QuantumSrc

QuantumSrc is a cross-platform game engine focused on portability, low-level rendering, custom asset formats, and support for both modern and legacy gaming hardware.

The engine is designed around a modular architecture, allowing the same core systems to be adapted to a wide range of graphics APIs, consoles, and platforms. Rendering backends can target APIs such as OpenGL and Direct3D, while platform-specific backends can support hardware such as the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube/Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and other specialized targets.

Features

• Cross-platform C++ engine core
• Modular renderer architecture
• OpenGL 1.1/2.0/3.3 support
• OpenGL ES and WebGL targets
• Direct3D support
• Software rendering
• Platform-specific renderers
• Dreamcast PVR support
• PlayStation 2 GSKit support
• GameCube/Wii GX support
• Nintendo 3DS Citro3D support
• Xbox/NXDK rendering support
• Hardware-accelerated and software audio paths
• OpenAL audio support
• Custom PAF and PKD asset formats
• LZ4 and other compression support
• libschrift font rasterization
• STB image loading
• Custom map, model, texture, and material pipelines
• PBASIC scripting support
• Physics system
• Keyboard, mouse, controller, and touch input
• UI framework
• Client/server networking
• Built-in dedicated server support
• Cross-platform asset and development tools
• Blender integration
• PTM music tracker
• PAF archive tools
• PTF image conversion tools

Architecture

QuantumSrc separates the engine into several independent subsystems:

                         QuantumSrc
                              │
          ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
          │                   │                   │
        Core               Rendering            Audio
          │                   │                   │
      ┌───┼───┐        ┌─────┼─────┐        ┌────┼────┐
      │   │   │        │     │     │        │    │    │
   Files  UI Input    OpenGL D3D  Software  OpenAL AICA
      │
   ┌──┴───────────────┐
   │                  │
  PAF                PKD
   │                  │
 Asset/Archive      Database

The renderer and platform layers are intentionally separated from the engine core so that platform-specific implementations can be added without rewriting gameplay, asset management, networking, or other core systems.

Asset Pipeline

QuantumSrc uses a custom asset pipeline designed around the project’s native formats and development tools.

Blender
   │
   ├── P3M
   ├── PTF
   └── Map/Project data
          │
          ▼
       Tools
          │
     ┌────┼────┐
     │    │    │
    PAF  PKD  PMF
     │    │    │
     └────┼────┘
          ▼
       QuantumSrc

The tooling ecosystem includes Blender plugins, archive utilities, image conversion tools, music tools, syntax definitions, and platform-specific project templates.

Design Goals

QuantumSrc is intended to make it possible to develop a game once while retaining control over the platform-specific portions of the engine.

The primary goals are:

• Portability — support a broad range of platforms and graphics hardware.
• Modularity — keep platform implementations isolated from engine systems.
• Low-level control — expose the capabilities of each target rather than requiring every platform to behave identically.
• Custom formats — provide efficient formats for distributing and loading game data.
• Tooling — maintain a complete workflow from content creation to the final game build.
• Longevity — avoid making the engine dependent on a single graphics API, operating system, or hardware generation.

QuantumSrc is ultimately intended to serve as both a modern cross-platform engine and a framework for experimenting with rendering, audio, asset formats, and game development across generations of hardware.

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