best game engine?

Hello;

I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
engine for this task. I have the money. Now I just need to find the
engine that will give me the most bang for my buck.

This engine should support

1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
2) reflections, see-thru windows
3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
Morrowind
5) generally not being a pain in my ass

I'm willing to spend up to about a quarter mil for a license to such
an engine.

If such an engine exists, please give me a link to its website. In
fact, I'd appreciate any links to any good info about game engines of
the sort that I want.

I'd like to add that this is a question that needs to be asked. And
any good answers will help not only me but many others who need the
same information.

Thanks!
Bas

In article <ad661dde.0403042259.6a396371@posting.google.com>,
basilisk005@yahoo.com (Basilisk) wrote:

> I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
> engine for this task. I have the money. Now I just need to find the
> engine that will give me the most bang for my buck.
>
> This engine should support
>
> 1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
> 2) reflections, see-thru windows
> 3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
> 4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
> Morrowind
> 5) generally not being a pain in my ass
>
> I'm willing to spend up to about a quarter mil for a license to such
> an engine.

For $250k, I'd think that you could spend 3 minutes on Google and a few
hours investigating what you find, there

When you're spending 6 figures, taking advice from the usenet seems...
suboptimal.

Misc "not counting THIS post, of course! <G>"

P.S. I think you'll find that engines license for about 1/10 of that
price, some even less. Good luck!

--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
I will not, no matter how "good" the deal, patronise any business which sends
unsolicited commercial e-mail or that advertises in discussion newsgroups.

Miss Elaine Eos <Misc@*your-shoes*PlayNaked.com> wrote:

>For $250k, I'd think that you could spend 3 minutes on Google and a
few
>hours investigating what you find, there

Of course, but part of that is checking the "word on the street" or in
this case, Usenet. That's often more trustworthy than what comes from
agents or what have you. Or as Chris Walken said in SUICIDE KINGS,
"from high walls and fancy gates." Agents are often bought out by
some company or another to begin with. After all, most paid advisors
aren't too choosy about who they'll take money from!

BTW note the "up to". If I can find one for $25k that meets my
requirements, I'll go for it.

>When you're spending 6 figures, taking advice from the usenet
seems...
>suboptimal.

There's a difference between asking for advice and automatically
taking it.

>Misc "not counting THIS post, of course! <G>"

Of course!

>P.S. I think you'll find that engines license for about 1/10 of that
>price, some even less. Good luck!

That's great. Heaven knows there's much more than the engine itself to
spend money on. Thanks for your input!

"Basilisk" <basilisk005@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ad661dde.0403042259.6a396371@posting.google.c om...
> This engine should support
>
> 1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
> 2) reflections, see-thru windows
> 3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
> 4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
> Morrowind
> 5) generally not being a pain in my ass

These are some fairly vague requirements. You could probably take a look at
the usual suspects, namely the Unreal and Lithtech engines. The Quake engine
could work too but it's relatively difficult to extend beyond pure FPSing.

But as others have said, for someone about to blow 250k you really ought to
be doing more thorough research than just asking a Usenet group for random
opinions.

Basilisk wrote:

> I'm interesting in developing an RPG.

There are no systems at present that are "RPG in a box," but you
can get a lot done with Morrowind (which I know you said you
didn't want) or Neverwinter Nights. Beyond contacting them both
for licensing terms, that's pretty much what's available for $50
or so.

> I'm looking for the best game engine for this task. I have the
> money. Now I just need to find the engine that will give me the
> most bang for my buck.

You're probably not going to find a good fit in the licensed
engines, as they tend to target FPS-style games. For a lot less
money, you can get middleware around which you can write any
game, at significantly lower cost for the middleware but with
much more programming effort required to get to where you want to
be.

Hmm, actually I was thinking RTS. For an RPG, Unreal might work,
but it'll set you back $300k + 3% of gross sales, if I recall
correctly. (That's a lot of cash.)

> 1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
> 2) reflections, see-thru windows
> 3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
> 4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
> Morrowind
> 5) generally not being a pain in my ass

This is a very poor list of requirements, fwiw.

What, specifically, is AI.implant required for? There is
absolutely no other AI middleware that would work? There's no
way that similar functionality could be coded?

All of the rest of your "requirements" are things that will be
heavily dependent on your own crack team of developers. The last
three especially are not quantifiable in any way.

> I'm willing to spend up to about a quarter mil for a license to
> such an engine.

Renderware will set you back about $75,000 for a full source code
license, and will allow you to do all of the above if you've got
smart programmers.

> If such an engine exists, please give me a link to its website.

http://www.renderware.com

They also happen to have an AI middleware solution available.

