[TerrainEngine] Voxels / Marching Cubes / Robust Architecture / FPS Control

New Thread : http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/174595-TerrainEngine-Marching-Cubes-Infinite-Procedural-Smooth-Terrain

TerrainEngine

New Thread : http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/174595-TerrainEngine-Marching-Cubes-Infinite-Procedural-Smooth-Terrain

TerrainEngine is a framework for procedural terrains or objects. It contains a robust core and fully customizable for all types of algorithms. Voxels, Marching Cubes,Hexagonal, Biomes. TerrainEngine can be used for a multitude of reason, as infinite terrain, destructible objects, creating and customizing objects game, etc..​

Features : (Language : C#)

• Marching Cubes Algorithm
• Voxel Algorithm (Minecraft Like)
• Hexagonal Algorithm
• 2D Voxel Algorithm (Terraria Like)
• Voxel GameObject editor
• Marching Cubes GameObject editor
• Multithreading unlimited cores.
• FPS control
• Optimized memory usage
• Perlin, Simplex , FastRandom
• Biomes Generators
• Tree Generators
• Load/Save Terrain Data
• Generic Terrain Class for customization
• Chunks Management
• VertexColor Shaders, Triplanar Shaders, RealmTime Shadows
• Compression (ZLib)
• Works on ALL platforms
• Works on VERY low setting ( Ipad,Android, Pc, Mac)
• Action Framework (FPS Control)
• Loading Framework (Loading/Saving Progression)

TerrainEngine

New Marching Cubes : Realistic Biome

New : Marching cubes Touchpad Video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsTCIQ-slQI

New video : 2D Voxels ( Terraria ) on Touchpad :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y12XfokLX6M

Another : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilGVuhBgSWU

2D Voxel Infinite Terrain (Terraria Like)

Hexagonal Infinite Terrain

Voxel / Marching Cubes Terrain ::
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4YBdOcJuI

Marching Cubes Infinite Terrain::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_MTYJYumOk

Voxels Infinite Terrain: (Minecraft Like):

Youtube Channel :
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrMarchingCubes?feature=watch


What it's possible to create with the TerrainEngine


RealmExplorer : Project using the TerrainEngine :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSB640NmZBw

NEW Hexagonal Terrain Demo: Shooter !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRs5OZ8V4_g

Dysis: Hexagonal Block Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJydhciqW10

HexEngine: Hexagonal Block strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esL7NaW0Dww

Voxatron : Cube Block Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q-xqI8Cm5A

CubeWorld: Cube Block Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzH6chPv0xA

Fracture : Marching Cubes Terrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlGeFJgnC_s

Price :
Not available on Asset Store.
Price promotions. (Student, Company, Other)
All sources are included.[/B]

For more informations, contact me on Skype : "Hotboss13",
Email : "fastmarchingcubes@gmail.com"
Or pm.

All comments are welcome.


WIP (click for video)​

Work In Progress : Multithreaded Fluids Engine

New : A fluid system is being developed, it will be added to all engines for the management of a water realistic in real time.

 

You lower the price ?

 

So are you selling this because I cant see it on the store?

 

@Wild Factor : No the price is same with more features ( Voxels Engine, Generic Framework , FPS Framework , Loading Framework, etc...)

@Johny : The Framework is not and will not be sold on the asset store. Not at the moment.

RealmExplorer : Project using the TerrainEngine :

 

what is the price for this package?

 

Price :
Not available on Asset Store.
Price promotions. (Student, Company, Other)
All sources are included.

For more informations, contact me on Skype : "Hotboss13",
Email : "fastmarchingcubes@gmail.com"
Or pm.

 

$3200?!!

 

3240$ actually

 

Yes 3240$.

Yes the price is justified on the fact that this is not an add-on pack, but a major component of a game This package allows you to create a unique game and differentiate it from all others.

 

I'm honestly not "so" surprised at the price now that you've split it in 3 separate parts actually. But i do think it's fairly out of range for most people on this forum.

 

Don't mind me saying but I think that price is ridicules - That is twice the price of Unity Pro! Even Unity Pro itself is only $1500, with iOS license its $3000 and it is still cheaper! And people are already whining over Unity being over priced!

Let's face it, Unity is a graphic engine that does all the heavy lifting, with nice GUI front-end and very good documentation and support - with over 100 full time staff behind it. And you, (I assume you are one guy) is charging an extension twice the price of Unity Pro. What kind of guarantee do you have for support? This is like someone charging $60,000 for tinting car window when the whole car is only selling for $30,000! It is just insane.

Also, if I am not mistaken there is already an OPEN SOURCE "Minecraft-like" project for Unity at Sourceforge (http://minepackage.sourceforge.net) which is "very similar" to what you selling here.

Anyway, you're free to sell it however price you want, but I am very dubious of this product.

 

Sell it as much as you want but it is guaranteed that you will recieve nowhere as near purchases for that price.

