Adventure Game Studio

Hello.

My name is Pauli Suuraho, and I come from Finland. I'm big fan of adventure games, and lack of free 3D adventure game engine in market, I decided to start developing one myself. Have you played Sam and Max, new series? Like the idea of full 3D point and click games? Ever wanted to create 3D adventure game? Then you would be interested in my current project, called Dage, which stands for Dog Adventure Game Engine.

Dage is still in development, but the goal is to make free standalone engine for creating full scripted 3d animated graphical adventure games. Let these screenshots explain the rest:

(http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/dageengine01.jpg)
(http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/dageengine02.jpg)

Got your attention?


Download the latest alpha from here (http://www.dageport.com/content/item/1/)

View more information about the Dage at www.dageport.com (http://www.dageport.com)

I have no meaning to create full game with Dage, well not yet. I want to create relatively easy-to-use game engine. See data/scripts folder for examples how the game logic works.

Notes:

• Dage is only an engine! So there are no editors! But scripting interface has been made relatively easy to use.
• Dage is now actively developed. More people show interest in seeing the Dage finished, the quicker it will develop.
• If someone actually wants to start playing around with Dage, let me know and I can tutor you and add features you would want necessary to create your game. :)
• Dage is in beta version, so it means it's quite stable, but some features haven't been implemented yet.

Thanks for you attention.

-Pauli Suuraho

ps. I don't want to compete with Adventure Game Studio in any way ;)

funny, i was wanting to make a 3d adventure game recently. im gonna try it out.

hm, played about with the demo game and skimmed the scripting. looks pretty good and easy to use. ok, a few things: one, obj or collada support for meshes would be great. two, can you compile it or do you have to distribute the data folder? will mebbe edit with a few more questions. edit: can you have better shadows

OBJ support for static meshes is under a way :)

In future releases everything can be compiled to specific Dog formats. (with no need to modify script files)
I will include the compiling when I feel Engine is stable enough.

See this link for more information about data folder and Dog files (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/docs/doku.php?id=tips:start#data_folder)

What comes for better shadows, not with my programming skills, sorry.

Ok, just two more questions: does it support normal/bump/light maps, and can you completly disable the shadows? oh and will it be open source?

Wow, this looks very impressive. I've yet to try it out but will update as soon as.

Edit: Impressive start, looks straight forward to use. In need of cleaning up and further documentation, but a great start. I know you stated it was just an engine but an editor would be very helpful and make everything much more straightforward.

Quote from: Dataflashsabot on Sun 15/02/2009 17:42:59
Ok, just two more questions: does it support normal/bump/light maps, and can you completly disable the shadows? oh and will it be open source?

Dage supports GLSL shading language (though it is not complete yet, i must add some way to post parameters to shaders) so that way you should be able to create normal and bump maps.

Demo game shows how static lightmaps works. Textures are not baked, but illuminated with light map. If you export 3ds file from Max, put your lightmaps to self-illumination map-slot and Dage will read it from there.

You can disable shadows by pressing F5 during running (for debug purposes). I can insert "disable shadows via script" in next release. I always thought using shadows should be determinated in players end.

Dage is not open source.

Quote from: magintz on Sun 15/02/2009 17:45:03
Wow, this looks very impressive. I've yet to try it out but will update as soon as.

Edit: Impressive start, looks straight forward to use. In need of cleaning up and further documentation, but a great start. I know you stated it was just an engine but an editor would be very helpful and make everything much more straightforward.

I agree about the cleaning up ;) Demo is built gradually from first releases, so it has got little messy. I tried to make it so that it showcases a lot of features instead of being clean :P

I have no plans for creating editor. Engine part takes enough time. Who knows if someone is inspired to create some tools for this game...

Great! I like this. Easiest 3d adventure maker ive ever seen (though i havent yet tried ags s 3d plugins) oh and whats the walkarea thing, it includes walls so it cant literally be a walkable areas thing, is it more a what-to-bother-checking collision thing, to speed it up? oh and can you change the name of the exe. really sorry for all these questions

Well Walkarea is little bit off-named. In AGS the walkarea refers to a polygon, inside which characters can walk. As Dage is 3D, walkarea has to be also 3D. Walkarea is actually a simplified mesh to check collisions faster with the environment. Dage actors can't get out from Walkarea. In tutorials, we use Walkarea differently, and you can see what happens, if you try to get the actor to fall from the edge :)

edit: yes you can change the name of the EXE. In future releases I try to find a way to change the icon for the EXE.

