How to make a game executable or something?

[kirk]

Not sure, perhaps it's somewhere in faq or something but I can't find any info. I mean How can I make a game executable from Leadwerks game engine that can be started on any pc? I downloaded the trial but what I can to do is only a level file for the editor. Is it possible to make a separate complete executable file or something ran by a browser plugin?

[Canardia]

You can't make standalone games with the trial version.

With the full version there are various ways to make an game.exe.

[kirk]

Thanks. Does it involve any programming experience? I am an artist and have only very basic shader creation knowledge and no coding experience at all. I am looking for something to make a demo to show my work. Is the procedure of making game.exe simple enough to be used by an artist?

[Canardia]

It doesn't need any programming experience, but you would need a demo program which you can just copy and paste. Basically the FPSdemo.lua which comes with the engine could be used for that, but it needs one or two lines of code to be added to work as standalone exe and not only from Editor. I'm planning to make an Wiki article how to make a distributable standalone game with Lua.

[kirk]

ok, thanks. it wouild be great.

 

I have a few other questions regarding how deep access I may get to a lighting and lods settings without coding anything.

 

For example I am accustomed to so-called hierarchical lod system when a groups of objects, including a piece of a terrain being replaced with a distance to a single pre-rendered object or a background element to reduce an amount of objects on a scene. Is something like that possible?

 

Can I give a slightly blue tint to shadows ? Maybe an ambient component color for materials? Guess it should be possible by editing shaders or something

 

Can I load my own sky dome model and make interchangeable, fading one to another textures for it.

 

If possible, whether it also may be done without coding?

[Canardia]

• LE has groups, which are culled when none of the group members are visible
  
• Shadow color comes from the ambient light and/or any close by light sources, unless you use transparent textures, then the shadow color comes also from the texture color
  
• The skybox (or dome) is just a simple sphere or box, and you can change the texture and vertex colors on the fly, but that needs a few lines of code
  

[kirk]

Thanks again. I got the idea with the lights. It works pretty well.

 

Regarding the Sky box/dome. I see the trial version have a cube as a sky model. It's a very ineffective model considering texture space required. I have my own sky textures which I would like to try. It's intended for a low poly dome. Can I use it instead of the box someway? Maybe it's also a few

lines?

 

I have not found neigthter groups, nor any lod or their distance settings for obects. Is it also in a full version only?

[Canardia]

The grouping feature exists and is alive, but it has been used very sparsely, if at all yet. I think it will come to use when more heavily assetted games are being developed, so it's the secret weapon to get maximum FPS. Not even Editor has an interface to access the grouping feature, so it is currently only managed by code.

 

To setup a sky dome, it's really only 3 commands: CreateSphere (or LoadMesh a geosphere mesh), then FlipMesh to make it inside out faces, and then PaintEntity with the texture you want. But talking in code terms to an artists is always not very exact science, so you'd better ask for a code example in the forums, there are hundreds of users who are waiting to answer and help 24/7

[AggrorJorn]

You can use programs like innosetup to make an executable. no programming required

 

The skybox you place in your scene can either use cubical or spherical. I am not sure what the atmosphere object for skybox is.

 

LOD is supported up to 8 stages

 

model.gmf

modelLOD2.gmf

modelLOD3.gmf

[kirk]

To setup a sky dome, it's really only 3 commands: CreateSphere (or LoadMesh a geosphere mesh), then FlipMesh to make it inside out faces, and then PaintEntity with the texture you want. But talking in code terms to an artists is always not very exact science, so you'd better ask for a code example in the forums, there are hundreds of users who are waiting to answer and help 24/7

 

Can I just place a huge sky dome object onto a scene and force it to work the same way as skybox do with a special shader?

[kirk]

To import and test any object in the Editor I need the full comercial version, right?

[Laurens]

When you say you can hardly code apart from some GLSL, does that mean you can't script in LUA either? Although there are a lot of premade scripts with the engine, it's hardly enough to create an original, quality game with it. That will require either some coding or some scripting. Compiling it into an executable is peanuts compared to that.

 

Regarding the skydome, yes, that is possible. You would probably need to modify the skybox script though. I'm not sure if anyone has actually swapped the skybox out for a skydome yet.

 

To answer your questing regarding importing; you need to put the GMF model file in a subdirectory of Editor and restart it. Yes this is a little clunky

[kirk]

I actually don't want to make a game. I just want to make an environment demo. But that demo should have some basic capabilities like decent lod system and modern lighting/shadows. Leadewerks, being quite affordable, looks like able to offer that and much more, with nice looking lighting effects.

