This week I spent a lot of time working with the core of the engine – the invisible stuff which is very important but never gets seen. I did however get a good amount of time to write one shiny visual thing – an ocean shader. It has waves, ripples and specular reflection, and I think it fits in quite well with the world.

The world feels a lot more complete with an ocean, so soon I’ll start work on the more gameplay specific features, such as building tools, inventory and health. I’ll also try to get another video up before next Monday.

-Luke

Here are some screenshots showing the current version of the engine. The terrain is around 630 meters square, and has some fancy features implemented.

Read about the new features after the jump.

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Voxelaria is my work-in-progress PC Game engine built upon the XNA Framework.

The terrain system is the core of the engine, focussing on vast modifyable smooth terrain. The games that we expect to be created with the engine will allow be able to allow players to dynamically edit the terrain as they play – be it by physically digging, mining and building (akin to Minecraft), or as a more passive result of their actions (such as explosions, rock slides or erosion). I plan to implement a dynamic lighting system, and a physics system which is able to realistically interact with the environment.

I have many features planned, and this blog will track the ongoing progress on the engine. Check back soon for more updates.

- Luke