It's a shame it only got 500 lines of code done before being canned, and having been working on a complex platformer engine that is non-Sonic, that many lines isn't much. I've got over 2500 lines and that's just on Game Maker, it would need even more on an engine done from scratch.
Most of the work was going into the rendering engine. Since UDK already provides one, It's hard for me to understand how making an engine in UDK is more work than making one from scratch. Maybe UDK isn't the best choice seeing as how it really isn't all that intuitive, but I don't see anyone making a Unity3D engine.
Egg engine is a Unity 3D Sonic engine., while I got access to it and egg's source, I find Unity's tools and features out of box kind of limiting. especially when dealing with setting up models for use in game. It lacks a lot of options that save time compared to UDK ( thats without a programmer buddy to assist in setting up custom tools in Unity). I've ported GHZ 2.5D assets to Egg engine at one point but got fed up with the lack of features. Would need a full time programmer to work in unity that could wright tools on the fly, people usually run out of time or abandon projects all together, that's why I don't use Unity. There is almost no one to depend on in this community that would stick with a project for the amount of time required.
Well, a Sonic engine (for everybody) done in Unity would probably have tools written for it too. Besides, most people aren't you Andrew, and wouldn't really feel all that limited by what Unity offered.
Hmm I guess.. but yeah it was a struggle getting stuff to work direct out of the 3D package in unity compared to UDK. I started both at the same time with the same assets. What really hurt in unity with the ammount of assets I had made. it took almost a full day longer checking check boxes in options in unity and re-asigning materials for each mesh 1 by 1 I think if Damizeon got time he could wright tools for Egg engine .. or perhaps if someone else took over they could. but I don't see either happening anytime soon sadly. However if tools were to be written for an engine id like to see C4 engine support! Hell I'd even loan one of my C4 licence seats over to someone.
What is Egg Engine, anyway? Is it comparable to SonicGDK or is it more specialized? Damizean doesn't talk about it much (not that he's obligated to).
It was the second engine used for that Sonic Fan remix game. The engine has a long ways to go to catch up to where Sonic GDK is currently at. I don't think I'd like to wait some years for it to catch up.
Oh I know what it was used for. I just didn't know if it had gone beyond that. In any event, I would actually like to see a SonicGDK-esque engine for Unity3D. I've gotten way more down with Unity3D than I've ever gotten done with UDK.
It didn't make it very far past what was shown already with fan remix. I granted Damizeon access to my fisheye shader source to port it to unity as well. it worked beautifully. GHZ 2.5D was set up in Unity in a way that could use the genesis data to distribute the level chunks with the same names and build the level layout automatically. However depth was not taken into consideration so the user had to manually move the chunks depth wise to finish the level. it was useful start. ( its too bad Damizeon is so busy with school otherwise GDK would have had some nice competition.
There really isn't much stopping someone from porting SonicGDK to Unity. It'd just involve rewriting the playerpawn stuff in javascript or C# with Unity's API (right term?) mostly...unless I'm really oversimplifying it. I thought I was simplifying it a bit much, but I might have overdone it.
UDK is in fact one of the best choices for a 3D Sonic engine, if not the best mostly because it's a very "visual" engine and technically you're able to create an entire game without having to write a single line of code. Most of the stuff in UDK is also pretty "solid", it has a ton of features inside the engine that help developers a lot, minimizing the amount of softwares and third parties programs that one must master before actually making something. Sonic GDK is pretty much a "3D Sonic Worlds", where all you actually gotta do is create the graphical shit (the meshes), and tweak a few settings to your own taste and start building your stages. It may not be the most flexible engine nor the most powerful of the engines, but it's easy to learn and have a ton of features that help out a lot. One of my favorites being the material editor that's so freaking great that it's not even fair. UDK may seem scary at first and some stuff may not seem right here and there, but once you start learning, figuring out stuff and begin experimenting, you really understand why it's so popular, even among AAA games. While engines like Unity3D are used mostly for mobile games or indie titles that can't afford the UDK licensing if they want to actually sell their game. It's easy to learn, easy to use, complete enough that you don't need much help of external plugins/softwares and allows you to create great games without having to write a single line of code. For me, UDK is like photoshop, it ain't hard to learn, it's very complete and how much you get from it depends on how good you are and how much time you put in to learning the software.
