I appreciate 3DGS for what it is, a game development suite to introduce you to game development and offer you modern features as well. I'm satisfied in that aspect, however for my current project I highly doubt 3DGS will be able to handle it, unless I dumb down the game, which is something I don't want to do.

Yeah, I'm trying to make a First Person game. Obviously because of the perspective and the variety of gameplay, much detail is required for it it to be considered modern and current gen. I by means want to compete with current gen masterpieces like UT3 and GTA4, however and like to be in the same class, perhaps something along the quality lines of Resistance:FOM, which is starting to look dated but is still current gen.

I've looked at several engines but the most appetizing one so far seems to be the Torque Game Engine Advanced or TGEA. The game demos I played were impressive, and it seems to handle large, or should I say massive environments without hesitating. It has all the shader 3.0 goodies as well and it handles them very well. At $300 USD for indy developers it puts itself in easy reach of my lack of funds.

I'm doing more research, but does anybody else know any other middleware that could handle a modern FPS type game?

EDIT: I need something that could handle models as levels very well, in addition too terrain. I feel blocks are outdated. Also If I'm going to buy a software suite, I'd like more effective tools than what 3DGS supplies, WED/MED.

I like 3DGS and I will continue to use it, it's just not capable of handling my current project.

"
EDIT: And another thing, WED/MED, ftl, I need something that could handle models as levels very well. Not as terrain, but I don't want to use blocks period. Good physics and a good collision system are needed for this.

"

why would you use med for anything other than import and wed for anything other than placing models.... if you dont even know how the way this engine works, how do you expect to move to a more advanced one?

Sorry for the way I phrased that part, I'm feelin weird today I'll edit the post, But what I meant was I don't like WED or MED and if I were to purchase another software suite I'd like a more effective level editor. I like the simplicity of WED, but everytime I do something intricate it frustrates the living hell outa me.

Generally I've been told not to use models as levels in 3DGS, and have I tried it? no. Hell I don't have my own movement code, I am not a coder, never will be.

I use blender to make my models and levels and it works out just fine.

Yeah, I've seen many great things from Blender, haven't really tried it. Since my funds are too tight for Lightwave at the moment I'll give it a go.

But I still want a middleware engine. For the sake of my game.

I'm not planning on any quick purchases, I want to start my research now. I an insane shopper, Iwant to know everything about it before I consider buying it.

FoxZero,
just out of curiosity, what limitations are you
dealing with? We are moving towards a new physics engine.
This engine might not have good dynamic shadows. I think it
is an engine with decent speed.

I personally chose this engine over Torque Advanced
(coming back from DarkBasic), even though
they presented their engine a little better. I think 3DGamestudio
seems to constantly improve (even if slowly), and has
certain advantages (even if it lacks high-end power)


-Jim

you should try xna it's a really powerfull graphic library and there is a lot of example.

I would like to know what king of trouble you are facing with 3Dgs ? For me the reason was the workflow.

or you try this engine, we have change to NA engine for 2 weeks ago. its fantastic and very easy to use for an designer, but you need good c# skills for gamelogic and more.

http://www.neoaxisgroup.com

here pictures of our prototype demo createt in NA engine
http://www.neoaxisgroup.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2026

cheers
Christian_Ger

Thanks I'll check out that engine.

Well, waiting for it to improve for one thing. I think I've already stated that rather than adding to A6 they moved to A7 and I have to buy it again.

I want something more stable. I have ran into problem after problem, things keep changing and that's why I stopped cause it got so frustrating. WED drives me into insanity, just placiing bjects becomes a pain in the ass as they don't always go where I want to go, of course I can fix that by using a different level editor, but I bought a suite.

It just isn't smooth and stable, I feel held back for the stupidest reasons. Maybe in a sense it is the workflow. I just need something solid, and middleware.

@Jim, you're absolutely right. TGEA is presented extremely well, but in all honesty there are no games that put it too the test so who knows how great it really is. It's best to wait and see what comes out with it. However from what I've played it does handle massive levels quite flawlessly, Legions was just brutal. I'd be in it just for the level editor, the level tools look great, I'd have to try the demo at least.

Neoaxis looks fantastic, the amount of features is phenominal. Go and download the demo and you will be amazed at what it shows off.

The physics are perfect and the water/terrain rendering is good quality. The lighting engine is very good.

It's a little complicated to get started and they don't really have a good documentation like the lite-c workshops.

The level editor is easy to use and you can see your level in real-time.

Its features are good but i don't like the way its scripting works. I program in c# more than anything and yet i still prefer 3DGS and lite-c for gane creation.

All conitec have to do is sort out the lighting/shadow system, improve WED and 3dgs with be pretty good.