Community Play 3D

[Soganatsu-Julien]

Hello all !
I’m French, so sorry for my bad expressions or mistakes !

I'm going to make a presentation of what is my project today, its future, present features, future features and goals !

5 years ago I wanted to make a 3D video game to find an activity when nobody to see ahah. I wanted to learn what is 3D and how to represent 3D on computers ^^
So I started trying to make the 3D video game and then found how to occupy my time. I discovered my passion by developing 3D applications like video games and utilities.
Creating a complete video game takes so much tiiiiiiiiime without visual tools like editors, so I started the development of the editor shown below.
The goal is for me to create a complete video game using my editor and then live my passion, because I love video games and its art because I'm also orchestral composer

To make this passion alive I planned to try live thanks to this editor and its future productions.
I'm here today to start a "mini-market study" to know how people can feel with the idea of having a "low-cost editor for indie game developers"

Today, I find game development kits too expansive or too limited if you don't buy the ultimate version blablabla, so now I would like to make my editor a good way for indie developers to develop video games with an accessible price.
Of course CryTek (for example) with its cryengine give interesting pricings but I still find it too expansive and not enough interesting.

The idea of this editor is to give users default tools included in this editor and then give freedom to make, especially for irrlicht users because this editor uses Irrlicht as 3D renderer
For example a full-API to develop plugins for this editor, monitors plugins (means you can develop your own render method like you can create a monitor that uses XEffect for example, or a monitor that renders the scene for Oculus Rift, etc.).

So, I would like to know first if people in this forum would be interested by this product, and then after comments try to study your demand for pricing, tools, etc.

I’m going to make more screenshots for you and then show you the tools and what are plugins.

Features :
- Managing scene
o Terrains
o Objects (static & animated)
o Lights & Shadows
o Etc.
- Create custom materials and callback
o Configure constants easily
o Create mathematical expressions for constants
o Export & load packages with configuration (why not a materials store ^^)
- Create custom filters
o Configure like custom materials
o LUA usage to customize shaders constants
- Script editor behavior (LUA)
o File System implementation
o Driver implementation
o Scene implementation
o Editor relative implementation
- Create and manage particle systems using SPARK (WIP)
- Advanced and powerful GUI management base on irrlicht GUI
- Edit every nodes quickly and smoothness (node editor & materials editor)
o Export & load configuration
- Advanced Shadow Mapping management (work based on blindside work with his XEffect)
- Create Custom animators (animators can be imported thanks to plugins)
o Scripting for complex animators & scenes
- Animated objects bone based animation (WIP)
o Manual animation directly in editor : Your model must have bones
o Use plugins to connect and then animate using hardware (you can take the Kinect for example)
- Lot of primitives on meshes (WIP)
- Custom scene nodes using plugins
- Custom mesh loaders using plugins
- Custom tools (using GUI) using plugins with the API: Launch an application in the editor.
- Complete API for development
o Very advancement Scene & Data management
o Complete Core functions
o Complete default render method
- Compatible Windows & Mac (Direct3D9 & OpenGL)
- All the editor is threaded

Planed features :
- Complete Vegetation management
- Complete Terrain management (terrain painting, etc.)
- More primitives on meshes
- More default shaders and scene nodes
- Physic management (using Bullet)
- Create Custom animators
o Animations creation like cinematic: Camera movements + events manager + models animations
- Complete IA tool
- Complete Audio manager
- Video Player for cinematic

Or course when I’ll be fixed on how I’ll sell (if I can sell) this editor, I’ll give for free my contributions to this awesome engine that is Irrlicht for you
I based some tools on the code snippets, especially the code editor of Chistian Clavet (this guy sounds French ! ^^).
The other goal is to make the engine Irrlicht more awesome by giving a lot of interesting tools developed by users. I mean plugins. You can imagine a plugins store.

Waiting for your opinions and if you should be ready to buy it and then make video games together ! I’m not a marketer, I’m developer ^^
Now, some screenshots...

Julien.

PS : I’m also looking for an artist to work with and then make a demo video of this editor and its products capabilities.

[arnir]

impresive! material & particle editor seems cool!

[Soganatsu-Julien]

I want it cool for you ^^
But for the "mini market study", would you be a future buyer ? Or a future active member of the movement (I mean plugins, monitors etc.)

[Darktib]

This is really impressive ! Material & shader editors could be very handy.

For your study, it depends on the price and the capabilities of your game engine. And for creating plugins for your editor, why not (but still depends on the API).

[Soganatsu-Julien]

Yeah ! Thank you for your answer
I try making a price on it for making everybody happy and also my (maybe) future company happy. Means like 80$ max the Ultimate version (invented the name ^^). The concept of this project is to make indie game developers able to make quicker video games (and also easier if wanted but not necessary because you can develop all your renders, nodes, animators etc. by yourself if you love programming. Possible total freedom for development because Irrlicht is open-source, means also full customization of the editor and not a limited editor like all other editors) for very low-cost based on the game development kit I purpose. All the user experience is based on this concept.
Of course it depends on the API, I wanted it to be a irrlicht-like API. Means same concepts, and really easy to develop plugins, I'll make a demonstration I think.

[devsh]

Holy poop, that looks great

P.S. its coming from me, im 100% negative about everything

[hendu]

To figure out the pricing you need to check out the competitors. Perhaps these questions will get you started.

What do you offer that Unity Free does not, for example?

