i'll be honest max... i'm confused about which one to go with... i mean, i've been confused about which one to go with for a long time... going back and forth searching for the ideal solution...
i've found that there is none.. at least none that i can afford, and after all my crap about bumpmapping and stuff, i'm retrieving the work i did with 3DRAD on the sub sim, and may release that version...
i've had so much trouble trying to get the DOOM3 look... for simple stuff it's fine, but for more involved stuff like full level construction, it's a real pain... there's always something that i can't get working right...
Torque is great, multiplayer wise... but there's just too much that i've got to search out in order to know the engine well enough to make something... and i still feel a lil confined as far as it's graphics are concerned... the shader version will rock though as far as graphics are concerned... it's next version release might be suitable for a game...
DarkBASIC is a lot better than people think... but it's also a lot worse... the syntax can be a pain, but can be lived with if a few things that were supposed to work actually did work as they were supposed to... the dbo format in the latest release is problematic...
3Impact is really decent too... but it's funny single texture per mesh is a major frustration... and it's poor lighting, especially when using perpixel lighting for bumpmapping... well, those two are enough to put me off as far as starting a project with it...
that brings us to my best overall choice...
Blitz3D... seriously... and, i'm not trying to placate the guild here either :)
Blitz3D appears to be my favorite...
why you may ask... well, first of all, i can get as close to that bumpmapped look i want, without actually going through the coding and lighting headaches... the .b3d format is partly responsible for this... it's flexible, and a lot of indie tools accept it and export it... and i've found that you can be pretty creative with it as far as texturing and texture blending...
the entity system in Blitz3D is another big plus... it's easy to work with and the command syntax is consistant...
the only thing missing, for me at least, is OOP... inspite of this, i'm pursuing the sub sim in Blitz3D too...
so that's it... 3DRAD (don't laff) (if i decide i can live with the retro look)... and Blitz3D, as it gives me something close to that HL2 look... (well, if you stretch your imagination a lil)...
i'm working on the sim right now... in both... so it's Blitz3D and 3DRAD as i find most useful...
i've also found that the ability to create the kind of graphics you want is also a major consideration that the game engine can only help you a lil bit with... and where as before i thought i could depend on the engine to make good looking games, i know better now, so the engine becomes less of a factor...
i mean, it is still a factor, but being able to get good graphics into it in the first place is a prerequisite...
i hope that provides some sort of answer... i should have some of the first shots from the game ready in a few days... subs will be in those... some of the best stuff i think i've come up with so far (at least i think so, others might not :) )... and some less spectacular versions of the same stuff in 3DRAD...
which one i'll go with will depend on a few things which still are up in the air (networking, license security, and a few other things)... i'm getting to the point where i've gotta finish this now, or i'll never finish it...
--Mike
i've found that there is none.. at least none that i can afford, and after all my crap about bumpmapping and stuff, i'm retrieving the work i did with 3DRAD on the sub sim, and may release that version...
i've had so much trouble trying to get the DOOM3 look... for simple stuff it's fine, but for more involved stuff like full level construction, it's a real pain... there's always something that i can't get working right...
Torque is great, multiplayer wise... but there's just too much that i've got to search out in order to know the engine well enough to make something... and i still feel a lil confined as far as it's graphics are concerned... the shader version will rock though as far as graphics are concerned... it's next version release might be suitable for a game...
DarkBASIC is a lot better than people think... but it's also a lot worse... the syntax can be a pain, but can be lived with if a few things that were supposed to work actually did work as they were supposed to... the dbo format in the latest release is problematic...
3Impact is really decent too... but it's funny single texture per mesh is a major frustration... and it's poor lighting, especially when using perpixel lighting for bumpmapping... well, those two are enough to put me off as far as starting a project with it...
that brings us to my best overall choice...
Blitz3D... seriously... and, i'm not trying to placate the guild here either :)
Blitz3D appears to be my favorite...
why you may ask... well, first of all, i can get as close to that bumpmapped look i want, without actually going through the coding and lighting headaches... the .b3d format is partly responsible for this... it's flexible, and a lot of indie tools accept it and export it... and i've found that you can be pretty creative with it as far as texturing and texture blending...
the entity system in Blitz3D is another big plus... it's easy to work with and the command syntax is consistant...
the only thing missing, for me at least, is OOP... inspite of this, i'm pursuing the sub sim in Blitz3D too...
so that's it... 3DRAD (don't laff) (if i decide i can live with the retro look)... and Blitz3D, as it gives me something close to that HL2 look... (well, if you stretch your imagination a lil)...
i'm working on the sim right now... in both... so it's Blitz3D and 3DRAD as i find most useful...
i've also found that the ability to create the kind of graphics you want is also a major consideration that the game engine can only help you a lil bit with... and where as before i thought i could depend on the engine to make good looking games, i know better now, so the engine becomes less of a factor...
i mean, it is still a factor, but being able to get good graphics into it in the first place is a prerequisite...
i hope that provides some sort of answer... i should have some of the first shots from the game ready in a few days... subs will be in those... some of the best stuff i think i've come up with so far (at least i think so, others might not :) )... and some less spectacular versions of the same stuff in 3DRAD...
which one i'll go with will depend on a few things which still are up in the air (networking, license security, and a few other things)... i'm getting to the point where i've gotta finish this now, or i'll never finish it...
--Mike