Recently, my team of 3 was contracted to create a paintball game for a local paintball field operator in my area, and we are currently looking for the best technology available to create this game. None of us really have massive amounts of programming skill, do we're looking for something easy to set up with a focus on the design side of things. we've looked at torque, and we like it, but we've of course heard plenty of bad things about it, and there appears to be very little documentation to speek of. (not to mention the fact that it apparently runs terrible on vista) So, I ask you, wat would be a good 3d engine to go with? It doesn't have to be terribly advanced, graphically (something along the lines of even Quake 3 level GFX would be fine). We just need to get something up and running quickly and easily.

For getting something up and running quickly and easily, in 3D, IMHO you can't beat Panda3D.

You could consider irrlicht http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
as it has irrEdit that helps in level cration http://www.ambiera.com/irredit/

One of my other team members had taken a look at Panda 3D and was dissatisfied with it for whatever reason, but I myself will still take a look at it.

As for Irrlicht, I thought that was more of a rendering engine a la ogre than a game engine. I'm looking for something perhaps a bit more built up.

I wouldn't like to go this route, but what is everyones opinion of FPS creator? does it support terrains and multiplayer?

We're looking at the actual Quake 3 engine now. Terrain support ok for that?

And back to torque, is my assumption about vista correct, and are there any tutorials at all for TGEA?

We're looking at the actual Quake 3 engine now. Terrain support ok for that?

And back to torque, is my assumption about vista correct, and are there any tutorials at all for TGEA?

You could try python-ogre. Not only does it have bindings to ogre, but ode, newton, OIS and CEGUI to name a few others.

Quote:Original post by Random Blit
One of my other team members had taken a look at Panda 3D and was dissatisfied with it for whatever reason, but I myself will still take a look at it.

Ah, the old NIH syndrome. What was wrong with it, and why was it incompatible with your project requirements?

The answer you got is a typical example when people aren't happy with something for personal reasons.

Get a check-list response of their evaluation. It's possible they felt that building it took 20 minutes, and they wanted something that takes 2 minutes to build.

If you want something you'll be satisfied with, you need something that will match your requirements. People too often choose based on hype or personal ticks, and then the choice turns out to fit that one person, but everyone else needs to work around problems due to wrong choice.

Quote:We just need to get something up and running quickly and easily

Great. Can you get something up and running quickly with Panda? If so, then you've found your ideal platform.

Quote:we've looked at torque, and we like it, but we've of course heard plenty of bad things about it

Is that really so? You've "heard" something, but didn't check if it's true?

Quote:not to mention the fact that it apparently runs terrible on vista

Does it?

Helpful decision and problem solving method.

Always ask why.

Quote:we are currently looking for the best technology available to create this game

There is no best. There is optimal compromise. Lack of programming experience means you're probably better looking at a script-driven engine. That means that all C/C++ based things are mostly out of question.