Destrum/Readme.md

Destrum

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)
• 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
• 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.

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 🙏