Devlog 0 -- Bonsai Voxel Engine

github.com/scallyw4g/bonsai
discord.com/invite/kmRpgXBh75
#voxel #voxelart #gameengine #engine #voxelengine #voxels #magicavoxel #bonsaivoxel

[@7Dev.]

I like how the noise is global, different structures connect in a pretty way

[@scallyw4g]

Good eye. That property turns out to be particularly useful.

[@coyo_t]

the saving & loading of the struct data & its member offsets is actually what Blender's file format does for the RNA/DNA system might be worth taking a peek into that since its had like 20+ years of refinement

[@scallyw4g]

Oh yeah you're the second person that's mentioned that to me. Next time I end up working on that system I might go take a look at how Blender does it. Thanks!

[@Finding_Fortune]

The engine is looking great!

[@scallyw4g]

Thanks :D

[@lopsidedpolygon]

This is the... sixth? eighth? novel voxel engine devlog channel youtube has pushed on me in the last 30 days 😂 Keep up the amazing work! subscribed and notified! 💜🤍💜🤍💜🤍

[@scallyw4g]

Thanks! Yeah there are a fair few people doing cool stuff with voxels these days. I'm excited for the day we finally get something like VoxelQuest for realz :D

[@dottedboxguy]

that seems pretty damn cool ! can't wait to see where it goes

[@SandyMHughes]

It's looking great so far!

[@scallyw4g]

Thanks buddy!

[@-aaa-aaa]

YES! Good stuff!

[@scallyw4g]

Thanks!

[@AllenMikhailov]

This is so coool :)

[@energymass7944]

for a second I read it as "Bisexual voxel engine"

[@the_speedy_dog6808]

wow!

[@Sylfa]

When it comes to being backwards compatible with your data files you *can't* go wrong looking at how Blender does it. Similarly to what you described, it saves a descriptor of what fields goes in which offset. Then it just stores the data right from memory to disk, and maps which memory address maps to which file offset. Afterwards, you can just parse the descriptor, deal with any missing data caused by new features, and correct the pointers. Oh, and correct endianness if necessary. They "recently" made some breaking changes, but prior to that you could still open a file saved in the first alpha version in the latest version. It cares a bit more about being fast at saving though, since you do that a lot more than you load your work. If you want to make loading faster some of the work could be done on save instead.

[@scallyw4g]

Awesome comment, thanks! Yeah I think saving the descriptor alongside the data is pretty much the only way to go. I guess there's probably some nuance there depending on what the application goals are, but AFAIK it's what most serialization libraries do.

[@gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683]

3:45 Man I almost did something like this myself, it's a shame that it's so difficult to do this

[@scallyw4g]

Yeah, without the metaprogramming language I made it would be a giant pain in the ass.

[@reevesmcmemes1824]

I dont expect a tutorial or anything but do you think youll go into technical details with these devlogs? Looks pretty promising!

[@scallyw4g]

Yeah I'll probably do a mix of kinda artsy ones and technical ones, depending on what I'm working on at the time.

[@anzhel3268]

void* extravaganza

[@scallyw4g]

Hah, yeah. Those functions are callbacks, so it's not a huge problem, but it's also .. not my favorite.

[@P37rich0r]

Great video! Subscribed.

[@scallyw4g]

[@darkener3210]

This looks really cool Ill be happy to follow this (But please fix the mic popping T-T)

[@scallyw4g]

Yeah, the video editor I used introduced a lot of artifacts when I cut the audio up. If I can't find a way to get it to cooperate in the next one I'll have to find a different video editor.