Todays games without amazig 3d graphics seem to be like toy games made by newbie developers. Well this is not my opinion, but after mastering the 2d stuff any serious game developer should jump into the 3d world. But before writing your own 3d engine consider the pros and cons, and maybe have a glance on some stable, existing engines.
For many people the finest open source 3d engine is OGRE. To some people it is not a complete engine, because it lacks typical features of an engine (as physics, networking, etc.), but OGRE definitely has an amzing renderer. Beginners often complain about complexity, ugly documentation, but OGRE has a very nice community. It's suitable for cross-platform development.
Another popular open source 3d engine is Irrlicht. It's is a well designed engine, easy to use, and thanks to the BSD license great for modifications. Some will say it's not as powerful and slow, but this may be perfect for beginners or simpler things. Also Irrlicht has a good community, and is suitable for cross-platform development.
The next one open source 3d engine is Crystal Space. It is the most complete open source 3d engine out there, but is not easy to use. They have a very friendly community, and is also suitable for cross-platform development.
Once crafted by Disney now Panda3D became open source. Well, what to say else than this is another great engine. It is simple to use, and suitable for cross-platform development.
Next one of the open source and cross-platform 3d engine is the Nebula Device. It's a powerful and complex 3d engine, but maybe isn't easy to use because it lacks community and tutorials. It already found its way into commercial game development.
The last of the open source 3d engines I review is OpenSceneGraph. It's also a well designed engine.
Well of course there are many more 3d engines. In fact it seems like there are as many as game programmers. Many of them are open source, but some developers say, they are not suitable for the development of commercial games. For sure there are some commercial engines available, as Torque or some other, but I'm not sure in which way they are superior - since I'm using Unix-like systems I'm not really gaming, and that's before GPU was established.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
In the Beginning
Though game development is a not easy, some environment is more easy than another. Especially for beginners without any experience in programming this is of concern. So I think it's time to search the beginners game development environment.
The first thing I noticed is PyGame, a cross-plattform game development library based on Python and built on SDL. It is designed to make game development easy and powerfull, without the need to care about the low-level details of C/C++. PyGame seems to have a great community.
Another thing is the Blitz BASIC compiler, a BASIC dialect designed for game development. It originally came from the Amiga, but today it is cross-plattform available.
Both languages are easy to learn, and have their pros & cons. While Python+PyGame is open source, Blitz BASIC isn't and has a price of 80$ upwards. Blitz BASIC creates compiled code, while Python is an interpreter (but fast) and needs its source code to execute. However, Python is commonly used as additional scripting language for many projects.
For sure there are alternatives to PyGame and Blitz BASIC, but they are definitely a good choice for beginners.
The first thing I noticed is PyGame, a cross-plattform game development library based on Python and built on SDL. It is designed to make game development easy and powerfull, without the need to care about the low-level details of C/C++. PyGame seems to have a great community.
Another thing is the Blitz BASIC compiler, a BASIC dialect designed for game development. It originally came from the Amiga, but today it is cross-plattform available.
Both languages are easy to learn, and have their pros & cons. While Python+PyGame is open source, Blitz BASIC isn't and has a price of 80$ upwards. Blitz BASIC creates compiled code, while Python is an interpreter (but fast) and needs its source code to execute. However, Python is commonly used as additional scripting language for many projects.
For sure there are alternatives to PyGame and Blitz BASIC, but they are definitely a good choice for beginners.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Unix Game Market Place
Most people in the industry will say there is no market for Linux games, or something like it's too risky developing for Linux when Dual Boot is so easy, or have another excuse like Linux users are used to not buy software and want everything for free.
I have to regret, that there's a grain of truth. The game development company RuneSoft noticed Linux has even less sales figures than their Amiga edition of a game - hell, who uses Amiga these days?! That's really frightening for any serious company.
That's all I need to know: who are these crazy freaks supporting their favorite platform (beside of open source)?