Once you figure that out, how much is it worth? To who? And finally, how do you reach that audience?

[Soganatsu-Julien]

No problems !
Thank you for your answers. Because I'm a developer now, I'm not thinking like a marketer so I need more experience. An other person is with me to do that correctly and not like this xD
I checked out the competitors by posting this same study in other forums redirected on this topic, where I discovered interesting prices of cryengine and UDK do not take the first place. The first place is for Unity3D, the most indie friendly way. But the problem with unity is (someone told it) the way of how they make their licences, I mean if you want to sell your game. I noticed also indie developers are obstructed by editor limitations dues to the formats limitations for 3D models etc. (copy/past : Ability to add in standard format 3d objects would be ideal take for example the phoenix engine and how it allows for standard .obj placements.) but that's not the most important part. The most important part is about licences.

I copy/past the answer of a moddb user :

-------------begin paste
However there are other reasons why unity may not suit certain developers.

example 1 a console developer wannabe asks:
"I would like to develop for a console such as Xbox360, PS3, or Nintendo Wii. What do I need?"Unity Official reply
Console publishing is not included with Unity Pro-- you will need a special Unity license for each platform on a per-title basis. First, you will need to be a registered developer with the console manufacturer or license holder, such as Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. After you are registered and approved by the console manufacturer, you will need their devkit hardware and software tools. At that point you can purchase a console license from Unity Technologies for use on a per-title basis. Please use our contact form for more information.http://unity3d.com/unity/faq
Or Example 2

if you are a source guy and desire to change core features perhaps you want the source to edit
How can I license or use Unity's source code?

We license Unity source code on a per-case and per-title basis via special arrangements made by our business development team. As this can be quite expensive, we do not generally license source code to smaller operations, educational institutions, nor to companies in countries which do not have adequate legal intellectual property protection.
-------------end paste

I'm not saying I'm planing to port irrlicht on consoles ps3 and xbox now lol, but mobiles yes and that's the same for licences where you must by the pro version that is too much expansive for some users (not all of course) where you must buy the equivalent price to win a mobile platform (means 4500$ for unity pro + android + ios). The "monthly subscription" Unity purpose also make a lot indie games developers unable to finish their product or sell them.

These opinions on video games market today are the reason of why I'm trying to find if I there is way to make better options for indie developers and then live my passion for video games art.
The target is indie developers (B2B and B2C because of different status for indie developers like mini-studios or alone developers).
I don't know how to reach that audience, because I'm only developer with ideas ^^ but the other person is here to drive and help me on this good question. I would like to create an attraction thanks to the almost total freedom giving by my editor and the more attractive prices, I mean a maximum 80$ (if possible, I don't know). What do you think about this idea of trying making this low-cost editor if it happen ?

[christianclavet]

HI, There is a possible market there. But I would not try to compete with Unity (at least not at first)
There some nice tools out there like Deepmesh (sell around 60$US and have an Irrlicht core), their tools can edit meshes and create levels, but not gameplay. So it's sure your tool could have a place, but would go in my opinion in theses prices ranges and market types. And I use Fragmotion a lot to "compile" sets of animations into a single model file, and this tool is around 50$US)

If your tool get more popular, and get a bigger user base, you should get more money to put more developers on the project and then try slowly to compete with Unity or other game engines.

An idea I could have to add to your tools (like plugins that could be sold separately) is plugins to create gameplay mechanics (1 plugins that create all required to create a FPS shooter, another create a third person RTS, another to create a RPG, etc.. You could have an interface to tweak the plugins controls to customize theses mechanics) and like Unity you could create a aftermarket for game assets...)

P.S. And yes, I do speak french!

[devsh]

im porting irrlicht to ps4 as soon as I get my devkit

P.S. I may have to leave CPS4Driver.cpp with sony though

[hendu]

Devsh, you're duplicating work, irr already has been ported to ps4. You should be able to find it in the sony dev forums.

ot/one of my projects would work great on the WiiU, with the tablet controller. But with a zillion other things to do.../ot

Back to topic. Your advantage is that you offer source and no platform restrictions. The kicker is that those perks are not on the common indie's mind. Those things matter to the programmer types, who usually are not the leader; it's the guy with ideas and money. He may have started without help, because with Unity he can do that.

In other words, you have a tough sell for the majority of the indie market. To reach a wider audience you need some other advantages.

[Soganatsu-Julien]

Hey, I updated my blog here : https://medium.com/community-play-3d
This blog is going to be more technical, with explanations, all screenshots and videos were created and will be created using only my engine I told you above. During my articles I'll try to do some tutorials on shaders, filters, architectures ideas in some kinds of problems like characters animations or how to create cinematics, etc. So, I share you my blog ^^

Enjoy your reading and thank you for your feedbacks you did on this topic !

[Soganatsu-Julien]

A "god rays" tutorial is now available on the blog! https://medium.com/community-play-3d
Moreover, Community Play 3D now provides a full depth-of-field control + controllers management + the beginning of physics simulation.

Several videos demos are also available for characters animations and particles systems.

Today, a game is in preparation using the CP3D API. I hope to give you feedbacks soon.

[Soganatsu-Julien]

Updates & new features

Using the nomal pass

post-process shaders development

Linux support with the last mesa release

Custom material shaders development

[christianclavet]

Wow!

Julien this editor really is looking real nice. Do you have an idea when you plan to release this? (Have you plans to release it?)