lol

Alex Broadwin
A-Tronic Software & Design
-----
"if you fail in life, you were destined to fail. If you suceed in life, call me."
"The answer is out there."
"Please help, I''m using Windows!"

Well, you''re off to a good start. You found NeHe''s site.

Take a peak at my Disasteroids 3D Dev Page for information about the software I used to create my little OpenGL game. http://www.lmnopc.com/disasteroids3d/

(Please excuse the dust if there is any -- I''m moving the site onto a new host so things may be a bit wonky there for a bit)

My game''s quite simple, but I don''t imagine you''re going to get much more done in a single semester. One of the key things to keep in mind before you start your project -- start something you can finish. Don''t set out to make Quake. Set out to make Gauntlet or something like that.

I found that resource creation was the most time-consuming part of making Dis3d. I would spend HOURS trying to learn my tools just enough to get out of them the simple models I was trying to create.

As far as tools you need, I recommend:

Visual C++ 6.0
MilkShape 3D
Paint Shop Pro (or Photoshop if you can afford it)

(You can find links to all these programs on my Dis3D Dev Page)

Another tool that wasn''t ABSOLUTELY essential but definitely helped me in a big way is 3D Exploration. 3D Exploration is a 3D file converter, but it also exports 3D models to C code so I didn''t have to write any model loading code, nor include any external model files with my game -- it''s all compiled into the EXE. I know you could pack your models into resource files, but this was much simpler than mucking around with RES files.

Good luck!


ThomW
www.LMNOpc.com

What he said is the easy way, but I really don''t reccommend it. It''s usually considered best to keep logic and data as seperate as possible. Meaning, make the exe control events and such, but load as much of the DATA as possible from files. This makes quick changes and revisions much easier. The loading code takes very little time to make, and it''s usually worth it. Especially if your on a team!

Alex Broadwin
A-Tronic Software & Design
-----
"if you fail in life, you were destined to fail. If you suceed in life, call me."
"The answer is out there."
"Please help, I''m using Windows!"

I''m doing a 3D game for my final year university Group Project. We''re a team of 7 with varied skills. 2 of us are pretty much fluent in c++, I have been learning and playing with (and thats the important bit) OpenGL and general 3D stuff for a couple of years. The other members of the group are more into the design / documentation side, but they do code as well and also created our (coming soon) website.

We are about 2 thirds of the way thru writing the engine. We haven''t had time to start on the game itself yet....

Our Group Project if 2 semesters long, and we have finished one of the semesters already...

Just to give you an idea of what you are letting yourself in for ;¬)

My advice would be to pick a simple game to implement, and to work more with the skills you already have, than new ones you have to learn - it will take 3 times as long otherwise.

Practically, I''d recommend the following - OpenGL for 3D (easy, portable, powerful), SDL for windowing, input, sound and any 2D overlays (cross platform, makes your game very easy to port to any other major platform), Milkshpae for models (just cos its great, and cheap), DevIL for loading images (easy to use, works really well with opengl, powerful)

Oh and depending on the complexity of what you are attempting, I''d recommend having a good knowledge of the C++ STL, cos they''ll save you a lot of headaches.

The last (and maybe most important bit) - consider making your project open source. Why? well, firstly cos its a nice thing to do, but also because sourceforge.net will give you webspace and use of their CVS system (or at least they did with us). This CVS is a real lifesaver for developers working at different times in different locations - our group meets up once or twice a week, but the rest of the time we work from home. CVS is similar to Microsoft SourceSafe in that you check in and out your source, and every revsion is saved so you can go back to a stable version if needed.

The combination of CVS and a group forum is whats holding our project together. Otherwise I''d be working on my code and have to change some of another persons code, and they change somewthing different in their code, and then nobody knows which is the ''best'' new version of the code. CVS helps you add / change things in your code in a systematic fashion.

Hope some of this is usefull,

Dan