2GEN Game Editor for 3D Gamestudio

Hi all,

I just got an email from (I think) the author, and asked me to put a post on this forum about this game editor, used for making Supercan, and the upcoming second part Supercan2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=131rjsgtkdc

I'll try to get more info. There is a link to the homepage, but this is Turkish only, and google translator is not perfect...

Like i said in WIP thread it's an amazing editor and lot of us would need to have a big workflow improvement.

Like i said :
Is there a way for Conitec to make some partner ship, and get the editor available for all A8 or A9 users ?

Such easiness on adjusting things, painting etc ... is just amazing

Could it become the new WED ?

Amazing editor. But: Never forget this is an editor for ONE game and therefore the architecture of the editor is MUCH easier as the required editor for e.g. Gamestudio...

it's true, probably it is good for not all purposes...

But lot of stuff could be ketp like painting, fullscreen effects, shaders on models or physics !

Could it be terrain based or not from what i've seen you can paint as you want on some model surface, put objects etc ...
This could suit any game using 3D models and nay camera system !

it would be to the programmer to manage distance of view, LOD, optimisation etc ...

Some game examples :
-RPG games cutted into levels glued on to a map :
The Witcher 1 & 2 ! and lot of others RPG games.
- 2.5 D games : platform, shooter, puzzle, Shoot em up
- Adventure games
- Resident evil levels sections
etc ...

So don't worry lot of us could make any of these games types

This is awesome!! Hope they relase a free version. Isn't here somebody who speaks turkish so that he can kindly ask the studio for more information?

I could ask, if you want

Would be great if you could ask if they plan to release the editor or if they are in contact with Conitec. OR if there exists a development thread in any turkish forum

Such an editor doesn´t work, for any other real purposes.
Assigning shaders and editing their parameters is fine, but I want to add my own shaders with their own parameters, without having to extend the editor. I also want to set shader defines for shaders, which are then compiled in different versions for different purposes. I also want to use my own actions with their own settings and my own functions to move the camera as well as a terrain shader with support for 2 textures and one blending 16 textures together with and without normalmap and the required painting tools. I also want to adjust my own global variables and not some predefined ones. Painting and moving objects, as well as painting a terrain texture with 4 textures is something I can code in a day or two, but making it flexible would probably take me weeks.

My editor (not finished):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4auO0jH95c

With 3dgs you can writing your own editor for every specific game you want to create.
Have also a editor for my Bomberman Clone (2D).

Yes, it is really practical to make a game specific editor for your own taste and requirements, but it is quite a big work. I know because I'm also developing my own
I decided to choose this way because I need special map decomposition for RTS pathfinding and AI, and because there is no other editor I could use for very fast outdoor level design.
I have little practice in effects, particles, shaders etc., so an editor that gives a complex flexible help for graphic design by a nice gui would be really fine...

I asked him

thanks!

We are not all programmers or make our own shaders, multitexture programming and other stuff.
For example i use C script for only gameplay, that's all, that's wy seeing this great editor , i really find it awesome for all it can do, and project ideas using this editor it i have a good bunch from 2.5D action game, to RPG etc ... !

Got an answer:


This means that they only use this editor for their game and do not think about releasing it. Beside that they are not in contact with conitec.

Thanks alibaba

(I'll have to learn to use some GUI library with 3DGS if i want to make my own 3D editor)

sad, sad... they could do earn some money with it, but would get some competition too...
making a good GUI sucks, I know
but a graphic interface for shader making would be fun, when I'll updgrade once to commercial...

@ratchet, you can use winforms with c# wrapper. Also i am working on a html/js(chromium) plugin for lite-c. You can design ui using html5/css3/flash and interface with it using lite-c js. Should be available around june/july.

I've used winforms with a C++/CLI DLL... but it's a bit painful to get the whole thign running. And CLI is considered outdated.

Thanks Quadrax
But i prefer keeping it simple in terms of programming; perhaps i'll see to use LBGui if it can display all Gui stuff above the 3D scene ?

I recommend to use your own GUI system, because in case of an editor, repeated level loads could start more instances of the same GUI loop, and it can cause a crash. I don't know how LBGUI exactly handles these loops, maybe safely, maybe not, but I decided not to use it, especially because sometimes I need dynamically created panel content (images, filenames), and the own work is always more handy.

levels and panels are unrelated, level_load does not remove your previous panels, nor creates new panels.

This may or may not be an old thread, but is the 2gen level editor available for purchase at this time or is it proprietary only?

If not, is any level editor/world builder available, free or commercial, for Gstudio a7 or a8 that is on par from a professional and feature rich standpoint with 2gen level editor/world builder?

I find the 2gen level editor (based on the teaser video) to be AMAZING and one of the best I have ever seen. It would be PERFECT to create my games with.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

It's proprietary, and i guess it's passed on to the MadByte Games Studio now.

There are people on the forum working on different editors atm, you could check them out.

it is also an editor developer for a certain game. imo sometimes it is very useful to develop your game editor due to your own requirements, than to use a general or 3rd party one. of course it means much more work, but in case of a complex game finally it could worth it.

I think we should make some open specs with main modules and ask for programmers that have the time to code a module.

