A few more questions
by Samuel Rosen · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 10/07/2006 (9:41 pm) · 4 replies
(again please exscuse my spelling)
1. I just saw a video for the Torque Shader Engine. It looks good. is it worth the money to develope on. Anyone can look at my previouse post and see what i want to develope so i would like imput on if it is worth the extra 150 to buy tse
2.How is the Ai in toque. I've heard mixed things. Is there an easy fix if it is not that good.( i need halo equivalent ai)
3.This is important. I am eather going to use gmax or blender(more likley both) What do i need to do to be able to exsport my models and scenes to torque(from what i have heard i have to add some things to blender and gmax if this is not true please tell me.) Also step by step instuction would help just because i am an idiot when it comes to anything without an auto install.
I think that is it for now but if you(the readers) coud check back here ever once and a while it would be very much apreshiated(i know that that isnt spelled right) because instead of posting new posts for questions along this line i would prefer to just continue in this one.
1. I just saw a video for the Torque Shader Engine. It looks good. is it worth the money to develope on. Anyone can look at my previouse post and see what i want to develope so i would like imput on if it is worth the extra 150 to buy tse
2.How is the Ai in toque. I've heard mixed things. Is there an easy fix if it is not that good.( i need halo equivalent ai)
3.This is important. I am eather going to use gmax or blender(more likley both) What do i need to do to be able to exsport my models and scenes to torque(from what i have heard i have to add some things to blender and gmax if this is not true please tell me.) Also step by step instuction would help just because i am an idiot when it comes to anything without an auto install.
I think that is it for now but if you(the readers) coud check back here ever once and a while it would be very much apreshiated(i know that that isnt spelled right) because instead of posting new posts for questions along this line i would prefer to just continue in this one.
About the author
#2
10/08/2006 (9:00 pm)
What i gather from people is to do this project it would be easer to mod the halo 1 game for the pc. I have no probem doing that however i dont know how and it semes that there are not a whole lot of resouces on how to do this. If anyone can send me to tutorials and give me some step y step instructions i would be happy to do this method instead. 
#4
www.beyondvirtual.com (has some decent features, but has a ways to go)
**Edit, on second thought, you might do well with BV. It has a really unique behavior based scripting system (each object has it's own scripted behaviors). You could probably script some decent AI stuff in it. Their demo has two bots to kill.
www.dxstudio.com (similar to Unity, only not Mac. Probably not something you will want to tackle though. Dxstudio lacks a good object oriented base, even for its scripting stuff. It's good for realtime interaction in a Web browser and has some keen features. But it is 'in development'.)
If you get a programmer onboard, it's worth looking at TSE. Or if you want to tackle something a little more complex, look at OGRE and some of the other building blocks available for physics, audio, GUI, etc..
For modeling, I tend to lean towards Silo (www.nevercenter.com). And you can't go wrong with Fragmotion for a cheap animation solution. Getting stuff to DTS and DIF is a trick from these tools - I'm sure. Most of the things I do are X file based. Which comes with its own headaches:)
I've played with GameSpace, didn't take to it. But I didn't give it the time it likely deserved either:)
10/11/2006 (10:47 am)
There is a book available on Modding Halo. Im pretty sure I saw it at Barnes and Noble the other day. A couple more to add:www.beyondvirtual.com (has some decent features, but has a ways to go)
**Edit, on second thought, you might do well with BV. It has a really unique behavior based scripting system (each object has it's own scripted behaviors). You could probably script some decent AI stuff in it. Their demo has two bots to kill.
www.dxstudio.com (similar to Unity, only not Mac. Probably not something you will want to tackle though. Dxstudio lacks a good object oriented base, even for its scripting stuff. It's good for realtime interaction in a Web browser and has some keen features. But it is 'in development'.)
If you get a programmer onboard, it's worth looking at TSE. Or if you want to tackle something a little more complex, look at OGRE and some of the other building blocks available for physics, audio, GUI, etc..
For modeling, I tend to lean towards Silo (www.nevercenter.com). And you can't go wrong with Fragmotion for a cheap animation solution. Getting stuff to DTS and DIF is a trick from these tools - I'm sure. Most of the things I do are X file based. Which comes with its own headaches:)
I've played with GameSpace, didn't take to it. But I didn't give it the time it likely deserved either:)
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
1. TSE is a great engine. It has a lot of nifty features. You have to be a programmer to utilize it in its current state. This does not mean that artists can't make pretty things. Far from that. But it means that if you want to make your Halo game, you would have to do some MAJOR work. In fact, I can't think of an engine (other than Halo) that you would not have to do major work with. For example.
A6) You have a strong Window-centric engine with A6. Its terrain is a bit shoddy, it's networking more so. But it is pretty. You have a great pipeline and the community is top-notch. AI is...program it yourself...which makes perfect sense since AI is a hairy topic in most senses of the topic.
C4) Beautiful engine. Have to have C++ props to use. It's current state has it more as as combination engine/API. A game could be made with it and a dedicated programming team. AI you would have to add. But shaders you have in spades.
DarkBASIC) DarkBASIC is a language, and a good one at that. Most of my problems with the slow performance have been worked on in many builds. But this does not alleviate the problem of having to program your game from scratch (albeit with some nifty game-centric language features). They have a great AI and physics add-on. But it is completely and utterly useless unless you can build your own engine. As a language it is great. I love the DB community. I think that their two books are EXTREMELY excellent in terms of teaching DB. But you have to be a programmer or partner with one to get it done.
Blitz3D) See DarkBASIC, but without the plugin's. Great community, but it is a language that you have to use. Same with BlitzMax, but there is no official 3D component so it is out of your Halo consideration anyway.
First Person Shooter Maker) Made with DB. The source has been released and has a huge community following with amazing addendums. But it still won't make Halo. I believe with a community addition, you can save your game.
TV3D) You will have to have a programmer on-board. Great engine, but programming needed.
Unity 3D) Mac engine (mostly, unless you pay for pro). You could get a fun game going in it. It is fun, clean, and easy to use. The scripting is intuitive. But you have to have someone who can script. They have also done a lot of legwork in terms of making it easy for the user. I do not know if they have a version of the editor that works on the PC. I know that the pro version will publish to PC, but I do not know if there is an editor for the PC. The vehicle physic stuff that was added in 1.5.1 is pretty sweet, though.
BeyondVirtual) Great engine, but it has some culling and hardware issues. I didn't notice them in Steer Madness, but then it was enhanced for a GTA-esque game. BV has been generalized to a wider audience. It has some great features, but you should really download the basic version to see if you want to use it. The workflow (like Unity) is intuitive. But I don't know if it will let you make your dream Halo game.
Wo, pretty much, I would say: mod Halo.
2) Torque's AI is basic and mostly resource, path, and line-of-sight based. You would have some major work to do. In TGE or TSE.
3) Gmax is not supported by any of the engines that I have listed. I do not believe that Gearbox went with a Gmax mod license (though they may have even though it was being phased out).
Blender has some great plug-ins for a number of the engines listed, as well as TGE. I have no idea about TSE.
Regardless, you will have to install the plug-ins for Blender to get it to run. Check the artist page and download the scripts and follow the directions after you have the correct version of Blender installed.