Gamestudio, often known as 3D GameStudio or 3DGS is a 3D computer game development system which allows the users to create 3D games and other virtual reality applications, and publish them royalty-free. It includes a model/terrain editor, a level editor, a script editor/debugger and comes with a big collection of textures, models and artwork, as well as a game template system that allows the creation of basic shooter games or RPGs without programming. For complex games or other applications you can use either the integrated scripting language named Lite-c or an external development language such as Visual C++ or Delphi.
History
* 1993 ACK 3D (Animation Construction Kit) by Lary Myers (Wolfenstein-like open source engine, downloadable at http://ftp.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/ack/00index.html)
* 1994 ACK NEXT GENERATION by Johann Christian Lotter / oP Group (improved version of ACK 3D, open source)
* 1995 ACKNEX-2 written for the German TV show X-BASE (engine comparable to Doom)
* 1995 ACKNEX-2 becomes Conitec property and is released as '3D GameStudio'
* 1997 ACKNEX-3 released (downloadable at http://server.conitec.net/down/a3.zip)
* 1999 A4 released (Windows Based Quake-like Engine)
* 2000 A5 released (Terrain Engine)
* 2003 A6 released (Physics and Shaders)
* 2007 A7 version released (new ABT renderer)
The current version is 7.73 (as of March 9, 2009). Free updates are normally available once every 4 to 8 weeks. Gamestudio / A7 has 2 different meanings. The Gamestudio part refers to the editors and game template system, but the A7 part refers to the game engine.
Game engine
The A7 engine contains a physics engine which can maintain multiple physic objects (eg. four wheels on a car turning, moving the car, instead of the car moving with the wheels). The engine can handle multiplayer automatically (however still requires scripting for some multiplayer features). It uses an ABT (Adaptive Binary Tree) renderer for indoor and outdoor levels, and an additional BSP renderer for indoor levels. The BSP renderer is only available in the rather expensive Pro edition. The free edition and Extra edition don't support shaders.
The engine supports high resolutions, terrain rendering, pre-rendered shadow maps and dynamic stencil shadows (single dynamic shadows for models, but not dynamic stencil shadows from multiple light sources per model like viewable in Doom 3). The 2D system (GUI system) of the A7 Engine is not very powerful (see scripting section), but replaceable using the 3d system if needed. Using Lite-c, most things can be customized. Shader model 3.0 support and post-processing using stages may assist shader programmers in chaining together effects to produce any number of custom-made shader effects.
History
* 1993 ACK 3D (Animation Construction Kit) by Lary Myers (Wolfenstein-like open source engine, downloadable at http://ftp.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/ack/00index.html)
* 1994 ACK NEXT GENERATION by Johann Christian Lotter / oP Group (improved version of ACK 3D, open source)
* 1995 ACKNEX-2 written for the German TV show X-BASE (engine comparable to Doom)
* 1995 ACKNEX-2 becomes Conitec property and is released as '3D GameStudio'
* 1997 ACKNEX-3 released (downloadable at http://server.conitec.net/down/a3.zip)
* 1999 A4 released (Windows Based Quake-like Engine)
* 2000 A5 released (Terrain Engine)
* 2003 A6 released (Physics and Shaders)
* 2007 A7 version released (new ABT renderer)
The current version is 7.73 (as of March 9, 2009). Free updates are normally available once every 4 to 8 weeks. Gamestudio / A7 has 2 different meanings. The Gamestudio part refers to the editors and game template system, but the A7 part refers to the game engine.
Game engine
The A7 engine contains a physics engine which can maintain multiple physic objects (eg. four wheels on a car turning, moving the car, instead of the car moving with the wheels). The engine can handle multiplayer automatically (however still requires scripting for some multiplayer features). It uses an ABT (Adaptive Binary Tree) renderer for indoor and outdoor levels, and an additional BSP renderer for indoor levels. The BSP renderer is only available in the rather expensive Pro edition. The free edition and Extra edition don't support shaders.
The engine supports high resolutions, terrain rendering, pre-rendered shadow maps and dynamic stencil shadows (single dynamic shadows for models, but not dynamic stencil shadows from multiple light sources per model like viewable in Doom 3). The 2D system (GUI system) of the A7 Engine is not very powerful (see scripting section), but replaceable using the 3d system if needed. Using Lite-c, most things can be customized. Shader model 3.0 support and post-processing using stages may assist shader programmers in chaining together effects to produce any number of custom-made shader effects.
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