It''s not fair that i have to pay lot''s of money to get together all the tools needed to program games , eg Visual C++ 6.0 , 3D Max4 Photoshop etc.. But other people just get a cracked version and program games cheaply ... even freely . You guys have to say something about this... Thanks....

You don''t have to pay anything. There was just an article on this site about free tools. there are free compilers (borland C++), free paint programs (GIMP), and free 3D programs (Gmax). And aside from those, you can (if you are a student), buy the educational editions of the products you mentioned for much less than the commercial price.

You can also just steal the programs yourself, although I think its ironic that people who want to make software and have other people pay for it are themselves unwilling to pay for it.

I actually PREFER the free things more than the pay-fo-me ones, and it isn''t because I am cheap. I use VIDE for example, because it doesn''t have all the crap that bogs me down when I use MSVC++ or JBuilder (luckily for me, the company I work for bought those, so I didn''t actually lose anything when I switched to the free ones).

Once your paycheck depends on people buying the software you make, rather than stealing it, you may change your tune.

I NEVER said I stole it. Why would you assume I am stealing anything?!
I was referring to an IDE for C++ and Java that is a free download with no strings attached.
My paycheck depends on me writing programs for the company, thank you!
Stoffel, are you saying there is something wrong with preferring NotePad and the Borland command-line compiler to an overblown commercial IDE that gets in the way of actual programming?

hey about this Gmax , is it true that we can build game worlds
and game levels with it and sell it with our games...

Thanks,,..

I agree completely that the price of software is nuts. But unfortunately I don''t see any change in the future.

Speciality items like 3D studio will always be really expensive. Part of this could be because of piracy raising prices, but I think the biggest reason is that a company has to make $X to make a profit. By the time they take out their development and maintenance costs, they still need to add in a profit. Speciality software like this won''t sell anywhere near as many copies as Unreal Tournament, so the per copy price has to be much higher.

Although personally I think they would make up the difference if they sold 3D studio for $1000. For the serious hobby developer I think many would save up. But $4500, I don''t think so.

There are cheaper solutions, but they don''t come anywhere near the quality of some of more expensive programs (Still talking about 3D studio here... not MS).

I tried 3D studio once and loved it. Since then I have messed with demos and shareware and have not found anything I liked. The only shareware program I could tolerate was Moray; which is a front end for PovRay.

Until I can afford it, I''ll stick with 2D hand drawn images. But as soon as the cash comes in 3D studio will be on my shelf.

try blender at blender.nl probally one of the best freeware 3d modellers (a bit complex and rough but good). As for ppl pirating, dont get mad thinking you are the only one to have to pay! i paid for VC++ 6 pro. If you want use free tools. like djgpp and such. While free alternatives are not always as feature laden/stable as the commercial products. They do work quite well. one person even pointed out an article on gamedev that described free tools you can use.

AP who took offense to my post: I was actually replying to the original poster, not to you. I probably should have said "when one steals" instead of "when you steal", but that always sounds so stuck-up. Sorry for the mixup.

Oh.
Well, sorry for being snippy