Destrum is a C++20 Vulkan rendering/game-engine playground. It contains the core destrum engine library, a demo application called lightkeeper, and an asset-cooking toolchain powered by TheChef.

Features

Vulkan rendering backend
SDL2 window/input setup
Scene, GameObject, Component, and Transform systems
Mesh and material caching
GLTF/FBX model loading
Skeletal animation support
Skybox/cubemap rendering
Asset cooking pipeline for engine and game assets
Editor library: docked viewport, play/pause/stop, undo/redo, click to select, gizmos, asset browser
Stable asset ids (.meta files) and material files (.dmat)
HDR rendering with exposure and tonemapping (ACES, Khronos PBR Neutral)
3D audio through OpenAL Soft (AudioSource / AudioListener, WAV and OGG)
CMake-based build setup with third-party dependencies as submodules

Repository layout

.
├── cmake/          # Shader compilation CMake helpers
├── destrum/        # Core engine library
│   ├── include/    # Public engine headers
│   ├── src/        # Engine implementation
│   ├── assets_src/ # Source engine assets
│   └── third_party/# Vendored/submodule dependencies
├── editor/         # Editor library (destrum::editor), attached to a game at startup
├── docs/           # How the engine pieces work
├── lightkeeper/    # Demo/game executable using Destrum
│   ├── include/
│   ├── src/
│   └── assets_src/
├── TheChef/        # Asset cooking tool
└── CMakeLists.txt

Requirements

CMake 3.31 or newer
C++20 compiler
Vulkan SDK
Git with submodule support

On Windows, MSVC is supported.

Dependencies

Most dependencies are included as Git submodules:

SDL2
volk
vk-bootstrap
Vulkan Memory Allocator
GLM
nlohmann/json
spdlog
stb (image, vorbis)
OpenAL Soft
tinygltf
tinyexr
Assimp
FreeType
fmt

Getting started

Clone the repository with submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://git.brammie15.dev/brammie15/Destrum.git
cd Destrum

Configure the project:

cmake -S . -B build

Build everything:

cmake --build build --config Release

Run the first-party regression tests:

ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure

Run the demo executable:

./build/lightkeeper/Release/lightkeeper.exe

For single-configuration generators, use the executable path produced by that generator instead. Runtime assets are placed beside the executable in both layouts.

Asset cooking

Assets are cooked automatically as part of the build through the TheChef tool.

You can also run the top-level custom targets manually:

cmake --build build --target CookAssets
cmake --build build --target CleanupAssets
cmake --build build --target ValidateShaders

CookAssets processes both engine and game assets. CleanupAssets removes generated runtime asset output. ValidateShaders runs spirv-val over the cooked engine shaders when the Vulkan SDK provides it.

Export a folder other people can run (the game, its DLLs and every cooked asset packed into one assets.dpak):

cmake --build build --config Release --target Export

It ends up in build/export/Release/lightkeeper/, plus a lightkeeper.zip next to it. On Windows, export.bat does the same and opens the folder. TheChef --list build/export/Release/lightkeeper/assets.dpak shows what takes up the space. See docs/CookedAssets.md.

Install the application, engine library, public headers, and runtime assets:

cmake --install build --config Release

Demo app

lightkeeper is the current demo application. It loads its level from lightkeeper/assets_src/scenes/main.scene and starts in the editor. Press F5 to play, or run lightkeeper --game to skip the editor. See docs/Editor.md.

Development notes

The engine code lives in destrum/. Public headers are under destrum/include/destrum, and implementation files are under destrum/src.

The main engine target is exposed as:

destrum::destrum

Game/demo targets can link against it:

target_link_libraries(my_game PRIVATE destrum::destrum destrum::editor)

The editor is optional, a game without it links only destrum::destrum.

License

Do what you want dawgs 🙏