That's some really exciting stuff you have there, Rahakasvi! I can hardly wait to see more!

I rather wait untill this has progressed a little further but I'm very interested  :)

Interesting! Too bad I cannot try it yet as this comp. in the office uses crappy Intel onboard graphics that has poor OGL driver support (and everything else) and I've been getting thousands of 'Access Violation' errors popping when I execute it. I'll try again when I get home.

I'm just curious in asking, is there any chance that it will support Anim8or (http://www.anim8or.com/) files in the future? I ask this because Anim8or is also free, and may thus help in expanding the user base of your programme. There is already a game engine (http://cre8or3d.com/index.php) being developed for Anim8or (it's not geared towards adventure games of course) and it looks promising. It even features an AGS-like editor. It will rock if Dage will also have some sort of editors in the future.

Milkshape too! It need a milkshape file format support! I`m a zero at the left on 3D art, but it`s very intersting!

Wow, I'm impressed by the screenshots, I have to check this out.

The world needs a proper 3D Adventure Game Engine, and this project looks like it might just take that crown.

BTW Jakerpot, Milkshape exports to SMD's so you will have no trouble using Milkshape to create 3d characters. I don't really know how well MS handles shader support if at all, but for not so complex 3d characters, it may suffice.

Or if you own HL2 you can get the Softimage XSi mod tool.

Thank you very much for feedback :)

If you have more questions about Dage, or want to get serious, I recommend using

Dage Forum (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/forum/)

Currently you don't have to register in order to post questions.

It's better to talk there, because it helps more people interested in Dage. Your questions probably are surely common ones. (And I don't want to flood this forum ;))

-Pauli

It looks really really cool. Wondering however if it really interests me as a I suck with 3d..no wait, I have a couple of models made with Blender are they compatible?

Blender has a build in 3ds exporter if I'm not mistaking.

Okay, couple versions later Dage now supports OBJ files and easy-to-use Sound & Music features with wide range of audio file formats.

See documentation and download latest release (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/docs/doku.php)

Post your question and/or comments to Dage forum (no registration required, but advisable).

This is the last message about new version I will post to these forums. If you are interested in developing games with Dage, use Dage forum.  :-*

Dage Forum (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/forum/)

-Pauli

Can Blender export to milkshape`s format? i barelly remember...

This looks very promising!

Quote from: Jakerpot on Tue 17/02/2009 22:40:43
Can Blender export to milkshape`s format? i barelly remember...

I don't believe so, and in the latest version it's 3DS importer is also broken I think.

seconded, and the exporter doesent work either, not for me anyway. you could export to obj and convert that to 3ds with another program. as for smd, i think theres a script for that, google it

The 3DS importer and exporter work without problems in Blender 2.46.

I found that exporting an object as 3DS file from Blender would crash DAGE. Reimporting it into Blender and exporting it again solved the problem, except that I accidentally replaced the room with a big purple cat.

2.48a here, doesent seem to work

I have no trouble exporting mesh from Blender 2.48a. However I'm exporting sample Monkey head, as I cannot use Blenders interface to create anything else ;). But if someone could give me a 3DS file that crashes Dage, please give it to me and I can see what crashes it.

This looks like it has a lot of potential, but without an easy to use editor you're excluding about 70% of your user base, and that is coming from someone who has designed an engine before.  Assuming you have a purpose to this other than a school project or just for the hell of it, an editor will draw far more people to your project.

How advanced can the characters, backgrounds and objects be in this engine, as in, is there a polygon limit? Would it be possible to make something like Grim Fandango in that engine?

Dage doesn't limit polygons by any mean. So you could theoretically make as high polygon count as possible. But most computers can't run the game then :)

If you mean having 3D characters over pre-rendered 3D scenes? Then answer is not officially. I can add to next release that you can have background image, but all the scrolling and hotspot detection etc, you have to code yourself. I'm keeping the development to the full 3D scenery.

Maybe you could use Wintermute instead?

Quote from: Rahakasvi on Thu 19/02/2009 15:41:05
I have no trouble exporting mesh from Blender 2.48a. However I'm exporting sample Monkey head, as I cannot use Blenders interface to create anything else ;). But if someone could give me a 3DS file that crashes Dage, please give it to me and I can see what crashes it.

