Devlog #1
Hello everyone! I hope everyone reading this is doing well and feeling as excited about the Stardance challenge as I am.

I have been working on a game for some time, and it is gradually becoming my dream game. Right now, we have a voxel game running at up to 4,000 FPS on an RTX 3070 at a 20-chunk render distance on low settings. It already includes crafting, distinct world generation, an inventory system, local-network multiplayer, and a fairly elaborate modding API.

Like many teenagers, Minecraft was a major part of my childhood. Its possibilities fascinated me, and I spent a lot of time talking with friends about inventions and projects we could build together. Eventually, though, I began to find parts of the game tedious, limiting, and unrewarding.

Around the same time, I got into programming. I became interested in open-source software, customization, optimization, and strong design philosophies. That made me think again about what I had actually loved about Minecraft.

I also started learning Vulkan, probably the hardest technical subject I have attempted so far. After about half a year, I had built a renderer capable of drawing simple shapes with vertex and index buffers, along with swapchain recreation for window resizing.

Then something clicked:
I wanted to build the game I had wanted Minecraft to be.

I realized that what I loved most about Minecraft came down to two things. The first was invention: building, experimenting, and uncovering your own world. The second was people. Multiplayer gave everything meaning through conversations, pranks, alliances, wars, and large collaborative plans.

My goal became to create a focused multiplayer sandbox built around creativity, invention, and meaningful interaction. The game should be defined by a simple and enjoyable ruleset—not tedious simulation, but a foundation for experimentation and freedom.

Implemented:
Open source
Procedural generation across all three axes
Extensive moddability, including menus and game mechanics
Strong performance
Element-based blocks that derive properties from their materials
Cross-platform graphics through Vulkan

In progress:
More multiplayer-focused features
Physics and simulation optimized for fun
Distinct scenery that is rewarding to explore

Both the game and its custom Vulkan renderer are written in Rust. The renderer uses Ash, a set of Rust bindings for Vulkan. Rust is a good fit because it is fast, modern, and memory-safe.

An important disclaimer is that much of the implementation has been produced with help from AI models such as Claude and ChatGPT. I created the central concept, design direction, documentation, and early renderer work, including roughly the first twenty commits. I also make technical decisions, review and test the results, and coordinate the project. A friend has helped with some of the more recent development.

The next devlog will be faster-paced and more technical, with more focus on the actual development process and recent progress. Thanks for reading!