As of right now the most popular free online games on the Internet consist of 2d games created in Adobe’s Flash. Widespread among many game websites, these games are often fun but can seem simple when compared to the intricacies and potential of web based 3d games. The toolkits at your disposal for you to create games within a browser consist of a lot of options but I will focus on 3 major software packages. As a game developer with 5 years of profession game development experience, I’ll list some of the options game creators have open for them to make games that run within a webpage and a brief general summary.
Web based 3d games are an old idea that was first made popular with Adobe Shockwave which appeared first in 1995. Originally named Macromedia Shockwave, it was the first and most popular multimedia format until Macromedia Flash (now known as Adobe Flash) appeared on the web. At first, Shockwave was developed for creating a variety of online media options but now mainly focuses on web online games and their creation. There is a contrast between Flash and Shockwave creation that is signicant to mention. Flash media is usually faster to start and are made up soley of 2d graphics. Files in the Shockwave format are a more complicated creation environment which allow greater versatility, more in-depth animation trees and more detailed overall user interactivity. Shockwave is such an adaptable tool that it is often regarded as a program to create only web media. Unknown to many, the fact is some of the professional games I have personally worked on used Shockwave to develop an entire full length game such as CSI 2: Dark Motives and CSI: Miami.
Part of the attraction of using Director for a creation tool for game development is the wide user demographic it enjoys in mature markets such as North America and Europe. Adobe has listed the amount of Shockwave enabled PCs at 60%. Over 480 million PC’s with Internet connections have installed the Shockwave player which results in a large ready to use user base which is a benefit for game developers. Also the capacity for developers to develop outside plug-ins called “Xtra’s” has left the door open for increased versatility in development. Coupled with the years of already developed documentation and tutorials out there, Adobe Shockwave is a wonderful choice for game creators. One negative aspect to Adobe Shockwave is the ancient networking code and it’s miss of some basic graphic aspects such as 2nd UV coords and color by vertex.
New on the 3d games creation scene is the product known as Unity. Unity boasts a much more robust tool kit which is aimed on creating web games. The game engine used is more advanced than the older program in Adobe’s Shockwave player. Unity features cross-platform ability which in plain terms means it can be adopted to develop software for Windows, Macintosh, Wii,Web-browsers or the very popular new Iphone. Unity’s has decided to put its attention on developing a game dexterous authoring tool is made clear by with its advanced proprietary toolkit sets for AI navigation and deployment of game objects. The landscape terrain tool packaged with Unity is a great reason alone to warrant the retail price, as a tool with the option of paint brushes to sculpt out fantastic terrain, blend realistic textures and create lightmaps which add to the realism. Having done this in the past by hand, I know that a significant amount of time is spent developing this and this is a big time saver.
The ability for game creators to develop media that can be immediately ported to Wii and iPhones make Unity an inciting and significant tool. This makes the most of the gain on the work put into multiple products. Sadly, Windows developers have to wait for the 2.5 patch of Unity which has been worked on for a good part of a year. Until then game developers are made to develop on a Mactintosh only work environment which is not a common thing platform for game developers.
One more option for game developers which is like Unity would be Stone Trip’s Shiva3d. Similar to Unity, this is a game editing tool with a very robust tool set. They also give the option for developers to create in Windows, Mac, web pages and the Iphone. Only missing from this list is the ability to create Nintendo Wii. Almost all the same features offered by Unity are available to anyone who uses Shiva3d. To help further spread interest in their product, they offer a free version to download on their website which is nice if you have limited funds for your project. This allows you to try before you buy but only limits you on publishing the actual media. This fact aside it is a good way to understand what you are exactly getting for your price. The only negative aspect I can see to this great tool is the sheer amount of competition it is up against in the crowded 3d games media market.
If you are interested in creating 3d game titles, and with enough patience you will be able to find the software package that suits you best with some research. There are more tool options available but I have listed the ones that seem the most interesting.
Derek Young co-owns Switchin.net – a games portal which receives 1.7 million unique visitors a month. With over 5 years of professional game development experience he can always point you towards some good 3d games
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