Needing advice (3D)?

Started by Blainiac, February 21, 2019, 01:03:20

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Blainiac

Hey guys!

I've been programming entirely in 2D for a very long time in BlitzMax.  I've written pseudo-3D games before, but I'm on a project now that really needs to be 3D due to performance issues.  At this moment, I'm thinking about just biting the bullet after all these years and making my game in 3D.

Instead of moving onto Unity or anything like that, I'd like to stay in BlitzMax.  Any recommendations and tutorials for the easiest 3D module or include to get started?  I'd essentially like to be able to load models, have shadows/lights, and have an isometric projection if possible.

Thank you in advance!

Pingus

Did you had a look at AGK ? It has a lot of 3D features and is quite close from Blitzmax regarding language and overal approach.
You can try to deal with Opengl features inside Blitzmax but it's a pain, in the end you'll spend a huge amount of time for a lame result while AGK or Monkey2 will bring much better results in less time.

markcwm

Hi Blainaic,

well I think for isometric you use orthographic projection from a specific angle, this is supported in most engines.

For shadows there's stencil shadows in Minib3d Extended and Openb3dmax but these are hard-edge shadows although soft stencil shadows are possible, Minib3d Plus is supposed to have some kind of soft shadow from shaders which might do. I will be trying to add soft shadows from shaders to Openb3dmax sometime soon.

Blainiac

Hey Markcwm and Pingus,

Thank you for your advice!  I'll check out AppGameKit and OpenB3DMax!  I really appreciate the direction!