Gamestudio
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3D GameStudio, often known as GameStudio or 3DGS for short, is a 3D computer game development system which allows users to create their own 3D applications and publish them royalty-free. It comes complete with a model editor, a world editor, and a script editor. It also has an expansive texture collection, template scripts, and more, enough to create a simple shooter game or a basic Rpg.
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[edit] History
- 1993 ACK 3D(Animation Construction Kit) by Larry Myers (Wolfenstein-like open source engine, downloadable at http://sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/ack/00index.html)
- 1994 ACK NEXT GENERATION by Johann Christian Lotter (improved version of ACK 3D, open source)
- 1995 ACKNEX-2 written for the German TV show X-BASE (engine comparable to Doom)
- 1995 ACKNEX-2 becomes Conitec property and is released as '3D GameStudio'
- 1997 ACKNEX-3 released (downloadable at http://server.conitec.net/down/a3.zip)
- 1999 A4 released (Windows Based Quake-like Engine)
- 2000 A5 released (Terrain Engine)
- 2003 A6 released (Physics and Shaders)
The current version is 6.40.5 (as of April 2006). Free updates are normally available once every 4 to 9 months.
[edit] Game Engine
When you read about A6 Gamestudio, the term has 2 differet meanings. The Gamestudio part refers to the editing system, but the A6 part refers to the game engine. The A6 engine can maintain multiple physic objects (eg. four wheels on a car turning, moving the car, instead of the car moving with the wheels), handle multiplayer (if poorly), and can handle most animations thrown at it.
[edit] The editors
Users don't need much experience to use Gamestudio. In fact, one can simply insert models, add behaviors from template scripts, and construct games without much experience at all. If desired, users can create their own models and designs, textures, and scripts. Textures are created in external paint programs like Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, MSPaint, or the GIMP.
[edit] The world editor (WED)
The World Editor (or WED for short), is the main editor. In it, you position the various objects, assign actions to models (also known as entities) which are created through scripts, assign textures to level geometry, and build your levels using the Binary space partitioning tree (or BSP for short) technique.
The layout for WED is fairly simple. The main part, the central right section, is where most of the editing is done. There are three graphs and a 3D view. Through re-arrangable, the top left window is the top view, which has the X and Y coordinates. The bottom left is the side view, or the X and Z coordinates. The bottom right is the back view, or the Y and Z coordinates. The top right is the 3D view, which gives a quick preview of your level without building (compiling) it.
The graphs are split into multiples of 128 and further split into multiples of 16 to help with snapping and spacing. The graphs will automatically resize when you zoom out a bit and in steps of multiples of 8 (1024 and 128 then 8192 and 1024).
The left central section lists objects in your level, textures, and some other things. Textures must be of a power of 2 (such as 256x128, 1024x256, or 64x64) for best effects and odd ones (like 394x213 or 723x1280) are often rejected and if not rejected, slower at rendering.
The top is the tool bar which allows you to manipulate objects, add new objects (such as entities, sounds, and lights), build your level, run it, and several other options.
When right-clicking on something and choosing properties, you can manually enter a position, assign an action to an entity, or adjust textures on the individual sides of a block.
[edit] The model editor (MED)
Though many users prefer to use external modeling programs, the model editor (or MED for short), provides the capabilities of designing models, and sometimes used to make levels with. Models can be of anything ranging from printers, and human models to complex things like an entire city, or a fancy stair case with fine curves. Models are made of meshes, a group of vertices and triangles (often called "polygons") put together to form a shape.
Like WED, MED's general layout is almost the same. It has the three graphs and the 3D view. They are arranged in the same way as WED. However, by default, MED doesn't have the grids, but it can be configured that way.
MED is somewhat like WED in the general layout, but MED also has a skin editor, which allows the model to be textured. The skin editor has a completely different layout. The texture is shown on the left side and the model is shown on the right with tool bars surrounding these. Textures are frequently created in external graphics editors and imported from a BMP, TGA, or PCX image file. MED uses UV mapping which is having vertices from the model's mesh placed on the texture to texture the model.
