Raysonic

[mattt360]

Well, I couldn't find the right topic for this, so I used this one. if this is the wrong one please move it (if you have the ability).

Anyway, what IS RAYSONIC? well, its a 3D sonic engine I am making. What makes this better then the rest? well, unlike most other 3D sonic engines, this uses raycasting.

I am not releasing any playable demos of the engine untill the whole thing is finished. You are probably wondering if I am lying or not. Well I am not. My proof? Some screenshots:

As you can see there are platforms ramps and walls. in the final there will be walkable walls, loops, etc. anyway as a final detail, the engine is made in GM. I will release the engine's source to a few select forums (SFGHQ is one). then, later I will also release it to YoYo Games.

[Slingerland]

Nice checkboards. You should get more of them.

[mattt360]

Nice checkboards. You should get more of them.

by checkboards you mean the checkered texture right? Its just a placeholder for the time being.

[OverbounD]

Yeah he's right but at least you are showing something. Maybe if you showed a video it would be a little more impressive. You could go far with this but right now it just looks like ever other GM 3D we've seen. Still what you've got here I a start.

[DimensionWarped]

well, its a 3D sonic engine I am making. What makes this better then the rest? well, unlike most other 3D sonic engines, this uses raycasting.

Whoa! RADICAL! Ray casting is like... the rizzle dizzle! But does it have BLAST PROCESSING!?

Mark/Dami's 3D engine is better regardless of what buzzword you say you are employing but give no explanation for. Seriously, just saying you have ray casting in your engine doesn't mean a whole lot. Especially when there isn't an obvious application it's being used for going on like lighting (and judging from the screenshots, you either aren't using it for lighting, or you are using it very poorly). Maybe you mean angle finding? I don't know.

[Carl Winslow]

I assume he means he's using similiar raycasting methods that older 2.5D shooters use to handle rendering of the levels, much like with Wolfenstein 3D. I could be wrong though.

[DimensionWarped]

Why on Earth would that make things better?

[Sparks]

Wow, it's like Sonic took over the Windows 98 Maze screen saver.

[Carl Winslow]

Why on Earth would that make things better?

I have no clue. if anything it'd be a downgrade. But seeing as he has slopes and sector-over-sector, doing it like that is rather impressive. (it looks like he's using cube-based mapping though, which is rather bad for what he wants to achieve.)

[Gear_The_Hedgehog]

Man im trying to get the slopes and ramps to get functional with the same engine but is a pain to do, anyway maybe you want to change that sonic sprite in the future, because that sprite is in every GM 3D sonic game, maybe doing a Sonic model could complete and also show more your Raycasting method

[FirenDJgameplay]

awsome Game.

[mattt360]

well, with the conversation on 'what does raycasting do?' I'm using raycasting to figure out what angle he is on, and to check for collisions (so I can go up ramps thanks to raycasting). raycasting if the fastest way, and pretty much the only way with d3d models (yes the levels are .d3d models, something new hmm?)

also with the levels being .d3d its obvious sonic will be a model too. I've been having problems getting a model to load into GM. if anyone has a 3d sonic model with correct UV in .obj, .3ds or .d3d please let me know.

EDIT: I added to the original post saying I would release the source since I noticed I never said that.

[LarkSS]

By the topic title I almost expected to see Sonic without arms, legs, and a neck with the newly gained ability to throw his fists a good 10 feet away from his body only for them to boomerang right on back.

[mattt360]

By the topic title I almost expected to see Sonic without arms, legs, and a neck with the newly gained ability to throw his fists a good 10 feet away from his body only for them to boomerang right on back.

nah its ray for raycasting, not rayman. good idea though *steals*

[Aaron C-T]

By the topic title I almost expected to see Sonic without arms, legs, and a neck with the newly gained ability to throw his fists a good 10 feet away from his body only for them to boomerang right on back.

My thoughts exactly

[DimensionWarped]

well, with the conversation on 'what does raycasting do?' I'm using raycasting to figure out what angle he is on, and to check for collisions (so I can go up ramps thanks to raycasting). raycasting if the fastest way, and pretty much the only way with d3d models (yes the levels are .d3d models, something new hmm?)

also with the levels being .d3d its obvious sonic will be a model too. I've been having problems getting a model to load into GM. if anyone has a 3d sonic model with correct UV in .obj, .3ds or .d3d please let me know.

EDIT: I added to the original post saying I would release the source since I noticed I never said that.

EDIT: Oh wait, I'm getting ray casting and ray tracing mixed up. In any event, I don't see how this is a big deal since you know... if it's the fastest method to do 3D collision detection, it's already in use pretty much everywhere anyway. But is it? I don't know. My 3D experience is kind of limited to playing with already made stuff. But to the best of my knowledge, Ray Casting is nothing new...

EDIT MORE: Well, I've done a little research and a little recollection... one of the things I remember using ray-casting for was like... bullets. Since they travel a large distance per frame and what not it makes sense to have a bullet cast a ray between the two positions it goes in order to see if there should have been a hit. But for the purpose of just generic collision detection, I'm not really seeing the point.