Publishers:
I have to regret, that there's a grain of truth. The game development company RuneSoft noticed Linux has even less sales figures than their Amiga edition of a game - hell, who uses Amiga these days?! That's really frightening for any serious company.
That's all I need to know: who are these crazy freaks supporting their favorite platform (beside of open source)?
Publishers:
- Garage Games
- Hyperion Entertainment
- ixsoft
- Linux Game Publishing
- RuneSoft
- Loki (out of business)
- Titan Computer (out of business)
- Tribsoft (out of business)
- Bioware
- BlackHoleSun (out of business)
- BraveTree (out of business)
- Caravel Games
- Chronic Logic (out of business)
- Creature Labs
- Croteam (out of business)
- Donohoe Digital (out of business)
- Entropic Software (out of business)
- Eon Games (out of business)
- The General Coffee Company
- Guild Software
- id Software
- Illwinter (out of business)
- Introversion Software
- Iron Code Software (out of business)
- Laminar Research
- Maxgaming Technologies
- Oddlabs
- Phantom EFX
- Pixel 5 Studio (out of business)
- PomPom Games (out of business)
- Puppy Games
- Rarebyte
- Savage 2
- Silent Wings
- Silly Soft
- Small Rockets
- Three Rings
- Vicarious Visions
- The Wyrmkeep Entertainment
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Ubuntu Games Developer Wiki
On my quest finding out more about Unix game development, in the official Ubuntu forums I came across the ubuntu-gamdev-wiki. It is still new, and contains few HowTo's about game programming.
Though there's much work to be done, it's a nice idea having a wiki for Unix game developers - also having a board and IRC would be fine.
Though there's much work to be done, it's a nice idea having a wiki for Unix game developers - also having a board and IRC would be fine.
Programming Linux Games for Download
This book is a true classic on Linux game programming. It is written by the creators of SDL and founders of Loki Software, and covers lots of things a game programmer should care about when using Linux & SDL.
Of course you can buy a printed copy of this book, but for all those poor guys there are legel(?) PDF versions of this book available. I found a free e-book copy here, but this can be off another day. Better search on your own.
Of course you can buy a printed copy of this book, but for all those poor guys there are legel(?) PDF versions of this book available. I found a free e-book copy here, but this can be off another day. Better search on your own.
Better Game Characters
Yesterday I've been at the IGDA meeting - the International Game Developers Association - where Katherine Isbister, the author of the book Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach, gave a lecture about the importance of emotions in games to reach a wider audience.
In fact, todays challange of the game industry is to make gamers cry by the emotional experience of the game, as it's usual for film makers or authors to give the their consumer an emotional experience.
The idea behind the book is, technics change but humans don't - well, at least almost. Upon this conclusion, game designers bear responsability of how to make the player identify with the game, and what emotions the game characters, style, setting, and control will cause.
The main problem is to master the so called zombie line, the effect of having soulless and robotic characters. The key to this problem is a better psychological approach in design. The idea goes so far, that mastering this will create new genres of games.
You may agree, stories and movies are more interesting with well designed and interesting characters, so it is for games. In deed, modern games by the industry follow this approach, as GTA is thrilling with story, characters and setting, as Nintendo DS & Wii allow new experience by their controls, or as severel games offer the option to completely design the character by the player, which goes so far that it's even possible to make a virtual mirror image of the player, what leads to self identification and represantation in a virtual world.
For more information, read their blog about Game Empathy.
In fact, todays challange of the game industry is to make gamers cry by the emotional experience of the game, as it's usual for film makers or authors to give the their consumer an emotional experience.
The idea behind the book is, technics change but humans don't - well, at least almost. Upon this conclusion, game designers bear responsability of how to make the player identify with the game, and what emotions the game characters, style, setting, and control will cause.
The main problem is to master the so called zombie line, the effect of having soulless and robotic characters. The key to this problem is a better psychological approach in design. The idea goes so far, that mastering this will create new genres of games.
