3D Adventure Game Engine? Is there?

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 12:12:06

Hi everybody.

I've been replaying "Gabriel Knight 3" recently. I wondered if there is any 3D adventure game engine available to do such kind of games and if any of you already tried and used one?
I really like the atmosphere of GK 3 even if the graphics are outdated.

Thanks in advance!
Stefan

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Thu 07/04/2005 12:18:16

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/aclinks.htm

See the penultimate link.

But I think development is pretty erratic and slow, so I wouldn't count on it. Other than that one, I'm not aware of any other such engine myself...

Lemonhead · Thu 07/04/2005 12:24:51

The Wintermute engine has support for 3D actors, and the demo game looks very promising: http://www.dead-code.org/index2.php/en.

scotch · Thu 07/04/2005 12:33:20

Yeah, GK3 was fully 3d though, not just characters. There is no easy engine to do this in, currently.

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 12:45:30

@ RUI:
Yes, I had a look at that engine. The last news on the site was entered end of 2004. It really looks like a pre-alpha version

@ Lemonhead:
I also looked at your link and checked out the demo game. I'm really impressed. If they keep developing this feature I'm sure it will come pretty close to Grim Fandango style games!

@ scotch:
You say there is no "easy" engine to do it in ... do you know any "hard" engines for that purpose?

Well, perhaps I just have to create an adventure mod for the "Far Cry Engine" and then I'll create a jungle adventure that blows you away ... or perhaps not ...

Miez · Thu 07/04/2005 12:56:05

I think games like this could be made in DarkBasic (http://darkbasic.thegamecreators.com/) or BlitzBasic (http://www.blitzbasic.com/). These engines are very generic, and all sorts of games can be made in them (2D, 3D). Something like GK3 would very well be possible.

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 13:37:24

@ miez:
Thanks for the info! I just looked at the website of DarkBasic and it looks indeed promising. Have you ever used them or how do you know that something like GK3 would be possible to do with them?

Miez · Thu 07/04/2005 13:40:22

I've dabbled around with DarkBasic a little, so from that experience and from looking at the techdemo's they have on offer I'm pretty sure something GK3-like is possible. If you want to make a game like that, however, be ready for an insane amount of work...

Al_Ninio · Thu 07/04/2005 14:40:08

I tend to prefer BlitzBasic.
The IDE is nicer, it's been around for a long time (the first version of Worms for the Amiga was made in BlitzBasic), and thus there are more tutorials and resources around (well. I *found* more for BlitzBasic, but maybe it's not so

).

Granted, the 3D functions are rather new, and I have to admit to not having tried them yet... But BB's still my favourite.

Just my two cents.

Bernie · Thu 07/04/2005 15:29:08

I have to agree - Blitzbasic 3D is great. It would work nicely for a 3D adventure game. You gotta be prepared to code your own pathfinding routines and dialog/inventory systems, though.

Miez · Thu 07/04/2005 15:33:41

And be ready to make ~~bucketloads~~ ~~truckloads~~ cargofreighterloads of 3d objects, environments and animations.

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 15:56:13

I just had a look at the demo version of DarkBasic.
I think I noticed one big disadvantage of the program. Your complete code (which would be pretty big for a GK 3 style game

) has to go into ONE single script. There are no seperate supscripts like in AGS.
That makes things really complicated.

I'll now try the BlitzBasic 3D demo version.
However, coding your own pathfinding routine doesn't sound like fun to me! Do you think there are any tutorials on that topic?

Al_Ninio · Thu 07/04/2005 16:02:11

http://www.blitzcoder.com/

Try looking through the tutorials and the code database, you're bound to find SOMETHING.

Everything has to be in one giant script in BlitzBasic as well, as far as I know, but the IDE makes moving through functions oh-so-much easier.

Miez · Thu 07/04/2005 16:02:23

Well, your core program has to be one file - but you can definately work with external files: graphics, sound, 3d objects, animations, text files, etc. And load/unload them whenever you need to.
BlitzBasic and DarkBasic can not be compared to AGS: they are far more generic, and don't work with discreet "room" files like AGS (for instance).

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 16:10:13

Yes, I understand that an engine like BlitzBasic won't work with "room" files.

@ Al_Ninio:
Sounds like you already used the engine? Did you create something with it?

Al_Ninio · Thu 07/04/2005 16:25:21

I was in the midst of creating a Worms clone.
However, my hard drive crashed and I haven't restarted the project since, mostly due to school and just a general lack of motivation.

TheMagician · Thu 07/04/2005 16:48:58

That sounds cool. And you liked working with that engine?

Tuntis (from other pc) · Fri 08/04/2005 14:14:47

Quote from: TheMagician on Thu 07/04/2005 12:45:30
@ RUI:
Yes, I had a look at that engine. The last news on the site was entered end of 2004. It really looks like a pre-alpha versionÃ,Â

Wintermute? Well, it's developers are alive. I chatted with them when I was testing WMute.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Fri 08/04/2005 14:17:15

No, the penultimate link at the page I linked to.

TheMagician · Sun 10/04/2005 09:37:00

Well, after a few days of testing the trial version I came to the conclusion that I really like Blitz3D. It has an easy scripting language and produces nice and fast 3D results. It also has a vivid community which is, in my opinion, really important.

However, no engine will make me leave AGS !!

Thanks again for your information about the engines.
Stefan

3D Adventure Game Engine? Is there?

Lemonhead

Tuntis (from other pc)