Something like this :
- 3D Gizmo (with only a call and not the implemented code of functions Move/rotate/scale)
- Move/rotate/scale functions Object
- A visual general panel template do adjust properties
- A (move/rotate/zoom) Camera system with options
(go to center, go to object , center to object)
- A graphic shader selecter (somewhat like the shader viewer , but better visually)
- A material panel for objects : contains the shader selecter, 4 or more bitmap cannels (skins in MED language)
etc ...
But it should need a robust and fast GUI, and i don't knwoif there is really one fast with 3DGS ?

Well it was just an idea : 2GEN remake lol

something like this?

Looks good
Are all this code in C script ? what library GUI ?
It is fast enought ?

Does it allows to run the example quikcly even if not in real time ?

what lacks is some mini window showing a fast real time view of the selected 3D model in some panel or another window.
Or perhaps when you select a 3D model it appears semi visible in the editor before you press "enter" to craete it in the scene ?
-------

I had anotehr idea for a fast editor :
Coded in some open source 3D engine or non open source in C++ for example to be fast.
Actions names would just be configured in some XML definition file (you could even add new action names or remove in the editor and save the config file).

maybe someone remembers an older project of mine which was also an editor but written in c#
i think about writing some kind of editor for visual studio
use the power of visual studio for editing 3d worlds. the 2012 version of visual studio contains an fbx and obj editor so i think it shouldn't be that hard to create some level editor in it

but this is future sound (i'll need to do research and stuff but i think it will be possible)

cool editor! fbx and obj support? so does the VS EE include it?

i think so, it's a part of the new WPF i think
just try to open a fbx file with it

I'll try it once, but I need to stay with VS2010 for a while... I think I can't install both.

Nope, there is not any 3d content possible atm, but i got my editor integrated into VS

Is this an available tool or a WIP?

Looks good. The 2gen tool just blew me away with its speed, toolset, even the wind blowing in the trees and grass were amazing.

No offense to the WED and MED editors, but I have not upgraded to A8 because of those editors. Conitec needs to create proper world building tools like 2gen. In A7 com, WED cn barely keep up with the simplest of scenes in a realtime preview. Other engines I have are far superior with their world editors, but I always seem to take another look at this engine. I don't know exactly why.

Mike

This is just WIP, no real level export or efficient level file
also a lot of parameters are missing to setup a properly 3d scene with all features
i try to create some similar editor integrated in visual studio (because visual studio is an awesome tool, i want to create some custom editor for it and i want to know how i can include a directX 9 renderer into the editor)

also, btw. i got my first vertex in visual studio. now only the editor and models are missing

You'll have a BIG amount of things to code if you start from triangle.
From Visual studio , you mean , you develop from with 3DGS API in C++ or Direct X directly ?

it's DirectX directly
and this "big amount" is maybe 2 or 3 days of work until i can show you something which looks a lot more awesome than this

I can't use Gamestudio here because it's only a singleton (so one instance per program) which means you could edit only one level at a time (which makes sense in a way but would fuck up the whole management if you open another level)

XNA wont work either because of XNB and the Content Pipeline.

And i found no other C# Rendering Engine which fits my needs of lightweight and efficient coding

You have Axiom engine that allows lot of things with C#.
Caus it's like you are writing some new 3D engine almost, so much work.
And well The need for two editors at same time, this is not usual.
You have multiple views possible in 3D editors at same time.
Anyway good luck

I don't see your point. Just write a function that loads a level and a function that removes a level and resets your system.

for C#, I only know unity and neoaxis (ogre based), which are actively developed.

would be possible but i don't like the idea of a small white window opening every time i open a level (except one is already open)

i don't understand neoaxis (the engine is pretty good but i have no idea how the core works)

I tried Axiom, but the samples didn't compile...

Also a lot of other free 3d engines don't fit my coding style and code requirements (this is just personal but i really hate bad coding style)

But i've done some other engines before and the worked really good (except my OpenGL renderer, but that's another story)

yes, I had the same problem with neoaxis, it offers a large code package like udk, but without a good tutorial going through on it, while udk has some programming tutorials... one of them says: 75% of coding time is reading existing codes, maybe it is valid for neoaxis too...

maybe you should not stay with c#...

how have been made 2GEN ? they have only used some GUI on top of 3DGS ? or do they have used another language and some other engine API ?

why shouldn't i stay with the language i master perfectly (or nearly)?

btw, small update:

because it's only one language

Because you should use the right tool for the right task. Ie if you want to write a Jabber server, learn Erlang because that's what Erlang is for (well, actually it's for telephone systems, but series of tubes etc). Yeah, no idea what this topic is about or why you asked that question, but I wanted to say something

Yeah, no idea what this topic is about or why you asked that question, but I wanted to say something

LOL

this thread went totally offtopic so you can say anything. but I agree, I meant the same.

Which white window? Just reset the nexus with level_load(NULL), clean your internal stuff and call the open-level-function

the window which appears when i call engine_open (and it opens at least one time)
also i don't want to use static variables except for things that are really static (like the size of structs)

You don't need to open/close the whole engine to change levels. And who said that you have to use static variables?

because i need a way to check if the engine was already opened
or how would you store this state?

Why do you have to do this? Open the engine, load the editor and make a button "open level". When opening the level, load it in the engine instance. Later, unload the level with level_load(NULL) and reload the next with level_load("myCoolLevel.wmb") or a custom function for WMP parsing.

but this isn't the way i want my expansion to work
i just want to associate a file type with my editor, visual studio manages opening, closing, movement, UI, ...
all i need to do is calling visual studio to show me the correct toolbar and properties
so i don't write an editor from scratch but expanding visual studio