man, take a look at this list of features... impressive huh?
Coding * Plugin architecture ensures a flexible framework, game engine, and toolset
* Everything from the editor to the GUI's are data and script-driven
* Master Modules contains nearly all aspects of the game data: world design, script attachment, entity placement and configurations, shader configuration, game settings, in-game literature, races and classes, and gameplay settings to name a few
* The framework supports every conceivable game genre (eg. RPG, FPS, MMORPG, Adventure) and even those not often considered for 3D games (ie: board and puzzle)
* The framework includes the RealmForge Media Library which is a compilation of free resources developed for it
* A heavy singleton architecture is used to create a series of distinct systems with minimal dependencies which can be replaced with custom implementations
* Plugin Modules can be created by the editor. These are concise diff-grams similar to those of Morrowind. They can be used by the modding communities or distributed as game updates
* Maintainability and good OOP practices as well as project standards are enforced in this open-source project
* The plugin architecture allows OpenGL and DirectX to be used interchangeably, like most aspects of the game; this can be changed simply by changing a value in the Config class
* Written in C# using the .NET Framework, so can be used by all .NET Languages including C#, C++ .NET (MC++), VB .NET, J#, Delphi .NET, Jscript .NET, Lua .NET, Perl .NET, Python .NET
Scripting * Everything is controlled by scripts and uses interfaces to allow for full customization without modification of the code
* Uses C# and JScript.net for scripting language providing unprecedented power, flexibility, and simplicity
* Scripts can be developed in the IDE with an optional minimized syntax to emulate JScript.NET
* Scripts can be compiled and run on the fly mid-game
* Assemblies can be automatically loaded and have their scripts registered
* Every entity is fully scriptable and has a wide range of events to which scripts can be attached
Built-in Editors * The Game Editor is integrated into the engine and can be displayed in-game similar to Doom III
* The line between design-time and runtime are blurred as a game can be edited using the full range of tool windows similar to an IDE
* The in-game edit allows the beta testing and modifications to be made simultaneously
Physics * Basic Physics, Collision Detection, Rigid Body, Vehicle Physics
* The Tao C# binding for ODE is used for an excellent open-source physics implementation
* The OOP plugin architecture allows for an extensible physics engine which can easily be configured for your game
* Rag-doll physics allows for characters to be designed from a series of body parts for a vast array of different character with minimal effort
* Support for the dismemberment of characters
Scene Management * General, BSP, Octrees, LOD:
* Highly customizable and flexible scene management
* Plugins can override parts scene management with custom implementation
* Different Axiom Scene Managers are supported to control low-level culling and features such as terrain rendering
* Hierarchical (node-based) scene design
* References to node trees provide an inlined prefab support (ie. a house template is used and minor modifications can be made for each instance)
* Unique ID's allow referencing of specific entities in scripts
* Regions or second-level nodes allow for environment settings such as sky and fog to differ for different areas
* Node-based design with Region culling allows for a loadless game design
* Realms (or highest level nodes) are used to denote unconnected regions of the game. This can be used to create a game which maintains separate cells and loads them when entered
* All Entities (including Regions, Nodes, and Realm) can be overridden to allow for custom implementations
Lighting * Per-vertex, Per-pixel, Lightmapping:
* Unlimited number of lights
* Easy application of lighting effects such as blinking and sparks
* Scriptable Light entities with scriptable movement paths
* A wealth of properties including ambient and diffuse colors, intensity and radius
* Support for different light types including spotlight, point, cone, and ambient
Shadows * Shadow Mapping, Projected planar, Shadow Volume:
* Supported techniques include modulative stencil, additive stencil, modulative projective, texture mapped, texture modulative, and decals
* Multiple stencil shadow optimizations
* Texture shadows fade out at far distance for FPS optimization
Texturing * Basic, Multi-texturing, Bumpmapping, Mipmapping, Volumetric, Projected:
* Support for Picture-in-picture to emulate effects such as cameras or rear-view mirrors
* Views can be rendered to a texture and applied to an entity to simulate working in-game cameras or video feeds
* Textures are registered as Materials so that they can be loaded from different resources (including compressed archives and libraries)
