Blog Post #2 - Toying with Engines/Middleware

Hey all, I'm back for another blog post. So I've been toying around with Game Engines, and Middleware, seeing whats out there, what it does, what it is, and how it integrates into the game. Remember all, I'm still learning here, but what I'm finding is very interesting. Much akin to the plugins for say, Mozilla's Firefox Internet Browser, Middelware kind of seems to do that. And I know to some that may be a 'dur' thing for me to say, but I do find it neat that having middleware can help make a cohesive development environment, and take some of the shambles of developing the particular features you're looking to put into your game, yourself.

But, I wonder, what cost, besides financially, does that come at? Is it more sound, say for a HUGE A-List Game, to use Middleware? I mean, its all still under investigation by me, but, it seems that the smaller scale you go, the less of what it is the middleware offers, I find that you need.

Because I was thinking about it, and really... a game like... Bob Came in Pieces, I can see that in Unity 3D, being only built by the Indie version. I'm not up on what all the terminology is in Unity 3D, and whether or not the Indie version would let you import assets from Maya, or 3DS Max, or Blender, say... but I'm curious as to whether its possible to just make a game, with one program? Would that have any bearing on whether that game is good or not?

Well, if you're reading this, you already know that I'm on an adventure, to find all this stuff out. So here's a summary of what I've looked into:

• Trinigy Vision SDK
• Gamebryo Lightspeed SDK
• Torque Game Engine SDK
• Procedural's City Engine
• NaturalMotion Euphoria Endorphin Engine
• Filterforge
• FMOD

Now I know I'm probably getting ahead of myself here, but I like to find out whats out there, and then sort it all out. Like taking a big spoonful of potato's, and letting it digest.

I'm almost at the point where I'm going to start implementing things I've learned into the tinkering stage, as that always seems to work for me. Watch, Listen, Learn, Tinker, Fill it in, Watch... etc.

Its my hope that, if I can get the Unity Web Player to work, that I'll be able to post (though I've mentioned this before) build's as they happen, but I also think I might upload links to things I've learned through tinker, with a description of what I was going for, or tinkering to try and see.

Anyways, for Raindrop Studios, this is Stry, or Marc, and I'm off to learn it up.

Over and out Fellow Gamers