[mattt360]

EDIT: Oh wait, I'm getting ray casting and ray tracing mixed up. In any event, I don't see how this is a big deal since you know... if it's the fastest method to do 3D collision detection, it's already in use pretty much everywhere anyway. But is it? I don't know. My 3D experience is kind of limited to playing with already made stuff. But to the best of my knowledge, Ray Casting is nothing new...

EDIT MORE: Well, I've done a little research and a little recollection... one of the things I remember using ray-casting for was like... bullets. Since they travel a large distance per frame and what not it makes sense to have a bullet cast a ray between the two positions it goes in order to see if there should have been a hit. But for the purpose of just generic collision detection, I'm not really seeing the point.

Ray-casting lets you 'shoot' a 'ray'. You set the x, y and z location and the x, y, and z direction of the ray. The ray will return how far it went for until a collision. no GM sonic game has raycasting, let alone a open-source sonic engine. This is new for GM. Anyway, why have raycasting?

1. the levels are now .d3d models, you dont use the level editor. the level editor is 2D anyway. 2. Raycasting is smoother.

3. .d3d models can easily be more complex then rooms.

4. .d3d models draw faster then normal.

Can't get any better if you ask me.

If you are wondering how I use raycasting for physics, well, since I can check for collision with the level I can shoot a heap of rays, do some trigonometry and I have his direction. then, with his direction and using some more trig. I can get the new xspeed yspeed and zspeed. as you can see, its all about the rays.

[DimensionWarped]

Yeah, but who cares if it's new for GM. GM isn't really an especially useful tool for making 3D games.

Also, there is nothing inherently fast about .d3d format. Maybe in the context of GM, running in Direct 3D mode is comparably fast to whatever software driven bullshit you could use...

So yeah, what I'm really wondering now is what would possess someone to actually think GM is in any way a suitable tool for making a 3D game. I mean, no matter how much functionality you can add to it, it just isn't made for 3D game development. You'll always be limited in some way or another and I'm sure 3D level design is utterly bunk in it.

[mattt360]

Yeah, but who cares if it's new for GM. GM isn't really an especially useful tool for making 3D games.

Also, there is nothing inherently fast about .d3d format. Maybe in the context of GM, running in Direct 3D mode is comparably fast to whatever software driven bullshit you could use...

So yeah, what I'm really wondering now is what would possess someone to actually think GM is in any way a suitable tool for making a 3D game. I mean, no matter how much functionality you can add to it, it just isn't made for 3D game development. You'll always be limited in some way or another and I'm sure 3D level design is utterly bunk in it.

.d3d models are faster then having 1000s of objects for a level all drawing 3D boxes, or even just 10 objects. no 3D GM engine out there has models in D3D, leaving this the fastest one out there. just because there are no good engines for GM doesnt mean its impossible. there's few good next-gen sonic games, but does that mean Sonic 4 (the official SEGA game, not any fangame) will suck, too? no it does not.

GM will never be limited, even if you have to go as desperate as writing your own .dlls in C++.

[DimensionWarped]

Wait wait wait, that's the alternative? Thousands of boxes? Holy shit. It's worse than I thought.

And by the way, just being able to add runtime functionality to your game doesn't by itself mean that GM isn't limited. It just means that runtime functionality isn't the source of those limitations. You still have to deal with the lack of built-in tools to meet your purpose.

And just to note, I'm not interested in possibilities these days. I'm much more interested in probabilities.

[Serephim]

You know, saying your stuff is the best stuff out there is a GREAT way for it to be picked apart. Those screenshots aren't going to help anything, either.

I'd have waited to post a demonstration before i called it the awesomest thing ever. From the looks of your screenshots it looks like SRB2 with an Advance Sprite and eyebleeding textures.

[Candescence]

You know, saying your stuff is the best stuff out there is a GREAT way for it to be picked apart. Those screenshots aren't going to help anything, either.

That reminds me of this particular Awkward Zombie comic...

But, yeah, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that to impress anybody. Especially with GM.

[FanGameRevolver]

If people wanted a complex 3D engine they wouldn't use game maker.

The best 3D game maker techniques are performed through external devices. But seriously if your going to use a package like that you might as well use it with C++ so you can have more control over the package then just some wrapper designed for game maker.

I'm fine with my 3D games looking like nothing more then doom though, so I'll just stick to game maker's basics. And make my level out of 2D collision masks. (its not like basic 3D slopes are impossible with 2D collision masks, In fact its quite easy to do.)

[mattt360]

You know, saying your stuff is the best stuff out there is a GREAT way for it to be picked apart. Those screenshots aren't going to help anything, either.

I'd have waited to post a demonstration before i called it the awesomest thing ever. From the looks of your screenshots it looks like SRB2 with an Advance Sprite and eyebleeding textures.

Well, its just that everything for GM sucks

Anyway criticize me all you want. (Thinks of that awkward zombie comic)

Oh and I had no good textures (well, no good textures that made sense in that level) on me, and I personally HATE SRB2 (bad edit of a good game).

Anyway soon I'll release a video, just tell me, what codec should I use? I'm no good when it comes to codecs.

[Aaron C-T]

Oh and I had no good textures (well, no good textures that made sense in that level)

You do realize that practically anything at all would've been better than the one repeated texture you have, right?