Think of it like this:

Pillow for $100 = 0 buys

Pillow for $50 = 1 buy

Pillow for $25 = 25 buys

Pillow for $10 = Alot of buys

-------------------------------------------

Terrain Editor $5000 = 0 buys

Terrain Editor $2500 = 0 buys (1 possible)

Terrain Editor $1000 = 1 buy

Terrain Editor $500 = 5 buys

Terrain Editor $100 = 100 buys

Just an example, dont take anything to heart

 

That's not really a valid argument except if the cost of supporting 100 customers is the same as the cost of supporting 1 customer, and it isn't. But yea i don't think he'll get a lot of sales out of the unity market at that price point, he's basically limiting himself to the segment of people who actually need (outside of toying around) a voxel renderer in a game engine, that segment is low in itself, in that he's limiting himself to studio budgets, and then he's further limiting to low end studio budget who'd be fine with purchasing something with 6 month support included only, i'm not sure he'll even sell 1 licence which is too bad because it "does" look like it was quite some work and there's a real (lower budget, probably willing to do with very low support) market for voxels just seeing how well voxelform was doing.

 

Very good point,

Your math is wrong there, In my example the math of 1 = 1000 and for 100 = 10000, lol, I got off subject a bit

 

I think the price is absolutely fine. I know it would cost me more than that to roll my own solution (in terms of billable hours) than to buy this - and honestly, that's the only metric that matters (assuming I needed this product, which I don't at the moment).

The community had a Voxel solution for a cheap price once, and the non-programmers (or hobby programmers) drove them into the ground with support requests. If you are looking to make a commercial product, or even a free - but serious product, and not just mess about with a voxel engine (lol minecraft!) this is by no means overpriced.

Honestly, I'd like to see more professional oriented solutions for Unity. I know there are a ton of great in-house tools out there that will never be released on the Asset Store due to support concerns, but could be very valuable to other professional developers (who won't nag you to build half their game for them, and teach them how to customize basic components for their specific use cases...).

The reality is that there isn't a huge demand from professional developers for a solution like this, at $100 the vast majority of their customers would be novice level programmers at best requiring a significant amount of support that they feel is justified by their very minimal investment in a robust package. It isn't economically viable.

The big names in Middleware around here are absolutely incredible with their support, to the point of detriment to the Asset Store itself in my opinion. The precedent has been set, everyone expects a certain level of personal support for a very small price point and that just isn't viable as a business plan.

Anyhow, package looks awesome - price looks more than reasonable. Wish I had a need for it!

 

You forget one metric:
you will know how it works...
After the 6 months of support you are alone.
Why do you think most AAA developper still work with their own engine ?
Because you get people that know the technologi perfectly that can fix bug and add new features.

If you want to make any modifictation after the 6 month, you will be lost. And by experience, it can took you more time to tweak an existing solution than doing your own.
That's why if you are a pro you can't buy any middleware when it can die in one or two years...

Look at Unity itslef. It's strong solution, and still pro stay away from it.

A by the way 6 month of support it's a joke.

 

Support is only six months on the contract, because during these six months the project is fully supported and detailed. The support is extreme and permanenant everyday and the modification and adaptation is done for each project. If the support is longer, it would it would clearly not be effective for all projects. The interret is to create a functional play and financially interresting for businesses. This is not a wholesale store like asset but an accompaniment intentisif résalisation for your projects.

BTW the project RealmExplorer use my pack for less than three months, and support staff has allowed the game to its pre-sale and quickly.

 

But i think most people aren't looking for "modification and adaptation", especially from larger buyers, they'd want a generic one size fits all solution that provides extensibility endpoints, and from large solution providers providing exactly that (generic solutions for a market) 1 year of full support is expected including the product at a lower price point, telerik devcraft earlier was a good exemple, represents easily 100 times the work you did on that engine, comes with 1 year of full support unlimited incident including phone support, is less expensive than your full package.

I don't mind the price really, it's just that the combinason of price + features + support make it hard to see who your target is as i see strong cons for all targets all the way to large studios (if i was a large studio, i wouldn't purchase it on a 6 month contract, but on a 1 year, guaranteed renewable and pre negocied up to at least 3 years contract)

 

Is source included? Why does it require advanced programming skills to change? Isn't that the point of having an asset such as this (simplicity)? I just don't understand. Maybe you should be making an Engine of your own and selling an Engine. No way is anyone in their right mind going to pay more than double Unity price for this, that's beyond absurd; especially if no source is provided.

The return on investment needs to be appropriate and most indies using this likely wouldn't receive what they paid for this product making it a loss no matter how you look at it. You're after "serious" business, but you're in a completely indie market here.. this belongs in UDK/CryEngine if you want an AAA market; most here are mobile or small indie game developers.

I feel this is trying make a joke of the asset store and Unity it self, this really doesn't belong here as it's down right an insult to the userbase; you've done nothing too terrible special as better solutions are already in the works with a basic solution already provided with opensource minecraft clone packages.

