Hello folks, I have been thinking about that one for ages now. I need a 3D engine to make some prototyiping for my Master''s report, and so I have been considering a few. I thought for a while of Halflife, the SDK is huge, but my main concern is that I would have a hard time making modifications for my own stuff... then I discovered that Garagegames were releasing the source for Tribes2 ?! so I am a bit more enthusiastic about that one, but still... And yesterday, I discovered this thing called DarkBasic. The box showed nice screenshots, and I had heard of it here before. I must say I am more interested in a already tried and tested engine (such as the Torque engine, or HalfLife engine), mainly because I want to test my AI in a "realistic" environment (that is, a professional level graphic engine, to see how complicated the AI can go before the engine goes crawling). Now, does anyone here has any comments on those engines I am considering ? Have you coded with them, and how satisfying was that ? In the case of DarkBasic, how easy is it to create your own map structure, is it really low level coding or what ? Also, I am still desperately looking for _proper_ tutorials or articles about Bot coding in Tribes 2 or HalfLife. Is it jsut me or there is no material whatsoever on the Net ??? thanks for your help, Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

isn''t botman''s template code tutorial enough for writing a hl bot ?

@$3.1415rin

Puzzler : I think I am gonna have to get that demo of this DarkBasic thingie, then...

well, Garagegames.com is the place to go to *buy* (for a 100$) the Torque engine (formerly known as V12) that powers the fabulous Tribes 2. They had to remove the AI code from the source because of Sierra (too bad for me), but apparently that''s pretty much it.

as31415rin : well, I know of Botman''s tutorials. The problem with this type of stuff is that''s it''s not theoretical enough for me, which is what I am really looking for : general thoughts about the conception of Bots, so that one could then code them in any language, adapt them to any game. I have read some fabulous papers on sniping and grenade throwing written with a modified Quake engine. The theory there was very well explained and this was a great resource for me. but that''s pretty much all I have found so far




Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

the cgf ai stuff ? yes, nice texts, although i wouldnt ever have had the time to write sth. like this

according to the thread''s title i just thought you were looking for an engine to build your AI stuff upon ....

@$3.1415rin

quote: Original post by ahw


Also, I am still desperately looking for _proper_ tutorials or articles about Bot coding in Tribes 2 or HalfLife. Is it jsut me or there is no material whatsoever on the Net ???

thanks for your help,


Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

I'd say the best 'bot tutorials are, really, looking at other 'bots. I'm sure there must be some smallish papers or something written on the subject on one of the various 'bot sites but study of the code will generally take you from theory into practice.

Good luck....




Ferretman

ferretman@gameai.com
www.gameai.com

From the High Mountains of Colorado

Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc



Edited by - Ferretman on January 9, 2002 9:51:11 AM

There''s always genesis 3d. Never used it, but it''s free.

Alex Broadwin
A-Tronic Software & Design
-----
"if you fail in life, you were destined to fail. If you suceed in life, call me."
"The answer is out there."
"Please help, I''m using Windows!"

You need to consider the fact that you want a game engine more than a rendering engine. With an already made game, you can plug in your AI very quickly and get cool results (Q2/Q3/HL). With a 3D engine, you''ll need to code up a fair bit of logic and make up an interesting environment even before you can start the AI development. I was in a similar situation, and basically ended up developing a game MOD with a bit more AI. Keeping the code modular will allow you to change its applications later if you want.

Alex


Artificial Intelligence Depot - Maybe it''s not all about graphics...