Faset is an independent engine project for desktop 2D and 3D games on Linux and Windows. Its priorities are a custom editor that is comfortable to use by hand and through MCP, integration with Blender, and a path toward advanced graphics.

Current status: the C++ MVP is accepted for the recorded Linux and Windows test profiles; Lua and P2 GPU visibility were added afterward. The MVP includes the native Editor, shared GUI/MCP authoring, gameplay builds, Vulkan Player, Blender import and standalone export. Both playable games passed Release export and relocated execution on both operating systems. P2 adds optional GPU frustum and two-pass HZB occlusion modes, fixed indirect mesh bins, prepared mesh LOD selection, and an Editor HZB diagnostic view. Direct remains the default and comparison reference; an exported Player can explicitly select a mode with --visibility direct|gpu-frustum|gpu-occlusion. P2 GPU acceptance and measurements cover the Linux reference device, with a separate software-Vulkan functional check; Windows P2 and additional physical GPUs need separate validation. The first Debug/validation benchmark exposed slow GPU culling; device-local outputs and a bounded atomic append improved the same synthetic workloads in the repeat. Neither run establishes a general game-speed benefit. Windows MVP graphics acceptance used software Vulkan. See the MVP acceptance dossier, P2 Linux evidence, P2 acceptance protocol, initial benchmark, optimized benchmark, and implementation checkpoints for exact scope and limits.

Start here

User manual — learn C++ gameplay and follow working examples; maintained alongside implementation.
Development plan — milestones through MVP, acceptance criteria, and development beyond MVP.
Architecture — accepted decisions and subsystem boundaries.
Documentation — navigation and maintenance rules.
Source studies — Unreal Engine, Godot, Unity, Blender, ECS, graphics, asset import, and builds.
Dependencies and independence — libraries, tools, and source provenance.
Toolchain profiles — recorded compilers, SDKs, graphics devices and offline preparation.

After following the manual's build setup, run build/linux-debug/faset_editor (or build/windows-debug/faset_editor.exe) to open the project launcher. The collect-2d and collect-3d projects include playable C++ examples; the 3D example includes an original Blender asset and import instructions. Import its Assets/exit-arch/manifest.json once before Play, including after clearing its cache.

Language

English is the primary language of the engine: editor UI, built-in commands, diagnostics, public API identifiers, and CLI/MCP tool descriptions. Project content and user-entered text support Unicode; the engine's interface language does not dictate the language of a game.

This README is in English. The current planning documents, studies, and research map are primarily in Russian. Editor localization is a later milestone.

Accepted foundation

C++ for the core and native gameplay. Lua 5.4 is an optional sandboxed gameplay module, with Inspector schemas, development reload, and standalone export. See the Lua guide.
Objects, components, and nested scene templates for authoring; EnTT for the runtime ECS. JSON authoring data, stable IDs, and cooked binary assets for export.
A custom Vulkan 1.3 backend, RenderGraph, and renderer. The backend calls Vulkan directly; gameplay uses Faset APIs. Slang compiles shaders, including compatible HLSL, to SPIR-V. The baseline renderer does not require ray tracing.
SDL3 behind Faset's platform API; Box2D and Box3D for physics.
A custom retained-mode editor UI with C++ behavior, declarative layout, separate styles, and a dark theme by default. Dear ImGui is reserved for debugging tools.
CMake + Ninja + Clang; Windows uses clang-cl, the Windows SDK, and MSVC runtime libraries. Initial builds are tested on their target OS.
A separate Player process, statically linked with gameplay. The C++ iteration cycle is stop, incrementally rebuild, and restart.
Editor-only MCP: authoring, assets, import, builds, export, Play/Stop, and editor diagnostics. MCP is absent from the Player and exported games.
Standard, unmodified Blender, glTF/GLB import, and an optional add-on for convenient export and stable IDs.

The MVP provides two small games, one 2D and one 3D, with scene editing, C++ behavior, physics, Play and standalone export. A Lua-only example demonstrates the optional scripting module. P2 GPU visibility applies to opaque static meshes; ordered sprites/UI and the shadow pass keep their separate rendering paths. Its LOD policy chooses among meshes supplied by the project; automatic LOD generation, advanced shadows, temporal reconstruction and dynamic global illumination remain future work. See profiling guidance before interpreting full-frame measurements.

Run the research map

Requires Node.js and npm. From the repository root:

cd docs/studies/map
npm ci
npm test
npm run build
npm start

Open localhost:4178. The map is a documentation viewer, not a web version of the Faset editor. See the map README for details.

Repository contents

Faset's C++ source, tests, sample games, Blender add-on, Manual, architecture, studies, selected validation evidence, and research map are tracked in Git. Third-party engine source trees, installed dependencies, build outputs, and caches are excluded. Research source links are pinned to the commits examined; Unreal Engine links may require access through Epic.

See the publication notes for publication scope and licensing status. A license for Faset's own content has not yet been selected. Third-party projects retain their own license terms.