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Engine Questions

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Engine Questions

Postby Sarrene » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:02 pm

Hello and good evening. I am not so new, though I have hardly posted here in the last year. However, I did want to say how helpful the search is and most of all, everyone here. (After all, the search would not be of any use if the people here were not great.)

On that note, I wanted to ask about game engines. I am not new to game design, however I am to scripting and base engines. A few of us have either worked on other games or were contract artists, and a couple years ago decided to attempt to make our own game.

We have reviewed many game engines out there from free to low to mid cost. Though I am wondering what one people here would recommend.

Let state that our goal is Hero Engine, as we are going to make an MMORPG. That is our end goal. We now have our Business Proposal (actually registering our business in three weeks), Game Proposal and Game Design Documents now finished. Currently we are working on some concept art (both hand drawn and 3d).

We are facing two difficulties. One is finding an engine that is geared towards an PRG game, and second is the lack of coders. I know that the later will be easier for us to get once we start to look. The engine however has been the more difficult thing.
Some of the engines we have already looked at and tried/purchased are (in no particular order):
Realm Crafter
Ogre
TGE/TGEA
Torque 3D
C4
Verge
Panda 3d
and a few others i cannot remember.
Each of these had some elements that were good, but nothing like what a few of us are used to.

We were hoping that Torque 3D would be perfect for us, yet some things that we were hoping for were dropped or changed during the beta process. Some things we were told were just impossible to do in an engine.

So.. What we need are
1) RPG (style)support or at least capabilities via source (inventory, dialog (yak pack is not quite what we wanted, but close),
2) Seamless world/mega terrain support.
3) No hard coded limits to poly/mesh size/count.
4) 3d s max / Maya support for export/import

Those three are some of the more difficult hurdles we have found with primarily Torque 3d (which actually has a few more limitations then TGEA did,) and Realm Crafter. Of course, lack of source code via a few of them are a hurdle as well.

Now, do let me say that I know that there is not one engine out there that will do everything we want to of the box. All engines, no matter what one we end up with, will have limitations and things that we will need to create for ourselves. However, I am sure we can find something a bit better then what we have looked for already.

Now, I have found two others that we have not tried yet, and wondering also if anyone has had any experience with either of these: Esenthel Engine and Uningine.

Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts? I am open to all suggestions, ideas and thoughts.

Thank you all for your time and help.
Peace,
Sarrene'
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Postby Rofar » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:10 pm

I won't claim to have any great advice for you but I will give you my thoughts.

Since you mention MMORPG, I believe it will be difficult to find an "indy-priced" engine that will not require major additional customized work to be suitable.

I would think Realm Crafter would hold the best promise but until the Pro version is complete (out of beta), the new server is complete, and the source code is available, you will be held back. And only after those things are complete can you be sure that it will work for your project.

I began coding my own engine several years ago with the hopes of having an engine suitable for MMO development and although I still work on it occasionally, the scope of the work left to do is enough to know that if I want to make a game, I have to let someone else do the engine work. I can either code an engine or make a game but not both.

Therefore, I have tried many of the open source/low cost engines and not found anything that fits my needs. I think that's expected. No matter what engine you go with, you will have to ultimately find a way to make that engine work best for your project.

I really wish I had some solid advice for you but of the engines you mention (that I have looked at), I think Realm Crafter has the best chance of success for MMO development.

Hopefully there are others that can share their different perspectives on this.
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Postby Sarrene » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:55 pm

Aye, we were hopeful for Realm Crafter as well, but the beta has gone on for so long. And with out the source code, there is not a lot we can do.

My hopes is to find something so we can actually get a coder or two. I am graphic arts, though kind of wearing MANY hats as you had explained. We also have sound, another artist, a few storyline and dialog people, Business Management... Though could use a coder that really knows what they are doing as well as one more 3d artist.

However, until we settle on something and find something that will sort of meet our needs.. at least supports what we need.. and we can (with a good coder) create the rest of the tools we need.. it is kind of hard to find the extra talent.

Any thoughts on the two we are looking at now? Both are a bit more expensive then the general indie game engines.. but if it will work and help any future coders... im sure we will find a way to get them. :D

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Peace,
Sarrene'
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Postby Sarrene » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:23 pm

Good morning.
Well, so far i have tried all the listed above and found from an artists point of view, i really like the esenthel engine.

Here is my question... does anyone here at all have any experience with it, and if so, do you know of a way to export the maps? Here is what i was told...
http://www.esenthel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1768
"If you can get your height map to .bmp from L3DT and you already got the texture map for it. Then you can just use the import function in the world editor and everything should work out just fine. :)"


Peace,
Sarrene'
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Postby Chett » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:55 am

I exported a bmp to use in irrlicht, works fine.

Thats a nice looking engine but sadly limited to windows from what I saw.
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Postby Sarrene » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:39 am

From an artists point of view, I honestly have to say that I am loving this one. I have not built anything real yet, just messing around and testing things out.

Ah okay, Well I will have to see how this works out then. I love their terrain world builder, but I also love this thing as well. SO many options and the texture, height maps and so on are great! I hope this works out well because i have so much that I would love to do.

As far as os.. i would say go ahead and ask about it. The creator is really nice and helpful. You never know what could happen.

Peace,
Sarrene'
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