Install instead with Homebrew, apt, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• instead
• sdl-instead

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in 2014, but its tags preserve older 1.x work, including a 1.5.0 tag pointing to an August 2011 commit. The project later moved through a 2.x line and reached the 3.x line by 2017, with INSTEAD3 becoming the visible branding on the project site. The project kept a conventional open-source layout, with bundled documentation in the repository and release artifacts published through GitHub.

The project site presents INSTEAD as an open-source MIT-licensed engine that runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, the web, and other systems. That broad target list shaped the engine's culture: it is both a desktop interpreter and a portable runtime for a catalog of small authored games.

Adoption history

INSTEAD reached package-manager users through Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, and Nix packaging, while the official site also links to platform-specific channels such as GitHub release builds, Ubuntu/openSUSE repositories, and an Android build on F-Droid. That distribution pattern is typical for niche game engines: package-manager availability matters less for mass adoption than for making old and community-authored games reproducible on Unix-like systems.

How it is used

The README documents a simple interpreter workflow: install the program, place game archives under the user's INSTEAD games directory or pass a zip-packed game to the `instead` command, and use the bundled documentation when authoring games. The official site emphasizes UTF-8 text editing, Lua inside the engine, and the doc directory as the main authoring surface.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, INSTEAD is a good example of a non-mainstream game-engine package whose value is preservation and runtime availability rather than developer trendiness. It packages a playable interpreter, SDL-facing binaries, game documentation, and cross-platform release artifacts for a community that has much of its history outside the Anglophone interactive-fiction mainstream.

Timeline

• 2011: The preserved 1.5.0 tag points to an August 2011 commit in the public source history.
• 2014: The GitHub repository was created and older 1.x/2.x work was represented in tags.
• 2017: The 3.0.0 tag marks the visible transition into the INSTEAD3 line.
• 2024: INSTEAD 3.5.2 was published on the official site and GitHub releases.

Related projects

• INSTEAD sits near interactive-fiction systems, visual-novel engines, and lightweight 2D adventure runtimes, but its Lua-based textographic model and interpreter/package split give it a distinct packaging profile.

Sources

• Official project site, GitHub README, GitHub release/tag metadata, and Homebrew formula metadata.