low poly game questions

[zpimp]

hello everyone
first english is not my native language, sorry if i sound awkward
looking to make a low poly game for low-end computers
and i want you to tell me if BGE is right for this
basically it would be a multiplayer shooter with vehicles, very low poly boxy, and big open spaces
disabled dynamic lightning, shadows, textures, use solid colors or something

i run only linux and intend to target linux and windows very weak gpu’s
like core2duo era intel integrated graphics

im attracted by BGE cause of its opensource nature
i spoke with alot of people about this, and its been on my mind for alot of time
so please hear me out

im working sysadmin so ive done some scripting perl,javascript,batch
so i dont have any experience with game programming, but i want to learn

want to do this cause there is no such thing, for linux
also everyone aiming for AAA graphics, im aiming for gameplay

i looked at other options
xonotic/quake3/cube2 doesent have vehicles or except for some ugly hacks
unity3d is proprietary and theres no linux editor
torque3d has solid network stack but there were some downsides
i heard BGE game engine has made improvements and this seems my best shot

questions:
1). if lower enough graphics, would integrated graphics keep up?
2). can the engine handle networking for 8-16 players?
3). can i use bsp or maps from external files?
im seeing this as a lanparty game or ocassionally over internet
i heard python can be slow, dont know about the network addons for BGE

willing to pay, this is how much i want this, unfortunately im not rich

[zpimp]

hello everyone
first english is not my native language, sorry if i sound awkward
looking to make a low poly game for low-end computers
and i want you to tell me if BGE is right for this
basically it would be a multiplayer shooter with vehicles, very low poly boxy, and big open spaces
disabled dynamic lightning, shadows, textures, use solid colors or something

i run only linux and intend to target linux and windows very weak gpu’s
like core2duo era intel integrated graphics

im attracted by BGE cause of its opensource nature
i spoke with alot of people about this, and its been on my mind for alot of time
so please hear me out

im working sysadmin so ive done some scripting perl,javascript,batch
so i dont have any experience with game programming, but i want to learn

want to do this cause there is no such thing, for linux
also everyone aiming for AAA graphics, im aiming for gameplay

i looked at other options
xonotic/quake3/cube2 doesent have vehicles or except for some ugly hacks
unity3d is proprietary and theres no linux editor
torque3d has solid network stack but there were some downsides
i heard BGE game engine has made improvements and this seems my best shot

questions:
1). if lower enough graphics, would integrated graphics keep up?
2). can the engine handle networking for 8-16 players?
3). can i use bsp or maps from external files?
im seeing this as a lanparty game or ocassionally over internet
i heard python can be slow, dont know about the network addons for BGE

willing to pay, this is how much i want this, unfortunately im not rich

[Fweeb (Jason van Gumster)]

Moved from “General Forums > Blender and CG Discussions” to “Game Engine > Game Engine Support and Discussion”

[Thatimster]

Don’t start game development by trying to create GTA. It will be too complex and you will only get discouraged and will struggle to learn anything.
Begin watching tutorials and creating mini-games first.
Then you can fully understand the scope of what you are trying to achieve.
There is a reason it takes hundreds of developers multiple years to create these types of games.

Here on the forums we are all mostly hobbyists, so there is no ‘game studio’ you can hire to make your game for you. You can ask for help though and there are lots of free resources in the game resources section.

Again what you are saying here is like: “I want to build a computer from scratch, I know how to solder and I’ve worked with computers before.”

You have to be able to walk before you can run

[Erstus]

Welcome zpimp, While i agree with Thatimster on the importance of small steps, I do like your attitude and high ideals. 3D games don’t necessarily need lot of details and modern shading, to be fun. I have done some experiments myself and can say, that Blender could actually fit well for this project.

To answer your first question, Blender requires(since Blender 2.77) OpenGL 2.1 minimum. If hardware does not support it, you’ll have problems with glsl mode. Multi-texture mode and/or older version of Blender could be used to deal with older hardware. Also, if you don’t use textures, but only plain colors, it’ll pretty much run on everything.

Edit: Another option is to start blender from terminal with:

LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 blender

Blender will use software gl.

[Monster]

@zpimp

1). if lower enough graphics, would integrated graphics keep up?

Depends on how much work you give to your GPU.
The rules are the same for all games:

As much polygons as necessary vs. As less polygon as possible

@zpimp

2). can the engine handle networking for 8-16 players?

Networking is pure python … depends on your network code (you have to write it on your own.

@zpimp

3). can i use bsp or maps from external files?

No, the BGE does not use BSP.

[zpimp]

thank you all for your answers, this is truly a helpful community and sorry for double posting
i read this before, about game making, dont expect miracles
like you said, small steps, thats why im not going to waste time on graphics

[zpimp]

some more questions, if i may
1). this probably seems counterproductive, but can i do everything in code? like setting graphics stuff off? without changing settings in blender gui or bricks
i want to automate stuff, so after every change i can compile
2). in what way does BGE coding change, i see some stuff made for older versions, not working on newer versions
how can i make sure my code stays compatible with newest version
3). what is the best way to learn, reccommend a good book for BGE python
thank you

[Monster]

1. No
2. Check the release notes. The last major change was 2.48 -> 2.49 (Api change) -> 2.5 (Python 2->3)
3. Learning by doing ;).

[mziskandar]

I’m using the only thing I have - low end pc. Spec as on my signature. I’m experimenting cool graphics with playable FPS (min 30fps) - with optimized/combined/pre-calculated effects/shaders/physics that Blender can do.

Attachments

[elmeunick9]

@zpimp

some more questions, if i may
1). this probably seems counterproductive, but can i do everything in code? like setting graphics stuff off? without changing settings in blender gui or bricks
i want to automate stuff, so after every change i can compile
2). in what way does BGE coding change, i see some stuff made for older versions, not working on newer versions
how can i make sure my code stays compatible with newest version
3). what is the best way to learn, reccommend a good book for BGE python
thank you

1. Yes. In that case you should try BGECore Framework (in my signature) once you know Python.
2. The most important change was from versions 2.4x to 2.5x where they updated from Python 2 to Python 3. There has been more changes after that but most of them are aditions so there shouldn’t be many compatibility issues. In any case using always the last version is recomended.
3. Probably learning Python first, and once you know OOP, then start using it in BGE. Once you know Python you will understand the BGE Python API, the BGECore API, and the APIs of any external Python library and you won’t need to use logic bricks for pretty much anything.

Keep in mind that once you are proficent in Python it will be easy to learn other things like C# or even C++ (well this one maybe not), so you will be able to use other engines like Unreal and Unity, or at least the coding side of them. BGE is famous for not being the best game engine out there, if you’re not gonna use logic bricks the only other good reason you have to stay is Python.