Model shapes are created either through using primitives (like cubes and pyramids) or by creating vertices and building faces. Models don't have to follow the restrictions that BSP has which, along with faster rendering, makes them a better choice for level design in most cases.
[edit] The script editor (SED)
The script editor, SED, is like a general plain text editor. However, key words like "function", "alpha", or numbers get colored differently to help you. The script editor is used to write scripts. SED uses a different language called C-script. C-script is a simplified version of C programming. The syntax is about the same, but it does not have the hash marks (#) as from include statements and %d and %s stuff as from the printf instruction. Also, unlike C, scripts can only define one type of variable, a var. The var is a 32-bit fixed point variable which uses 22 bits for the integer (1 for the signature (positive or negative)) and 10 bits for the decimal. This permits a maximum range of -2,097,152.9990234375 to +2,097,151.9990234375. Some entity functions use an extra bit of the variable, thus the range is half this.
[edit] Advanced Editing
While 3D Gamestudio does supply users with its own suite of editors, these are average at best. Software like Maya and Adobe Photoshop can be used to create proffessional imagery and models for Gamestudio. Gamestudio supports a variety of plugins, like Populace, which organizes multiplayer content. Users can also program in C++ and then import it into SED.
[edit] The editions
GameStudio comes with 4 different editions to choose from. Each edition costs different amounts and have different features. All editions come with free updates within an engine version (Free within A6, but not from A5.x to A6.x). They also all come with the model editor, level editor, and script editor. You can publish your game in all editions (except team editions). With creative thinking, many of the features in higher editions can be mimicked or faked with lower editions.
[edit] Standard edition
The standard edition is the cheapest at 49 US dollars, but lacks features. It's decent for very simple games or for those with a low budget and just starting out.
[edit] Extra edition
The extra edition adds a few more features, like the use of terrains, level of detail (LOD), and losing the watermark (a tiny, transparent A6 in the corner). It costs nearly twice that of the standard edition at 89 US dollars. Extra edition is also good for just starting out.
[edit] Commercial edition
The commercial edition has a lot more features and costs 199 US dollars. The commercial edition has more features than the extra edition including unlimited screen resolution, bones animation (used to make animation easier and more flexible) as well as a beam generator and the use of shaders.
[edit] Professional edition
The professional edition has all of the available features for 3DGS and you don't have to display the engine logo when publishing. It also includes a file packer. The professional edition costs 899 US dollars.
[edit] Team editions
There are two team editions available: team commercial and team professional. Team commercial is exactly like the normal commercial edition. Team professional is exactly like the professional edition. The only two exceptions are that you can't publish with a team edition and multiple users can use the same software (depending on how many licenses you purchase). Team commercial, for up to 10 licenses, is 199 US dollars and team professional, for up to 3 licenses, is 899 US dollars. The price doubles for 30 and 10 licenses respectively. It is possible to buy a normal license to publish games with the Team Editions.
[edit] Faking features
Even in standard edition, features like LOD and terrain can easily be faked or mimicked. Shadows and physics can be faked as well. Common newtonian physics such as gravity, acceleration, and momentum are available in all editions but more sophisticated physics such as friction, resistance, and dynamic water are only available in higher editions or can be scripted.
[edit] Getting support
[edit] The manual
The manual explains the majority of the controls and features and how to use them.
The manual contains tutorials for anyone who wants to make games.
[edit] E-mail support
Another way is through E-mail, and it's only available for a limited time with the commercial (3 months) or professional (1 year) editions. This involves contacting the company itself for support.
[edit] The user forums
A method of support preffered by some is the user forums.
[edit] Online magazines
There are three main online magazines which provide new tips and tricks and tutorials. Two of which are paid for, 3AM and 3PM, and a third, Acknex User Magazine (AUM for short) is created by George Privu, and is published once in a month.
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[edit] Tutorials
In addition to the manual, there are several tutorials available ranging from basic things such as how to use WED, MED, and/or SED to more advanced things such as how to design multiplayer levels or creating interactive environments.
