Not really a support question, but since there seems to be no appropriate board for this I'll just ask this here. We are a small team of indie-developers currently kicking off our next game project. Since we ware low on manpower we need a game engine that handles most of the basic framework tasks for us, so we can concentrate on the core mechanics of the game. I'm talking about all these things under one roof, so we don't need to patch together the following components:

• Resource Management (bonus points for asynchronous loading)
• GUI system and editor
• Scripting, so our artist can do some basic coding himself without dipping into C++
• Sound
• Graphics
• Dynamics/Physics
• Input
  

Aslo there are some key functionalities that are absolutely imperative for the core mechanics of our game:

• On-the-fly mesh generation from the source code (with vertex-/index-buffer)
• Dynamic update of meshes every frame
• Ray-Casting or similar, so we can find out where exactly a mesh was clicked
  

And also some nice-to-have ones

• Render to Texture
• Network functionality
• Custom Shaders
  

Can your engine provide the functionalities mentioned?

Regarding the shaders: are they not possible without the extra source package from the store? Or did I misinterpret the description in the store?

I read somewhere that the 2.0 engine update is only affecting the tools, not the capabilities of the engine. Can I play around with the 1.0 version without missing out on some key features?

Thanks in advance for your answers.
Thorsten Schillo

Hello and welcome to the forum!

(01-03-2013 12:20 PM)Thrakbad Wrote:  

• Resource Management (bonus points for asynchronous loading)
• GUI system and editor
• Scripting, so our artist can do some basic coding himself without dipping into C++
• Sound
• Graphics
• Dynamics/Physics
• Input
  

Aslo there are some key functionalities that are absolutely imperative for the core mechanics of our game:

• On-the-fly mesh generation from the source code (with vertex-/index-buffer)
• Dynamic update of meshes every frame
• Ray-Casting or similar, so we can find out where exactly a mesh was clicked
  

And also some nice-to-have ones

• Render to Texture
• Network functionality
• Custom Shaders
  

Can your engine provide the functionalities mentioned?

The engine has all of the elements (including asynchronous loading)
except this one:
Scripting, so our artist can do some basic coding himself without dipping into C++
All codes need to be done by programmers through C++ or through the improved C++ (Code Editor tool).

Quote:Regarding the shaders: are they not possible without the extra source package from the store? Or did I misinterpret the description in the store?

yes, you need to get the shader headers from the store.

Quote:I read somewhere that the 2.0 engine update is only affecting the tools, not the capabilities of the engine. Can I play around with the 1.0 version without missing out on some key features?

that is correct, however I strongly recommend buying at least 1 license of EE 2.0 alpha to check its capabilities. I'm progressing with it very quickly, and it should enter beta stage soon.

Great! Thanks a lot for your quick answer. Scripting isn't that big a deal actually. I will check the trial version and do a few quick proof-of-concepts first and if I'm satisfied I will of course also try the 2.0 alpha.