MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge

I challenged myself to see if I could create a voxel game (Minecraft-like) in just one week using C++ and OpenGL, and here is the result

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Quick Overview

MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge is a project by Matthew Hopson that aims to recreate Minecraft in C++ within one week. It's a simplified version of the popular game, focusing on basic gameplay elements and rendering techniques. The project serves as an educational resource for game development enthusiasts.

Pros

Demonstrates rapid game development techniques
Provides a clear example of 3D voxel-based rendering in C++
Open-source, allowing for community contributions and learning
Achieves a playable Minecraft-like experience in a short timeframe

Cons

Limited features compared to the full Minecraft game
May contain bugs or performance issues due to the short development time
Lacks extensive documentation or detailed explanations of the code
Not actively maintained or updated

Code Examples

// Creating a simple cube
void createCube(float x, float y, float z)
{
    glm::vec3 cubePositions[] = {
        glm::vec3(x, y, z),
        glm::vec3(x + 1, y, z),
        glm::vec3(x + 1, y + 1, z),
        glm::vec3(x, y + 1, z)
    };

    for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
    {
        m_cubeVertices.push_back(cubePositions[i]);
    }
}

This code snippet demonstrates how to create a simple cube in the game world.

// Handling player movement
void Player::handleInput(const sf::RenderWindow& window, float dt)
{
    static auto lastMousePosition = sf::Mouse::getPosition(window);
    auto change = sf::Mouse::getPosition() - lastMousePosition;

    rotation.y += change.x * 0.05f;
    rotation.x += change.y * 0.05f;

    lastMousePosition = sf::Mouse::getPosition(window);

    // ... (additional movement logic)
}

This code example shows how player input is handled for camera rotation.

// Generating terrain
void Chunk::makeMesh()
{
    for (int y = 0; y < CHUNK_SIZE; y++)
    {
        for (int x = 0; x < CHUNK_SIZE; x++)
        {
            for (int z = 0; z < CHUNK_SIZE; z++)
            {
                Block block = getBlock(x, y, z);
                if (block == Block::Air)
                    continue;

                // ... (mesh generation logic)
            }
        }
    }
}

This code snippet illustrates how terrain is generated using a chunk-based system.

Getting Started

To get started with the MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge project:

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge.git

Install dependencies (SFML, GLM, etc.) as specified in the project's README.
Build the project using CMake:
```
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
```
Run the executable:
```
./MineCraft
```

Note: Detailed setup instructions and requirements can be found in the project's README file.

Competitor Comparisons

Craft

10,999

A simple Minecraft clone written in C using modern OpenGL (shaders).

Pros of Craft

More mature and feature-rich project with a longer development history
Better performance and optimization for rendering large voxel worlds
Includes multiplayer support out of the box

Cons of Craft

Less focused on educational aspects or rapid development
More complex codebase, potentially harder for beginners to understand
Lacks some of the modern C++ features used in MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge

Code Comparison

MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge uses modern C++ features:

auto& chunkManager = m_world.getChunkManager();
auto* chunk = chunkManager.getChunk(blockPosition.x, blockPosition.z);

Craft uses a more traditional C approach:

int x = roundf(p->x);
int y = roundf(p->y);
int z = roundf(p->z);
int w = get_block(x, y, z);

Both projects use OpenGL for rendering, but Craft's implementation is more optimized for large-scale voxel worlds. MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge focuses on rapid development and modern C++ practices, while Craft prioritizes performance and established game development techniques.

LearnOpenGL

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Code repository of all OpenGL chapters from the book and its accompanying website https://learnopengl.com

Pros of LearnOpenGL

Comprehensive tutorial series covering various OpenGL concepts
Well-structured content with clear explanations and code examples
Regularly updated with new topics and improvements

Cons of LearnOpenGL

Focuses solely on OpenGL, lacking game development specifics
May be overwhelming for beginners due to its extensive content
Less hands-on project experience compared to MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge

Code Comparison

LearnOpenGL:

glBindVertexArray(VAO);
glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, VBO);
glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(vertices), vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);
glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 3 * sizeof(float), (void*)0);
glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);

MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge:

m_texture.loadFromFile("Res/Textures/Atlas.png");
m_shader.loadFromFile("Res/Shaders/Basic_Vertex.glsl", "Res/Shaders/Basic_Fragment.glsl");
m_cubeModel.create();
m_cubeModel.addData({vertexPositions, textureCoords, indices});
m_cubeModel.addVBO(3, vertexPositions);

The LearnOpenGL code focuses on low-level OpenGL operations, while MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge uses higher-level abstractions for game development tasks.

