Let's Make a Voxel Engine - 029 - Better Water

Creating a new voxel engine for game development.
A much better water simulations.
Supports stacking water blocks.
Water overflow.
No water stacking glitches.
Guide/Tutorial site: sites.google.c...
Link to my rendering and 3D engine (source): www.ludumdare.c...
Twitter: / alwaysgeeky

[@RobertMOdell]

You should produce a rain storm and watch all the puddles form!

[@anthonyortiz7924]

This is pretty much how I envisioned water should work in a voxel game; very well done, impressive!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

No problem... glad to have been helpful to you in some small way. I really do hope to improve the tutorials and bring them up to speed very soon with new content and information.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks, yeah I think it ended up looking very good, much better than I originally thought it would.

[@jpagedesigns]

That is clean, I really like the shading and shadow affects you have across the voxels.

[@evanwright6377]

I beg to differ. I have two years of experience with DirectX and almost a year now with OpenGL. I easily translated what his wrapper was doing. His guide has been EXTREMELY helpful in understanding how a voxel engine operates. Side note: Thank you AlwaysGeeky for your excellent guide! It's helped me grasp exactly how a voxel engine works! :D

[@WaffleMan720]

Hello, I'd like to just say that several people (including myself) have recreated a voxel engine (or tile engine in my case) using AlwaysGeeky's tutorials. My implementation needs some optimization regarding the order the chunks are loaded/rebuilt, but I really like how it has turned out. And I didn't have much trouble figuring out what he was doing with his native code (he said his meshes were being built with VBOs and what I assumed to IBOs.))

[@DubstepCoder]

His guides are fine. Just because they are incomplete doesn't mean they aren't helpful. While I didn't use any of his example code, his explanation of the concepts was all I needed to start my voxel engine. The idea is that you use google to look up the 3D stuff. If his tutorials were all about 3D math they would take way to long to create, and would constantly be changing since things get depreciated all the time.

[@noobymaniac]

Love it! Kinda wish every minecraft style game had this kind of water.

[@alienjoe123]

I like the shading in this a lot. looks all plastic like, legos or something.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Cheers man. So far I have been working on this Voxel engine for about a year, but it is a full game now, called Vox... (if you see my other videos). I have many years games programming experience and have been programming games and 3D for over 10 years.

[@MichaelPohoreski]

Good start! Water filling the holes is a nice touch. The 7 people downvoting couldn't get their water simulation to work correctly in their voxel world. :-/

[@AlwaysGeeky]

True. I wasnt offended just trying to point out some facts. No where did I state that I was an expert in voxels, merely writing up a guide and sharing my experiences. If people like him cant understand that when reading my guides, then I don't think that I should take them down just for 1 person. Many other people have told me how helpful and useful they are. Even if it is not expert knowledge If you wanna see bad coding and an inefficient voxel engine, you should look at Minecraft's source! :P

[@hirusanYT]

Your engine looks amazing, but I was wondering if you could make a tutorial series on coding one. I know you kinda lay it out on your website. But I mean like a step by step coding video. I know it would take a while, but you would also be the first. Just wondering.

[@icebyte]

Awesome, this needs to be re added soon.

[@frisbegisby5883]

and AlwaysGeeky said "Let there be water"... and so he inputted possibly a thousand different codes to make water

[@CYON4D]

Water is surely better than minecraft. Great job.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks for your support :)

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Glad you like, yeah I wanted to make the water better than other games and fun to play with. I hope you will be able to make lots of fun water stuff with my game Vox :)

[@tatea8466]

I agree, although modern java is barely slower than c++ now, and the efficiency of your system and algorithms will really determine how well your program performs.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Hi, a version of my Engine (not the most up to date version) is, and always has been available since when I first started making my voxel engine... is is available as linked from my Ludum Dare profile page. I have added the link to the description of this video. As you can see from the date of the posting on the Ludum Dare blog post, I made my engine (called Juice) available to the public. It contains the OpenGL wrapper that I wrote and use in Vox.

[@JacobAlbano]

This is gorgeous. Keep up the good work!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

I think 'practical' is the important word here... as you pointed out. no one can efficiently and timely write a full game in assembly.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks! Glad you approve and are sensible about this :)

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Actually voxels are the new kid on the block, everyone wants in on them :)

[@thisguy113]

Holy crap well done this is amazing!