I think it's probably Blender's fault rather than DAGE's, possibly because the mesh had multiple materials in Blender, which the Suzanne Monkey head wouldn't have. Reimporting the 3DS file split the separate materials into different meshes, and exporting that collection of meshes created a 3DS file which worked in DAGE.

I don't have a questioanble 3DS file at my fingertips, because I'm not on my home computer. I'll try bring one to your attention when I next get the opportunity.

Quote from: Dataflashsabot on Thu 19/02/2009 14:33:57
2.48a here, doesent seem to work

Yeah, it's one of the ironies of Blender that as the software improves, some things get left behind. You should be able to download and run an older version (say 2.46) as a zip file to solve this trouble.

EDIT: I've tried to recreate the crash and haven't been able to. I can only assume it was not a problem with DAGE or Blender, and that I must have made a mistake putting the object in the script.

Oh well.. Mind asking how you find using Dage? What have you been creating for? :P

I'm using DAGE. I really like this thing!

Just so you all know, its up to 0.1.6 and supports md2 models now. I also read the forum just now. Apparently you can also create more than one room!

Here's how it looks for me - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/EggHeadCheesyBird/dage.jpg
It's not all bad, though. the music played fine.

I hate this computer...

Eggie, what computer hardwarer are you using? Have you upgraded your video card drivers to the latest?

Why? Eggie, your computer is not as bad as mine (http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/gilbot/dageerror-1.png)! :=

(Well, it's nothing new. I had stated the reason for this in my last post in the last page. Dage worked fine with my home computer.)

Looks like fun, I'd like to give it a try. You can download AGS and pretty much just make a game from scratch using apps on your pc, but I guess with this I should expect to have to download world building and 3D character making tools too. If so, what are the basic additional apps I will need to make something in dage? ahh vu?

You can use Blender to create the room file. You can use any md2 modeler or again, blender to create your smd and your own md2 files. In fact, there are so many MD2 models out there already made and that have the animations set. All you have to do is change the skin and your done. Just look at Transformers Quake.

OK. This engine has gone through major updates and I think it deserves some more attention than its getting. So I figured I would let you all see the release notes and see what has been added since the release of the engine, which is now at 0.2.6:

1.1:
Changes include:

    * OBJ file format support
    * Skybox
    * MouseUp events
    * Script can disable mouse events and shadows
    * Bugfixes
    * More things that can be customized

1.2:
Biggest change is Music & Sound support

Dage now uses Audiere sound library!

It can play Ogg Vorbis, MP3, FLAC, uncompressed WAV, AIFF, MOD, S3M, XM, and IT files.

1.3:
Changes include:

    * Keyboard binding
    * Helper functions for third person cameras
    * Again more customizable properties


1.4:
Changes include:

    * Room onUnload event
    * PNG support
    * Possibility to put Hudsprite to background (behind models)

1.5:
Changes include:

    * Various actor functions concerning MD2 model loading

1.6:
Changes include:

    * Helper functions to changing rooms easily
    * Added missing TSprite.Destroy

1.7:
Changes include:

    * Game resolution changes including..
    * Game.Width
    * Game.Height
    * Game.Fullscreen=1 to switch to fullscreen. (Debug hotkey F10)
    * Fixed bug with disabling shadows
    * Game.Close(); -- closes the game (debug hotkey ESC)
    * Helper functions for MD2 loading


1.8:
Changes include:

    * TMesh.ChangeMaterial(NewMaterialName : string, Meshobject_index: integer (default = 0), FaceGroupIndex: integer (default = 0))
          Note: Must be material in use when loading object. Otherwise Dage won't load it.cluding..
    * TMesh.CastShadows : boolean
          Set to 1 to cast mesh shadows
    * TMesh.ReceiveShadows : boolean
          Set to 1 to receive shadows on mesh
    * First Dage Tool: Icon xChanger. Little tool to help you change to boring icon to new, existing one!

1.9:
Changes include:

    * TMesh.ChangeMaterial bugfix. Now should work.
    * TMesh.ShowSubObject(ID:integer);
        - Shows Subobject of mesh.
    * TMesh.HideSubObject(ID:integer);
        - Hides Subobject of mesh.
    * TMesh.GetSubObjectID(name:string);
        - Gets the id of mesh subobject by name.


