Best game engine for development...?

[Vertizor]

The Torque Engine:
http://www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=1

Not bad for $100. It's the same engine used in the Starseige: Tries series.

http://www.ogre3d.org
Free, open source 3D engine.

[paulwconnor]

Thanks, Vertizor!

That Ogre looks particularly good, especially for a free package!

Are these engines generally quite similar to each other- ie. once you've learned one, its easy to transfer those skills to another?

Also, are demos created using engines the way forward for demonstrating games programming skills to companies? Or would they rather know I can program from scratch with OpenGL / DirectX?

Thanks for the advice,
Paul.

[Boone]

Re: PaulwConner.

I'll second Ogre. Its good enough for 3D graphics and will pretty much suit your needs.:thumbsup:

[gameboy]

I'd recommend you take a look at the 3Impact engine (http://www.3impact.com/) . It's easy to use (they've got a very nice architecture with which the game programmer makes DLLs that simply call core engine functions). It has built-in physics, good graphic capabilities, and now they've just added networking capability. It's also relatively inexpensive ($100 for a year's worth of upgrades). The engine is continually being improved, so the $100 seems to be a reasonable charge. The site also contains demo games and tutorials to get you started. :cool:

[Jhavna]

Have you seen http://crystal.sourceforge.net/tikiwiki/tiki-view_articles.php [Crystal Space]?
Also a free engine, with a few more game orientated features than OGRE. OGRE is in essance geared to be a graphical engine, whereas Crystal Space is geared to be a game engine.
In the end, you make your own mind up... just thought I'd throw in another option.

[Mutos]

Hi all, hi paulwconnor,


For 3D graphics, have u seen TrueVision3D ? It's easy to use from any language and comes w/ a documentation & tutorials I find very fine.

[barter frog]

about ogre...is it a rendering engine, or interactive...?

i dont know much outside of irrlicht.

[Tom Pawlik]

If your project is of non-commercial kind, you could also use the Unreal2 Engine and try to find a distributor then. The Unreal2 Engine is available for non-commercial use and also has a VERY large community, this could help in the beginning.

cu
Tom

[DCJones]

I'm wanting to develop my own game demo (most likely FPS / Stealth, but could be driving / strategy) - please could someone advise me on the best (C++) engine (graphics and/or physics AI - ideally both!) to use, where I can get it, and how much it costs?

Are they generally included in the game they're named after (e.g. Unreal), or can they even be downloaded (for free, maybe?!) off the net?

Hi, what I would use for this is Quest3D. It uses a graphical, low-end interface (extremely flexible and powerful), while you can code your own channels with MSVC++. Channels are compiled pieces of C++, you can link them together to create any logic you want. It's engine is based on DirectX 8.1.

About the features:
FPS: can be done really well - though stealth may require some custom channels (shadow stuff etc - it can be done but could prove a little tricky).
Driving: there's a physics engine available that lets you create driving games (check out monster mayhem on their homepage).
Strategy: Of course this means a lot of programming, and if you want to keep your project clean, you'll probably want quite some custom channels for it. But that shouldn't be a problem if you know how to use c++...

You can get it at www.quest3d.com;
demo is free (no save/publish), Lite edition is $89, Pro $749, Enterprise (Dbase and network add-on) $1999.

You can publish to a click 'n run executable, installer, winam plugin, screensaver or web page. What you do with it after that, is ofcourse up to you :)

Have fun, if you have questions just mail or pm me.

-DC.

(ps i'm not part of the quest3d team, just so you know! hehe :cool: )

[paulwconnor]

Okay - thanks for you answers, everyone!

[Gelero]

Hey guys! Dont forget about the amazing neoengine.
C++ by the way!

www.neoengine.org

:beer:

[danydrunk]

Some one said you can use the unreal engine 2 for free as long as its just for educational purposes only is that true? was he refering to the runtime demo epic has in its website? if not can anyone point me to where i can download it, and last, what are the restrictions of this free licence?

thank you very much

[Bigpet]

Get the Unreal 2 Runtime version for free at the Unreal Developer Network. http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/UnrealEngine2Runtime
BUT afaik you can't get the source code for free. You can just programm in UScript for free. UScript is a powerful script but it isn't as fast as C++.
I don't know exactly.
If you want to use unreal2 engine I would recommend to try out the runtime and if you like it you should get UT2004 to get a lot UScript codes, texture, etc
for help with unreal 2 engine go to http://www.3dbuzz.com/

[Garma]

I also recommend Ogre, also because it's perfectly OO. It's not the fastest engine around but very versatile and dynamic. It supports several versions of Direct3D and openGL, but no sound yet. Check the site of my faculty for results of the project where we used ogre (me and my teammates were group 1).

http://graphics.tudelft.nl/~mkt4/

last time I used it (half a year ago) there were still some bugs, but nothing one can't handle.

[MySpleen]

You seem to be forgetting, Cipher! http://www.cipherengine.com

$100!

I've used A6, torque and nebula, and now I use cipher, which I prefer above all those I've tried. Its just so nice to use, its pure C/C++, shader editor, open source engine...

You'll also want to look at 3rd party physics engines, the 2 free ones being ODE and Tokamak, plus I like NovodeX.

[Rivett]

You should wait untill Half-Life 2 releases, and then fully modify the game to suit your needs, unless you are needing access to the actual code, then I would reccomend Torque as well.

[KovaSteel]

Like the others said, TORQUE is the way to go for a fps with great gfx if you know how to handle c++ really well.

[danydrunk]

How much can someone modify a game like half life 2? you can just change textures, and models, or can you change gameplay and other stuff? can you write some kind of code? to make it more like you want?

[CrossFire]

You can change EVERYTHING
gameplay
models
weapons
maps

what you do is when released dl the HL2 SDK, if it's like the HL SDK, it will include all the tools and the source code you willl ever need

[KovaSteel]

But I don`t think that it`ll be that easy to modify. Engines like half life or unreal are really complex and are better for learning. But if you`re up to it,it`s a good choice too.

[Noldomire]

I can tell a few words aboud ogre3d, since I've observed those guys for some time and I plan to use their engine. I'll list it's main features, and comment DISadvantages/ADVantages.

1. It's a graphic engine.
DIS: no physics, no collision detection, no sound, etc.
ADV: since they spend all their time on graphics, it's really well done.

2. It's completely free.
DIS: It's far weaker than Unreal2003 and other such state-of-art products. If it wasn't free, they would afford a legion of programmers to work 8h/day. But it's free, so there are only three main programmers working on ogre in their free time.
ADV: You can start using it right away, without any fee. You can publish anything using ogre, without any fee. You can earn money on ogre-based products... yes, you've guesssed - without any fee!

3. Fully object-oriented.
DIS: Some say it slows down the game, and probably they're right. And you must know c++.
ADV: The organisation of the code is wonderful. Pure pleasure to work with it. And the framerate loss is absolutely affordably low.

4. Many cooperators creating plugins for ogre.
DIS: You have to spend some time to learn a few plugins that are really useful... unavoidable.
ADV: There appear new possibilities, new features, that main developers wouldn't bother with in the nearest future. You can do more!

5. Rich community.
DIS: hmm... no idea ; )
ADV: You can read about other people's problems that you haven't even thought of, so when you meet those issues yourself, you already know the solution.
And generally: support, support, support : )

Summing up:
If you're looking for a well supported, free graphic engine and it doesn't have to be latest state-of-art, I advise you ogre3d.

[Fudge]

Hey, sorry all for bring for this thread.
Im looking into a 3d engine for my games dev team, and came across crystal space.
What i wondered was if it supports:

1) multiplayer capibillitys
2) how many tris til it begins to lag (ideally for a 3rd person game)
3) normal mapping and bump mapping?


Thanks for your time, Fudge

[InAction]

Old thread, it came up, I saw it and read through.

If you're thinking of physics anytime and 'buying' a physicsengine. Take http://www.meqon.com/index.php into consideration. Even 3drealms are using it at the moment. :) (there is an interactive demo on the site, download it and try)

[dassbaba]

This looks real cool - http://www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=1

Has anyone worked hands on with it? (Torque)

[wowGameArtist]

In my oppinion the most effective and easy to use engine is Unreal. If you are just messing around and making a FPS, This engine will suit you fine.

The Positives of this engine are:

-The game comes with UnrealEd (The World Editor) which is easy to use.
-There is tons of doccumentation for newbs.
-There I a gigantic book on how to use the Editor called Mastering Unreal Technology.
-Websites like http://udn.epicgames.com/Main/WebHome and http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Home_Page make Modding more enjoyable. Ultimately giving you more knowlege to make a better product. YAY for video games!

The Negative side:

-You have to buy the game to make a game. HA HA
-Obviously you dont have access to the source code.
-It will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 USD to buy the full engine with its source.

There is also another engine I found somewhat interesting called Reality Factory.
http://www.realityfactory.ca/v3/

[Bigpet]

Well you can get the unreal engine for free if you would read the whole thread you would see where you can get unreal 2 engine for free without engine core source of course

[Leionaaad]

You can also get the quake source codes. They are old, but for learning I assume it is OK. And I doubt you can go comercial with them.
Crystal Space is also good, but still in development. most of the features are working "to some extend", I quoted from the site. Levels for Crystal Space can be edited easily via Quark.
I am using Unreal Runtime for my projects. And the scripting proves to be really efficient.
It looks like Unreal runtime and UT2k4 has the same core. Just about everything in UT2k4
is made with Uscripts.
But I am an artist, not really programmer.

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