> I'd like to add that this is a question that needs to be asked.
> And any good answers will help not only me but many others who
> need the same information.

Yep, and it's asked over and over again, and will be asked many
times in the future since people don't check the archives because
they think that their question has never been asked before.

-tom!

> In article <ad661dde.0403042259.6a396371@posting.google.com>,
> basilisk005@yahoo.com (Basilisk) wrote:
>
>> I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
>> engine for this task. I have the money. Now I just need to find the
>> engine that will give me the most bang for my buck.
>>
>> This engine should support
>>
>> 1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
>> 2) reflections, see-thru windows
>> 3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
>> 4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
>> Morrowind
>> 5) generally not being a pain in my ass
>>
>> I'm willing to spend up to about a quarter mil for a license to such
>> an engine.
>

A couple of months ago I'd have recommended the Operation Flashpoint
engine--5km viewing distance, great-looking rolling terrain, very good AI.

Now, I'd look *very* seriously at the new CryENGINE from Germany's CryTek
studios. As anyone who's played the FarCry demo knows, it's the one to
watch--forget Half-Life 2, Doom 3 etc, because they're just corridor
engines.
http://www.crytek.com/technology/index.php?sx=cryengine

Download the tech video, which includes footage of the real-time editor
(sic). It's astonishing stuff.
http://www.farcry.de/downloads/CRYTEK.wmv

It's simply Crying out (sorry) for a Morrowind-style mod.
--

>^..^<
Bernard
www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~langhb01

Not sure what it costs, but check out the Gamebryo engine at
http://www.ndl.com. It's the engine used for Dark Age of Camelot,
Morrowind, Freedom Force and quite a few other well known titles.


On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 16:11:15 GMT, Miss Elaine Eos
<Misc@*your-shoes*PlayNaked.com> wrote:

> In article <ad661dde.0403042259.6a396371@posting.google.com>,
> basilisk005@yahoo.com (Basilisk) wrote:
>
>> I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
>> engine for this task. I have the money. Now I just need to find the
>> engine that will give me the most bang for my buck.
>>
>> This engine should support
>>
>> 1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
>> 2) reflections, see-thru windows
>> 3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
>> 4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
>> Morrowind
>> 5) generally not being a pain in my ass
>>
>> I'm willing to spend up to about a quarter mil for a license to such
>> an engine.
>
> For $250k, I'd think that you could spend 3 minutes on Google and a few
> hours investigating what you find, there
>
> When you're spending 6 figures, taking advice from the usenet seems...
> suboptimal.
>
> Misc "not counting THIS post, of course! <G>"
>
> P.S. I think you'll find that engines license for about 1/10 of that
> price, some even less. Good luck!
>



--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

"Basilisk" <basilisk005@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ad661dde.0403042259.6a396371@posting.google.c om...
> Hello;
>
> I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
> engine for this task.

The engine in my car is all the engine I've ever needed. It gets me to the
game store and office supply and copy store just fine.

On 4 Mar 2004 22:59:20 -0800, basilisk005@yahoo.com (Basilisk) wrote:

>I'm interesting in developing an RPG. I'm looking for the best game
>engine for this task. I have the money. Now I just need to find the
>engine that will give me the most bang for my buck.
>
>This engine should support
>
>1) 3ds max, AI.implant (and all functions thereof)
>2) reflections, see-thru windows
>3) getting the most out of hyperthreading
>4) very large map, preferably not divided into clumsy cells ala
>Morrowind
>5) generally not being a pain in my ass

Pop along to Fileplanet, or similar, and download the Half-Life 2
gameplay video. It's 500 mb or so, and is astonishing - it's obvious
why they've been spending so much time on this.

The physics is pretty much 'real world', and the AI is very
impressive. In one scene, the player is being attacked by monsters.
He runs up some stairs, and goes into a room. He shuts the door
behind him, and runs over to a table in the middle of the room. He
gets behind the tablke, and slides it in front of the door. Seconds
later, the door bangs against the table, as the monster tries to get
in. After 2 attempts, the the door stops moving. The player walks
over to a wondow, only to be shot by the monster who has already given
up on the door, and went looking for other ways to get to the player.

There's also a scene where the player has teamed up with a bunch of
humans, and is involved in a running fight down a long narrow street,
full of enemies. Everyone in moving, hiding behind cars, etc, waiting
for a monster to doe, then progressing. As 2 players are huddled
behind a car, the commmentator points out that these aren't scripted
events - that the AI is choosing when to move them in response to
changes in the enviroment...

When I upgrade my PC in a few months time, I think HL2 is going to be
the target game I'll be aimong at running in 1024x768.


--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

Does anyone know of any good game engine reviews which compares features
and costs?

Thanks, Thom