Open Source Software Experiences?

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

*tries to rub the stain off his pants*

Thanks Pins...already looked at those but identified some short comings. I must say the engines der Blaster showed were interesting. Especially for open source engines.

Shin, thanks for the lengthy breakdown. Certainly a great primer for what's involved. I am aware of what a huge project this can be and the Game Design Document is key here. I have actually begun one that explains how various things should work, including how weapon selection should work, etc.

The design doc in itself will take a month or so to finish to be complete.

I would anticipate this being a PC only game so OpenGL not necessary.

Yes, there is a lot of work involved. This is why I was wondering if people had tackled this and whether they might be interested in tackling a homegrown project.

It might be a wetdream.....but with Carmen Electra as my witness, it's something I'm thinking I be willing to at least prototype.

[Balschoiw 0]

Although it´s not for free you might want to have a look at Quest3d engine, as it features a nice physic system and is easy to program and very open for own segments. The new version also features and supports DX9 effects.

Quest 3d

I´ve made a little 3D product presentation with it lately and am currently working on an OFP-style minigame (funshooter).

[der bastler 0]

I would anticipate this being a PC only game so OpenGL not necessary.

I have a PC, but no DirectX anymore. Why not design the game platform-independent right from the start? As for DirectX was a pita to program when I tried it some years ago (see also Ron Gilberts Blog: http://grumpygamer.com/9848959)

As mentioned in my former post:

OOP Base library

http://clanlib.org/

GFX:

http://crystal.sourceforge.net/

http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/

http://nebuladevice.cubik.org/

http://www.twilight3d.com/index.html

Physics:

http://ode.org/

[crashdome 3]

Your best bet is to find some individuals with very similar interests right from the start and initiate the base of it all. Getting a public group to collaborate on something undefined is going to be a nightmare for you. At some point you are going to have to draw the line. Best to do that behind closed doors or you'll incur the wrath of the Gods of Whining.

[edc 0]

I would agree that making it multiplatform would be a good thing. There's a lot of games for Windows, so fewer people aren't going to  be all that excited about a new game.  For Windows there are games somewhat close to what this might be, so a lot of people will just probably settle for them and accept their flaws, instead of taking an effort make something that's just a little bit better.  You would be a smaller fish in a bigger pond. 

If it will work on Linux however, it will be more significant, and might attract more people's attention/help earlier on.  Since there isn't anything that is similar to this(AFAIK) for Linux, more Linux developers might be more interested it in, giving you more people to code.  You would be a larger fish in a smaller pond of Linux this way, and that would help you eventually become a larger fish in the larger(atleast for now ;) ) pond of Windows.  There is also probably a higher number of developers per user with Linux than with Windows(don't know for sure, but that would be my assumption).

I don't think there is that much of a downside of making it run on multiple OS's at this point since there isn't any code that you would have to change.

[der bastler 0]

"Irrlicht" (German for "ghost light") looks promising, perhaps I adapt this one for a 2D adventure (similar to OSX's GUI: Sprites as textured polygons).

For me, earliest point of beginning would be autumn, when personal job situation is solved.

[Guest]

I think it's an interesting idea, but a project like this is huge. Shin Raiden gives a very good breakdown of the basic components. There's no timeline mentioned, but 2 years would be a reasonable amount for a playable 1.0 Open Source I guess, and that's with a reasonable size team.

I personally think using the GarageGames engine would be something to explore for a couple of reasons. It's well supported and constantly being refined. Also there are a good number of coders already using it who would know the ins-n-outs that might be interested. Could be worth checking through the forums there and maybe posting up something.

Something to think about though is that it would take a looong time before there was any need to really get going on the art....just like most games the art is produced last. You can't produce art if you don't have any idea what the engine will be like.....that's kinda like building a racing car without knowing the category of racing it will be in (if you follow me).

To put it simply: is this really the sort of thing you want to be doing or is it better to mod using an existing engine (OFP, Doom3, HL2, Farcry and maybe STALKER, etc in the future)? Not trying to put you off it, but there's a few realities of Game Development that it's worth knowing about. The Post-Mortems at Gamasutra are probably worth a read (requires registration).

Other option would be to go proceedural, but that's just my little interest at the moment

[kegetys 2]

2-3 years is maybe possible if you can find a good team that is willing to sacrifice most or almost all of their free time working on it, including yourself if you are leading the project. You'll also need to know the timeline on when it is going to be complete and strictly aim for it, or you'll end up in an endless loop of updating everyting to get it to look modern again when you're an year behind of scedule. For art you'd also need a small team that will do most of the work to ensure that everything will fit in and have the same style and theme on them, a huge amount of people with everyone doing one thing will end up in very different look and feel everywhere which will most likely look more or less ugly or "amateurish".

Something like this would be a big and hard project to do without any funding or profit, I doubt that many people are willing to throw themselves into it especially if they have a life to live and a job to do at the same time. But it is maybe possible if you manage to find the right people...

[MrZig 0]

Quote[/b] ]You'll also need to know the timeline on when it is going to be complete and strictly aim for it, or you'll end up in an endless loop of updating everyting to get it to look modern again when you're an year behind of scedule.

*cough* Duke Nukem Forever anyone? *cough*

[Guest]

Duke Nukem Forever and Ever and Ever and Ever and......

[EiZei 0]

Duke Nukem Forever and Ever and Ever and Ever and......

Duke nukem is soo early compared to Prey that was recently resurrected

It was announced in 1995 and now it is supposed to come out in 2006.