Stepping up or taking the plunge...TGEA and more
by Daniel Hopkins · 11/13/2008 (8:37 pm) · 3 comments
Hey,
There's been some pretty exciting things happening around here (at my house) so I thought I'd right a new blog and mention the highlights. Here is a list (arranged from most to least important):
1. I decided to go ahead and step up to the next level by taking the plunge with TGEA (kind of ironic how that works isn't it?). I am now an official owner of a TGEA 1.7 indie license: WOOT!! So far it's been a very enjoyable swim. I've seen the demos and the incredible graphics you can achieve with it, and it's been really exciting to have that capability at my finger tips. As before, I'm amazed at the great things provided by GG at such low prices! Very exciting even in my life!
2. I joined Ian Roach's team to help create their game currently titled "Tinkers" (check out the blog Here) Actually, he was the main reason I decided to update to TGEA as I needed a license to change the source. He asked me about joining when he saw the work I've done with the TGE world editor (I added a snapping tool which I posted as a resource Here). Feel free to check it out if you haven't already! So, doing that's been pretty interesting for me: it gave me a good reason to dig into TGEA quickly instead of worrying about how hard it might be to learn and kind of letting it sit (which would have been a real shame).
3. I got a new graphics card!! Yes, very exciting for me. I got an HD1670: not a very high-end card by any means, but enough to do what I want without having to extract a ton of money from my "build a new computer" budget. It plays BF1942 and BF2142 very fine with maxed settings, and seeing as how those are just about the only games I play, the card is just what I need.
4. I started a game project of my own. I came across a Blender game contest recently and decided to enter it. One of the requirements is that you have to use Blender's game engine (after all, it is a Blender contest, right?) so I won't be using TGE or TGEA. However, they've added some INCREDIBLE features into it including soft bodies and better support for GLSL. Normal mapping is a snap and there's a host of controls to adjust specular lighting and such in realtime! As I mentioned in my last blog, I was actually using Blender's game engine before I went to TGE, so, after I blow off some dust and learn how to work all the new stuff, I hope to feel right at home. Anyway, as the game progresses, I hope to post some screenshots to show it off. After much thought, I decided to do a arcade style 3D bumper car game: I title it "Bumper Derby" The deadline is March 16th...wait...MARCH 16th!?!...what am I doing around here?? Gotta get back to work :D
So that's a short list of all the "major" events happening right now (in quotes because "major" is often quite relative ;) ).
Hope you enjoyed the read and hope you enjoy your day,
Happy gaming,
Daniel
EDIT: Ooops! Almost forgot (actually I did...but I then I remembered)! Here are the mandatory screens (actually they're my rendering work done in Blender). Enjoy!
My first character--"Horatio":
An image titled "Thomas Edison's Desk":
A CFA logo I did for a friend who works there:
There's been some pretty exciting things happening around here (at my house) so I thought I'd right a new blog and mention the highlights. Here is a list (arranged from most to least important):
1. I decided to go ahead and step up to the next level by taking the plunge with TGEA (kind of ironic how that works isn't it?). I am now an official owner of a TGEA 1.7 indie license: WOOT!! So far it's been a very enjoyable swim. I've seen the demos and the incredible graphics you can achieve with it, and it's been really exciting to have that capability at my finger tips. As before, I'm amazed at the great things provided by GG at such low prices! Very exciting even in my life!
2. I joined Ian Roach's team to help create their game currently titled "Tinkers" (check out the blog Here) Actually, he was the main reason I decided to update to TGEA as I needed a license to change the source. He asked me about joining when he saw the work I've done with the TGE world editor (I added a snapping tool which I posted as a resource Here). Feel free to check it out if you haven't already! So, doing that's been pretty interesting for me: it gave me a good reason to dig into TGEA quickly instead of worrying about how hard it might be to learn and kind of letting it sit (which would have been a real shame).
3. I got a new graphics card!! Yes, very exciting for me. I got an HD1670: not a very high-end card by any means, but enough to do what I want without having to extract a ton of money from my "build a new computer" budget. It plays BF1942 and BF2142 very fine with maxed settings, and seeing as how those are just about the only games I play, the card is just what I need.
4. I started a game project of my own. I came across a Blender game contest recently and decided to enter it. One of the requirements is that you have to use Blender's game engine (after all, it is a Blender contest, right?) so I won't be using TGE or TGEA. However, they've added some INCREDIBLE features into it including soft bodies and better support for GLSL. Normal mapping is a snap and there's a host of controls to adjust specular lighting and such in realtime! As I mentioned in my last blog, I was actually using Blender's game engine before I went to TGE, so, after I blow off some dust and learn how to work all the new stuff, I hope to feel right at home. Anyway, as the game progresses, I hope to post some screenshots to show it off. After much thought, I decided to do a arcade style 3D bumper car game: I title it "Bumper Derby" The deadline is March 16th...wait...MARCH 16th!?!...what am I doing around here?? Gotta get back to work :D
So that's a short list of all the "major" events happening right now (in quotes because "major" is often quite relative ;) ).
Hope you enjoyed the read and hope you enjoy your day,
Happy gaming,
Daniel
EDIT: Ooops! Almost forgot (actually I did...but I then I remembered)! Here are the mandatory screens (actually they're my rendering work done in Blender). Enjoy!
My first character--"Horatio":
An image titled "Thomas Edison's Desk":
A CFA logo I did for a friend who works there:
About the author
#2
11/14/2008 (2:13 am)
There's never been a better time to pick up TGEA, so congrats and thank you! I look forward to seeing what you and the team you work with come up with, and I look forward to you seeing what we come up with with our game technologies and our strong push towards better documentation. 
#3
11/16/2008 (5:34 pm)
Those renders are awesome. Great work, and welcome to the amazing world of tgea. 
Torque 3D Owner Deborah M. Fike
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