I have 14 3d modelers working in 3DS Max (training for modeling jobs in the game industry) that will have 3 months to do a game project to better understand of the dev pipeline works (with animators, level designers, programmers, etc)
I want to make a real game, FOSS, with some pedagogical redeeming values for grade school children.
I’m presently considering Panda3D and Game Blender. (both FOSS, Python powered, multiplatform)
Pitfall of Panda3d - code only solution (but all round nice comments by most)
Advantage of Blender - all around tool, with graphical editors…
Potential pitfall - it might not be very responsive (read slow, buggy, etc) Not much of recent successes doing games
Can’t find much comparison information - Wishing, hoping for some feed-back of people in the know (It also seems the Game Blender is making great steps forward)
I hate to say it, but I don’t know if anyone here has used game blender. I understand that’s the game development package that is being created to complement blender itself?
I can say this: it makes more sense to evaluate them yourself than to listen to random internet people. Just download Panda3D and use it for a few hours. That’ll tell you more than any forum discussion thread ever will.
once i concidered blender,too ( about 16 month ago). but when i did a few very simple benchmarking tests blenders defeat was pretty clear.
if you dont need any grafical performance you might find blender intresting. but if you do. well i dunno if blenders game engine improved a lot since then. but i would recommend panda
panda also offers a great ammount of performance analyzing tools which helps a lot when searching for bottlenecks.
Since this an academic situation, a one year junior college-level program leading to the industry, I’m afraid my art-oriented level designers will have a hard time with Python, because if they can make the maps in 3DS Max, all effects have to be programmed (when using Panda)
In Blender, a lot of them can be parameterized (is that a word?), but I would hate to have a pre-production toolchain different from the production one, because of the modesty of the dev team I can get to accompany my modelers that would have to redo in Panda.
One the other hand, I’m adamant of staying in the FOSS category, and multiplatform because (like the philosophy of ETC, if i’ve read correctly) I want my students project to be for a real public, for free (elementary school;s in this case)
So maybe It’s all about getting advice on the toolchain when Panda3D is involved, specifically the level design tools permitting refining of the gameplay through playtesting while the definitie models are produced and animated.
Any idea, references in that direction is appreciated. In the meanwhile I’m keeping at it: reading , testing, searching/modifying/creating pipeline paths, etc
I tried using Blender’s game engine about a year ago. I found it to be quite buggy and limited. Note that it is continously improving.
There is also the apricot project that is creating/improving a visual way of creating games in blender for the crystal space engine: apricot.blender.org.
If your looking for something blender engine related, there is always the new apricot team making a FOSS game with blender and the Crystalspace engine, and you can find out more here:
You mentioned blender or Panda3d, so this is the blender end of things I feel important to point out.
On the Panda side of things, well the blender support isn’t stellar atm but its getting there , and I have no idea overall how it compares to the CS engine so , as noted elsewhere in this thread your best bet is to look around and ask questions and try code, and see what you think.
To that end, you can of course hang out in IRC on both ends to help aid in your decision making process by going to:
