Alias Game Engine

[yeyeman9]

Well it I dont know if you know this, but hmm...most gaming companies use other Engines from other companies. It is a small percent of the company that actually create their own engines. For FPS the most advanced technology out there is the Unreal Engine, and most company use them. Yeah maybe, Valve and Id Software created their own engines for Half Life 2 and Doom 3. But thats a small percent. Most companies use engines from companies dedicated to make engines, or from companies that have made games with a great engine. For other type of genres I am not sure wich is the most used engine. But for the FPS, Unreal is the one, and I think the HL2 and Doom 3 will be one of the most used as well.

[DJMirage]

mjah its just what do you want to expect from your little game engine here, some engines provide enough functiuonality for your game, others dont.
from there you can make your little choice on what you want to do with the game.
do you want to create 3rd patry plugins for your game so you can extend a great engine, or is it faster and cheaper to make your own engine.
does the engine have netcode built in or do you need to write it yourself, ef....
does the engine author wants you to buy a license, and for each individual programmer a small license fee. all these questions bring prices with them :) and so it could be cheaper to write your own engine.

[tburbage3]

I've often wondered whether the distinction between 3D development environment and game development platform/run-time presentation engine might not be slowly blurring.

Of course, a game dev platform includes some major pieces of technology not included in any 3D apps currently, such as overall game logic and asset management, and AI. On the other hand, slow adoption of vertex/pixel shader, GPU-assisted graphics is really going to make 3D app "preview" graphics seem more like good in-game real-time graphics.

It would be cool if one day 3D apps came with the components which would essentially make them full blown game development platforms (including presentation engine) in their own right.

[thomaspecht]

that is nothing new. several companies have reported about their success with for example 3ds max and expanding it to become a full blown game editing solution for artists.

artists normally prefer that over yet another engine-specific editor, but 3d packages tend to waste system resources big time and programmers do not seem to like them because additionally some applications feature really crappy API's.
also, all those extensions have to be programmed and tested very carefully - nothing is worse than rendering your 3d content creation platform an unstable and unreliable piece of ****.

instead coders seem to prefer to develop their own editor app.

[BarbaPappa]

Interresting thread. What i really look forward to is a 3d app that is mainly aimed towards game developers with a more modest pricetag (althought maya has a pretty nice price nowadays)

Gamedevelopers rarely need as much stuff as is available in most pro 3d apps. gMax was a nice try, but the price tag was way to high. Hopefully we'll see a nice kickass modelling and texturing app what great API for under $1000... that's what i want...:)

... just my thought in the subject...

/Magnus

[thomaspecht]

maya licenses might be rather cheap but the additional expenses for integrating it into a pipeline are not to be underestimated. hardly any other 3d package is so complex and requires that amount of dedicated coding/scripting for proper integration and maintenance.
also, maya is not exactly well suited for level editing, direct preview etc out of the box and has some issues with gamer level gfx hardware.

also, about that game-oriented app: keep in mind that artists prefer a familiar tool and you'll increase the number of available artists as well by choosing a widely spread (and production proven) application instead of using something no one knows about or wants to learn.

for me the most game-oriented and well though out app that i've ever had the pleasure to see was nichimen's mirai. unfortunately it is/was not exactly within your suggested price range ;)

[BarbaPappa]

Well, I'm currently setting up maya in a game development pipeline. The good thing about maya is how open it is, and tha bad thing is how open it is... which makes it complex, but IMHO you can do anything with the scripting and the api.

There's no 3d app that is well suited for level editing out of the box that i've come across. All of them need extensive programming to work.

also, about the game-oriented app, it should of course be best of one of the big companies made a light version of their software for recognition and easier migration. As different games have different needs the pipeline also differs with more or less custom tools needed. But the more you can use a familiar app the better it is, but i don't think you should be afraid if it means learning a new app on the way to a better pipeline...

About mirai... tried a demo version of it years ago, seemed like a good tool. But out of reach because of it's price so we went for 3DS MAX instead...

Anyway, gMAX was a nice try, i would like Alias to try out the same concept...

/Magnus

[BarbaPappa]

BTW, you've got a really nice portfolio GIJoe!!!

