VIVIA
🧪 View animated test results — 224 passed / 225 total →
A complete voxel survival sandbox with AI-powered terrain, multiplayer networking, and a custom neural network — built from scratch in Rust. Premiering on Epic Games Store, August 2026.
VIVIA: Beyond the Known (internally NV_ENGINE, repository: NV2_ENGINE) is a
shipped commercial voxel game written in Rust (47 source files, 15,800+
lines). It features procedural terrain generation with real-world NASA climate
data, an embedded neural network (MeMLP) that learns vegetation placement
while you play, a full mob system with AI-generated 3D models, multiplayer
TCP networking, procedural audio, and a survival gameplay loop — all rendered
on GPU via wgpu.
Developer: Terra Nova Gameworks · Version: 1.0.0 · Price: $9.99 (launch $7.49) Platforms: Linux, Windows · Stores: Epic Games Store, itch.io
Stack: Rust 2021 · wgpu 0.20 · winit 0.30 · cgmath 0.18 · OpenSimplex2 · rayon · tokio · ndarray · meshopt · bincode · rodio · fontdue · bytemuck · Epic Online Services · C#/.NET 8 (content tools) · Python (AI/texture tools)
Feature matrix
World & terrain
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Procedural generation | OpenSimplex2 heightmaps, caves, ores, water-aware column sampling |
| Chunk dimensions | 16×512×16 — double-height chunks (raised from 256) for tall mountains & deep caves |
| Biomes | 9 climate-driven biomes: Ocean, Coast, Plains, Forest, Dark Forest, Swamp, Taiga, Desert, Mountains |
| Climate model | Temperature + humidity drive block distribution, vegetation density, fog and ambient color |
| Generation channels | Dedicated OpenSimplex channels + seeds for continent shape, temperature, humidity, erosion, peaks/relief, height/detail, warp, caves, ores, water |
| Async generation | Bounded work queue, in-flight dedup, rayon parallel generation, mpsc delivery to main thread |
AI-driven vegetation — MeMLP
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Architecture | MeMLP (Modular embedded Multi-layer Perceptron Model) — modular, in-process, pure CPU, one JSON checkpoint |
| Vegetation head | Deep MLP 8→24→16→4, ~0.3 µs/prediction (3.4 M/s) |
| Biome head | 8→12→9 — biome classification driving biome-aware decorations |
| Texture head | 8→12→6 — procedural texture-style selection |
| Input features | 8 terrain features: height, slope, temperature, humidity, water distance, plant density, light, noise seed |
| Output classes | 4 vegetation classes: flowers, ferns/water plants, sticks/decorations, pebbles/rocks |
| Background training | Continuous thread, 240+ samples/epoch across all heads, <1% CPU overhead |
| Training method | Online SGD + cross-entropy, backprop through all layers; trains on player feedback, online climate data (offline-safe) and synthetic samples |
| Checkpoints | Single JSON file; legacy 8→16→4 checkpoints migrate automatically |
| Vegetation blocks | 22 new block types: roses, tulips (4 colors), dandelions, cornflower, allium, azalea, ferns, lily pads, seagrass, kelp, moss carpet, vines, sticks, pebbles |
| Confidence threshold | 0.40 — only high-confidence predictions place blocks |
Rendering (wgpu 0.20)
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Per-chunk GPU buffers | A block edit re-uploads only that chunk (previously ~81 chunks per change) |
| Frustum culling | Gribb–Hartmann plane extraction with safety margin + protected 3×3 area around player |
| Packed vertices | 72-byte CPU vertices → 36-byte GPU format (Snorm8x4/Unorm8x4) |
| Incremental water meshing | Only changed chunks rebuild; interval-based simulation |
| Separate pipelines | Solid world, water, flat UI panels, sprite UI icons, text rendering |
| Texture atlas | Dynamic atlas, switchable texture packs, top/bottom/side variants |
| Text rendering | fontdue rasterization, custom text layers |
Gameplay
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Block interaction | DDA raycast targeting, held-break mining, right-click placement |
| Tool tiers | Hand → Flint → Stone → Iron → Diamond → Netherite, with power values and durability |
| Inventory | 36-slot inventory + 9-slot hotbar, stack merging, drag-and-drop |
| Crafting | 2×2 player grid + 3×3 NVCrafter station, shaped & shapeless recipes |
| Recipes | 18 recipes: planks, sticks, NVCrafter, wooden pickaxe/axe/shovel/hoe, torches, chest, door, trapdoor, ladder, fence, fence gate, workbench upgrade, flint/stone/iron pickaxes |
| Movement | Walk, sprint (FOV kick), jump, flight, water gravity/sinking, AABB collision, foliage movement modifiers |
| Commands | /locate <biome> [--tp], /tp <x> <y> <z>, /attack |
| Persistence | JSON world saves (seed, chunk blocks, water metadata, NVCrafter states) |
| Left-click attack | attack_nearest() with 0.4s cooldown — default mouse button when cursor locked |
Mob system