* All materials are simple shaders, allowing them have dynamic properties
* Excellent in-game cut-scene rendering and path/movement scripting
* Supports PNG, JPEG, TGA, BMP and DDS image files
Shaders * Supports vertex and fragment programs (shaders)
* Low-level programs written in assembler
* High-level programs written in Cg or DirectX9 HLSL
* The shaders are abstracted into Modifiers which can be applied to entities to generate the desired visual effects
* A number of different properties are provided for each Modifier to allow it to be tailored to the target without the writing multiple programs
* The OOP design allows game designers to concentrate on the game itself without an intricate knowledge of shaders
* A library of Modifiers abstracting a series of different shaders are provided as a catalyst for game development
* Every entity uses a simple shader or Material object to ensure that all textures are dynamic
* Material support different techniques to account for different levels of shader support in video cards
* Provides automatic support for many commonly bound constant parameters in the shaders
Rendering * Fixed-function, Render-to-Texture, Fonts, GUI:
* Level-of Detail rendering optimizes FPS
* Transparency in textures automatically applied (eg. png, gif)
* Supports the complete range of fixed function operations to account for hardware which doesn’t support shader use
* Support for infinite material techniques
Animation * Keyframe Animation, Skeletal Animation, Facial Animation, Animation Blending:
* Skeletal animation with blending of multiple animations and variable bone weights
* Physics-based animations in which forces are applied to bones and body parts to ensure the realism and integrity of animations
* Built-in tools for animating rag-doll characters
Meshes * Mesh Loading, Skinning, Progressive:
* Hardware-accelerated skinning
* Flexible mesh data formats accepted
* Loads OGRE Mesh, Skeleton, and Material formats
* Working on 3DS and LWO loading
* Exporters for 3DS Studio Max, Blender, Lightwave, Maya, Milkshape, Wings3D
* Biquadric Bezier patches for curved surfaces
Special Effects * Environment Mapping, Lens Flares, Billboarding, Particle System, Sky, Water, Fire, Explosion, Decals, Fog, Weather, Mirror:
* Interactive water which responds to weather such as rain and hail and is displaced by other entities
* Particle Systems represented as IEffect entities which can have scripted movement and variance or be applied to other entities
* Support for different sky types including Dome, Plane, and Cube
* Use of shaders allows dynamic effects such as wind-speed and direction for Sky and Water
* Different water entities have different properties allowing them to be more viscous or thick for the creation of swamps
* Fog disguises the camera culling region or can be applied over an area
* Underwater foggy effect
* Incredible Fire, Explosion, and other particle/sprite effects are represented as configurable IEffect entities which can be placed with the game editor
* Environment settings such as sky, fog, ambient light, and weather can be configured separately for different regions of the world
Terrain * Rendering and culling of terrain cells
* Loading of meshes and height-maps
* Support for lighting and shadows on terrain
* Optional approximation of lighting for FPS optimization
* Terrain collision detection
Networking * Client-Server, Peer-to-Peer, Master Server:
* Flexible network and server support for different types of games
* Centralized server, or peer-to-peer networking
* Designed for use in massive-multiplayer games such as MMORPGs
* The flexible design provides different server implementation to ensure that the networking is optimized and tailored to each game
* The use of .NET Remoting (or clear proxy object with RPC calls under the hood) allows games to be run with a server with no changes in the underling code. This allows games to be networking enabled with no extra effort
Audio & Video * 3D Sound, Streaming Sound:
* OpenAL for excelent cross-platform sound
* 3D sound with panning, volume, doppler, and cones
* Implemented in an OOP fashion with the use of scriptable Sound entities
Pathfinding, Decision Making, Finite State Machines, Scripted, Neural Networks: * A Neural Networks/Decision-Tree Hybrid is used as the primary mode of AI decision making
* A genetic algorithm allows for the evolution or characters or races of creatures for the creation of challenging opponents which learn to match the player’s tactics
* Every aspect of the engine is scriptable and AI is no exception
* An event-based architecture for the characters to provides a powerful scripting interface for the AI
* Different path finding algorithms will be provided to accommodate different game genres
Source: [link]http://realmforgewiki.castlegobs.nl/index.php/Features[/link]
So, what do you guys think? can this engine put up a fight with TV?