/M

[thomaspecht]

hey, muchos gracias for the heads up :)

as for apps that can be used for level editing: i have worked with both maya and 3ds max in that field and max's snapping tools and handy numerical input window were something really fundamental for level editing that seemed to be missing almost completely in maya. also there were tools for checking mesh integrity, applying vertex colors and the like which proved to be really useful. additionally, one was able to preview shader effects within direct-3d but i guess this can be solved in both applications nowadays by using cg.
then again, the company i was working for did not really set up a maya pipeline but merely used it in its out-of-the-box state. also, i'm more of a max than a maya guy so far.

about learnig new apps: true and especially applicable to level designers ;) but also keep in mind that artists
will only be willing to learn new apps if they recognize that it's software worth learning - i.e. gaining knowledge of software that they expect to be able to apply later in their career, too.
i have to admit, i've turned down several job offers just because i would have been forced to learn lightwave, something that is completely alien to me and - more important - has a very small market share where i live.
thus, i did not expect that this would have been valuable knowledge for me.

btw. i though gmax is a package that's oriented towards the end-users of games i.e. for mod development. imho it had a ridiculously priced licensing scheme so that some developers turned it down and instead bundle for example maya ple or softimage exp with their games.

[Renderman_XSI]

indeed, 3DSMax is better out of the box for various game editing task, level creation. It meanly due to its CAD background orientation with AutoDesk.

But the kind of software i want doesnt exist yet, a fully intergrated development envoriment(IDE), that comes with a flexible game engine and API for adding new tools. The core of the engine should be flexible enough , so if you want to change any thing in it, it would be possible. but at the same time it would be updated by the developers. Moreover it should have many decent tools to editng level and content creation.

The only software that even come close to this is, Blender3D, but their engine isnt "state of the art" and not flexible enough.

I think im after the same software solution as "nukee" is, weather is be from Alias,SI, Discreet..

I think whoever does develop such a software it would change how we view and create games and interactive content,that goes beyond modding. The thing, is developing a state of the art engine alone takes years and most DDC company are focus on a board spectrum from film,tv,movie,games to really focus on adding a engine to there software.

Some would say that, everyone company has a different standard for their gaming engine, so why create a engine in a 3D package? same can be said about 3D software in general, but that hasnt stop Discreet,SI,Alias from making the own 3D software. Moreover, thats why the engine has to be flexible enough so the developers can custom as they see fit, very module. Couple this with a forum on sharing ideas on how to improve the code... ::drool: There is some problems that needs to be address with intergrating a game engine into a 3d software, since the core of the engine would be made know to anyone who bought the software as it should be. But im sure theres a way around this matter/license issues.

Im hoping someone would develop this kind of software, *cough* Softimage..but i dont think its going to surface anytime soon.

:cry:


I know alot of people who want to create the own games, talented and have friends that can do the programming, but why not create a software that gives them the foundation(base game engine, 3D tools,API) and let them focus more on the content creation. A software that would bring together the programmers and artist in one package.

The problem with Gamebryo(though i have never used it) i can assume that it doesnt have alot of polygon tools and content creation tools in general? thats what i see with alot of developers like Gamebryo, Quest3D is like this also? What we need is a great engine and great DDC tools together. So you can create the Cut Scene with high res models and the game in one software.

thanks nukee..at least i know im not alone in this. :thumbsup:
Maybe you can write Alias about this idea and point them into this thread!

I think any of the company Alias, Discreet,Softimage has the "know how" so you can see it from any one of those companies.

[Renderman_XSI]

this is from Doug Walker president of Alias:

"“We have an unwavering commitment to Maya and StudioTools. What we’re going to do to help us choose which paths to accelerate the fastest is talk to our customers. This is an incredible opportunity to build value for them. We’ll be talking to them about what new products and services they think we should invest in and bring to market.”

I think now is the time to speak out about "Alias Game Engine"
contact Alias about this!

http://www.animationartist.com/2004/02_feb/features/3d_software2.htm

check out the CryTek engine, now it has a nice editor, if they can add tools like this in Maya or a new product line aim toward gaming creation, that would rock.

http://www.farcry.ubi.com/movies.php

http://www.farcry.ubi.com/downloads/CRYTEK.wmv

has nice terrain tool(though looks very limited to many only smooth hills?)

nice havok tools, and AI.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.