[@SwrveYT]

never mind i will just subscribe to you!

[@invertedaqua]

Wow, thats really really awesome

[@VladikVP]

@Argonwolfproject There you are wrong. C++ might be better because of the included tools and object-orientation, but if you want fast games, as you pointed out, then you'd prefer C. Or even better: Assembly; or a mix of C and Assembly through linking.

[@thebricktop]

oh crap thats amazing

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Cool! I am so glad you like what I have made, hopefully you will like the game when I release it too :)

[@TheEduardoTA]

Very nice project.

[@ItsMeATaco]

Looks good buddy =]

[@xalener]

I wish this is how Minecraft's water behaved.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks man.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately this is written in C++ not Java, so there is no way to create a jar file. Sorry.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

I think so too, cheers!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thank a lot dude!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Cheers man!

[@NoobOsuPlayer]

is it possible to make if the water pressure is high then the water will come out like a beam?

[@DubstepCoder]

On the contrary, there isn't a clear speedup when using C. Code run in C++ may be a bit slower or even faster than C, depending on the application, but regardless it won't make much of a difference. In my opinion the importance of object-orientation far outweighs the small performance boost when using C. And as for using assembly, good luck haha. I have programmed in all three and I can almost guarantee that a c++ game will be MUCH less bug prone than an assembly or C game.

[@618Lonewolf]

So damn cool! :D

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Appreciate the comment, thanks...

[@Gomph1000]

Minecraft + Cube World project = Vox, but it is nice Vox =)

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Yes I know I havent updated the guides for a couple of months... when I get home after xmas and new year vacation I have big plans for the guides and will be redoing and improving them vastly. I hope you can wait for that :)

[@SwrveYT]

what game is this/

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thank you! ^_^

[@zerogamer69]

I am looking forward to making games in the future, but what programming language should i use?

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks a lot!! :D

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Well actually toolblox is kinda flat out wrong though. Nowhere am I claiming to be the messiah as far as voxels and voxel engines are concerned. I am merely providing a resource to help others learn and since I get asked questions A LOT and people really like to know how I am doing things. If you watch my latest video "Vox - v0.28" You can quite clearly see that the game runs more than 10 FPS like toolblox states and the engine is actually quite efficient. What is your voxel background?

[@DutchmanDavid]

How come it looks like there's a grain filter? Is this a ray tracing engine or is it an artefact of the Ambient Occlusion?

[@WorldsGameOfficial]

How do you manage to compute volumes of finite water at 60fps?

[@AlwaysGeeky]

No date is set yet, keep watching or following me on twitter (and youtube) for more information about the playtest that will be released soon.

[@stephenmcgroarty2078]

Hey I was wondering could you tell me how long did it take you to get your engine to this level from the start? And how much experience did you have in general programming/ 3D graphics? It looks amazing!!!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Rain, snow and other weather effects will be coming *soon* ;)

[@mullicrav8991]

hey, just a suggestion, you dont have to do this, but can you make a .jar file for those without windows? i have windows, im just thinking for those who dont, they should also be able to play such a wonderful game!

[@S0ulMelchiah]

Muuuuuuuch better

[@numero7mojeangering]

It's exactly what happens when I dream.

[@themichealharris]

How the hell did u make this. im so interested in games were the player makes the world. (sorta being a god of your own world) and this seems perfect!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks! :)

[@Ultamatum0502]

btw whens the rest of the tuts coming out???

[@AlwaysGeeky]

yes, this is part of the SSAO

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks! :D

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Cheers! :D

[@sSunbeamM]

nice demonstration! you know what you do ... if you where someone else, i might always thing "damn! y u no try THIS oder THAT" ... but you always make me "wow, that's another great possibility to demonstrate..., why didn't i think of it before?" ...only one thing: y u no make (very) big tower with water and let it fall all over itself? x3

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Cheers.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

hmmm, Well maybe if it doesn't run on your machine then I am sorry, I have tried to support all the different hardware and graphics cards possible but it is not an easy task.. As you can see however this video is running very smooth and nicely and is not as you stated 10fps. Also many people are reporting that the game runs fine, I'm sorry it doesn't work good for you.. do you have a low spec pc?

