Posted By: ozziedave
FPS Game Development Tool Free - 04/21/08 06:40
Hi All,
Just like to bring your attention to this FREE FPS Game Engine “RETRIBUTION”, I have spent a lot of money purchasing FPS Game Engines, all have a fatal floor in that the AI is crap, unless you won’t to delve deeply into the code.
The Retribution Engine has its own built in AI just needs a click of the mouse. I am now on my 7th level and this is the most fun that I have had in my ten year quest for a easy to use 3D Game Engine.
Sure some of the experts are going to say its not as sophisticated and cutting edge as the new engines, but hell at least you can produce a game without getting into hundreds of lines of code. Yah you’re going to say well its only md2 models, old hat, but they still look acceptable in today’s environment.
Give it a go, what have you got to loose, Its FREE.
http://www.apgardner.karoo.net/retrib/index.php?view=engine_specification
Retribution Game Engine Summary:
The Retribution Engine has been designed for first person action games on 3D accelerated PCs running Windows 9x/Me and NT4/2000/XP. It is capable of seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor environments. Indoor areas utilise a volume-based visibility system that removes the need for bsp processing. The outdoor areas are rendered using a quad-tree terrain engine with static level of detail control. The engine is open source (GPL license) and the included games are freeware.
Tools:
A tool set is available for the game engine. This includes a level editor and a model editor. Model design is supported by the wide range of md2 editors that are available. The tool set was released to allow people to develop their own levels and space is available in the download section of this site for submitted levels.
OpenGL:
The game engine has exclusively used OpenGL for a long period of its development and will continue to do so. The author was very disappointed with early implementations of Direct 3D and wasted far too much time trying to develop the game using this API. Without doubt, OpenGL is a superior API and will always be so because it is an open cross-platform standard, it is easy to use, it doesn't radically change at regular intervals and it doesn't require a years' sabbatical to read all the documentation.
The game engine makes full use of the OpenGL API and so can take advantage of hardware accelerated transformation and lighting. All model lighting and dynamic lighting is provided using OpenGL light sources.
Sound:
The game engine supports 3D sound effects and music. Currently this is provided using the Direct Sound API but code has been developed to allow OpenAL support to be introduced at some point.
Textures and Light Maps:
From the start, the engine has been designed to use true-colour (32bit) textures. Textures can be any size supported by OpenGL hardware and are mipmapped using trilinear filtering. Lightmaps are also generated using 32bit textures and so support highly realistic coloured lighting effects. The lighting code automatically generates diffuse and specular lightmaps depending on the strength of applicable light sources.
Special Effects:
The game engine supports a wide range of effects:
• Particle Effects
• Shaders
• Glow Maps
• Volumetric Fog
• Volumetric Explosions
• Stencil Shadows
• Chrome Maps
• Weather Effects (Rain and Snow)
• Damage Decals
Scripting:
The engine supports powerful scripting features that allow complex sequences, scripted AI and cinematic cut-scenes to be generated at any point in a level. The scripted sequences are created using simple dialogs and so there is no requirement to learn a scripting language.
Models:
The game engine provides extensive support for models. The models are complex 3D objects that are of a hierarchical tree construction, i.e. child objects are oriented relative to their parent and in turn can be parents to lower order child objects. Parts can be constructed from standard shapes (e.g. spheres) or meshes imported from .x or .md2 files. Animated md2 models are supported.
Weapons:
The game engine supports generic weapon types that can be customised to form a wide arsenal of weapons. Current generic types are melee (e.g. fist), projectile (e.g. laser blaster), exploding projectile (e.g. rocket launcher), instant hit (e.g. pistol, machine gun), beam (e.g. rail gun), grenade and shotgun.
Just like to bring your attention to this FREE FPS Game Engine “RETRIBUTION”, I have spent a lot of money purchasing FPS Game Engines, all have a fatal floor in that the AI is crap, unless you won’t to delve deeply into the code.
The Retribution Engine has its own built in AI just needs a click of the mouse. I am now on my 7th level and this is the most fun that I have had in my ten year quest for a easy to use 3D Game Engine.
Sure some of the experts are going to say its not as sophisticated and cutting edge as the new engines, but hell at least you can produce a game without getting into hundreds of lines of code. Yah you’re going to say well its only md2 models, old hat, but they still look acceptable in today’s environment.
Give it a go, what have you got to loose, Its FREE.
http://www.apgardner.karoo.net/retrib/index.php?view=engine_specification
Retribution Game Engine Summary:
The Retribution Engine has been designed for first person action games on 3D accelerated PCs running Windows 9x/Me and NT4/2000/XP. It is capable of seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor environments. Indoor areas utilise a volume-based visibility system that removes the need for bsp processing. The outdoor areas are rendered using a quad-tree terrain engine with static level of detail control. The engine is open source (GPL license) and the included games are freeware.
Tools:
A tool set is available for the game engine. This includes a level editor and a model editor. Model design is supported by the wide range of md2 editors that are available. The tool set was released to allow people to develop their own levels and space is available in the download section of this site for submitted levels.
OpenGL:
The game engine has exclusively used OpenGL for a long period of its development and will continue to do so. The author was very disappointed with early implementations of Direct 3D and wasted far too much time trying to develop the game using this API. Without doubt, OpenGL is a superior API and will always be so because it is an open cross-platform standard, it is easy to use, it doesn't radically change at regular intervals and it doesn't require a years' sabbatical to read all the documentation.
The game engine makes full use of the OpenGL API and so can take advantage of hardware accelerated transformation and lighting. All model lighting and dynamic lighting is provided using OpenGL light sources.
Sound:
The game engine supports 3D sound effects and music. Currently this is provided using the Direct Sound API but code has been developed to allow OpenAL support to be introduced at some point.
Textures and Light Maps:
From the start, the engine has been designed to use true-colour (32bit) textures. Textures can be any size supported by OpenGL hardware and are mipmapped using trilinear filtering. Lightmaps are also generated using 32bit textures and so support highly realistic coloured lighting effects. The lighting code automatically generates diffuse and specular lightmaps depending on the strength of applicable light sources.
Special Effects:
The game engine supports a wide range of effects:
• Particle Effects
• Shaders
• Glow Maps
• Volumetric Fog
• Volumetric Explosions
• Stencil Shadows
• Chrome Maps
• Weather Effects (Rain and Snow)
• Damage Decals
Scripting:
The engine supports powerful scripting features that allow complex sequences, scripted AI and cinematic cut-scenes to be generated at any point in a level. The scripted sequences are created using simple dialogs and so there is no requirement to learn a scripting language.
Models:
The game engine provides extensive support for models. The models are complex 3D objects that are of a hierarchical tree construction, i.e. child objects are oriented relative to their parent and in turn can be parents to lower order child objects. Parts can be constructed from standard shapes (e.g. spheres) or meshes imported from .x or .md2 files. Animated md2 models are supported.
Weapons:
The game engine supports generic weapon types that can be customised to form a wide arsenal of weapons. Current generic types are melee (e.g. fist), projectile (e.g. laser blaster), exploding projectile (e.g. rocket launcher), instant hit (e.g. pistol, machine gun), beam (e.g. rail gun), grenade and shotgun.