Interesting Tools (OS X/Linux bias)

[squirrel]

I'm now somewhat involved in a shareware game project, primarily from a business/finance angle (i'm a corporate weenie), but also doing some low level texture creation, modelling of simple objects and project mgmt. (have a design degree prior to MBA sellout). Anyway, we're a small group with very limited resources and are mostly working in linux/OS X so the process of moving from a basic C++ prototype to a manageable environment has been really interesting. Some tools people here may find interesting (or already be aware of...):

Unity - an amazing tool. Currently OS X only (win32 coming soon) Unity is similar to Torque 3D in scope, it's essentially a 3D engine. However it's real appeal is the easy learning curve, comprehensive features (Ageia physX™ included, massive shader pipeline, AI language and engine, custom C/C++ plug-in support and tons more) all wrapped up in a extremely well thought out interface and workflow. Describing it as simply a licensable engine is really a disservice, it's essentially a game IDE. It compiles binaries for OS X, *NIX, Active X, Win 32 and Xbox 360. Price is $249 for the Indie version, $1449 for the Pro version - Pro supports Win 32/360 binary compiling and custom C/C++ plugins. Has a 30 day free trial. One drawback is the license does not include source access to the actual engine itself, and it's commercial not OSS.

Blender - I did a course about 6 years ago in 3D (early Maya, Lightwave) and have dabbled since then. I am by no means an expert. But we are using Blender for modeling and animation and I'm blown away by it. It's fast, intuitive, feature full and stable. It lacks some very high-end features but supports nurbs, meshes, IK and many other mainstream features. All platforms, free, excellent documentation and frequently patched. Fabulous software.

Inkscape - Although I have a license for Adobe CS2, the rest of the team doesn't so rather than pirate we are using Inkscape for vector art creation. It's a little choppy compared to Illustrator but I've come to love it dearly - fast, native SVG support, good pen tool and tablet support. Also completely Open Source.

Most of the core C/C++ dev work is being done in Linux and then compiled for Unity, but one chap on the team is teaching me basic Objective-C (i have a smattering of C experience) - we're both on Mac's using Xcode. I'll never be a good coder, but Xcode is such a pleasant environment I find myself cobbling together small Cocoa apps in my spare time just for kicks.

Anyway, not a anti-Windows/PC rant at all - just a small "looky here" to anyone interested in dev tools that are free/cheap and really damn good.

NOTE: My experience with Torque is extremely limited - I've heard great things about it on the Windows platform, but our tests under OSX/Linux were lacking, particularly in tool sets to actually get the engine to do anything interesting. I understand that's changing though, and for $100 it's a heckuva deal.

Sample screenie of Unity environment

[Murgos]

When you say it (Unity) compiles binaries for XBOX 360 what does that mean?  Can you then load them onto a normal XBOX 360 and execute them or do you have to have a dev kit or some other method of actually running it on that hardware?

Edited for clarification of subject.

[Stephen Zepp]

When you say it (Unity) compiles binaries for XBOX 360 what does that mean?  Can you then load them onto a normal XBOX 360 and execute them or do you have to have a dev kit or some other method of actually running it on that hardware?

Edited for clarification of subject.

It's a good question, and I'd be wary of that claim until you actually see it in action.

If it doesn't use XNA, it will not go to a retail 360 until certified by Microsoft. It may go to a dev kit if Microsoft has provided one for him (afaik Unity is written by one guy), but I've heard nothing about it.

The other thing to be careful of if an XB360 port is your goal is certification costs. Again afaik, the Unity code base has not gone through 360 cert in any manner, and that's expensive, especially to fix the issues, then you get to pay again (and again and again if needed).

Other than those issues, for the platform you've selected, Unity is certainly a powerful choice.

[Trippy]

There's nothing on the Unity Web site that I've seen that says it supports the Xbox 360.

[squirrel]

Heh, I may have hallucinated the 360 support. We're only deploying OS X/linux/Win so I didn't really look into that, I may have even confused it with Torque on that respect.

[naum]

Been a few years since I played with Blender… …it was pretty nifty then, just a bit rough around the edges… …but I could never figure out how to export something usable out of it…

I  Inkscape. I the lightweight approach though the UI takes some getting acquainted with and I really wish there was a native OS X client (like Audacity has done). Illustrator is fuller featured of course, but I think the Inkscape dev is on the mark in rebuking all those that lament that Inkscape doesn't have same key combos and work flow as Illustrator. He's crafting his own tool…

It'll be a great day when ALL the browsers natively support SVG like Firefox 1.5+, then we can have scalable graphics and size our pages AND GRAPHICS to modern monitors instead of the LCD. Shame on Microsoft for not including support in IE7.

And screw MS for this pile of pig droppings — another redundant product from an arrogant overlord — non-free format, yeah let's keep trying to play "lock in" like it's 1999.