A7 (3D Game Studio) is now out and avialable for dowload as a trial version (30 days) or for purchase. Here>>

I am very excited about this new version and will purchase it for myself perhaps by late fall.

My Comparison Chart of 3D game software is now updated.

Dr SciFi

BV (Beyond Virtual) as of this time has vaporised in a flame war at their site, and may well be vaporware. A real same because it seemed to have great potential.

Cakewalk is unsupported vaporware that the devs expect to be payed for since they keep a forum on the website.

A7 on the other hand looks like the way of the Indie but still is in beta. Time will tell if this is a winner. A side note on A7 is that Atari has partnered with them and this may be a very good sign of a solid but low cost game development suite for the indie dev.

Dr SciFi

BV is a really solid game engine. It does need many of the features the dev team is promising for future releases but they seem to have good solid base to work from. They also have the beginnigs of a great art pipeline. There are the standards of 3D Max, Maya, and lightwave. But taking the small indie dev into consideration Milkshape is already lined up and Deled and Silo are coming soon. They have also started a Blog/Wiki site where all sorts of resources will be posted. (Links to BV and the 3D sofltware mentioned above can be found on the Game Design Links page.

With the free BV Starter Kit/Bronze version and only $150.00 for the Indie/silver version you can't go wrong. Sign on now to see this grow.

Dr SciFi

Beyond Vertual has a free to use full version starter kit with no time limit. Visit their web site here to get the whole story and downlode the BV Starter Kit.

This is still in Beta but much further along in ease of use and capability than some game engines that have been in devopment for years. I recommend this for anybody interested in 3D development of any kind. I myself will be buying the Idie development package very soon.

Dr SciFi

It turns out that 3D Cakewalk was a bust. The help was nonexistent and development is complete vaporware. Looks like I lost $50 bucks. But this puts Torque back on the table. Should have gone this way in the first place because I'm back to a lack of funds. That "I hope" will teach me to jump at something that looks good on the surface.

Update 071906: The 3D Cakewalk team is back in developmet and an update release is scheduled for August of 2006, and again in November of 2006.

Dr SciFi

Here is a list of what I'm using for game design.

• 3D Cakewalk 1.1: Basic
• Photoshop 7: 2D Art
• AC3D 6: 3D Models, Texturing
• Milkshape 1.7x: 3D Models, Animation
• Blender 2.4x: Rendering
• Nem's Terrain Generator: Terrain
• UVMapper Classic: UV Mapping

This little package cost approximately $190.00. Pretty good first investment for a studio without a name.

Right now I'm learning to use AC3D, Milkshape and Blender. The first 2 are rather easy to use but Blender is a jungle of buttons with a not so familiar layout. But these three will be standing in for the big three (soon to be 2): 3DS Max; Maya; Lightwave. All I need for now are low poly models, basic animation and good rendering which the store brand can provide.

Next on the agenda is the game.

• Story Idea
• Art Work
• 2D Art
• 3D Art
• Building Levels
• Output Game exe
• Offer Game for Sale

At least that's the plan for now.

Dr SciFi

Dr SciFi

Torque much more advanced than the other engines in the affordable or free group also it is in constant development. Especially in the graphics where it really counts.

And even though you have to add editors and upgrades to the engine in order to build a top quality game it is there for flexibility so that the game you want to build can be built. Price wise you can reach this goal for around $500.

This all comes from many years of reading available info on Reality Factory, 3D Game Studio and Torque. 

The chart above gives a basic comparison of the three engines. As you can see Torque has the least going for it. In fact this is why I teetered between Reality Factory and 3D Game Studio for so long. So why Torque? The price and the large amount of info are certainly factors. But the factor to tip the scales is the growth development. Soon and certainly by the time I'm ready to buy it will be a very user friendly game engine.

Why not work with Reality Factory? I would. It's really a nice little game engine, easy to use and pretty darn solid. But several factors are in the way. If I had six people or more creating game art it would be possible. In fact if I had a production team we could work up a demo in Reality Factory and preparing for the move to Torque at the same time. But working alone I have to micro manage everything and creating game art is very time consuming for one person. I have to learn script, game engine interface, learn new software to interact with the game engine, this and that. Do it once and do it right especially if it takes months to accomplish. Basically I will have to start out doing everything myself so starting out once will do fine.

Dr SciFi

• CODERS ONLY at this time.
• Take the Quake 3 source code, clean it up and update it (within reason) so that a good looking and fun game can be made in any of the major game types; be it FPS, RPG, Strategy, Action, ect... Online multiplayer should be a given with the Quake Team Arena code.
• Release this game engine back to the community with a GUI interface similar to Reality Factory or 3D Game Studio. It should also have a Scripting Language interface in order to make special effects and scripted events. Be very well documented. Offered in a free Open Source version and a paid for version.

I have no coding skills at all. But I can produce textures, 3D objects and have map making skills. And I have several game ideas.

I believe the Quake 3 engine can be the center of a future game company start up. ID is offering this as a leg up for those willing to give it a try.

There is a large PC Game fan base that are still mapping for UT, Half-Life and Quake 3 Arena add many other games here. Because they cannot or will not upgrade to computers capable of handling UT2K4, Half-Life 2, Doom 3 or for that matter many of the games coming out in 2006. The fans are there and they need new games.

Contact me Dr SciFi .

In the mean time I will begin working with the Reality Factory game engine to produce a demo with. This is the .072a version updated this year, solid and has a lot new features added. I hate to start with one engine and move to another but the big studios do it all the time.

Dr SciFi

Also in the works is a course on 3DS Max, a slow process in that there are so many tools and controls to work with. Obtaining and learning Bryce is in the works. This will be very key in rendering realistic sky backgrounds.

Dr SciFi

Weighing the above factors along with many more, 3D Game Studio came out as the top choice.

Now I have to pick a simple game idea to start out with.

Dr SciFi