akLattice, a renderer and physics simulator for voxel worlds
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:35 pm
I hope you guys don't mind me posting this here; it isn't related to Wolfire except that I like Lugaru and you all seem to like experimental software.
I'm a big Dwarf Fortress fan, so I decided to try my hand at a renderer and physics simulator for voxel worlds (worlds made of cubes, like Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, etc.). I've programmed up a renderer for such worlds using Ogre, including optimizations for high framerates. I've also implemented a water simulator (including the effects of pressure) and a structural stability simulator that causes unstable constructions to collapse into rubble. Maybe some of you would like to play around with it?
Features:
-Efficient 3D rendering of the simulated world. (Albeit with primitive graphics.)
-Efficient water simulation, including the effects of pressure. (Water will flow straight up when appropriate, like in Dwarf Fortress.)
-Structural integrity simulation, with different materials having different properties and unstable structures collapsing into rubble.
-Mouse and keyboard interface.
-Uses popular, free, open-source Ogre 3D engine.
-Code will be released as open source.
Controls:
-'Esc' to exit.
-'F1' for perspective mode, 'F2' for a horizontal cross-section, and 'F3' and 'F4' for perpendicular vertical cross-sections.
In perspective mode:
-mouse and WASD to fly around
In horizontal cross-section view mode:
-WASD to scroll around
-Q and E to move up and down a level, respectively.
-left-click to place blocks
-right-click to destroy blocks
-middle-click to create water
-block placement supports drag-selecting, even across levels (press Q or E while holding down the mouse button)
A word of warning: don't try to carve out large horizontal areas deep underground all at once. The program has to figure out where the weight of all the rocks above goes and this can take a *long* time. I'm still working on that.
To download, go to https://dl.dropbox.com/u/46417406/akLattice.zip. Right now, only a Windows build is available, but that is only because I have not had time to compile for other OS.
I'm a little unsure where to go with this next. I think it is pretty cool, but it isn't a game, just a sandbox. Maybe a game could be made with it?
I'm a big Dwarf Fortress fan, so I decided to try my hand at a renderer and physics simulator for voxel worlds (worlds made of cubes, like Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, etc.). I've programmed up a renderer for such worlds using Ogre, including optimizations for high framerates. I've also implemented a water simulator (including the effects of pressure) and a structural stability simulator that causes unstable constructions to collapse into rubble. Maybe some of you would like to play around with it?
Features:
-Efficient 3D rendering of the simulated world. (Albeit with primitive graphics.)
-Efficient water simulation, including the effects of pressure. (Water will flow straight up when appropriate, like in Dwarf Fortress.)
-Structural integrity simulation, with different materials having different properties and unstable structures collapsing into rubble.
-Mouse and keyboard interface.
-Uses popular, free, open-source Ogre 3D engine.
-Code will be released as open source.
Controls:
-'Esc' to exit.
-'F1' for perspective mode, 'F2' for a horizontal cross-section, and 'F3' and 'F4' for perpendicular vertical cross-sections.
In perspective mode:
-mouse and WASD to fly around
In horizontal cross-section view mode:
-WASD to scroll around
-Q and E to move up and down a level, respectively.
-left-click to place blocks
-right-click to destroy blocks
-middle-click to create water
-block placement supports drag-selecting, even across levels (press Q or E while holding down the mouse button)
A word of warning: don't try to carve out large horizontal areas deep underground all at once. The program has to figure out where the weight of all the rocks above goes and this can take a *long* time. I'm still working on that.
To download, go to https://dl.dropbox.com/u/46417406/akLattice.zip. Right now, only a Windows build is available, but that is only because I have not had time to compile for other OS.
I'm a little unsure where to go with this next. I think it is pretty cool, but it isn't a game, just a sandbox. Maybe a game could be made with it?
