Prototype Development

[zjdd]

A colleague and myself have been playing with the idea of developing an RTS game for about 2 years now and without listing all the excuses let me get right to it...

We have been former application developers but have been web developers for the past 5 years and have not developed any 3D applications professionally (only dabbled). Well, not yet.

I have been doing a lot of researching lately to find a good place to start resulting in a myriad of engines to use so I thought I would start here.

We are interested in creating an RTS game like I mentioned earlier and would like to rapidly (I don't take the word "rapidly" for granted since I know how time consuming it can be creating a - for the most part - simple website with only a few features) put together a prototype. We are extremely proficient in .NET (both VB and C#) and would like to stay within that environment for the obvious reasons.

I was hoping that someone has practical experience in developing a RTS game and could provide me with insight on which direction we should go in regards to 3D game engines. Our intentions for now is purely a learning and "sh%? or get off the pot" exercise. We would both find great satisfaction if it becomes more but for now we need to start doing something.

Thanks in advance for your response.

btw - Cost is a consideration but if it comes down to it we may be able to persuade certain people  :twisted:  to assist in that category so don't hold back.

[JeffWeber]

I don't have much experience with other engines other than tv3d, but I do know that your choices are VERY slim if you want to use .Net.  

I use C# and VB.Net exclsiviely at work (as a consulatant doing business/web/misc apps) and like you I prefer to do my 3D development in .Net.  

I've been using C# with TV3D for over 2 years now and have not run into ANY major issues.

I don't even know of any other TRUE 3D engines offering full .Net support. There are some like PurpleSharp and maybe a couple others, but you don't have to look at them long to realize they have nowhere near the maturity with .Net that TV3D does.

We've even built a commercial 3D truck driving simulator using TV3D 6.2 and C#.  It's been selling for over a year now.  (We built it as consultants.)

So, my point is:  If you are wanting a 3D engine that supports the .Net framework, TV3D is not only the best choice it's very likely the only choice.

[zjdd]

Thanks for the response Jeff.

I had an idea my choices would be few so I'm glad to hear that you have had a positive experience with TV3D. I have played around with the different demos that are supplied with TV3D and produced a rudimentary foundation for my game design but was afraid of putting too much time into a product without doing due diligence in researching what was out there.

Have you done much with 6.5?

[Eric]

I was at one point developing an RTS with TV3D and not only is it possible, but TV3D supports just about any feature you would need (3D wise) to make your game run fast and look great.  .net is a good language for this since RTS's are typically heavy on OO and .net development is fairly fast compared to C++.  

I think TV3D is what you and your colleague are looking for.

[Anti-Gremlin]

I am currently working on an RTS.. There is no doubt TV can handle it. The question is I hope my team can handle making the game


but we are using C++ using the .NET IDE.

[JeffWeber]

Have you done much with 6.5?

Yes, we are currently working on a project called Krash.  We are using VS 2005 beta (With .Net framework 2.0 beta of course) and TV3D 6.5

We have been working mostly on the foundation architecture that will support our tools and game.  We have not had a problem yet with 6.5.

Now that the foundation is about done, we should be able to start digging more deeply into all the new TV3D 6.5 goodies!

[darqSHADOW]

In addition to the other comments you've already heard, we have had a few teams (Moogy comes to mind) that did very amazing work using TV3D for a prototype.  They were able to go from scratch to a fully working prototype in only a few weeks, and you can check some of their screenshots in the galleries.

DS

[zjdd]

Thanks Jeff and darqSHADOW for your input. I'm going to do a bit more research but from what I have seen here and on different sites that TV3D is the right choice for what I want to accomplish. I'm looking forward to start working with the open beta when that becomes available.

[Frost]

i like TV3D because it runs with VB and .NET languages.. i have future plans of learning c++ but im gonna make a few simple games with VB first