3D Game Engine + Landing Sim From Scratch


Concise Summary:

Concept and Inspiration:

The concept of this project and game was to make a 3D game engine and space-flight simulator from scratch in c++. The idea came about from a course I took at San Jose State University on game development. I wanted to learn how to use light systems, particle systems, raycasts, UI elements, multiple cameras, and much more for practice.

Team and Team Size:

This project was a class assignment that had to be completed without outside help, so it was only me developing the engine and the game. However, I was provided a houdini 3D Mesh to work with by my professor Kevin Smith.


Main design goals:

  • 5-light system consisting of key-light, fill-light etc.
  • Multiple camera angles
  • Functioning altitude via raycast
  • Proper collision detection and velocity detection upon landing
  • Scoring system based on good landing, medium landing, bad landing
  • Physics simulation
  • Particle Systems
  • Sound System

    • Main Challenges Faced:

  • Realistic Collision Detection
  • Particle System That Follows Lander
  • Octree collision detection with bounding boxes
  • Physics Systems like Drag/Gravity

    • Tools and Technologies Used:

  • Microsoft openFrameworks
  • Visual Studio Code
  • C++

    • Demonstration video