Atlas Engine

Atlas is a Game Engine that uses the latest technologies to provide a fast, simple but powerful experience for developers. It is built with C++ and uses OpenGL, Vulkan and Metal for rendering. It also has a physics engine, an audio engine, a terrain system, an environment system and a debugging system with more to come.

Features

• Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, Linux although the main focus is on macOS.
• Fast graphics rendering with OpenGL, Vulkan and Metal (via Opal)
• Simple and intuitive API
• Physics engine (Bezel)
• Audio engine (Finewave)
• Terrain system (Aurora)
• Environment system (Hydra)
• Debugging system (Tracer)
• Global illumination and path tracing (Photon)
• UI library (Graphite)
• Powerful CLI tool for project management and build automation
• Asset management
• Intuitive C++ scripting mode

Engine Architecture

• The main renderer is Atlas. Atlas is the one in charge of the graphics rendering, input handling, window management and more.
• The physics engine is Bezel. Bezel is a separate library that handles all the physics calculations and simulations.
• The audio engine is Finewave. Finewave is a separate library that handles all the audio playback and processing.
• The terrain system is Aurora. Aurora is a separate library that handles terrain generation and rendering.
• The environment system is Hydra. Hydra is a separate library that handles sky, atmosphere, weather and fluid simulation.
• The rendering backend is Opal, an in-house rendering abstraction layer that allows for easy switching between different graphics APIs.
• The debugging system is Tracer. Tracer is a module in the engine that provides various debugging tools and utilities.
• The illumination engine is Photon. Photon is a module in the engine that handles global illumination and path tracing.
• The UI library is Graphite. Graphite is a module in the engine that provides a set of tools and components for creating user interfaces.

Getting the Engine

Go to the releases page here to download the latest version of Atlas. Then you can follow the instructions in the documentation to get started.

atlas create myProject

Atlas CLI Workflow

The CLI now provides a full project lifecycle:

atlas create myProject
atlas build
atlas run
atlas pack
atlas clangd

Project Creation Experience

• atlas create offers an interactive terminal flow.
• You can choose:
  • release version (from available GitHub releases)
  • target platform (macOS, Windows, Linux)
  • rendering backend (METAL, OPENGL, VULKAN)
• It downloads compiler-independent prelinked macOS libraries:
  • macOS-atlas-metal.a
  • macOS-atlas-opengl.a
  • macOS-atlas-vulkan.a
• It can optionally create/switch to a new git branch right after scaffolding.

Release Output

Running:

just release

now produces:

• dist/release/macOS-atlas-metal.a
• dist/release/macOS-atlas-opengl.a
• dist/release/macOS-atlas-vulkan.a

Each archive bundles Atlas and its internal engine modules into one static archive per backend.

Build / Run / Pack / Clangd

• atlas build configures and builds using the backend from project.atlas.
• atlas run builds then runs the produced executable.
• atlas pack creates distributable output from the configured Atlas runtime and project resources:
  • macOS: .app bundle in dist/
  • other platforms: executable in dist/
• atlas clangd generates build/compile_commands.json and exposes it at project root as compile_commands.json.

You can override backend per command:

atlas build --backend VULKAN
atlas run --backend OPENGL
atlas pack --backend METAL
atlas clangd --backend METAL

Building from Source

To build the engine from source, you will need to have CMake and a C++ compiler installed on your system. Then you can clone the repository and build the engine using the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/neutralsoftware/atlas.git
cd atlas
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

You can then run the engine using the following command:

./Atlas

Be sure to check the documentation for more detailed instructions on building and running the engine.