Game Engines

#21 Don is correct, LithTech is not free for non-commercial use. The SDK (precompiled libraries and tools) is available through Real Networks at no charge for a commercial game if, and only if, you agree to allow Real exclusive right to publish said game. The text of the license is very vague in key areas, and is much more restrictive than the Torque license by any means.

BTW. A few people mentioned the Nebula Device a few posts back. It is certainly a pretty engine, but it is far from easy to work with. I have given up on it personally, though one of my partners still wants to use it. I've basically told him knock himself out, but I have washed my hands of it. The key aggravation for me has been the lack of good documentation. Existing tutorials became obsolete with a new revision of the engine last fall, and though there is collision detection, there is no reaction to said collisions without writing your own code. And no real physics model, again without adding your own. Lots of potential, but I have a day job already :)

To be fair though, one enterprising soul may have solved the Nebula Device physics model and collision aggravation at http://www.forgedreality.com/

#22 Hey all...

This is definitely one of my favorite topics: 3D engines. Being an aspiring game designer, I'm quite interested in and intrigued by 3D engine technologies. The workings of portal technology fascinated me for weeks ;-). I'm always keeping an eye open for a new and interesting 3D engine to check out.

There are a couple engines that I've looked into - one I was actually working with for a time that I haven't seen mentioned here yet... Sooo...

The one I've discovered most recently is called the Vulpine engine, which can be seen at http://vulpine.de.
It's a very impressive 3D engine that implements alot of the features seen in upcoming technologies (Unreal2 engine, Doom3, etc.).. It's definitely worth checking out their demos. As far as pricing goes.. good luck getting an answer. They want you to fill out this overly detailed (in my opinion) questionnaire - just to get a ballpark figure. But, it's nice to check out nonetheless.

The second engine is the Twilight3D engine which is older and I believe has been replaced, or is being replaced by a newer technology from the same people called Prophecy3D. I've personally worked with the Twilight3D engine from a content creation perspective (I'm a graphics artist) and have seen what it's capable of. It was pretty darn impressive for the time. The Prophecy engine, I'm sure, is even more impressive.. but I haven't seen too much of what it can do.

Anyhoo.. those are a couple that I've seen that hadn't been mentioned here yet... so there ya are :-)

All in all though I'm real interested in the possibilities of the Torque engine and the concept behind GarageGames overall. I applaud and respect what's been created here.

I'm really looking forward to beginning development on a game I'm currently working on the design and documentation for and I believe Torque technology is the way I'm going to go!

Well.. that's it for now! Take care all...

#23 Hi guys. I dunno how helpful this is information will be -- I so rarely post here. :)

Just to clear things up.

The Real.com version of Lithtech, known as either Lithtech RealArcade or Lithtech ESD depending on the version you have, is not the same as the regular Lithtech. We used to be Lithtech RealArcade developers a long time ago, we were one of the first sign-ups. We use Lithtech Talon for our Purge game now and Lithtech 2.4 for MRS.

In the last version of Lithtech RealArcade we got before we left the program, we found Lithtech RealArcade most similiar to Lithtech 2.2.

I hope this helps. There are many flavors of Lithtech. :)

#24 In every discussion of this type that I run across, somone always mentions the Nebula Device. I have yet to make that thing work. I go download the latest version every few months and try again, but it never works for me. I fail to see what the big attraction is.

I've used Power Render. It's a great engine, but the landscape size is very small, and too restrictive for what I need in my game. Plus, the new licensing makes it more expensive than it once was.

Genesis3d doesn't handle landscapes at all (except very small ones), but that may change with the Destiny3d that is the next generation of Genesis. That's still quite a ways off I think.

So far, Torque fits what I need, if I could just get time to work with it :)

#25 I can't get the nebula device to work becuase the installing programs are messed up on my computer. so can someone send it to me bballinstar313@aol.com

#26 I think that there really isnt a point in this trhead going on any longer, unless someone can offer some real evidence why any of those other engines are nearly as good as torque (assuming the $100 cost is disregarded, and professional engines (licensing costs of thousands) are ignored)