Right now the engine has several features that make it quite usable for developing a basic game, though right now I would say its current form is more of a "proof-of-concept" kinda thing. Here's a list of features for those who like bullet lists!
- LeTerrain component
- Sets up a terrain from a HeightMap - that is, a simple greyscale image that defines the shape of the terrain.
- Terrain smoothing, which helps ease the rough edges of the terrain for a more natural, cleaner look.
- Quad-tree setup, which allows the engine to cull out portions of the terrain not seen, thus allowing for improved FPS.
- Multi-texturing support with some blending thrown in to increase texture quality.
- LeCamera component
- - fixed position, fixed view camera. Nothing much.
- LeMouseLook camera.- fixed position camera which can change its view with mouse movements.
- - pretty much a camera that can change its position and view in the way many first person shooters do.
- - a camera that follows a target around at a desired offset with a nice spring effect to it.
- LeInputHandler component
- Provides the engine with an input handler service available to all of the game's components.
- Handles keyboard control and mouse movements.
- Mouse movement smoothing, adjustable by user.
- Available shaders
- - simple ambient lighting. Nothing fancy.
- - directional lighting on a surface.
- - normal/bump mapping.
- - Woah! Parallax mapping! You've seen this on Gears of War, very fancy texturing effect.
- - WHUT! Yeah, some basic relief mapping texturing effect. Very video card intensive. Actually, it's kinda buggy, but it look goooooood.
- - Allows for terrain multi-texturing and blending effects.