My experience with shader creation is not coding but mostly from using such software like Mental Milll and Shader FX which allow a visual ,node based work-flow and getting a code after an export. And I don't know LUA either. Modern 3d programs , like 3ds Max, Blender, etc allow you to work without coding anything (almost) . I have nothing against spending some time for learning some basic scripting but definitely would prefer to work the same way the 3d soft do. By means of nodes connecting or simple expressions in a visual interface.

 

ps. I can't find any tool to convert fbx to gmf. Does it come with a full version only?

[Canardia]

FBX to GMF converter comes with the full version, and it works even from Blender (and of course with the outdated programs like 3DSMax and Maya too)

[Laurens]

I just want to make an environment demo. But that demo should have some basic capabilities like decent lod system and modern lighting/shadows.

 

That will indeed only require minor modification of the skybox script. LOD and lighting/shading is all handled for you by the engine.

 

ps. I can't find any tool to convert fbx to gmf. Does it come with a full version only?

 

Only the full version comes with the fbx2gmf converter although Ultimate Unwrap Pro (not free) also comes with a GMF exporter. http://www.unwrap3d.com/u3d/index.aspx

[kirk]

Thanks to everyone for the info. Looks like the engine nevertheless requires some Lua learning. I found the Editor a bit too simplistic and having a bit lack of control over things. So I see LUA is inevitable if I go further with Leadwerks. I would like to estimate how much time it may take to learn some basics to be able to modify other people scripts at least. Is it realistic at all from an artist point of view? Would be appreciated if somebody who went through the same way, can share an oppinion.

[Canardia]

You can request some thingoids for Editor from the community. I did once a compass thingoid for Editor because someone needed it, and it can be found in the download page. Thingoids are little Lua scripts with some model, which you can drag and drop into the Editor scene. That way all the features of Editor can be expanded, even to a full game.

 

The Werkspace community is a official and supported part of Leadwerks Engine, it's the same as when you buy CryENGINE, you don't just buy the product but also a service and support from the CryTek people.

Official means that at least Josh is obliqued to give an answer (not necessarily a handmade solution though), but in practice many other people will help out too (including Leadwerks Staff people). Official also means that you get access to all the Werkspace pages with loads of forums, assets, tools, examples, and many new coming things.

 

Usually it goes like this, when you ask for support in the forums:

1) Solution already exists and you get a link to the example

2) It's a new feature, but it's useful for everyone, so someone will most probably make it for free (he gets honor points, a new idea from me...)

3) It's a specific feature, and only useful for specific games and apps, so someone might offer to make it for a small fee (1-10€ is quite common, but if it's a bigger job, it may be worth more). Counter services are used perhaps even more often than money (at least from my experience). Especially artists have a good service value (because you can never have enough assets, as each game needs its own too), so if they request something, they can easily pay by making some nice texture or model for the programmer.

[Laurens]

Thanks to everyone for the info. Looks like the engine nevertheless requires some Lua learning. I found the Editor a bit too simplistic and having a bit lack of control over things. So I see LUA is inevitable if I go further with Leadwerks. I would like to estimate how much time it may take to learn some basics to be able to modify other people scripts at least. Is it realistic at all from an artist point of view? Would be appreciated if somebody who went through the same way, can share an oppinion.

 

If you have no prior experience in programming then I'd say you can pick up LUA up to a point where you can comfortably modify other people's scripts in about 5 working days. If you have ever opened one of the more easier scripts you will see it really speaks for itself. Aggror has a great set of LUA tutorials over on the tutorials page ranging from getting started to some of the more advanced concepts such as character controllers.

 

http://leadwerks.com/werkspace/index.php?/page/resources/_/programming/lua/

[kirk]

Regarding the sky. I found the atmosphere.gmf file in engine assets. Guess it's a geometry file. Would it work if I build and replace it with a new gmf from my preferred model ? A dome instead of the cube?

[Canardia]

No, it's just a dummy model with no polygons, that's the way thingoids are done, where the Lua script is the actual content.

[kirk]

ok . thanks. Sorry for so many questions but I just can't make a well-considered decision toward Leadwers over other engines. It involves mostly not the cost but rather a time and my ability to cope with it. It's pity that it allow to really try almost nothing with the trial.

[Canardia]

I've tried other engines too (I own around 12 engines), and while they were technically perhaps somehow digestible after a few bottles of vodka, the lack of support was the main cause why I couldn't get anything done with them. Any product is worthless if you are stuck with some problem and nobody can solve it. With LE you will never face that problem. The reason for that is that LE is completely freely programmable, and that itself allows you to replace any part with some 3rd party library. And in most cases the community will give you an amazing solution, before you need to do anything.

[DaDonik]

LE is my 3rd engine and i'm completely happy with my purchase

All i can say is BUY IT!