Just my 2 cents..

I'd buy it if it was fairly priced ($100) and came with source, but at this point even if you lowered price your attitude to the community is a complete turn off.

 

@Krileon : Sources are included. It's engine , not just script or small pack. Unity is engine , you don"t need to understand how it work for use is , but you need to advanced programming skill for change source of it (if we had). I will not create 3DEngine for Terrain Only ...

Small DOC ​

View attachment $TerrainEngine.pdf ​

Screen of Files List :​

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2856/filelisth.png

Screen of example scene :​

​

 

Soon the addition of a new algorithm. Hexagonal Prism :



It is possible for the same terrain to switch between Block, Hexa, Marching.

WIP.

 

This is looking great, finally some high quality premium price assets/components for Unity are starting to show up, glad someone has the guts to lead the way with a better pricing model.

 

@fholm : Thank you. Yes, it is important to provide assets that can save a lot of time and development of a superior quality.

New images of HexEngine under development.​

 

Hexagonal Algo DONE : Shadow , optimizations, Colors.

 

Hexagonal Engine Video : New Biome, New Shaders, New Optimizations. Very Fast Generation.
(Real Speed)

 

Added new Example Game with Hexagonal Voxels :

 

Wow this looks great ... How does this perform on mobile? And are you working on optimizing it for mobile more?

 

The terrain work on mobile with lower size.
Except on ipad , big terrain work perfectly.

3 New Weapons :

 

New video : More Guns , More Enemies :

 

I read the documentation but I need clarification on something.

1. Can I create I create a custom terrain using Marching Cubes? For example, If I wanted to create (sculpt) a clone of World of Warcraft world. Could I make the entire seamless world and save the terrain? Basically, I don't want randomly created world.


2. If I were to save a terrain as large as World of Warcraft... how big would the file be? What format is the file in? and will it all be loaded into memory?

 

WOW, great work and fair price! I'll consider buying it once one of my game passed pre-production stage. Seems like very carefully crafter product.

 

You can ask for a lower price in a civil manner, but judging the op is not necessary. In another world (say Unreal) asking 2k for code is not unreasonable.

The race to the bottom is where democratization gets you I guess?

 

No one is knocking price now really, gotta take the posts in context (both in date in where they where at the thread times), the price / modularity has changed and the feature set has vastly increased since.

 

This engine isn't for hobbyist, so I think any discussion regarding price shouldn't be taken too seriously.

However, because this is targeted toward businesses ... I do believe there should be a more clear a concise description of all the features. Videos and photos are pretty, but they do not give me a full overview of everything that can be accomplished.

I WANT to get this product, but first I need to have a few questions answered. I commend the developer for all his work.

 

Price is fair now. I tried implementing my own voxel terrain and once you tried it you'll understand why the price is at where it's at. It's ridiculously difficult to code such an implementation while maintaining performance and decent visual results. What's even better is you get the source with your purchase..

My only question is.. where the heck do you buy this thing? Please put it on the asset store, lol. There are $3,000+ assets on the store so it's not unreasonable for this to be there as well.. or at least provide a link that's more visible in the original post?

 

1) Offcourse, the terrain load binary files on disk, you can pre-create the terrain in an editor directly below unity, then save it.

2) I do not know exactly the size of the Terrain of WOW. But for a world as big I think it takes 800-1000 mo. The field is compressed with ZLIB. No, only a few pieces of terrain are loaded around the characters. Therefore the use of the ram is constant from the start of the game.
The terrain is divided by 3*3*3 block (region) and each region is save in file Region-128-2-128.bin , compressed with zlib , the size is around 2-3 mo by region.

 

Yes the videos are not representative of all that can be done, because the possibilities are endless. Thank you for your support.

 

Indeed the major problem in the procedural generation is maintaining a constant FPS. Problem solved in this engine, through a management calculations and huge code optimizations.
The purchase of the system is made between the buyer and seller. There is no platform as the asset store planned for sale simply because I'm Disagree with some part of the contract to use it.

 

Ok, no worries; bookmarked for the future! Keep up the good work!

 

Marching Terrain Example , Lucas Arts :

 

Marching Cubes + Custom Voxel : Starforge !
It's possible to create the same game with TerrainEngine !

 

I'm curious: Are you saying Lucas Art licensed your engine for Fracture or just that your engine could be used to create something similar?

 

I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

 

The engine could be used to create the same ground deformation

 

Would your engine work on mobile devices?

 

Yes , with lower Terrain Size.

 

Are there any apps on any app stores using it right now?

 

Do you have a demo of that....

 

All functions are developed for the deformation, so it is possible with your own scripts to do exactly the same as Fracture.

@kenlem : No there is not yet available application, but there is a project that is being developed with the TerrainEngine on iPad.

 

New Video : Voxel , MineCraft Like : Engine Test

Work In Progress : Fluids And Transparent Block (Water,Leaves, Etc..).