Quote:Original post by Hodgman
3DSM is modelling program and so are Blender and Maya.

Some companies use modelling programs to build levels, but that doesn't make 3DSM a level editor ;)

Ahhh really...? See I'm learning something new... so most level editors are just used from modeling programs?! But exactly how does that work? I don't understand how to design aspect of creating a game gets connected to the programming aspect... Like I know the programmer has to have the design to piece the game together and all but in details I don't understand how it works. I started doing C# XNA Programming but honestly it's really confusing to me...

That is a good point. Most modeling tools do not make good level design tools. Most engines/games have custom level building tools.

I used QuArk quite a lot to build test levels.


Modelling tools are better for character design IMHO

Quote:Original post by ernow
That is a good point. Most modeling tools do not make good level design tools. Most engines/games have custom level building tools.

I used QuArk quite a lot to build test levels.


Modelling tools are better for character design IMHO

Ahhh understood. Now is there a difference in making levels for like multiplayer compared to a huge chapter 1 level on story mode? Both types of levels would be recommended for a Level Design Tool correct? Also what exactly is a Game Engine? Like can someone please explain to me exactly how one works and what all comes with one?

Quote:Original post by metalmidget
Like I said earlier I've never used anything other than Blender, plus my blender knowledge is at best very basic, but as far as I'm aware (from when I was researching the sort of things you're researching now), there's very little that 3DSM and Maya can do that Blender can't. And those few things are really advanced stuff that you won't find yourself doing in the near future.
Just like the endless stream of "what programming language is best for X?" threads, in the end it will really come down to personal taste. Unfortunately modelling programs aren't as easy to sample as programming languages are, but maybe you can find free trials of 3DSM or Maya that only have a few hours of use before they expire. If you can, that would give you some good insight into what's best for you.

metal

Downloaded Blender so I can check it out. Thanks for the info about it. Also did you ever happen to find that tutorials you mentioned by that one guy?

Quote:Original post by xHaVoK87
Ahhh understood. Now is there a difference in making levels for like multiplayer compared to a huge chapter 1 level on story mode? Both types of levels would be recommended for a Level Design Tool correct? Also what exactly is a Game Engine? Like can someone please explain to me exactly how one works and what all comes with one?

There is generally a difference in the approach to creating indoor or outdoor levels.. For example a small indoor level like many deathmatch FPS levels might be most easily created by joining hollow boxes (rooms) in a modelling tool and sculpting them out further to create the shapes of the rooms. A large outdoor level might be more easily produced by creating a basic terrain (maybe in a modelling tool, maybe a specialised tool) and then "decorating" it with smaller objects (trees, rocks etc.) that have been made individually in a modelling program.

Some games might provide level designers with a tool which allows them to raise and lower terrain, load and place pre-created (modelled) assets, specify their properties (fixed, destroyable..) and then save the scene to their customised level format, which remembers what all of these assets are so the level can be easily re-opened and edited (check out the new CryEngine level editor on Youtube). Others might create a single model with all of the desks, chairs etc. fixed in place.


A game engine is a pre-programmed framework for making games. It will usually deal with loading and rendering a scene from its own formats, or common industry formats. It might include physics - the ability for a programmer using the engine to load a model and have it react to the environment according to physics in only a line or two of code. An engine can be very basic, handling only the loading, positioning and texturing of objects. Or it could include advanced AI, networking etc. as standard.

This engine is then edited or extended to include features specific to a certain game. A programmer could, for example, use the basic physics provided by the engine to add the ability for the player to throw objects or enemies.

A level editing program might be a part of the tools provided with the engine or might not, depending on the engine in question. It is equally often built "on top" of the engine. The engine might not provide level loading at all, and require the programmer to figure out how to get the level geometry "into the engine" manually.

The advantage of using an engine without all of these features taken care of, is that it allows greater control and customisation for each game made using the engine. A more fully-featured engine can speed up development of a game, but may produce more generic seeming games without effectively taking apart and rebuilding the engine to some degree for each game.

An engine might be geared towards producing FPS games, with multiplayer code optimized for fast-paced, real-time action, ragdoll physics etc.; it might, on the other hand, have no such genre-specific features.