No. It's not easy to learn why would you even say that. I tried to accomplish something that I considered pretty damn basic in UDK and it took a week of asking around to get a sliver of information. It took me 2 days to achieve in Unity. UDK has a steep learning curve if you want to do anything too far removed from the type of gameplay it comes with, whereas Unity is a lot more flexible in getting it to do what you want it to do. And the community. Oh god the community. UDK's community makes me want to punch every single one of them in the mouth. Unity's community is a lot more helpful and far less haughty. I dunno. Maybe I just got unlucky. But I hate UDK with a thunderous fury, and It'd take something significant to ever get me to try it again.
Have you tried looking at the UDN? http://udn.epicgames.com/Main/WebHome.html I feel that UDK looks like its hard to program for if doing something from scratch, the code(unrealscript) is messy! but the user interface is pretty good for us visual guys. There are so many tools, many of which I have not even learned yet. but most of it was un-related to my project so I didn't go there. you could always check out some youtube videos for UDK as well. Oh yeah @ P3DR0 Unity has a shader editor similar to UDK and C4's shader editor , but its a plug in made by a Unity user if memory serves correct.
That's just it. UnrealScript is a horrid mess if what you want to make can't be chiseled out of one of the provided examples. I looked at the UDN, and for I was trying to do at the time, nothing was helping. At least, nothing looked like it could be applied to what I was trying to do.
Speaking of UnrealScript. A year ago I tried to make an integer array and it wouldn't let me declare one with as many as 2000 elements. 2-dimentional arrays are also unavailable, so the solution was to make an object with a 100-element int array, and then make an array of those objects. Tried it on several versions, and another guy independently confirmed the issue.
As a person who had no experience working with a professional development tool (or tools in general for that matter), I found UDK to be rather easy to learn. I'm obviously no pro - but I feel I know my way around the editor enough to acheive what I want from it. That being said - I can't program things. If that side of it is more difficult than other available engines, then fair enough. I simply can't get my head around programming, so I can't comment on it. However, Kismet can be extremely powerful. There are some great examples online where people have used Kismet alone to make Pong. People have also used it to radically change how a game plays. Xaklse once made me a Kismet sequence for a Badnik that would shoot at the player when they are seen. Once I studied the sequence, I began to understand how it worked, not only did this help my understanding of Kismet hugely but it also means I can make some Badnik behaviour without ever writing a line of code.
To each their own then. I don't like UDK. I don't like having to rely on Kismet because the built-in language is pants-on-head retarded. EDIT: I just checked back into it and there's still a crazy amount of stuff you have to do and consider to just start a project from scratch. Not only that, but most help you'll find is outdated due to UDK updating every month. Kust isn't for me, then.
Forgive me if I'm wrong but all your posts seem like you're looking for excuses to don't like UDK. No one is relying on Kismet because the built-in languague is crap, Kismet is a alternative for more visual people without much knowledge of programming, it also allows you to create sort-of complex stuff easily and fast. It's an alternative, not a solution. It just speed things up and allow people who don't know jack about coding to actually do something without having to rely on other people. UDK does update frequently but rarely there is an update that breaks anything or change stuff drasticaly. Even if there is some, the old way of doing whatever is generally still avaliable (Terrain Editor is still there even thought they've released a Landscape Editor that is a thousand times better). We get it, you didn't liked the engine and you won't change your mind about it. I'm sorry it wasn't for you and I hope you find something that fits your needs, but dude, you don't need to come to this thread just to shit on it. Just a heads-up. I'm not mad because you didn't liked something that I do like, and I'm always up for having critcism and different opinions in discussions, but you're starting to sound a bit nitpicky, mate.
I think it might be useful to identify what people are having trouble with when it comes to SGDK. Is it making 2D sections? Moving platforms? Badniks? I believe if people identified what they are having trouble with, it would be easier to help them. I am certainly willing to help. Knowing the basics will allow you to progress and boost confidence.
