Aether v0.1.0

This is the first milestone release of the Aether engine. It establishes the foundational architecture and delivers working implementations across all six domains of the engine.

Core Engine

Archetype-based ECS with Parallel Queries

• Introduced aether-ecs with archetype storage for cache-friendly iteration.
• Parallel query execution across system groups.
• Built-in event bus for decoupled communication between systems.
• Network-aware component traits for state synchronization.

Rapier3D Physics Integration

• Full Rapier3D integration in aether-physics with rigid bodies, colliders, joints, triggers, and collision layers.
• VR interaction physics including grab, throw, hand collision detection, and haptic feedback.

Software Renderer and Interactive 3D Demo

• Software rasterizer in aether-renderer for rapid prototyping without GPU dependencies.
• Interactive 3D demo scene (aether-3d-demo) with keyboard-driven camera controls and real-time physics.

GPU-Accelerated Rendering

• wgpu-based rendering backend with PBR materials, shadow mapping, and MSAA.
• Foveated rendering support and frame budgeting for VR headsets.
• GPU demo scene with metallic-roughness materials and dynamic lighting.

Input Handling with OpenXR Integration

• aether-input provides a unified input abstraction across VR controllers and desktop peripherals.
• OpenXR session management, hand tracking, and haptic output.
• Desktop fallback mode for development without a headset.
• Locomotion comfort policies and configurable action mapping.

Asset Hot-Reloading

• File-watch-based asset hot-reloading through the ECS.
• Changes to assets on disk are detected and propagated to running systems without restarting.

Scripting

Visual Scripting Editor

• Node graph editor with 33 node types across 6 categories (events, flow control, actions, math, logic, variables).
• Type-safe port connections with validation and cycle detection.
• IR compiler that transforms visual graphs into an executable instruction set.

Visual Script Runtime Execution

• Runtime interpreter for compiled visual script IR.
• Integration with the ECS event bus for script-driven game logic.

Server-Side WASM Runtime with Hot-Reload

• aether-scripting provides a sandboxed WASM runtime for user scripts.
• Per-script resource caps, rate limiting, and priority scheduling.
• Hot-reload support: update scripts on a running server without downtime.

World & Networking

World Chunk Streaming

• aether-world-runtime implements chunk-based world streaming with level-of-detail management.
• Manifest-based world loading, tick scheduling, and input buffering.

Portal System with Cross-World Navigation

• aether-zoning provides a portal system using aether:// URLs for cross-world navigation.
• Spatial load balancing with zone split and merge.
• Cross-zone ghost entities and session handoff.

Networked Multiplayer Prototype

• QUIC-based transport layer in aether-network with reliable and unreliable channels.
• Delta compression for bandwidth-efficient state synchronization.
• Interest management to limit updates to relevant entities.
• Client-side prediction and server reconciliation.
• Multiplayer demo with server-authoritative architecture and avatar synchronization.

Social & Avatars

Avatar Rendering Pipeline

• aether-avatar with skeletal animation, FABRIK inverse kinematics, and blend shapes.
• Lip-sync driven by audio input.
• Multi-level LOD system and GPU skinning.
• Performance rating system for avatar complexity budgets.

Safety & Security

Anti-Cheat Server-Side Validation

• aether-security implements server-side movement validation, teleport detection, and hit validation.
• JWT-based authentication and encrypted transport.
• Action rate limiting to prevent abuse.

Summary

This release includes over 3,000 passing tests across all crates. APIs are still under active development and should be considered unstable. We welcome feedback, bug reports, and contributions as we work toward the first public release.