3D Game Programming All In One (2004)

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Appendix C

Game Development

Tool Reference

All of the tools listed in this appendix are for Windows platforms. Some of the listed tools are available also for the Macintosh and Linux systems. For more information on Macintosh and Linux game development tools, see Table C.1 and Table C.2.

Table C.1 Linux Tool Sources on the Web

Table C.2 Macintosh Tool Sources on the Web

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Shareware and Freeware Tools

Modeling

Blender

3D modeling

Multiplatform: Windows, Linux, Irix, Sun Solaris, FreeBSD, or Mac OS X. Free software: Open Source/GPL.

http://www.blender3d.org

gmax

3D modeling

Stripped-down version of 3ds max. Requires exporters to be useful.

Free. (Caveat: Few exporters are available; exporter developers must pay a very high fee.) http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax

Hammer/Worldcraft

3D modeling—maps or levels

Worldcraft (later renamed Hammer) was written for creating Half-Life maps.

Free to be used only for creating Half-Life levels or for use by developers using the Torque Engine. Plug-ins available for Torque .DIF format. Windows only.

http://collective.valve-erc.com/

MilkShape 3D

3D modeling

Supports Torque using exporter plug-in. Windows only.

INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft

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QuArK

3D modeling—maps or levels

Originally written for creating Quake maps (QUake ARmy Knife). Supports Torque .DIF format. Windows only.

INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~quark

Image Editing

Paint Shop Pro

Image editing

Fully featured image processing, painting, and editing tool.

INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://www.jasc.com

Programming Editing

Tribal IDE

Text editing and debugging

Integrated debugger-editor written specifically to work with Tribes 2 and Torque. Useful to have around for debugging.

http://depot.gamerzcore.com/

UltraEdit-32

Text editing

Includes project and workspace features as well as macros.

INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://www.ultraedit.com

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Audio Editing

SoundEdit Pro

Audio editing and sound processing

Allows manual editing of sound files and conversion between many types. $39.95

http://www.rmbsoft.com/sep.asp

Audacity

Audio editing and sound processing

Allows manual editing of sound files, recording, and wave manipulation. INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

UVMapper

3D UV texture mapping utility

Allows user to completely remap the model textures of a Wavefront (obj) model. INCLUDED ON COMPANION CD

http://www.uvmapper.com

Retail Tools

3ds max

3D modeling

Popular commercial 3D modeling software for Windows.

$3,000 (Price is approximate—may vary according to reseller and discount eligibility.) http://www.discreet.com

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Adobe Photoshop

Image editing

Popular fully featured image processing, painting, and editing tool. $649

http://www.adobe.com

Corel Painter

Image editing

Popular commercial paint program for Windows.

$299 (Price varies—sometimes lower with special offers.) http://www.corel.com

Deep Paint 3D

Image editing

Popular commercial paint program for Windows. $995

http://www.righthemisphere.com

Deep UV

3D UV texture-mapping utility

Fully featured commercial product targeted to professionals. $649.99

http://www.righthemisphere.com

Maya

3D modeling

Popular commercial 3D modeling software for Windows. $1,999 to $6,999 (Price depends on product set.) http://www.alias.com

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Poser

3D animation editing

Fully featured commercial product with rendering and automated tools. $249

http://www.curiouslabs.com

GNU General Public License

The software packages Audacity and QuArK, listed in this appendix and included on the companion CD, are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Please review the license agreement on the CD before downloading and using the software.

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Appendix D

QuArK Reference

Chapter 17 described how to use QuArK to create some structures. This appendix contains reference material for using QuArK, as well as details about how to use map2dif, the utility with Torque that's used to generate Torque DIF files.

The Map Editor

When you launch QuArK, you immediately get the QuArK Explorer window. This is your jumping-off point from which you can get to the various main features of the program. The most important feature of QuArK is the Map Editor, which you have already encountered, shown in Figure D.1.

t i p

Whenever you see the text "Press F1 for help" in the hintbox at bottom left of the window, you can press F1 and get a larger hintbox that gives some information about the item under the cursor.

These hints are especially useful if you are new to QuArK and you have forgotten the function of some visible feature in the window. Press F1 to get a quick hint to refresh your memory.

Move your mouse out of the hintbox to make it disappear.

Remember our previous sidebar discussion of structures vs. interiors and maps vs. rooms in Chapter 17? After all the terminological torture, it boils down to either a part of, or the entire, 3D world in which you play your games. So in the context of developing our game for Torque, we use QuArK to make structures or interiors. In the context of QuArK as a non-specific development tool, we make maps or rooms. The difference lies in how you use them.

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Figure D.1 The Map Editor.

The remainder of this chapter is about how to use many of the features of QuArK. We will stick to the QuArK terminology so that the words here match the words in the program.

A map is made out of mathematical polyhedrons in 3D space. As mentioned earlier, these are also called brushes. Brushes will present in your game as a wall, floor, ceiling, furniture, or anything with a fixed collidable 3D shape. Weapons, lights, and other entities are not made out of brushes, and you cannot use the Map Editor to build their shape.

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A polyhedron is a solid figure bounded by plane polygons or faces. Cubes and pyramids are specific variants of the polyhedron.

QuArK has a formidable array of features, and an equally formidable menu bar. In this section we can make them a bit less formidable with tables for each menu describing their functions.

The File menu, as shown in Figure D.2, is pretty much your standard File menu with some QuArK-specific features. Table D.1 contains an itemized description of the menu.

Figure D.2 File menu.

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The Map Editor 757

Table D.1 File Menu

The Layout menu is used to manage the visual appearance of the QuArK Map Editor. It is depicted in Figure D.3, and Table D.2 contains an itemized description of the menu.

The Edit menu is used to provide map-editing features. It is depicted in Figure D.4, and Table D.3 contains an itemized description of the menu.

The Toolboxes menu is used to provide access to various tools available in the Map Editor. It is depicted in Figure D.5, and Table D.4 contains an itemized description of the menu.

The Search menu is used to locate various parts of a map in the

Map Editor. It is depicted in Figure D.6, and Table D.5 contains Figure D.3 Layout menu. an itemized description of the menu.

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