Erin Catto, creator of Box2D, a 2D physics engine for games, has announced the release of Box3D, a 3D physics engine now available on GitHub.

Box3D originated from challenges he encountered with native Unreal Engine physics while working on The Legend of California, a large open-world, server-authoritative project. While alternative solutions such as Jolt were considered, he ultimately chose to develop a custom physics engine so the system could be tailored specifically to the game's performance and feature requirements.

If you've used Box2D, Box3D will feel very familiar in terms of design, but it has been extended with features required for 3D games. Some of the additions include triangle mesh collision, height-field collision, and baked compound collision.

In terms of comparison with Jolt or Rapier, the developer emphasizes that he isn't aiming to compete with other physics engines, and that open-source is not a business for him. You should probably just check it out and see if it fits your needs.

Besides The Legend of California, it is also used in s&box, Esoterica, an open-source game engine by Bobby Anguelov, and a 1000-player space game, a multiplayer project by Glenn Fiedler. However, Erin Catto still considers it an alpha release, the engine requires more testing and more complete documentation. You can learn more about Box3D here.

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