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README

MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge

I challenged myself to see if I could create Minecraft in just one week... So lets go!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq3isov6mZ8

Note: I continued to edit after the 7 days, however the version seen in the video is found here https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/eb01640580cc5ad403f6a8b9fb58af37e2f03f0c

And the "optimized" version can be found here: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/792df07e9780b444be5290fd05a3c8598aacafc8 (~1 week later version)

There also is a version of this game with very good graphics, and things like a day/night cycle. However, it was causing rendering issues for many people. This version can be found here: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/aa50ad8077ef0e617a9cfc336bdb7db81c313017

Other People's Projects

This was made in a week, as a challenge for a video. There do exist other, more mature and developed Minecraft clones written in C++.

MineTest here: https://github.com/minetest/minetest

SFML 3 Update

On November 2nd 2025, this project was updated to use SFML 3.0.0 and various changes were made to the codebase to accommodate this.

To see the commit prior to this change, see: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/fead1af708dca0518a6161fbac4c2673393d5ae0

Building and Running

Windows (Visual Studio)

The easiest way to build is to use vcpkg and install dependencies through this:

vcpkg install sfml
vcpkg install imgui
vcpkg install glm
vcpkg integrate install

Then open the Visual Studio project file to build and run.

Linux

Pre-requisites

Install Vcpkg and other required packages using your distribution's package manager:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh

# These are required to build some packages
sudo apt install cmake make autoconf libtool pkg-config

# The following are required for SFML
sudo apt install libx11-dev xorg-dev freeglut3-dev libudev-dev

Ensure paths are set correctly:

export VCPKG_ROOT=/path/to/vcpkg
export PATH=$VCPKG_ROOT:$PATH

RECOMMENDED: Add the above lines to your .bashrc or .zshrc file:

echo 'export VCPKG_ROOT=/path/to/vcpkg' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$VCPKG_ROOT:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc

Build and Run

To build, at the root of the project:

vcpkg install # First time only
sh scripts/build.sh

To run, at the root of the project:

sh scripts/run.sh

To build and run in release mode, simply add the release suffix:

sh scripts/build.sh release
sh scripts/run.sh release

The Challenge

Day One

End of day one commit: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/44ace72573833796da05a97972be5765b05ce94f

The first day was spent setting up boilerplate code such as the game state/ game screen system, and the basic rendering engines, starting off with a mere quad.

The day was finished off by creating a first person camera.

Quad

End of day stats:

Title	Data
Time programming Today	3:21:51
Lines of Code Today	829
Total Time programming	3:21:51
Total Lines of Code	829

Day Two

End of day two commit: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/tree/98055215f735335de80193221a30c0bb8586fba5

The second day was spent setting up the basic ChunkSection and various block classes.

I also worked out the coordinates for a cube, and thus created a cube renderer.

I finished up the day attempting to create a mesh builder for the chunk; however, this did not go well at all, and two had ended before I got it to work correctly.

Messed up chunk

End of day stats:

Title	Data
Time programming Today	4:16:07
Lines of Code Today	732
Total Time programming	7:37:58
Total Lines of Code	1561

Day Three

End of day three commit: https://github.com/Hopson97/MineCraft-One-Week-Challenge/commit/78bd637581542576372d75cf7638f76381e933b4

To start the day off, I fixed the chunk drawing. Turns out I was telling OpenGL the indices were GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, but they were actually GL_UNSIGNED_INT. This took 3 hours to work out...

Code Fix

Anyways, after this I got the game working with more chunks. I now have an area of 16x16 chunks, made out of chunk sections of 16x16x16 blocks.

To finish the day off, I got some naive block editing to work.

Block editing

End of day stats:

Title	Data
Time programming Today	3:15:38
Lines of Code Today	410
Total Time programming	10:53:36
Total Lines of Code	1974

Day 4

The first thing I did on day 4 was create a sky box using OpenGL cube maps.

After this, I started work on the world generation, eg adding height map and trees.

Skybox and world gen

End of day stats:

Title	Data
Time programming Today	3:14:15
Lines of Code Today	523
Total Time programming	14:07:51
Total Lines of Code	2489

Day 5

I started off the day by cleaning up some of the chunk code, and then proceeded to make the world infinite, but I felt it was not needed, so I simply went back to a fixed-sized world.

I then added an item system. My implementation probably was not great for this, but it was my first time at creating that sort of the thing.

Basically, when a player breaks a block, it gets added to their inventory. When they place a block, a block is placed.

Title	Data
Time programming Today	2:54:14
Lines of Code Today	560
Total Time programming	17:02:05
Total Lines of Code	3049

Day 6

Mostly optimizations, such as view-frustum culling and making the mesh building faster.

Day 7

Focus on improving how it looks, eg adding directional lighting

Also implemented concurrency :)

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