Hedra is a 3D open world game I wrote from scratch while in highschool
A developer shares the technical journey of creating 'Hedra', an open-world RPG built from scratch using C++ and OpenGL. The project evolved from a high school learning exercise into a feature-rich game engine with support for procedural generation and modding.
Why it matters
This article serves as a case study for independent game development, demonstrating the technical depth and scope achievable by solo developers using low-level graphics APIs.
Project Hedra is an ambitious open-world, low-poly RPG. Choose your class, explore endless procedurally generated worlds, unlock different skills and complete procedurally generated quests.
I started this project when I was in highschool (around 15 yo) in order to learn how OpenGL worked.
The scope creep quickly arrived and after a few years it turned into a fullfledged 3D game and game engine. The codebase has around 100k LOC and the game has first class support for Linux and Windows.
The million lines of code are not in vain. The game and engine are both full of features :)
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