Voxelaria

After implementing the trees and a few new types of vegetation, I’ve noticed that the frame rate is starting to suffer. This is mainly because it’s trying to draw so many polygons (need to implement some kind of terrain LOD system), but also because my layout at the very core of my rendering code isn’t very tidy. When I started the project, the rendering engine was very specifically geared towards rendering terrain. Then when it came to adding water, entities and vegetation rendering I very lazily hacked in a render list to handle them.

Now I’m at the point where I really need to spend some time thinking about how to make nice clean rendering code, and how to implement it. I’ll probably release another alpha version once I get these changes in place, but there won’t be many big visible things different from the current version when that release comes around.

So I just wanted to keep everybody informed on what I’m up to. I’ll post some screenshots on my Indie/ModDB and Facebook pages when I have anything good to show!

P.s. commenting is now fixed and enabled on my blog posts (oops).

I’ve started implementing trees to the game, and I’ve discovered it’s HARD to make trees look good! I still need to make some much higher quality textures, and a few different tree models, but here are the first screenshots:

Download it here

It’s been a while since my last update, but I’ve been busy working on a lot of areas of the game. I’ve finally got it to a point where I’m happy to put out another demo.

Download it by clicking here

Watch the release video and read the changelog below for more information.

Changelog:

-- Changelog - (0.07a to 0.08a)

Added:
	+ Updated faster and stabler physics.
	+ Built-in console. Press ¬ or # or ' to use. Check
		README.txt for a list of commands.
	+ Inventory. Press TAB to enter the inventory screen.
	+ Bump and specular mapping on in-game entities.
	+ Spawnable physical objects. Right clicking will spawn an
		object on your head.
	+ "NoClip" mode. Press T to toggle flying or walking.
	+ Vegitation ground-plants. Plants will grow in certain
		areas and blow around in the wind.
	+ Crouching! Press Shift.
	+ Digging speed limiting
	+ Digging is no longer cube-based.

Fixed:
	* You can no longer dig through the bottom of the world
	* Physics is MUCH more stable. You should no longer be able
		to fall through the terrain, even when travelling
		at great speed.
	* Game now properly exits from memory every time it closes
	* Many, Many optimisations.
	* Lighting system is much cleaner. Still not perfect at chunk
		borders, though.

Removed:
	- Removed right-click to build.
	- Removed 'floaty' underwater physics. Will re-implement
		a better system soon.
	- Removed game intro 'cut scene'
	- Disabled game saving/loading. Will be re-implemented soon
		with improvements.
	- Removed cube-digging block tool.

Click here to download.

I’ve built a (very limited) demo version of the game in it’s current state, which anybody can download and play with for free.

Because most of the features are very incomplete at this point, I’ve disabled a lot of things (crafting, player damage, spawning of objects, etc.). I’ll try to keep releasing a demo version every 1-3 weeks, or as quickly as I can implement features.

A lot of the development I do is still very experimental, so the game will change and features will be added and removed throughout development.

Click here to download Voxelaria Demo 0.07 Alpha.

The demo will allow you to start a new game and have a walk around. You can press B to toggle between terrain-building mode or normal mode (indicated by a spade at the top left). In building mode, left click will dig, right click will build.

If the game isn’t working for you:

At this point the game is for Windows only. I may work on porting it to Mac/Linux in the future, but not for the initial development of the game.

If the game won’t start – you probably need to download the latest XNA framework. Get it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20914

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working more on gameplay aspects of Voxelaria. I haven’t put out any updates recently, so here’s a screenshot and a short description of what I’ve been doing.

Inventory Screen - First Draft (Click to enlarge)

This is the first draft of the inventory screen. It shows my basic ideas of how I’d like the inventory to behave in game, but the style and layout all need work. Items can be combined to produce other items, they can be visually inspected, and many items will be able to be ‘used’ from the inventory (this may be things like eating, drinking, or using small items that you’ve created).

The crafting system is simple to use – you simply combine items to produce other items. In the above screenshot, I’m combining a stick, a bent piece of rusty metal, and a nail to create a simple axe. The axe’s durability and effectiveness will be directly determined by the items that you use to produce it, and some items can be left out or substituted if you are low on supplies. The visual outcome of the crafted item also directly relates to the items used to make it. If you find a stick on the ground with a unique feature (maybe a burnt end), when you use it to make an axe you will see the burnt end on the handle of the final axe.

Another big addition to the game is more accurate physics. The physics system used to create a capsule shape to approximately mimic the shape of the model being simulated, but this looked pretty terrible on most items. Everything rolled much too easily. The new system is very lightweight and it can simulate many varied objects fairly accurately. Sticks will roll correctly, bent sticks will roll reluctantly, and rocks will rest on their flat faces.

Another (small) feature that I’ve added is a very rough “first person view” hand in front of the player which holds the tool that you’re currently using.

I’ll get a video up soon, and I’m hoping to have a free alpha version of the game ready to be downloaded by the end of this month.

I finally got around to recording and uploading another YouTube video. You can watch the video by clicking the image below:

The Voxelaria Project Alpha 005 - Water and Lighting

This video shows my progress on water, lighting and vegitation.

- Luke