2.0:
Changes include:

    * Almost perfectly working Save and Load game function
    * Mouse can be customized more now
    * One can place TSprite object in HUD to make animations to HUD
    * Some annoying bug fixes


2.1:
Changes include:

    * User can now create up to 8 lights
    * Lights can be customized even more. Spotlight, annutation etc. see script reference
    * Fixed saving actor rotations and inventory saving bug

2.2:
Changes include:

    * Game.SetTimer(time:double; functionname:string)
    * Inventory helpers, see later on script reference
    * Actor.PointTo

2.3:
Changes include:

    * Inventory structure mainly changed

2.4:
Changes include:

    * TAnimation object
    * Game.MouseLook : boolean
    * Game.MouseLookInvert : boolean

2.5:
Changes include:

    * TAnimation rotation bugfix, previously did almost random rotations
    * TShader code changed, now supports textures

2.6:
Changes include:

    * Plugin manager (To edit games during runtime)
    * Main toolbar

Check it out. The more people show interest, the more he works on it.

Looks great. Definitely shows a lot of possibilities.

This looks great, point and click! I'm working on a low poly character model at the moment, how many poly's would be the max for good performance within DAGE?

And how big can the environments be? Is there are script for changing rooms?

Hi.

Demo project features two characters both having around 800 polygons, and a room model that features around 2000 polygons (but i have tested 10 000 polygons and no speed issues). Textures are the thing that affects the performance, if you keep textures optimal, no larger than 512x512, you shouldn't have to worry too much about polygon counts.

Changing room is easy. See Tutorial 4 (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/docs/doku.php?id=tutorial04:start) for example how to make a extremely simple two room game.

You can post questions to Dage Forum (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/forum/), and read more information about Dage on Dage Documentation (http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/docs/doku.php)

Pauli,
Developer of Dage

It is great but for me it requires a fantastic amount of artwork/3D modelling that I'll just never be able to do, so I doubt I'll be able to appreciate this engine as much as I'd like too. Always interested to know how its developing, though, and will always keep an open mind on trying out in the future :)

0.2.7 was just released with the following changes:

Changes include:

    * Game.ExecuteFunction( name : FunctionName) - can execute functions inside Room file
    * HudSprite transparency options - see script reference
    * VerbCoin ala Monkey Island 3 demo
    * Bugfix on room change when actor was walking caused Access Violation

Hello there, and sorry for bumping this thread up. But I didn't really feel i would need new one.

There has been little activity from me simply because the public interest has been very low on Dage.

Few days back I was contacted by mr. Reece, who said he wants to help to bring the Dage back to life and he made this new Youtube channel DageEngine with new video showcasing major Dage features. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Dg0f0peQA

He has also promised to create video tutorials and everything so please comment/rate/subscribe etc to make the Dage develop further!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Pauli, Dage Dev.

I feel like our engines have some things common (names notwithstanding) in that they are both relative newcomers to the adventure game scene.  DAGE has always looked mighty impressive, especially from a technical viewpoint.  I like that you've actually bothered to create some documentation and invited others to contribute.

By virtue of the nature of what you're creating, I think the interest in DAGE will begin to take off when you release a (mostly) feature-complete Beta.  A percentage of people may be put off by the learning curve involved with the 3D modelling aspects.  Having said that, it seems from your site that you've already gotten a bunch of people on board, so I'm puzzled as to why you think public interest has been low.

Chin up!

Just before I read about Dage when you first posted here I was trying to make an adventure game system using the Blender Game Engine. I hadn't got very far as this screenshot shows:

(http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5807/blenderadventuredemo.jpg)

But I gave up on it when I saw how much simpler to use and faster Dage was going to be. I'm really impressed to see all the new features in that video, particularly realtime editing and pathfinding which I think were missing when I first looked at the engine. At the moment I'm afraid I don't have the time to make something with Dage, but I'm watching the development with interest and I look forward to using it in the future! Good luck!

Really nice model there Ali! I'm hooked.

As for the DAGE, I think it shows up to be a really nice tool, newb friendly, but I'm not sure If I'd ever go to 3D. It's just that.

Just so you know there has been a big update here: http://rahakasvi.hinguere.fi/Dage/forum/index.php?topic=129.0

Its updated to 0.3.4
They include these features:
    * You can fire events when actor is close enough TMesh, TDummy or TActor
    * You can fire events when actor is inside TDummy
    * Platformer Demo updated to showcase new features
    * Made easy voice-over dialogue script tools
    * Sound.AddSpeechFX()
    * Sound.UnloadSpeech()
    * New high quality icon
    * Bugs fixed
    * Bugs rised

As well as two new demos.