🎮 JOT.NET

A Modular Multi-purpose Game Engine for .NET

Infrastructure • Core • Toolkits • Framework

JOT.NET is a modern C# port of the original JOT (Just One Thing) Modular Multi-purpose Game Engine.

Designed for experimentation, education, prototyping, and massively multiplayer online games, JOT.NET aims to provide a clean, extensible, and fully modular architecture where every subsystem can be understood, modified, replaced, or rebuilt.

The goal of JOT.NET is not to become the largest engine, but to remain understandable, extensible, and replaceable.

📜 Origins

JOT.NET is a modern C#/.NET reimplementation of the original JOT (Just One Thing) Modular Multi-purpose Game Engine, preserving its modular architecture while adopting contemporary technologies and development practices.

The original JOT project was created as a modular game engine for experimentation, education, research, and massively multiplayer online games. Its layered architecture remains the foundation of JOT.NET today. GitHub - g-amador/JOT: JOT: A Modular Multi-purpose Game Engine

Original Project

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/g-amador/JOT
Original Engine: JOT: A Modular Multi-purpose Game Engine
Research Paper: JOT: A Modular Multi-purpose Minimalistic Massively Multiplayer Online Game Engine 【2-1a2a36】【3-e90429】

What Carries Forward

JOT.NET preserves the core principles that made the original engine unique:

Layered architecture
Modular design
Replaceable subsystems
Core versus Toolkit separation
Framework abstraction layer
MMO-oriented design philosophy

What Has Changed

JOT.NET modernizes the original technology stack while preserving the architectural concepts.

Original JOT (Java)	JOT.NET (C#/.NET)
JOGL / JogAmp	Silk.NET
Apache Commons Math	System.Numerics
Assimp Java Bindings	AssimpNet
JGroups	DotNetty
NetBeans	Visual Studio / VS Code / Rider
Maven	.NET SDK / NuGet

The goal of JOT.NET is not simply to translate Java code into C#, but to redesign the engine around modern .NET technologies while remaining faithful to the architecture, modularity, and educational value of the original project.

⚙️ Installation

Prerequisites

🪟 Windows

Required:

Windows 10 or newer
.NET SDK 9.0+
Git
Visual Studio 2022, VS Code, or Rider
OpenGL 4.6 or Vulkan compatible GPU

Verify installation:

dotnet --version
git --version

🐧 Linux

Required:

64-bit Linux distribution
.NET SDK 9.0+
Git
GCC / build-essential
OpenGL 4.6 or Vulkan compatible GPU

Example:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git build-essential

Verify installation:

dotnet --version
git --version

🍎 macOS

Required:

macOS Sonoma or newer
.NET SDK 9.0+
Git
Xcode command-line tools

Install:

xcode-select --install

Verify:

dotnet --version
git --version

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/g-amador/JOT.NET.git
cd JOT.NET

Restore Dependencies

dotnet restore

Build Solution

dotnet build

🔝 #toc

🚀 Usage

Core Template

Run:

dotnet run --project demos/templates/core-template

Uses:

Infrastructure + Core

Ideal for:

Learning the engine
Lightweight applications
Custom engine development

Full Template

Run:

dotnet run --project demos/templates/full-template

Uses:

Infrastructure + Core + Toolkits + Framework

Ideal for:

Complete games
Prototypes
MMO experiments

Examples

Examples are located at:

demos/examples

Example:

dotnet run --project demos/examples/rendering-showcase

🔝 #toc

🏗️ Architecture

docs/images/architecture.png

Framework
    ↓
Toolkits
    ↓
Core
    ↓
Infrastructure

Each layer may only depend on itself or lower layers.

Benefits:

Replaceability
Testability
Maintainability
Scalability

🔝 #toc

📖 Core Principles

Everything Is Replaceable

No subsystem is permanent.

Rendering, networking, AI, physics, asset pipelines, and GUI systems must be replaceable.

Dependencies Flow Downward

Framework
    ↓
Toolkits
    ↓
Core
    ↓
Infrastructure

Rules:

No circular dependencies
No upward dependencies
No cross-layer shortcuts

Infrastructure Is an Adapter Layer

Current technologies:

Silk.NET
AssimpNet
System.Numerics
DotNetty
Protocol Buffers

Infrastructure must never contain:

Game logic
AI
Scene management
Gameplay systems

Core Must Remain Minimal

Core includes:

Math
Input
Resources
Rendering foundations
Basic collision detection
Utilities

Toolkits Are Optional

Examples:

AI
Networking
ECS
Serialization
Geometry Generation
Extended Physics

Framework Exists to Reduce Boilerplate

Examples:

Asset Management
Scene Management
State Management
GUI Systems

🔝 #toc

🌐 MMO-First Philosophy

JOT.NET is designed with multiplayer support from the very beginning.

