonts, with automatic fallback to the OS font store. Register all font families and style variants your Gum layouts reference (Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic).

On platforms without system fonts (Blazor WASM, mobile, containers) registration is required. On desktop it is not strictly necessary but is recommended so that every build renders identical fonts.

Dependencies

This package automatically pulls in:

  • KernSmith.GumCommon (shared generation logic)
  • KernSmith (core library)
  • Gum.MonoGame
  • MonoGame.Framework.DesktopGL

See Integrations Overview for channel configuration and option customization.

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