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D
riven by a technology arms race, the games
development industry now regularly works with
budgets in the millions, spending huge sums on
tools, staff and time in a bid to create software
that will capture the publics imagination. While this has
provided consumers with a choice of titles boasting
incredibly high production values, its also helped foster a
very different, indie-level style of game development.
{ By reducing development costs and taking advantage of
// TODO: Add your initialization the various cheaper publishing opportunities now available
logic
g here (ranging from budget and self-publishing to digital
distribution via services like Steam and Xbox Live Arcade),
base.Initialize(); smaller development teams have fewer professional and
} creative restrictions and are able to work efficiently on
/// <summary> y projects closer to their own hearts – and to those of a
substantial number of gamers looking for an alternative
/// LoadContent will be called once
to those big-buck epics. And when it comes to reducing
per
p game
g and is the place p to load
d development costs, there are few solutions more effective
/// all of y your content. than making use of tools and code that dont cost a cent.
● A world of possibilities: game development
/// </summary>
/ free and open-source
with y tools ranges from When it comes to the development workflow, there
is open-source software (OSS) and freeware available to
protected
p override void LoadContent()
titles like Project Apricot (main image), created
entirely with open-source software, to free handle just about every task, from version control right
{ development frameworks released by major
commercial companies, such as Microsofts
through to scripting and compiling (see The open-source
// Create a new SpriteBatch,
XNA Game Studio (overlaid code)
p , pipeline, overleaf). Artists are particularly well catered for.
summary>
Rendering Development
his is the main type for yourModelling/animation game
Tools for in-game and cinematic Tools for pre-rendered cinematics, Open-source development
/summary> model creation and animation trailers and promotional material environments, tools and libraries
2D
ic class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
Blender Aqsis Anjuta
Tools for concept art and generating Highly regarded open-source 3D app. RenderMan-compliant renderer. Mainly Open-source C/C++ IDE, including
Includes specific games functionality GPL-licenced, with parts under LGPL. project management and debugger
tiled textures and normal maps
www.blender.org http://aqsis.org http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/
hicsDeviceManager
GIMP graphics; Pixie
GNU raster graphics tool used by trueSpace 3.2 Eclipse
teBatch spriteBatch;
a number of commercial teams Early version of the 3D modelling and Photorealistic RenderMan-compliant
renderer, also distributed under LGPL
Primarily Java-based development
animation tool: now a free download environment
ic Game1() www.gimp.org http://tinyurl.com/46xgaw www.renderpixie.com www.eclipse.org
Krita
DAZ Studio POV-Ray KDevelop
KOffice painting/image-editing tool.
DAZ Productions free character Free, modifiable raytracing program Free development environment for
hics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
Supports the OpenEXR HDR format
www.koffice.org/krita posing and animation tool for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X UNIX-like OSes. No built-in compiler
www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/studio www.povray.org www.kdevelop.org
ent.RootDirectory
Inkscape
= “Content”;
Wings3D YafRay MonoDevelop
A GPL vector graphics editor in the
Open-source (BSD) subdivision Powerful open-source (LGPL) Popular fork of SharpDevelop, itself a
manner of Illustrator or CorelDRAW
raytracer, with strong Blender support
summary> www.inkscape.org surface-based modelling tool
www.wings3d.com www.yafray.org
free IDE alternative to Visual Studio
www.monodevelop.com
llows the Resynthesizer
game to perform anyMarbleCLAY
GIMP texture-synthesis plug-in: aids
DrQueue Turbo C++ Explorer
alization creation
it needs
of totextures
seamlessly tileable
http://tinyurl.com/4hsedo
before Free Japanese poly-modelling tool
previously known as Etude3D
Open-source distributed renderfarm
manager, as used by ILM
An activation key is required, but
the compiler and IDE is free to use
ting to run.
xNormal
http://tinyurl.com/3jeuk http://drqueue.org/cwebsite/ www.turboexplorer.com
Just as many rely on the same commercial man hours to develop a competent engine, but
modelling and animation packages chosen by by choosing to plug in an open-source solution,
movie animators and VFX artists, such as 3ds months can be shaved from a schedule and
Max and Maya, so they too can utilise stable, tens of thousands saved in development costs.
