3D Gamestudio - Worth it?

[Nine Toes]

I've been considering buying a professional copy of 3D Gamestudio A6 lately, but before I shell out the $1,700.00 for the program itself and the edition upgrade, I want to know if anybody has it, or has tried it.  Is it worth the money?

Granted, I could very well spend a whole lot less on the Commercial version ($350.00)and get something that's almost as good as the professional version, there's just some things about the Professional version that makes it seem more desirable.

What do you think?

[scotch]

No it is probably not worth the money.  I used A5 I think, that was pretty antiquated, this doesn't seem upgraded a lot.  Even if you can put up with the low quality graphics and not particuarly nice editors the thing with it is that you have to write games in a C like code that is not a lot easier than actually coding in C, if you can't manage that you probably will not be able to make a good game in 3D Gamestudio.  And if you can there are engines around with the same features, for free, or a much smaller cost, Crystal Space (free), Torque ($100), Quake 2 (free)...
If you're serious about making a 3d game, I'd suggest getting a programmer to help you, you can't make a very good 3d game alone.
It's not very easy, check the forums to see how many people use it, and then look at how many good games have been made with that program, approximately zero.

[Paper Carnival]

I've tried it and didn't like it, but that can be just me. Of all the 3d engines I have tried Blitz3d is my favourite one, but it's not free and doesn't have nice editors with it (I think).
http://www.blitzbasic.com/
There's a 30 uses demo, which is full featured except compilation to .exe

[TerranRich]

No! Nothing is worth over $1000 to the average user, especially 3DGS. I agree with Guybrush in that BlitzBASIC is probably your best bet.

[InCreator]

I agree with others. I *coughpiratedcough* the prog, and have not yet seen anything worth the money.

I'd suggest Irrlicht (free 3d engine, with ragdoll physics, wide file format support and other lovely stuff), combined with 3ds max or similar 3d modeller, Visual Studio, GtkRadiant or other QuakeIII level editor  and some hardcore C/C++ skills.

[Oliver]

Check out Torque. I think it's much better than 3DGS and cheaper too. There should be a demo available for Torque somewhere on the net.