diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 72bdacf6..2487d29e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ Debug/voxel_engine
 AppDir
 appimage-build/
 
+# for vcpkg
+/vcpkg/
+.gitmodules
+
 # macOS folder attributes
 *.DS_Store
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 11a262d6..7ec5691b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+option(VOXELENGINE_BUILD_WINDOWS_VCPKG OFF)
+if(VOXELENGINE_BUILD_WINDOWS_VCPKG AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake")
+  set(CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" CACHE STRING "")
+endif()
+
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
 project(VoxelEngine)
 
@@ -28,8 +33,10 @@ if(VOXELENGINE_BUILD_APPDIR)
   install(TARGETS VoxelEngine DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/AppDir/usr/bin)
 endif()
 
-
 if(MSVC)
+    if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+      set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release CACHE STRING "Build type" FORCE)
+    endif()
     if((CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE EQUAL "Release") OR (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE EQUAL "RelWithDebInfo"))
       set(CMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_LIBRARY "MultiThreaded$<$<CONFIG:Release>:Release>")
       target_compile_options(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE /W4 /MT /O2)
@@ -45,17 +52,52 @@ else()
     -Wwrite-strings -Wno-unused-parameter)
 endif()
 
+if(VOXELENGINE_BUILD_WINDOWS_VCPKG AND WIN32)
+  if(NOT EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/.git")
+    find_package(Git QUIET)
+    if(GIT_FOUND)
+      message(STATUS "Adding vcpkg as a git submodule...")
+      execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule add https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git vcpkg WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    else()
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "Git not found, cannot add vcpkg submodule.")
+    endif()
+  endif()
+
+  if(EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/.git")
+    message(STATUS "Initializing and updating vcpkg submodule...")
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule update --init --recursive WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E chdir vcpkg ./bootstrap-vcpkg.bat WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+  endif()
+
+  foreach(CONFIG_TYPE ${CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES})
+    string(TOUPPER ${CONFIG_TYPE} CONFIG_TYPE_UPPER)
+    add_custom_command(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME} POST_BUILD
+                       COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
+                       ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/res ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CONFIG_TYPE_UPPER}/res)
+  endforeach()
+endif()
+
 find_package(OpenGL REQUIRED)
 find_package(GLEW REQUIRED)
 find_package(OpenAL REQUIRED)
 find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
-# luajit has no CMakeLists.txt to use it as subdirectory, so install it
-find_package(Lua REQUIRED)
 
 if (WIN32)
-    set(PNGLIB spng)
-    add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libs/glfw)
+    if(VOXELENGINE_BUILD_WINDOWS_VCPKG)
+      set(LUA_LIBRARIES "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/packages/luajit_x64-windows/lib/lua51.lib")
+      set(LUA_INCLUDE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/vcpkg/packages/luajit_x64-windows/include/luajit")
+      find_package(glfw3 REQUIRED)
+      find_package(spng REQUIRED)
+      find_package(glm REQUIRED)
+      set(PNGLIB spng::spng)
+    else()
+      find_package(Lua REQUIRED)
+      set(PNGLIB spng)
+      add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libs/glfw)
+    endif()
 else()
+    # luajit has no CMakeLists.txt to use it as subdirectory, so install it manually
+    find_package(Lua REQUIRED)
     find_package(PNG REQUIRED)
     set(PNGLIB PNG::PNG)
 endif()
diff --git a/vcpkg.json b/vcpkg.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4693008
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vcpkg.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+    "name": "voxelengine",
+    "version-string": "1.0.0",
+    "dependencies": [
+      "opengl",
+      "openal-soft",
+      "glfw3",
+      "glew",
+      "glm",
+      "libspng",
+      "zlib",
+      "luajit"
+    ]
+  }
\ No newline at end of file