Architecture Overview

The principled foundation of the E.D.E.N. simulation ecosystem.

E.D.E.N. is a deterministic, geodesic, field-based simulation engine designed to support scientific modeling, education, and emergent planetary-scale experiences.
Its architecture is built from first principles to ensure clarity, modularity, and long-term stability.

This documentation section provides a conceptual overview of the engine’s major architectural components.

Purpose

The Architecture Overview establishes a unified understanding of the E.D.E.N. engine’s structure.
It explains how each foundational layer works together to form a coherent simulation ecosystem and introduces the principles that shape the platform.

This page is intended as a high-level guide before exploring deeper architectural sections.

Core Principles

  • Determinism — predictable state evolution across all simulation domains.
  • Separation of Concerns — spatial, temporal, subsystem, and visualization layers remain cleanly isolated.
  • Extensibility — new systems can integrate without modifying existing layers.
  • Transparency — world data is visualized through overlays for debugging and learning.
  • Scalability — architecture supports future growth into research, education, and gameplay.

System Model

E.D.E.N. is composed of the following major layers:

  1. Geodesic Substrate
    The equal-area, distortion-minimized spherical topology underlying all spatial relationships.
  2. Field System
    Unified representation for all tile, edge, and directed-edge world data.
  3. Time & Tick Engine
    Deterministic multi-clock temporal model enabling multi-scale simulation.
  4. Subsystem Architecture
    Modular domain systems (geology, hydrology, atmosphere, etc.) built on fields and ticks.
  5. Overlay System
    Visual interface for world inspection, debugging, education, and analysis.
  6. Application Layer
    Tools, inspectors, scenario systems, and interaction workflows.

These layers form a stack:
each depending on the layers below, each exposing clean surfaces to the layers above.

How It Interacts With Other Systems

The architecture interacts with:

  • Developers: through tools, inspectors, and subsystem extension points
  • Educators: via clear overlays and lesson-ready scenarios
  • Researchers: through deterministic field data and structured state models
  • Gameplay systems: via extensible subsystems and time control
  • Visualization tools: through a standardized overlay interface

What This Enables

  • global-scale simulation without distortion
  • modular, domain-specific subsystems
  • multi-timescale emergent behavior
  • clean extension surfaces for future systems
  • structured visualization for learning and debugging
  • a decade-long product ecosystem built on one engine

Visual Examples (Optional)

  • Geodesic surface mesh
  • Field-driven heatmap
  • Directed-edge flows
  • Multi-layer overlay stack

(Images may be inserted by the site operator.)

Public Extensibility Notes

Future versions of the SDK will expose:

  • subsystem templates
  • safe field access APIs
  • overlay extension pipelines
  • scenario creation hooks

Public extensibility will maintain the engine’s architectural purity.

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