| Name and Surname | Personal Code | Github Username | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniele Ferrazzo | 10608810 | [email protected] | @feDann |
| Lorenzo Fratus | 10619073 | [email protected] | @lorenzofratus |
| Luigi Fusco | 10601210 | [email protected] | @luigifusco |
The project consists in an implementation of a voxel based game taking inspiration from the popular Minecraft franchise. The project is developed in C++ using the Vulkan framework to handle graphics.
The world is divided into chunks of size 64x64x256. Perlin noise is used to generate a height map, describing the level of dirt and stone blocks. Trees and grass are then randomly generated. The water level is set, meaning that all blocks generated below a certain threshold will be covered by water. New chunks are generated as the player moves through the world, and are kept in RAM.
Only a small amount of all generated chunks are visible at a given time, based off their distance from the player. As the player moves, chunks are queried for vertex buffer data, and the global vertex and index buffers are updated accordingly. In order to support vertical synchronizations two buffers are alternated to avoid race conditions.
The surface of water is semitransparent. In order to achieve this effects and avoid problems with z-buffering, solid blocks and water are rendered using two separate passes.
The procedure generating graphics data from chunks takes into account the visibility of block faces, generating only faces which are at contact with a transparent block. The check is valid even across chunks. If a neighboring chunk is not yet generated the corresponding faces are not generated. The generation of a new chunk triggers the update of neighboring chunks in order to avoid artifacts.
Collisions are detected using the AABB method. On collision with a block, the player is moved by the shortest distance which would pop them out of the block. As a failsafe mechanism, if the operation fails a large number of times the player is teleported up into the sky.
Block deletion and block creation are supported. The block the player is pointing at is found using a ray casting algorithm, which searches forward block by block until a breakable block is found. Breaking or creating a block triggers an update of the chunk, of its graphics data and the one of neighboring chunks in the case of a border block.
Blocks are drawn using textures. The BRDF model combines an Oren Nayar diffuse model with a Phong Specular model. There are two global lights (the Sun and the Moon), which continuously rotate, giving the effect of a day/night cycle. The sky color is simulated by changing the clear color at every new frame. At night, a spotlight is added, with position corresponding to the head of the player and direction to their line of sight.