Tech Stuff

This page has a list of the tools and technologies we've had to learn about and integrate into our development environment. Just creating this list has taken months of research and trial and error... so far. Note that many (but not all) of these packages are Open Source (and thus Free to download and use). Most development projects like this start with a very small or nonexistent budget, so we've really focused on finding great, useable tools that don't cost much, if anything at all. At the very least, we've tried to select packages that would allow deployment in a non-commercial setting for free, so as to give it a good try before we're forced to buy.

Some of the technologies currently involved (thus far):

• IndieZen Framework and Zen Engine - open source game development SDK
• Microsoft Visual C++ Express 2005 - development environment
• Ogre3D - 3-dimensional rendering engine, including plugins for Hydrax, Caelum, etc.
• OIS (Object Oriented Input System) - keyboard, mouse, and joystick input library
• RakNet - networking library
• FMOD - sound library
• CEGUI (Crazy Eddie's GUI) - GUI programming library
• Newton/OgreNewt - physics library
• Inno Setup - Windows-only, script-based installer for easy distribution of EXE setup package
• Ultimate Unwrap 3D - 3D modeler, specializing in UV texture unwrapping, and also format interchange for existing assets
• PostgreSQL - database library for online deployment
• SQLite - database library for local data caching
• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 - Photoshop & Illustrator for 2D layout and graphics design, Dreamweaver for website and in-game GUI implementation.
• Cygwin - shell scripting, Unix command line, and X-windows emulation for MS Windows
• TortoiseCVS / TortoiseSVN - version control system and Subversion clients
• boost - lots of helpful additional C++ libraries (so far we're using bind and function)
• WinMerge - an awesome and free source code merging tool
• Beyond Compare 2 - an even more awesome commercial code merging tool (very reasonable price though!)
• blender3D - 3D modeling software (free and excellent)
• Milkshape 3D - cheap but good commercial 3D modeling software

Some of the other technologies we've looked at (they may come into it later, or not):

• NaviLibrary - another GUI library that we use, and will hopefully be able to replace CEGUI
• Torque Game Engine Advanced (TGEA) - 3D Game Engine
• Dream Games MMOKit (Gryphon)- TGE add-on to allow for multiplayer server based game development
• Arcane FX - spellcasting effects pack for TGE
• Terragen - terrain generation software
• ArgoUML - graphical software design environment
• ScrumWorks - development methodology planner
• PhysX - physics library
• Crystal Space - 3D rendering engine that also implements lots of other functionality. If you're interested, please read my Comparison of Crystal Space and Ogre 3D.
• Python - scripting language
• MakeHuman - program to help generating humanoid models
• Bullet - physics library
• bzip2 - file compression library
• other main game engines - Multiverse, TV3D, RakEngine, Blink 3D, Project Darkstar, RealmCrafter
• other modeling software - 3dsmax, carrara
• database - MSSQL, MySQL
• GUI libraries - BetaGUI/BetaCairo, OpenGUI, OgreSWF, Ogre native overlays
• other physics libraries - ODE