You may agree, stories and movies are more interesting with well designed and interesting characters, so it is for games. In deed, modern games by the industry follow this approach, as GTA is thrilling with story, characters and setting, as Nintendo DS & Wii allow new experience by their controls, or as severel games offer the option to completely design the character by the player, which goes so far that it's even possible to make a virtual mirror image of the player, what leads to self identification and represantation in a virtual world.
For more information, read their blog about Game Empathy.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Current State
The strong presence of Linux in the domain of Unix is not to ignore. However, there are a couple of alternatives, as FreeBSD, GNU, IRIX, Mac OS X, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and more, but Linux is definitely the most popular.
Naturally the dominance of Linux makes it the most interesting Unix alternative for game developers, and indeed games, libraries, engines, tools do exist. Before any progression, it is wise to make some research about the situation. Google gave me for:
Naturally the dominance of Linux makes it the most interesting Unix alternative for game developers, and indeed games, libraries, engines, tools do exist. Before any progression, it is wise to make some research about the situation. Google gave me for:
- "game development" - 1.820.000 results,
- "linux game development" - 9170 results,
- "unix game development" - 3 results,
- Linux Game Development Center (Website)
- Simple DirectMedia Layer (API)
- Allegro (API)
- ClanLib (SDK)
- Mesa (OpenGL)
- Programming Linux Games (Book)
- Linux Game Programming (Book)
- Linux 3D Graphics Programming (Book)
- Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (Book)
- Open Source Game Development (Book)
- OpenGL Programming for the X Window System (Book)
- The Linux Game Tome (Forum)
- X11 Game Programming (Tutorial)
- GIMP (2D)
- Blender (3D)
- Inkscape (Vector)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hello, world!
... and welcome to the UNIX Game Development weblog, the place is for everybody making Unix-like systems more fun.
Regardless of occupation and mastery, this blog is not limited to code gurus, and ought to serve atistry, business, design, music, and all other aspects in the development of a game for Unix-like systems.
Having a look at the history of UNIX, it stands out being the favourite system for any kind of hackery, and nowadays reached a solid and almost user-friendly level. On the other side, it is still used by a small crowd, and not of major concern for desktop users, which involves being secondary for gaming. Actually it's not that bad anymore, but still nothing compared to other systems.
The intention of this blog is to collect news, information and guidance, to reflect the present situation, and to network developers.
I start it in my own interest as a hobby game developer, so don't expect too much, but this may change in the future - who knows. Furthermore, I'ld like to excuse any mistakes on verbalization and spelling, 'cause I'm german, but to the benefit of everybody I prefer to author in english.
It's strange, but for years I couldn't find a website dedicated to Unix Game Development. I know it doesn't differ too much for other systems, nevertheless I still miss it. Therefore I try to start something, and maybe it's cool - we'll see what happens.
So far so good. Any serious help is welcome, wether feedback or participation.
Regardless of occupation and mastery, this blog is not limited to code gurus, and ought to serve atistry, business, design, music, and all other aspects in the development of a game for Unix-like systems.
Having a look at the history of UNIX, it stands out being the favourite system for any kind of hackery, and nowadays reached a solid and almost user-friendly level. On the other side, it is still used by a small crowd, and not of major concern for desktop users, which involves being secondary for gaming. Actually it's not that bad anymore, but still nothing compared to other systems.
The intention of this blog is to collect news, information and guidance, to reflect the present situation, and to network developers.
I start it in my own interest as a hobby game developer, so don't expect too much, but this may change in the future - who knows. Furthermore, I'ld like to excuse any mistakes on verbalization and spelling, 'cause I'm german, but to the benefit of everybody I prefer to author in english.
It's strange, but for years I couldn't find a website dedicated to Unix Game Development. I know it doesn't differ too much for other systems, nevertheless I still miss it. Therefore I try to start something, and maybe it's cool - we'll see what happens.
So far so good. Any serious help is welcome, wether feedback or participation.
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