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PayPalThe developer behind the fun indie hit Vox a voxel based, action, adventure and creation game with a big focus on player created content has re-confirmed their plans for the Linux version. The good news is that the major content patch is now out, so once dust settles on that the Linux version will come!
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Now before you go screaming "Miiiiiinecraft rip!" it is nothing close to Minecraft. Just to get that out the way.
The developer confirmed on twitter through multiple tweets to me today that once the dust has settled on this major patch that just went out and they have rested a bit, the Linux version will come.
@gamingonlinux yo are right to check at this point! After the patch dust settles I will be dusting by down the Linux version. :)
— AlwaysGeeky (@AlwaysGeeky) May 1, 2014
There are other tweets, see the full conversation here.
I really can't wait to get my hands on it, it came with something I purchased on IndieGameStand quite some time ago, so I already own it on Steam ready to video it for you guys to see it in all of it's glory.
About
Vox features a completely customization in-game voxel engine that is used to power all the content in the game, this means everything from characters, monsters, items, weapons, flowers, trees and even the world itself is all made from the same basic voxel objects. This means that as a player you are able to edit and customize all of these items using the in-game 'voxel editor'. Don't like the look of the fancy new sword you have just looted? That's fine just open it up in the voxel editor and change it to how you want it to look! You can also decorate your house and the world with as much custom scenery as you like all made using the very same voxel editor. All the objects and content in Vox is there for you to play around with and customize to your heart's content.
Main features of Vox:
- Full 100% character creation. Use preset parts, or completely build a character from scratch, block by block.
- Generate dynamic and random worlds that are fully destructible, every single block can be edited.
- Different and distinct world biomes: forest, jungle, desert, snowy mountains, tundra, floating islands, graveyard, frozen wasteland, and more planned...
- Weapon/item/equipment customization.
- 'Zelda' style 3D targeting and combat camera lock-on system.
- Play in first person or 3rd person camera modes.
- Mining and world exploration to find hidden treasures.
- Advanced rendering shaders including deferred rendering, SSAO, shadows, dynamic lighting, depth of field.
- Villages with NPCs and a questing system.
- Crafting system.
- Character progression and leveling system.
- Monsters, bosses, dungeons.
- Monster editor.
- Quest editor.
- NPC creator.
- Multiplayer modes (co-op and PVP).
Once the Linux version is out, we may give a key away to who can make the best looking Tux character. This is what I love about Vox, you literally can build your own character.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
but those 2 games dont seem to support linux... so its interesting to see.
hmm Cube World and Trove look exactly like this...
but those 2 games dont seem to support linux... so its interesting to see.
Well Cube World is much more of an exploration RPG. Can't speak for Trove though.
Anyways it looks interesting. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out. I'm a sucker for pixel and voxel looks. I should say good pixel and voxel art. A lot of mixed reviews on Steam about performance. Which is probably right because even emulating voxel data with cube primitives requires a lot of data that has to be looked through. Probably more of an issue of how the data is stored. I'm working on an emulated voxel engine for fun and I've see what happens with all the data required for proper voxel emulation.
Voxel looking games is just a hot art style (after MC became popular). I highly doubt they are using real voxels. They are probably emulating it with cube primitives. Real voxels require volumetric rendering. Look at Voxel Quest http://www.voxelquest.com/ that guy built his graphics using real voxels. We likely won't see a lot of true voxel games for a long time because modern GPUs are designed for polygons not massive voxel data.real voxels aren't that far away, look at the voxelfarm engine, it's being used in the upcoming everquest next and uses opengl, and looks increadibly good
Anyways it looks interesting. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out. I'm a sucker for pixel and voxel looks. I should say good pixel and voxel art. A lot of mixed reviews on Steam about performance. Which is probably right because even emulating voxel data with cube primitives requires a lot of data that has to be looked through. Probably more of an issue of how the data is stored. I'm working on an emulated voxel engine for fun and I've see what happens with all the data required for proper voxel emulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZTk2hDAEQ
real voxels aren't that far away, look at the voxelfarm engine, it's being used in the upcoming everquest next and uses opengl, and looks increadibly good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZTk2hDAEQ
Indeed there have been some nice advancements but I believe in the TSG interview from Humble Miguel stated that the engine EQ is using is a hybrid. It does use voxels but not everything is a voxel. A pure voxel engine is still a little behind the performance of polygons right now but there are tricks to make it faster by using a hybrid system. Things like the marching cube algorithm, calculating which voxels need to be computed vs which ones are hidden. I believe you could also use GLSL to handle a lot of the work but I think most people are using the CPU for voxel calculation. You also have to remember that engines similar to MC are probably storing data for every voxel in certain range, even if it isn't being displayed. It comes to a memory and CPU constraint at that point when you need to calculate off that much data.
Either way I'm a fan of voxels and there are people much smarter than myself finding tricks to make it work. For now I believe that a hybrid system is best for performance.
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