vorfract

- What exactly is this?

- Well, if you've ever wanted to build your own voxel castle or humble cottage in your own voxel world down to the smallest teensiest voxely detail, with pointy blue roofs and slanted walls, with your own custom built (and designed) tables, chairs and all the shapes that no cubes however small could ever take, then this is for you.

- Aha, I see. But aren't voxels supposed to be blocky or square?

- That's right, they are. Those are regular (cubic) voxels while these are called Voronoi/cellular/irregular voxels or more briefly, just cells.

Except for their shape, which can be pretty much anything (when combined), they function just the same as regular voxels and can be recursively subdivided into other smaller and smaller cells. And as everyone knows, cells are the building blocks of life.

- Oh OK, I had no idea. So, since they're voxels, can I mine them?

- Yes. You can dig them or break them into smaller cells. You won't find any gold though.

Why? Because first you need supernovae, neutron stars and black holes before you can have gold.

And so without the neutron stars and all that prior infrastructure, gold just isn't able to arrive into the world. But it will eventually, it will.

Until then however, rocks, bricks, sand and wood are fully available to satisfy the creative urges.

- Intriguing. So in other words, this is an early version..

- Well, yes, that is correct. The only thing I would add is that this is a unique (and never-to-be-repeated) opportunity for having an authentic early version experience and you're invited along for the journey. It's raw, honest and uncooked and contains all the usual "features" and problems that the brave explorers of early versions have come to expect, appreciate and delight in. And yes, (random!!) exasperating crashes are also included, so that you can enjoy a truly complete original early version experience. And let me tell you, finding that "right" balance between too many or too few crashes that early versions strive for can be akin to an art form.

Though at the same time, the game is also evolving, slowly growing up. And just as a seed labors in the dark in order to one day turn into a mighty oak, so too here things hidden are changing, moving unseen, waiting for their time to come forth and bring life into the world.

But until that time comes, it's still very much early dawn, the beginning of the first day and a promise of things not yet born.

- That sounds wonderful. Very unique and authentic. But what is the main difference between the Desktop and the Web version?

- The main difference is the memory available. The desktop version is 64-bits and can use all the memory available on a PC, while the web version is 32-bits and it will quickly run out of memory for anything but the smaller maps (as it's limited to the 2GB threshold). Disabling the cell edge generation will help free up some memory, but other than that, the memory barrier is rock solid at the present time.

Moreover, the performance is much better in the desktop version (at least on my computer) and there are more anti-aliasing samples available (16X and 32X, if the video card supports it, which is visually significant when compared to the 8x cap in WebGL).

And last but not least, the web version is completely free while the desktop version is paid. This means that buying the desktop version is also a (good) way of saying you're actually curious to see where this project is heading.

If that describes you dear reader, then thank you, I am grateful.

- Understood. Can you elaborate on the paid version?

- Now, concerning the payment, it covers all the versions that will be uploaded until the first version that can be called a 'release version'.

When will that be? The release version will come when the world is ready, when it has the depth, the life, and the challenge it deserves. Until then, every version released or bought and every single play brings that day closer and closer and I am grateful for your part in it.

What I do know is that the release version, in order to be called that, will include all the features (polished and complete) that are needed in an actual game, like a challenge/survival mode, plants and animals and nice things like that.

And that is what I have to say for now. Stay tuned.

Minimum system requirements:

Desktop version: OpenGL 3.3 on Windows 64-bit (x86) desktop systems.

Web version: WASM + WebGL 2.0 in Chrome/Firefox.

RAM: Minimum 2GB, but ideally between 4GB and 8GB available (Windows 64-bit only).