Key considerations:

Replication
Serialization
Bandwidth efficiency
Scalability
Deterministic state

Single-player is treated as a special case of multiplayer.

🔝 #toc

🌍 Browser Client Strategy

Desktop is the primary target.

Future targets include:

WebAssembly
WebGPU
WebSockets

Desktop Client
      │
      ▼
 Shared Core
      ▲
      │
 Browser Client

🔝 #toc

🧩 Layer Responsibilities

┌─────────────────────────┐
│        Framework        │
│ Scenes, Assets, GUI     │
└─────────────▲───────────┘
              │
┌─────────────┴───────────┐
│        Toolkits         │
│ AI, Networking, ECS     │
└─────────────▲───────────┘
              │
┌─────────────┴───────────┐
│          Core           │
│ Math, Physics, Input    │
└─────────────▲───────────┘
              │
┌─────────────┴───────────┐
│     Infrastructure      │
│ Silk.NET, AssimpNet     │
│ DotNetty, Numerics      │
└─────────────────────────┘

Infrastructure

Windowing
Rendering APIs
Audio APIs
Networking adapters

Core

Resources
Input
Rendering foundations
Physics foundations

Toolkits

AI
ECS
Networking
Serialization
Extended Physics

Framework

Scene System
Asset Management
GUI
Application Management

🔝 #toc

📂 Project Organization

JOT.NET/
├── assets/
├── demos/
│   ├── templates/
│   │   ├── core-template/
│   │   └── full-template/
│   └── examples/
├── docs/
│   └── images/
├── engine/
│   ├── infrastructure/
│   ├── core/
│   ├── toolkits/
│   └── framework/
├── client-desktop/
├── client-browser/
├── server/
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

🔝 #toc

🧪 Templates and Examples

Core Template

Demonstrates:

Infrastructure + Core

Full Template

Demonstrates:

Infrastructure + Core + Toolkits + Framework

Examples

Examples may include:

Rendering Showcase
Physics Showcase
Networking Showcase
AI Showcase
MMO Prototype

🔝 #toc

🛠️ Technology Stack

Purpose	Technology
Rendering / Input / Audio	Silk.NET
Mathematics	System.Numerics
Model Loading	AssimpNet
Networking	DotNetty
Serialization	Protocol Buffers

Technologies may evolve.

Architectural principles must not.

🔝 #toc

🗺️ Roadmap

Phase 1

Infrastructure
Windowing
Rendering
Input

Phase 2

Core Systems
Resources
Mathematics
Physics Foundations

Phase 3

Networking Toolkit
ECS Toolkit
AI Toolkit

Phase 4

Framework
Scene Management
GUI
Asset Management

Phase 5

MMO Prototype
Browser Client

🔝 #toc

📬 Contact & Usage Notice

JOT.NET is released under the Apache License 2.0.

You are free to use, modify, distribute, and build upon JOT.NET, including creating your own templates, demos, games, extensions, tools, or ports.

Please keep the following in mind:

You may not claim authorship of JOT or JOT.NET.
If you extend the engine, create templates, demos, games, or port the engine to another language, I would be delighted to hear about it.
Contributions, feedback, bug reports, and architectural discussions are always welcome.

For full legal details, please refer to the LICENSE file.

If you have questions, suggestions, or want to share your work:

📧 [email protected]

Good luck, and have fun building with JOT.NET!

🔝 #toc

✅ Final Rule

When choosing between two designs, prefer the one that:

Introduces fewer dependencies.
Produces cleaner module boundaries.
Is easier to replace.
Is easier to understand.
Keeps Core small.

If a feature does not belong in Core, it belongs in a Toolkit or outside the engine entirely.

JOT.NET is not built to be the biggest engine.

JOT.NET is built to be the engine that can be understood, modified, and rebuilt.

🔝 #toc

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md

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🎮 JOT.NET

📚 Table of Contents

📜 Origins

Original Project

What Carries Forward

What Has Changed

⚙️ Installation

Prerequisites

🪟 Windows

🐧 Linux

🍎 macOS

Clone Repository

Restore Dependencies

Build Solution

🚀 Usage

Core Template

Full Template

Examples

🏗️ Architecture

📖 Core Principles

Everything Is Replaceable

Dependencies Flow Downward

Infrastructure Is an Adapter Layer

Core Must Remain Minimal

Toolkits Are Optional

Framework Exists to Reduce Boilerplate

🌐 MMO-First Philosophy

🌍 Browser Client Strategy

🧩 Layer Responsibilities

Infrastructure

Core

Toolkits

Framework

📂 Project Organization

🧪 Templates and Examples

Core Template

Full Template

Examples

🛠️ Technology Stack

🗺️ Roadmap

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

📬 Contact & Usage Notice

✅ Final Rule

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