Project Overview

Technology

 * What 3d engine are we using? What version?
 * We are using the Irrlicht Engine.


 * How are we using voxels in Minetest?


 * Do you render polygons or voxels?


 * What rendering techniques should a new developper read about? Maybe from GPU gems / Wikipedia or similar materials?


 * How many voxels do we have in a block? What is the resolution of the voxels in a block?
 * A "block" is made up out of 16x16x16 nodes/voxels.


 * How do we manage frustum, culling, drawing back faces, deciding what to draw, etc?


 * Is there a classes diagram somewhere so I could understand the role, responsibilities and interactions for each classes and between them? Do you have use cases?


 * How do we manage dependencies between mods?

Project Goals

 * I understand that keeping Minetest usable by older computers is a project goal. What are the other goals?


 * Is there a semi-official fork with more advanced features or the forks are individual efforts?


 * As it is the game is very similar to Minecraft. Is this project a clone of Minecraft? If not, how do you intend to make Minetest unique?

How to Contribute

 * What are the most important issues with the code right now?


 * Why is it important to fix these issues?


 * Is there some particularities with the code that a newcomer need to understand before contributing?


 * Is there some parts of the code that need to be recoded or re-factorized?


 * What parts of the code could be optimized?


 * What is the difference between the Minetest package and the Minetest Game package?

Existing discussions

 * Can you provide a list of existing discussions about those features so a newcomer could see what has been discussed before:
 * Shaders
 * Physics
 * This thread talks about implementing a physics engine and the usual policy about contributing new features.
 * Typical 3d models
 * Can you explain the license more so I can judge whether library X/texture Y/model Z would be usable in Minetest? (ex: why can't irrklang be used instead of those 3 sound libraries)