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks for the feedback. You are welcome to go elsewhere and use other resources. You say people "would already know how to make simple voxels.." Well my guides and help is aimed at people that might not already know about voxel techniques like chunking and data storage and all the other related voxel knowledge. If you already know this then I agree with you, my tutorials are probably not for you.. But please dont be rude to the other people who might not already have this knowledge like you do

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Indeed! :)

[@zerogamer69]

This is made with java right? i took a look at the code, im still learning java, but this looks like java.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

This is true, but in most cases you will not get the same performance in Java that you can easily get in C++.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Thanks :))

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Haha, I like this, thanks :)

[@Delbato]

how about C# ? ive heard that its performance is way better than Java, and actually im more experienced in that Language. Anyways,for now, i dont want to make anything bigger than something like ure game here ;)

[@AlwaysGeeky]

If you check the links on some of my latest videos you can see the links for Vox, IndieDB and Desura.

[@Delbato]

i would use it with SharpDX, if that matters

[@MisterFanwank]

Voxels are so 1990s.

[@musicalroly]

bravo!

[@Argonwolfproject]

C++. Get used to it, believe me. I am going to college for Gaming, and it's the industry standard. Learn C++. It's not bad to learn others, but for games that run nicely on non-super computers, C++ is best.

[@AlwaysGeeky]

hahaha be my guest to show them :)

[@maxsokolov9713]

COOL

[@monstercameron]

possible opacity? rain demo?

[@themichealharris]

When are you releasing it?

[@erwinvandendaele1991]

what did you use for editing the code ? windows visual c ?

[@diegoantoniorosariopalomin2206]

this engine and vox are going to be open source or closed

[@haterdesaint]

wow!!!

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Vox, see my other videos for gameplay info :)

[@Ultamatum0502]

Is this possible in java

[@lavacape]

I see water and I see lava but I don't see obsidian forming. XD I guess that's probably dirt though and this isn't Minecraft

[@spicydeath82]

turn the key.. maybe pump the pedal once or twice.

[@kevinludwig4693]

Hallo, bei den kompilieren von Juice kommt immer: >Interpolator.obj : error LNK2001: Nicht aufgelöstes externes Symbol ""public: class Vector3d const __thiscall Bezier3::GetInterpolatedPoint(float)const " (?GetInterpolatedPoint@Bezier3@@QBE?BVVector3d@@M@Z)". 1>Interpolator.obj : error LNK2001: Nicht aufgelöstes externes Symbol ""public: __thiscall Bezier3::Bezier3(class Vector3d,class Vector3d,class Vector3d)" (??0Bezier3@@QAE@VVector3d@@00@Z)". 1>Interpolator.obj : error LNK2001: Nicht aufgelöstes externes Symbol ""public: __thiscall Vector3d::Vector3d(float,float,float)" (??0Vector3d@@QAE@MMM@Z)". 1>Release\Utils.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 3 nicht aufgelöste Externe hat jemand eine idee wie man das reparieren könnte

[@myxz8565]

can export?

[@programyourface]

Can you update the water category on your website :) i really would like some help :) thanks.

[@santoroma17]

i see you everywhere :P

[@programyourface]

santoroma17 That's not creepy at all. What do you mean?

[@santoroma17]

dsdsds123100 seed of andromeda videos

[@programyourface]

Yeah :P

[@santoroma17]

dsdsds123100 you making a voxel game in unity?

[@tatea8466]

Yup, he's using opengl for which there is a java binding. The language is irrelevant in most cases.

[@CZpersi]

It is nicely realistic, but I cannot imagine Minecraft with such water physics. The game would be ruined for most players, who use the strange water mechanics for their advantage.

[@whatisup47]

were can i get this game???

[@Yoni0505Blogspot]

Cubes != voxels

[@kcpgaming1]

Hyllis No their not

[@kcpgaming1]

Why would I wanna argue??

[@Yoni0505Blogspot]

Hyllis No. A pixel is picture element. a voxel is volume pixel, i.e. volume pictue element. Picture element is not a geometry, it's a color value. What you describe is regular grid of cubes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_grid

[@Yoni0505Blogspot]

Hyllis No, minecraft's world elements aren't picture elements. It's just a regular grid.

[@Yoni0505Blogspot]

Hyllis Nope. It isn't.

[@tybrown4185]

What game is it

[@AlwaysGeeky]

:-D

[@AlwaysGeeky]

Just don't use Java. Full stop.