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August 05, 2005
The simple way to make a 3D driving game, you CanDo it...
Developing a 3D game is undeniably difficult, often most people are either unable to do the modeling work required as they're a programmer and not an artist, or conversely they're a 3D artist but aren't familiar with how to code the necessary elements in a run-time engine like the Shockwave Player. For years folks have been working on ease of use technologies and recently I've spent some time looking at one in particular that's been created by the folks at CanDo Interactive.
The tool I'm referring to is their 3D Training Toolkit that is targeted at those new to developing 3D content, primarily via educational institutions. This toolkit allows a novice 3D artist and/or novice developer a chance to quickly create a 3D driving game and include within that the use of the Havok physics engine (rigid body dynamics only) to provide a quality driving experience. The idea is that one can go from modeling a very basic scene, through exporting to the W3D file format and on to playing a working 3D driving game in a matter of minutes as opposed to hours or days. Have a look for yourself and enjoy:
If you'd like to see some example levels built using this tool then have a look at these:
Example levels built using the 3D Training Toolkit
Have a look and enjoy, I think Mal and his cohorts of done a great job of making 3D a bit more accessible to artists and developers alike.
Edit: sorry this wasn't posted originally but I'd also like to alert folks to the fact that CanDo Interactive is also hosting a development contest to try and promote usage of their training toolkit, have a look:
3D Training Toolkit Competition (ends November 2005)
No purchase required and prizes are offered, good luck to all those that enter!
Posted by thiggins at August 5, 2005 12:16 PM