Volition

Volition is an early-stage interactive application and rendering engine for Windows, built using C++. The project aims to create a modular, high-performance game engine with a focus on high-fidelity 3D rendering and fast 2D rendering.

Project Structure

The Volition project consists of several key components:

• Volition: The core engine module containing the fundamental engine functionality.
• Volition-ScriptCore: A module providing scripting language support for the Volition engine.
• Spine: The frontend GUI application that integrates the engine modules and provides a user interface.
• Sandbox: A standalone application that demonstrates the engine's capabilities without using the scripting module or GUI.

Dependencies

Volition relies on the following key dependencies:

• Vulkan SDK: The engine utilizes the Vulkan graphics API for rendering. The Vulkan SDK is a crucial dependency that provides the necessary libraries and tools for Vulkan development.
• GLFW: A lightweight utility library for creating windows, receiving input, and handling events.
• GLM: A mathematics library for graphics software, providing classes and functions for common vector and matrix operations.
• ImGui: A bloat-free immediate mode GUI library for creating interactive user interfaces.
• spdlog: A fast, header-only C++ logging library for efficient logging and debugging.
• EnTT: A header-only library for managing entities and components in a modular and efficient way.

The project also includes several third-party libraries as submodules, which are automatically downloaded and set up during the project configuration process.

Getting Started

To set up the Volition project on your local machine, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository::

git clone --recursive https://gitlab.com/soulwax/volition

If you have previously cloned the repository without the --recursive flag, run git submodule update --init --recursive to download the necessary submodules.

2. Configure the dependencies:

• Run the Setup.bat script located in the scripts folder. This script will download and set up the required dependencies, including the Vulkan SDK.
• If the Vulkan SDK is not installed, the script will prompt you to install it. Follow the installation instructions provided by the Vulkan SDK installer.
• After installing the Vulkan SDK, run the Setup.bat script again to download the Vulkan SDK debug libraries. This process may take some time.

3. Generate project files:

• Once the dependencies are set up, the Win-GenProjects.bat script will automatically run and generate the Visual Studio solution files for the project.
• If you need to regenerate the project files after making changes, you can manually run the Win-GenProjects.bat script located in the scripts folder.

Build Instructions

To build the Volition project:

1. Open the generated Visual Studio solution file (Volition.sln).
2. Select the desired build configuration (Debug or Release) and target platform (x64).
3. Build the solution by clicking on "Build" -> "Build Solution" or pressing Ctrl+Shift+B.

The built executable files will be located in the bin folder, organized by configuration and platform.

Roadmap

Volition is an ongoing learning project, and the following features are planned for future development:

• Fast 2D rendering (UI, particles, sprites, etc.)
• High-fidelity Physically-Based 3D rendering
• Support for multiple platforms (Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)
• Native rendering API support (DirectX, Vulkan, Metal)
• Fully featured viewer and editor applications
• Fully scripted interaction and behavior
• Integrated 3rd party 2D and 3D physics engine
• Procedural terrain and world generation
• Artificial Intelligence
• Audio system

License

Volition is released under the MIT License.