Finally 64 digits is up. But for how long? It is like every time they "try" to update the site (emphasis on the word try) the site shuts down. It is annoying for the frequent bloggers and the many other guys who just like Game making 64digit style. But what are the alternatives? Well I have a list.

1. Try opening a forum like the GMC. That way we have a place to hang out when the site is down. However the down side is that the site is blog driven, so everyone will start there own topics and thus kill the page…….. Nasty

2. Try a chat room. No, wait, there already is a 64D chat room. One problem, I cant access it!! It uses irc.64digits.something… I just can't get it to work on firefox.

3. We find an online game to kill each other on. Simple.

With that aside back to my life. I have been dreaming off making a 3d game but can't do it in game maker. It is just too limited and doesn't have an effective world editor. So I decided to look for new engines that can do the job. I found 3…. ok 2 since the other two use the same engine(Microsoft XNA).

1. Irrlicht Engine( http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/index.html ): The Irrlicht Engine is an open source high performance realtime 3D engine written and usable in C++. It is completely free and can run on on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, though due to its open nature there have been ports to other systems including the Xbox, PlayStation Portable, and SymbianOS in development.

http://www.devmaster.net/engines/screenshots/Irrlicht-1.jpg

http://www.ambiera.com/irredit/shots/07_particles.jpg

The game however is a bit difficult to use because it need a lot of C++ knowlege just to make the first room to work. Even the official editor, the irrEdit, needs a C++ program to connect it to the two together. Still It is one of the best open source 3d engines out there and is complete.

2. Blade3D: ( http://www.blade3d.com )

Last 2 years ago, Microsoft released the XNA game studio. It is a frame work free of charge that could enable anyone to develop games for the Xbox and windows platforms. It is targeted at students, hobbyist and Indie developers to make games for free on the windows and pay $100 a year on the Xbox 360 With little or no programing experience. The last part is a lie. You need to download the C# IDE and buy the Torque game builder or make the game from the code. Since that sucks, Digini.INC decided to make a game editor form the framework.

The resulting product is Blade3D. I am not sure if it will be for sale or there will be a free version (possibly to 1up there rivals Visual3D.net) but I know that the engine is relatively powerful .

The focus here is shaders, stuff that five effects in a 3d space (not particles) . You can even render a scene in matrix style. The game also comes with it's own scripting language based on C# meaning you can script without opening an external editor like GM. I would have loved to show you more screen shots but most of them are in video and I dont have HTML privs. Just visit the site to get more.

3. Visual3d.net ( http://www.visual3d.net )

A few years back I heard that a company called Realmware made the best 3d opensource engine on the internet called Realmforge. That is ancient history, with the XNA framework making it easier (relatively) to make gamesengines of the Xbox360 the discontinued that trash and started another project. V3D.net like its rivals blade3d has a working beta (I tested it and it works better than G-java, sorry TGMG) and will provide a free version(but with there banner all over it like yoyogames). The focus here unlike blade is effects and particles, not to say none of the engines listed dont have particles, but V3d.net has the best of the bunch. Sadly, the scripting feature is still under development, however, if you have Visual C# you can edit the game code. Also most of the shots are vids so you have to visit the site.

And there you have it. I am downloading blade and V3d.net now to test the latest betas and have Irrlicht. I will come later with a follow up blog to say which one is best.