Alright, I have been messing with some of the engines over the last couple days. I have to say, PAnda3d rocks. It is stable, runs great on Windows XP, Vista and Ubuntu and my LAVA.
Alot of the engines require spending time building your development environment - NOT PANDA3d. Just install and start coding. No complex compiler configs, no long make files. Just simple, easy to understand Python.
But there inline is the problem. Python. Not really known for blistering speed. My game ultimately endeavors to be a Multi player Online RPG. Can Panda's Python background be a hindrance? The bad part is I necessarily would not know into I was months into developing. Or worse yet, when it is in production and I have several hundred players.
So I guess I am going to continue my engine test, but right now Panda looks like a winner as far as being the most developer friendly of the cross platform engines.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
A penny for your thoughts
Being a big Linux fan, I am having a hard time deciding which engine I want to use. Most of the commercial engines are just for Windows.
A couple are Opensource but require extensive experience in C or C++.
I have a programming background but am not sure the project will be successfully if I spend all my time building a toolset especially since the Window Engines already have vast tools at their disposal. BUT, on the other hand, spending several months coding tools for the opensource engines reaps it's own rewards. Someone else can use it later, it might get integrated into the opensource engines, and the fact that I would be contributing to the free movement and giving something back besides just another video game :) So I think I will post a questionnaire on the side and see how many of my readers are in favor of building an opensource video game.
A couple are Opensource but require extensive experience in C or C++.
I have a programming background but am not sure the project will be successfully if I spend all my time building a toolset especially since the Window Engines already have vast tools at their disposal. BUT, on the other hand, spending several months coding tools for the opensource engines reaps it's own rewards. Someone else can use it later, it might get integrated into the opensource engines, and the fact that I would be contributing to the free movement and giving something back besides just another video game :) So I think I will post a questionnaire on the side and see how many of my readers are in favor of building an opensource video game.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Game Engine Reviews
I began downloading demos of each of the engines I mentioned in my previous blog.
Blitz3d
First impressions: Fast, stable, easy language, networking. NO Crossplatform. No world builder. Must use thirdparty applications to build worlds and then glue the interactions and placement via code. Kinda combersome for any huge game development.
Crystal Space
Tons of features. Huge Community. Complex coding required. Very general Engine. Again no World Builder but it is cross platform.
Realmcrafter
Super Easy - Comes with multiple toolset such as worldbuilder. Geared specifically for making MMORPGs. Connects to MYSQL. Not Crossplatform. Very interested.
Panda 3d
Disney backed engine. Comes with some toolsets such as a minimal world builder. Cross Platform. Has a version for UBUNTU :) Also can connect to MYSQL as well as networking.
Also very interested.
GameStudio A7
Very easy scripting engine. The actual Game Engine is a bit dated but can still produce some great effects. Has multiple toolsets such as worldbuilders. TCPIP but I think it is more learning towards LAN playing then Internet. Not Cross Platform.
TrueVision 3d
Based on Visual Basic. Easy enuff language to code in. High level engine. No real world builder toolset. Not Crossplatorm. No TCPIP Play uses DirectPlay so really only LAN games.
Beyond Virtual
New entry into game engine arena. Looks very promising. Very cost effective solution. Made specifically for MMORPGs. TCP networking. Worldbuilders. NO Cross Platform.
Kaneva
Also a new entry into the game engine arena. Also looks very promising. Made specificaly for MMORPGs and has integrated Worldbuilders. No Crossplatform.
Dark Basic Pro
Easy language. No Worldbuilders. TCPIP networking. No Crossplatform. General Engine.
These are all the engines I looked at this morning.
So far I am leaning towards the following, in no particular order:
Blitz3d
First impressions: Fast, stable, easy language, networking. NO Crossplatform. No world builder. Must use thirdparty applications to build worlds and then glue the interactions and placement via code. Kinda combersome for any huge game development.
Crystal Space
Tons of features. Huge Community. Complex coding required. Very general Engine. Again no World Builder but it is cross platform.
Realmcrafter
Super Easy - Comes with multiple toolset such as worldbuilder. Geared specifically for making MMORPGs. Connects to MYSQL. Not Crossplatform. Very interested.
Panda 3d
Disney backed engine. Comes with some toolsets such as a minimal world builder. Cross Platform. Has a version for UBUNTU :) Also can connect to MYSQL as well as networking.
Also very interested.
GameStudio A7
Very easy scripting engine. The actual Game Engine is a bit dated but can still produce some great effects. Has multiple toolsets such as worldbuilders. TCPIP but I think it is more learning towards LAN playing then Internet. Not Cross Platform.
TrueVision 3d
Based on Visual Basic. Easy enuff language to code in. High level engine. No real world builder toolset. Not Crossplatorm. No TCPIP Play uses DirectPlay so really only LAN games.
Beyond Virtual
New entry into game engine arena. Looks very promising. Very cost effective solution. Made specifically for MMORPGs. TCP networking. Worldbuilders. NO Cross Platform.
Kaneva
Also a new entry into the game engine arena. Also looks very promising. Made specificaly for MMORPGs and has integrated Worldbuilders. No Crossplatform.
Dark Basic Pro
Easy language. No Worldbuilders. TCPIP networking. No Crossplatform. General Engine.
These are all the engines I looked at this morning.
So far I am leaning towards the following, in no particular order:
- Realmcrafter
- Panda 3d
- Beyond Virtual
- Kaneva
Game engine list
So here is a list of the engines I looked at and am considering on using for my MMORPG:
I found most of these engines here: http://www.devmaster.net
- Blitz 3d
- Crystal Space
- RealmCrafter
- Panda 3d
- GameStudio A7
- TrueVision 3d
- Beyond Virtual
- Kaneva
- Dark Basic Pro
- LawMaker Game Engine
- OGRE
- Irrlicht
- Antiryad Gx
- Blink 3d
- Apocalyx
- DXStudio
- Quest3d
- Torque Game Engine
- Toi
- Wild Tangent
- Yake
- Blender
- Ca3de
- Delta3d
- GLBasic
- Raydium
- Shiva
I found most of these engines here: http://www.devmaster.net
Game Engine Reqs
So I have decided to spend some time and resources on developing a MMORPG. Sure there are plenty out there but after spending countless hours playing WOW and having dabbled in video game design, I feel it is time to extend my expertise from standalone games I have created for fun to something that could generate income. I have plenty of hardware and bandwidth as I also own a hosting company here in chicago so resources are plenty for this experiment.
Game engine requirements
Game engine requirements
- Scriptable
- Easy to extend
- Must have importers for major modeling programs: Milkshape, 3Dsmax, Maya, Blender
- Interior and Exterior rendering
- Skymap
- TCP / UDP networking
- Physics
- Shadow rendering
- Preferably opensource but I am willing to shell out some money to get a decent engine
- Libs to connect to MYSQL
- Small footprint
- Particles
- Cross Platform: Would love to build a linux version of the client
- InGame Toolsets such as WorldBuilders, etc.
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