survivalProject

A custom 2D game engine and sandbox game built from scratch with C++ and SDL3, designed to create a Terraria-style experience with a strong focus on performance and accessibility.

Project Overview

This project aims to create a fully-featured 2D sandbox game engine that can run smoothly on a wide range of hardware, from low-end to high-end systems. Built from the ground up without relying on existing game engines, it includes:

• A lightweight, high-performance game engine core
• Efficient tile-based world system using TMX format
• Optimized rendering pipeline for smooth gameplay
• Cross-platform compatibility through SDL3
• Minimal hardware requirements for maximum accessibility

Dependencies

• C++17
• SDL4
• TinyXML (for TMX map parsing)
• Make (for building)

Building the Project

Linux

1. Install required dependencies:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libsdl3-dev

2. Clone the repository (if not already cloned)

3. Build the project:

   make

4. Run the game:

   ./survivalProject

Project Structure

• src/ - Source code
  • Assets/ - Asset management
  • Camera/ - Camera system
  • Characters/ - Player and character logic
  • Core/ - Core engine components
  • Graphics/ - Rendering and texture management
  • Inputs/ - Input handling
  • Map/ - Map loading and management
  • Object/ - Game object system
  • Physics/ - Collision detection
  • Timer/ - Game timing
• assets/ - Game assets
  • fonts/ - Font files
  • maps/ - Game maps in TMX format
  • sprites/ - Sprite sheets and textures

Features & Goals

• Performance First: Optimized to run smoothly on a wide range of hardware
• Terraria-inspired Gameplay: Sandbox mechanics with exploration and building
• Efficient Rendering: Custom rendering system designed for 2D tile-based worlds
• Low System Requirements: Playable on older and less powerful computers
• Modular Architecture: Clean, maintainable codebase for easy extension
• Cross-platform: Built with SDL3 for broad system compatibility

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• SDL3 for the multimedia library
• TinyXML for XML parsing