BUILD2 Demo and Tools

In the summer of 2006, I was mentoring a smart local kid how to do 3D graphics on the CPU. What started as a simple rotating texture-mapped cube turned into a full blown successor to the Build Engine. By 2007, Build2 was far enough along to be used at a summer camp. At the camp, the kids signed up to create their own 3D games. The kids got to learn something and make their own 3D games, while I got free beta testing and a negligible salary for 2 weeks. It was a tough job, but it was rewarding in the end. So I continued doing it for 2 more summers. Then the camp suddenly lost enrollment and with no reason to continue on the project, I lost interest.

Many of the features in BUILD2 were things I planned to do with the original Build Engine, but never had a chance to try back then. I'd say the most difficult feature by far to implement was the dynamic lighting with shadows.

Here are some new features of BUILD2 over the classic Build Engine:

Native Windows, 32-bit color, 6 degrees of freedom, pure CPU rendering

Native support for sector over sector (SOS).

Advanced lighting system with true dynamic shadows, colors, spotlights.

Multi-user editing with client-side prediction.

Powerful scripting compiler in EVALDRAW.

Full RGB color mapping.

Voxel sprite support.

Skybox support.

No sector/wall/sprite count limits.

There are a few relatively minor things missing in BUILD2 that the original Build Engine had. Most notably - transparency. Also missing is the built-in texture animation, but that can easily be simulated in the script.

BUILD2_LITE.ZIP (1,011,428 bytes, 07/29/2019) Includes Build2 editor and Evaldraw sample scripts. (7/29 version: Updated BUILD2.EXE with fixed mouse code)

BUILD2_SRC.ZIP (306,605 bytes, 06/08/2019) Source code for Build2 editor and minimalistic sample game. I have updated BUILD2.TXT in BUILD2_LITE.ZIP with information about the source code.

NOTE: I've been getting complaints about antivirus software not liking the EXEs in the above archive. It could be my extensive use of assembly language, self-modifying code, UDP/TCP routines (when the user elects to multi-edit), or usage of 10 year old Windows routines like DirectX9 (this is a 10 year old project after all). I do not write malicious software. The latest BUILD2.EXE (07/29/2019) should have a CRC-32 of 0xf49e7a5c.

CuteFloor has put together a nice video showing my earlier attempts at a Build successor as well as BUILD2: