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RC Member Posts: 11 From: Winchester, NH./ USA Registered: 04-07-2002 |
Hi, I'm new to the list and am currently working on new christian game. The Game Doc is about 40% complete and I have been looking at different development tools and engines (Genisis,Destiny,Lithtech,Quake). I am a newbie at C++ but have been working with traditional and CG art for over 20 years. I would be interested in linking-up with any C++ programmers out there who think they might be interested in developing a new 3D engine with editors, etc...email me if you are interested. Thanks and God Bless All !!!!!! ------------------ |
Klumsy Administrator Posts: 1061 From: Port Angeles, WA, USA Registered: 10-25-2001 |
you plan to develop an engine from scratch.. that is a HUGE effort these days.. requiring quite a bit of experience and a lot of testing, you have to get evcery graphic card under the sun and test against.. i'd suggest since you are wanting to make a game more than an engine.. one i'd suggest , especially if you aren't a hotshot c++ coder wouldn't http://www.conitec.net/a4info.htm its very complete, will decrease development time 10fold mostly like and is quite cheap God Bless your endeavor Karl ------------------ |
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RC Member Posts: 11 From: Winchester, NH./ USA Registered: 04-07-2002 |
Yeah...I know it's a hugh effort I am undertaking. I have looked at the a5 game studio...have a demo on my system. I have also looked at the others I mentioned before...my main problem ( besides not being a hotshot C++ coder) is that I want to create an engine to handle splines vs polys.I have talked with quite a few other programmers and they all agree with what you had to say....I'm looking at two to five years development time. But, something keeps pulling me in this direction.Thanks for the reply and God Bless All !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------ |
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Klumsy Administrator Posts: 1061 From: Port Angeles, WA, USA Registered: 10-25-2001 |
if you want to use a spline based, or other systems based engine rather than polygons, you can kiss goodbye 3d cards support.. with a5 and tweaking you could use a spline based system in the background.. but of course rendering will have to be in polygons... tell me more about this spline idea.. i might be able to put you into the right direction as far as other resources on the net go... b.t.w how solid is your 3d maths and stuff.. could you like program a basic 3d solidfill engine? Kalr ------------------ |
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RC Member Posts: 11 From: Winchester, NH./ USA Registered: 04-07-2002 |
Thanks for taking the time to reply karl...My math is'nt that great...yet...I'm just starting in the programming end of things....been doing 3d animations, multimedia and the like. i also work 10 to 12 hours a day at my reg. job.( service tech out of Boston). Anyways....been looking at a couple of game mathmatic courses online...haven't decided what to do yet...just kind of feeling my way around at this point. I like spline base models better because they look better and take less memory. I have LightWave, trueSpace....but my favorite modeling package is Hash, Animation Master....I am thinking about delevoping an engine around their editor and render engine...thinking, thinking....I don't know right now...I need to get some sleep. look, I'll be back up on line around 2:00am...give me sometime to get some java in me and I'll put some ideas down so you get a better idea where I'm going with this. Any help would be great. Thanks again and God Bless! ------------------ |
Krylar Administrator Posts: 502 From: MD, USA Registered: 03-05-2001 |
Hiya, Since you're looking at a 5 year timeline, the computer industry may be totally different by the time you finish. Meaning that what's graphically amazing today may be trivial in 5 years. For example, the game "Stonekeep" by Interplay was touted to be an amazing graphic RPG while in development. But it took forever to complete, and when it was released it paled in comparison to the games that were released at or around the same time. It was "old" at its release. You've probably already thought of this anyways...just my $0.02 -Krylar ------------------ |
Crptc_Prgrmr Member Posts: 169 From: Registered: 02-05-2002 |
Hey RC, I'm not sure quite what you mean by using splines versus polygons. I am working on an "engine" that uses spline models, converting them into polygons at run-time. It seems like a good compromise, I can change detail levels of all my models at run-time, but it's all hardware supported using DirectX 8. You can see a couple of screenshots at http://members.v3space.com/sillypickle/ I just recently coded my basic animation class, so you can add keyframes for the different bones in the model, pretty cool look'n. |
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RC Member Posts: 11 From: Winchester, NH./ USA Registered: 04-07-2002 |
Yeah...I have thought about that Krylar...hoping that I can implement new technology as it arrives onscene.Thanks for the post.I also want to thank Crptc_Prgrmr for the post as well...what engine are you using? It still seems to me that if I must convert to polys...then I might as well model in LightWvae or TrueSpace. Are you on the AM List as well? Well...God Bless to all...thanks for the replies everyone. I have alot of thinking and praying to do. ------------------ |
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Crptc_Prgrmr Member Posts: 169 From: Registered: 02-05-2002 |
I'm using my own engine, built partly using an SDK that came with the modeler I have. The advantage to this method is just that I have one model for each object, which can then be set to different resolutions at run-time. Directx 9 is supposed to have more support for high-level primitives like patches, not to mention a high-level shader language. Hopefully I'll be mostly done by the time that comes out though.... |
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RC Member Posts: 11 From: Winchester, NH./ USA Registered: 04-07-2002 |
When you say " built partly using the SDK that came with your modler"...are you refering to Hash AM or another modeler? I'm assuming it is Hash and would like to know what version you are currently using?? I was in contact with a few programmers from the AM List and was lead to believe that the SDK was really of no use as far as designing my game engine and editor...I would like your input please.I have not upgraded from 99 due to this reason. I also found a cool paper by Martin Hash...I think somewhere around 1987 or so...the topic: "A Complete Algorithm For Real-Time Spline-Based Character Animation". I also found some other useful sites while doing my research. Have you heard when Directx 9 is going to be out? I heard that MS is working on new technology that will bring one level of game play...no loading screens between levels...cool. Well take care all and thanks for all your input and time. God Bless All !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------ |
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Crptc_Prgrmr Member Posts: 169 From: Registered: 02-05-2002 |
RC, I am using the AM SDK, and I can understand why people would avoid it:-) The documentation is...brief, and the example program goes through all kinds of weird stuff to render the models, probably to make it work on both pc's and mac's. I avoided all of that by just using the import classes to load av2's, and used a patch splitting class to get my models. I haven't gotten it to work properly with more than one bone per vertex, which isn't necessary in my case. I'd be glad to share the code I have so far, it should work with AM '99, I have '00 myself. I read a brief piece on Directx 9, and they said it's s'posed to come out this fall. |
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falkone Junior Member Posts: 9 From: Registered: 07-06-2002 |
if you are new to game programming in general, i really wouldn't suggest developing a commercial game right away. Especially if the game implements tons of advanced stuff that you aren't sure about like portal rendering, octrees, collision detection, OPTIMIZATIONS (if you're new to c++ i would advise against using it to program a game)... stuff like GameStudio can be nice (and some of the demo's i've seen are quite nice) but they won't offer the flexibility and power of your own game engine.. |
