Leveling up my small-voxel renderer

Here's a look at what's new in my custom small-voxel renderer since last year. This project is inspired by the aesthetic of retro 3D games like Doom and Quake. Games of that era had simple geometry and pixelated textures, giving the environment a stylized look that has aged well. I'm using small voxels to modernize that look and give it fresh detail.

Last year, the renderer could only handle simpler geometry like walls, columns, and arches. Now, it supports more complicated objects, like the tree in the thumbnail. And watch to the end for something more...

For more info about what's new in the project and where I'm going with this work, or to get in touch, see this blog post: https://blog.danielschroeder.me/blog/...

Performance: the sequences in this video run at 1440p on a Radeon 5700 XT with framerates above 90 FPS (frametimes below 11ms). On a Steam Deck at its native 800p resolution, the slowest shot dips to 59 FPS.


=== asset credits ===

Uses the "Romero" character model by Mixamo, under the terms found on this page as of August 2025: https://community.adobe.com/t5/mixamo...

Uses Creative Commons Zero materials and 3D models / scans by:
Polyhaven
Cleveland Museum of Art
Virtual Museums of Małopolska
Världskulturmuseerna -- National Museums of World Culture
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Music: Wayfarer by Alexander Nakarada (https://www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Music: Halloween Textures by Alexander Nakarada (https://www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Zombie sound effect by 344 Audio, via the GameAudioGDC bundle, per the license here: https://sonniss.com/gdc-bundle-license/