README.md

noa-engine

An experimental voxel game engine.

Some projects using noa:

• bloxd.io - multiplayer voxel games with editable worlds, by Arthur
• Minecraft Classic - from Mojang (I'm as surprised as you are)
• VoxelSrv - a voxel game inspired by Minecraft, by patbox
• CityCraft.io - multiplayer voxel cities, by raoneel
• OPCraft - a voxel game running on Ethereum smart contracts, by Lattice
• noa-examples - starter repo with minimal hello-world and testbed games

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Usage

The easiest way to start building a game with noa is to clone the examples repo and start hacking on the code there. The comments in the hello-world example source walk through how to instantiate the engine, define world geometry, and so forth. The example repo also shows the intended way to import noa's peer dependencies, test a world, build for production, etc.

Docs

See the API reference for engine classes and methods.

Documentation PRs are welcome! See the source for details, API docs are generated automatically via npm run docs.

Status, contributing, etc.

This engine is under active development and contributions are welcome. Please open a discussion issue before submitting large changes. PRs should be sent against the develop branch!

Code style/formatting are set up with config files and dev dependencies, if you use VSCode most of it should work automatically. If you send PRs, please try to be sorta-kinda consistent with what's already there.

Change logs

See history.md for full changes and migration for each version.

Recent changes:

• v0.33:

  • Much improved API docs
  • Terrain now supports texture atlases! See registry.registerMaterial.
  • Added a fast way to specify that a worldgen chunk is entirely air/dirt/etc.
  • Modernized keybinds to use KeyboardEvent.code strings, and changed several binding state properties
  • Bunch of internal improvements to support shadows - see examples

• v0.32: Fixes npm versioning issue - no code changes.

• v0.31:

  • Change the speed of the world! See noa.timeScale
  • Now possible to control chunk processing order: noa.world.chunkSortingDistFn
  • Much improved type exports and API docs

• v0.30:

  • Engine now a named export, use import {Engine} from 'noa-engine'
  • many performance and size optimizations
  • now generates proper type declarations and API references!
  • can now configure separate vert/horiz values for chunk load distance
  • core option tickRate is now in ticks per second, not ms per tick
  • adds several init options, e.g. maxRenderRate, stickyFullscreen

• v0.29:

  • maximum voxel ID is now 65535
  • adds option worldGenWhilePaused
  • adds option manuallyControlChunkLoading and related APIs
  • performance and bug fixes

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Credits

Made with 🍺 by @fenomas, license is MIT.

Uses Babylon.js for 3D rendering.