Is there an equivalent of "FPS Creator" in order to create FPS with Java?

General Discussions
#1

Hi!

I see that many people (who don’t want to program) use “FPS Creator” in order to make FPS but it is nor free, neither open source, it works only under Windows and it uses DirectX. Therefore, my question is:
Is there an equivalent of “FPS Creator” in order to create FPS with Java?

If not, do you think that some people could be interested in using such a software? My game needs to be improved but writing a new map can take a few minutes and I plan to add many scripts to drive it easier to configure the whole game. I think that writing a tiny FPS editor based on my own engine could take between 8 and 12 weeks. Do you think anyone could be interested in using it?

#2

Even if one already existed, I’m sure plenty of people would love to have something like that.

My little brother has a whole cadre of friends that use Power Game Factory to made side scrollers, and they absolutely love it. One of their big disappointments with it is that it’s Mac only. I imagine something like that for FPS’s would have a big fan base, especially if it was in Java (and therefore cross platform).

#3

My feeling is that the FPS market/insdustry is over saturated. Am I wrong?

#4

You’re not, but people won’t be using his program for commercial games, I don’t think. Just for fun.

#5

Personally I’m over saturated with stupid extremely basic 2D Flash games (and their Java clones) and I would like to see more and more people creating full 3D games in Java.

I hope you’re right. If that’s the case, I will go on preparing this possibility in my engine.

I work alone, I don’t think I can compete with commercial games. Even Doom is better than TUER but it would be possible to reach the level of Quake 2 with much time and more people involved in the project. I have seen some 2D very simple commercial games written in Java, I think that even a very simple 3D FPS would have a chance to be sold. One of the aim of the Foundation is to drive all these things possible.

#6

[quote]Personally I’m over saturated with stupid extremely basic 2D Flash games (and their Java clones) and I would like to see more and more people creating full 3D games in Java.
[/quote]
In my opinion I think mostly amateur game developers develop only 2D games simply because of their time/budget constrains. Sure 3D is super cool but it’s just that we have seen so much FPSs on the PC.

#7

Bloodridge is a 3D adventure game, it is a good example, it is possible to make a 3D game in Java that is not a FPS. Almost half of the games available on the Java™ Game Tome are in 3D and made by amateur developers, some of them have required only several days to be created; therefore, I think you’re wrong. It becomes more expensive to create a 3D game if you plan to pay some artists and to pay for a game server, that’s all. Time and budget constraints are sometimes only a bad excuse to refuse facing the difficulty and admitting his own limits. Do you think that I began game programming by creating 3D games? No, I began by writing 2D games in RPL, Python and C. There is a time for the developer to go to the next step, will you dare to do this one day?

#8

to get back on topic, what about Jake2 combined with an editor like Worldcraft?

#9

Worldcraft (now called Valve Hammer Editor) works only under Windows as far as I know, it is an excellent solution for people who wants to develop maps for Quake, Quake 2 and Half Life. Maybe my idea of a new FPS creator is not as interesting as I thought as V H E is really complete.

Nevertheless, when I say “FPS creator”, it means a software that allows to build a complete game, not only maps for an existing game. A FPS creator is not only a map editor even though it is a very important part, it could also allow to create a new GUI with menus, characters and weapons easily, not only the model but the behavior too.

#10

I see. I actually never extensively used Worldhammer (just played a bit with it a looooong time ago), so I kind of assumed it would have approx. the same feature set as UnrealEd where you could (apart from level editing) actually script the entire Unreal engine to create a totally different game that has nothing to do with Unreal except the engine. UnrealEd is really an awesome tool.
I would assume something like that exists for Q2 too? Does Worldhammer (or any other Q2 editor) really not support Q2 scripting?

#11

There are a hell of a lot of these FPS creation packages things around, none in Java that I’ve seen tho. I think quake 2 was based on a pluggable DLL for most stuff (physics, weapons etc) though wasn’t it?

Kev

#12

V H E allows to use some scripts but I don’t know the details. I have recently asked the author of “Art Of Illusion” if it is possible to create a plug-in for his application to turn it into a FPS creator. I need to know if it would be a really interesting and useful idea before coding.

If you’re right, there is a small empty field for a full Java solution.

#13

[quote]Bloodridge is a 3D adventure game, it is a good example, it is possible to make a 3D game in Java that is not a FPS. Almost half of the games available on the Java™ Game Tome are in 3D and made by amateur developers, some of them have required only several days to be created; therefore, I think you’re wrong. It becomes more expensive to create a 3D game if you plan to pay some artists and to pay for a game server, that’s all. Time and budget constraints are sometimes only a bad excuse to refuse facing the difficulty and admitting his own limits. Do you think that I began game programming by creating 3D games? No, I began by writing 2D games in RPL, Python and C. There is a time for the developer to go to the next step, will you dare to do this one day?
[/quote]
Just to close that subject, because it’s off topic, about time and budget constrains I was taking about the challenge of creating 3D models and the levels. What’s the learning curve to learn Maya or 3DS? Pretty high. Maybe there’re other great tools that allows creation in a more user friendly?

About your question, yes I certainly plan to develop some sort of 3D game one day. The idea is really motivating! But I don’t know which type of game I’d create. And I’d probably use jMonkey.

Any suggestion from you and any other one is welcomed. :slight_smile:

#14

Before using JME, learn the base of 3D, the theory behind this or you won’t know what to do if something doesn’t work as expected in JME.

I need to finish other projects before but could people be interested in a plug-in for “Art Of Illusion” to create FPS?