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Enemies | 36 hostile mobs across 11 families: Frost Hound, Sand Reaper, Bone Colossus, Void Wraith, Ash Crawler, Lava Brute, Swamp Toxin, Plague Mother, Wretched Flyer, Shadow Stalker, World Serpent, Iron Golem, Night Wisp, Deep Maw, Sand Hydra |
| Animals | 41 passive mobs: Deer, Rabbit, Wolf, Bear, Eagle, Chicken, Horse, Pig, Cow, Sheep, Cat, Dog, Turtle, Frog, Snake, Bat, Mouse, Fox, Boar, Bee |
| AI | Melee/ranged/hunter/guardian behavior per family, 15-attack damage spread, attack_nearest(), attack_closest_enemy(), attack_weakest() |
| 3D models | 11 GLB mesh files (ARACHNID, BOSS, BRUTE, CANID, CRAWLER, FLYER, GOLEM, HUMANOID, WISP, WORM, WRAITH) with meshopt optimization, tint + scale in shader |
| Families | 11 base shapes cover 77/100 mobs; 23 small animals use voxel fallback |
Multiplayer
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Networking | TCP (tokio async), length-prefixed bincode serialization, 20Hz tick rate |
| Protocol | 18 packet types: Join, Leave, GameState, Input, Chat, Ping, etc. |
| Server | Headless TCP server (--server --port 26400 --seed 42), server authoritative |
| Client | --connect <addr> --name <nick>, crossbeam channels (sync ↔ async) |
| NAT traversal | playit.gg — zero cost, 4-100 players |
| Remote players | Rendered as humanoid cubes with blue tint |
| Shared seed | Server and client use identical world generation seed |
Special gameplay logic
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Flint drops | Gravel can drop flint via deterministic seeded logic |
| Tree harvesting | Destroying a trunk harvests the connected trunk/leaves cluster |
| Leaf drops | Leaves drop saplings and sticks with deterministic odds |
| Crafter flush | Breaking an NVCrafter flushes stored contents into world drops |
| Placement guard | Blocks cannot be placed inside the player AABB |
Quick start
Requires a Rust toolchain (stable is enough) and a GPU with Vulkan/Metal/DX12/GL support.
cd Core
cargo run --release
The game opens a window with the main menu:
| Menu item | Action |
|---|---|
| New Game | Start a new procedurally generated world |
| Load/Save | Load the saved world |
| Low-End-PC | Toggle the low-end performance profile |
| Quit | Exit |
Note:
cargo runin dev mode already builds third-party crates atopt-level 3, so even a debug build plays smoothly.
CLI flags:
| Flag | Action |
|---|---|
--server |
Run headless multiplayer server (no GPU/okna) |
--port |
Server port (default: 26400) |
--seed |
World generation seed |
--connect <addr> |
Connect to multiplayer server |
--name <nick> |
Set player nickname |
--autostart |
Skip main menu, start new game immediately |
--night |
Start at night (for testing) |
First minutes in-game: spawn near a forest → punch trees with your bare
hands → gather wood → open the 2×2 crafting grid (E) → craft wooden
planks → sticks → a wooden pickaxe → mine stone → craft a stone pickaxe →
mine iron → eventually craft an NVCrafter for 3×3 recipes.
Multiplayer (local):
# Terminal 1 — server
cargo run --release -- --server --seed 42
# Terminal 2 — player 1
cargo run --release -- --connect 127.0.0.1:26400 --name Alice
# Terminal 3 — player 2
cargo run --release -- --connect 127.0.0.1:26400 --name Bob
Multiplayer (internet via playit.gg): see MULTIPLAYER.md
Documentation index
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Full runtime, renderer, world, UI layering — module by module |
| Gameplay | Controls, interaction, inventory, crafting, commands, persistence |
| Blocks & Biomes | Complete 97-block registry, tool tiers, 9 biome definitions, ores |
| Crafting Reference | Every recipe with exact patterns |
| Water Simulation | Liquid encoding, solver, and rendering internals |
| AI Vegetation System | Network math, training loop, hyperparameters, integration |
| Performance | GPU bandwidth, culling, meshing budgets, profiles |
| Development | Build, module map, testing, extending the engine |
| Roadmap & Changelog | History, Phase 2 plans, known limitations |
🚀 VIVIA: Beyond the Known — Epic Games Store Launch
Premiere: August 2026 (Monday) · Price: $9.99 (launch promo $7.49) Publisher: Terra Nova Gameworks · Stores: Epic Games Store + itch.io
The project was renamed from NV2 Engine to VIVIA: Beyond the Known for
the commercial release. The internal engine code retains the NV_ENGINE prefix;
the game title on all store pages and marketing material is VIVIA.
Build pipeline
- Linux + Windows builds via
build.sh - GitHub Actions CI (
.github/workflows/windows-build.yml) - Epic Games Store submission kit:
EGS/directory with manifest, build, store assets - Store assets: capsule art (5 sizes) + gameplay screenshots in
store_assets/
Engine stats at launch
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Source files | 47 .rs files + 10 .wgsl shaders |
| Test cases | 224 passed / 225 total (3 ignored) |
| GLB models | 11 AI mesh families, ~45 MB total |
| Block types | 97 |
| Biomes | 9 climate-driven |
| Mob families | 11 base shapes, 77/100 mobs covered |
| Multiplayer | TCP, 20Hz tick, headless server mode |