FlexWorld

[eXpl0it3r]

I'm sorry... but this sounds WAY too much like minecraft.

Dude what the heck is wrong with you?
Stop spaming around!

It sure as familiaries with MC but then again, whenever somebody sees a voxel engine they call it MC nowadays. And is there a law that wouldn't allow anyone to make something familiar?

If you had read more you'd have noticed that it will be much more than minecraft. The render technique as voxels will be the same the whole gameplay will be completly diffrent, WAY more into the direction of RPG.

[Tank]

I'm sorry... but this sounds WAY too much like minecraft.

I agree that from an external perspective (and without seeing screenshots/screencasts or being involved in the development process) it indeed sounds like another clone. But I'm quite happy to tell you it isn't.

I won't deny that Minecraft influenced FlexWorld regarding to the rendering. FlexWorld indeed has a quite long history, it started topdown, then isometric and finally 3D. However the inspiring example has always been Ultima Online, a game with a highly modifyable world too (except the terrain).

By the way, it's very common that successful concepts from the gaming industry are mixed and put into a new product to enhance previous games. You just can't reinvent the wheel everytime. I still hope you probably give it a try when a demo version is released; I'd even personally invite you to do so.

Dude what the heck is wrong with you?
Stop spaming around!

Calm down. I'm thankful for every feedback, comment or question.

The render technique as voxels will be the same the whole gameplay will be completly diffrent, WAY more into the direction of RPG.

I don't really like the word "voxels", as it implies that everything will be built of cubes, which is not the case. However FlexWorld uses a fixed grid, that's true.

[eXpl0it3r]

Calm down. I'm thankful for every feedback, comment or question.

It wasn't specific to this thread but he fills up the forum with nonsense (see his profile).

Okay I'll now shutup it shouldn't be my problem, it just annoys me. 

I don't really like the word "voxels", as it implies that everything will be built of cubes, which is not the case. However FlexWorld uses a fixed grid, that's true.

Okay grid it is!

[Nexus]

Do you use SFML for parts of the game? How is the 3D scene rendered?

[Tank]

Yes, SFML is being used as the rendering interface for most 2D stuff, loading textures, font rendering, window management, inputs, timers and audio.

The 3D scene is rendered using a self-made scene graph and OpenGL state-aware renderer, check this.

[Tank]

Nexus, is there a special reason why you're asking?

[Nexus]

No, I thought maybe you'd use something already existing for the 3D rendering, like Irrlicht or Ogre. Would have been interesting to combine with SFML

[Tank]

Hey guys,

there haven't been news for quite a long time, so I'd like to show you a first video that our testing team coordinator eXpl0it3r (some may know him from this forum) did where you can watch him building a castle. The music in the background was produced by TheExenter.

Important note: Only because he's using cubes for building, it doesn't mean you're limited to that. So: No, this is not a Minecraft clone. Thank you.

[Tank]

First post has been updated in case you're looking for some more in-detail information. :-)

[lolz123]

Looks great! I like how everything is open and scriptable. Something Minecraft is still lacking 

My only complaint is the shading. The directional light alone makes it hard to recognize details in the geometry. Check this out: http://codeflow.org/entries/2010/dec/09/minecraft-like-rendering-experiments-in-opengl-4/
It says OpenGL 4, but it can easily be done without 

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking: How are you storing the voxels (on the hard drive)? Do you do any sort of compression?

[Tank]

Looks great! I like how everything is open and scriptable. Something Minecraft is still lacking 

If I got a penny for every "Minecraft", I'd be rich already.

My only complaint is the shading.

There's absolutely nothing in the codebase that does any nice shading yet. The shading you see in the video is a simple fixed OpenGL light to be able to separate between geometry at all.

The plan is to implement real-time lighting using a deferred method. It requires more decent hardware, but will also give a much nicer look. This may sound weird, but the renderer is currently on low priority due to other subsystems, like collision, containers (for inventory), basic physics (movement, jumping, crouching) and such.

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking: How are you storing the voxels (on the hard drive)? Do you do any sort of compression?

I'm happy to answer any questions! No compression yet, as it falls into the field of optimizations which are also on low priority. Of course there are a lot of ideas in that regard, e.g. using well-established compression algorithms like bz2, but nothing has been decided yet.

Same applies to network transfer of world data: Happens still uncompressed. Like said, FlexWorld is being programmed in an agile manner, which often means: Don't implement stuff when there's no demand (yet).

Thanks for your reply!

[lolz123]

Do you store each chunk in its own file like ... ahem ... Minecraft (+$0.01)? Also, how long does it take to generate the chunks? Is there any special optimization you performed in order to get it to generate faster? I am asking because I also made a voxel engine too, but chunks take awfully long to generate due to the Perlin noise function performed for each voxel. Maybe I am approaching it incorrectly, or perhaps I just never really noticed how long it takes before since Minecraft (+$0.01) generates them in another thread as you go.

[Tank]

Do you store each chunk in its own file like ... ahem ... Minecraft (+$0.01)?

Yes, as it saves HDD space for non-initialized chunks, which is even more important on the client-side where caches are stored.

Also, how long does it take to generate the chunks? Is there any special optimization you performed in order to get it to generate faster?

~1/4 second for the full view cuboid. However the terrain generator is very simple at the moment (simple height map). No optimizations so far, and I think it's even no big problem if it takes a little longer as it only happens once (to recall: FW doesn't have infinite maps).

Maybe I am approaching it incorrectly, or perhaps I just never really noticed how long it takes before since Minecraft (+$0.01) generates them in another thread as you go.

Can't comment on that because I don't know how you do it. I'm using a separate thread for preparing the geometry for the GPU, which might be the more time-consuming part (hidden-face removal etc.). The terrain is currently pre-generated, therefore I can't measure breaks during runtime. The current terrain however generates in no time.

[Tank]

Those following the development of the game might be interested in the upcoming physics integration.

Link: http://www.flexworld-game.com/blog/16/physics.html

Some more programming-related info: Physics are handled by the new component-based system library. Entities in the game can have any number of properties (like variables) of any type (even completely custom ones). Controllers can then be plugged in, to control and process the entities. Depending on what properties an entity has, the controllers automatically connect to them.

For example if you had an entity with the properties "velocity" and "position" and a controller "Movement" that's listening for those properties, it would automatically modify the position of the entity.

When we are finished adding the library to the game we will upload a new video showing basic physics (actually movement) and collision detection.

Stay tuned, and as always: Feedback welcome!

[model76]

Tank, don't worry about the Minecraft clone talk. This is a phase every new popular game genre goes through.

I am old enough to remember when Doom was released, and then the subsequent "Doom-clones". Funny enough, Wolfenstein came first, and Doom was a derivative of that. Today that genre has a proper name: 1st person shooter.

Interestingly, Infiniminer came before Minecraft, so perhaps the clone-crowd should be calling FlexWorld an Infiniminer clone. Even though it sounds like more of a mixed-genre game.

In time the "Mincraft-clone" genre will get a proper name, I am sure.