well-supported open-source apps like Blender, “We only have two developers and an
and make substantial savings by doing so. operating budget of close to zero, so finding
But its the use of free, off-the-shelf something open source that already existed
middleware that arguably offers the greatest was the most logical option to fit our needs,”
benefits. Code is now available for everything says David Marsh, artist and designer on
from network client management and user NimbleBits Zero Gear racing title. “We needed
interface handling right through to 3D systems, to put every active bit of energy into shaping a
physics solvers, and even full game engines. It game, so creating much of our technology from ● A screen from Monkeys In The Dark, a tech demo for Monster Engine. Monster
takes specialised knowledge and thousands of scratch isnt an option for us.” utilises Ogre, PhysX, OpenAL and TinyXML to create an entire LGPL game engine
DirectX
Multimedia library for
low-level access to audio,
input devices and 3D hardware
www.libsdl.org
in turn release their code, for one thing. This tools, however, we do try to make as much use ● Havok, as used in But this isnt applicable to all open-source
commercial titles like
is unacceptable to developers working in the of open-source and freeware tools as possible, code. In fact, much software carries more
BioShock (above) is now
upper tiers of the industry. where they are suitable.” free for PC games that permissive licences such as LGPL, zlib, BSD and
are distributed free or in
“Open-source code can frequently be of a “One of the biggest drawbacks to using MIT. Each has its own quirks, but they all allow
the casual-priced
very high standard, but unfortunately we can open-source code is that people can in turn category (sub-$10). for free distribution and use of OSS without the
never use it because of the licensing terms,” know the inner workings of your product,” Premium titles require need to publish the final game source.
an extra distribution
says Claude Dareau, technical manager at Blitz agrees Aaron Moore, art director/technical licence agreement Nonetheless, there can still be drawbacks
Games serious games division, TruSim. “If we artist on SnowballZ, an in-development casual in terms of code integration and support. As
include any open-source code in our application game utilising open source. “For some of the with any middleware solution, OSS doesnt
we have to make the whole of the code bigger multiplayer and massively multiplayer necessarily have all the desired features or
base for that application open source, which titles, this can be a huge issue, easily leading plug into a developers own code with complete
obviously we are not willing to do. In terms of to bug exploitation.” ease. And while open source theoretically
CASE STUDY | Zeolite Studios too,” he says. “With smaller projects like
[programming interface] Pyglet, the
Open-source tools power the fledgling collective developers are normally glad to help. And
behind upcoming casual gaming title SnowballZ with larger ones like Blender, theres a large
and helpful community – although for mature
tools, you mostly find questions already
answered in tutorials or documentation.”
Producer/designer Michael Lubker, who
FACTFILE also works at Aspyr, says that one notable
● A dev screen from SnowballZ. As well as using difference between SnowballZ and standard
DATE FOUNDED open-source tools, the team has open sourced titles is the way the game is being coded.
two of its own libraries, Rabbyt and SnowUI
2007 “Python, which we use for most of the game,
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
is usually used only as a scripting language
5 Until recently spread across four continents, in the industry because it is regarded as
the team behind SnowballZ aims to monetise slow. But as indies, we are disrupting the
TOOLS USED as an independent developer in preparation standard thinking and using it for much more.”
Blender, Cal3D, Python, Pyglet, for completion of the project: a downloadable As well as using existing open-source
Rabbyt, SnowUI
casual game with a socially connected middleware, the team is also releasing its
SELECTED CREDITS community, for Windows, Mac and Linux. own code back into the community, having
Team members have worked on: “Were targeting a young audience, so we open sourced Rabbyt – an acceleration
Power Soccer, Globulation 2 try to emphasise issues such as caring for library – and the SnowUI library.
BUDGET the environment,” says associate producer “The negative aspect to releasing code as
None Krzysztof Kondrak, who adds that the aim is open source is that you have to support it,
also to spread the word about open source. but this does result in bug fixes – and theres
DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE “The best way to do that is to use OSS for a nothing like people thanking you and saying
November 2007 – Q1 2009 ● Programmer Joey
project that then becomes widely available.” that its awesome,” says Marshall. “Plus, you
Marshall: “[Open source]
WEBSITE isnt so much about cost Programmer Joey Marshall says that the often get suggestions on improving the
http://snowballz.joey101.net money-wise as the cost open-source tools used so far have proven library and even, on rare occasions, someone
of freedom,” he says highly stable. “Support is usually excellent, will send you a patch or a new feature.”
● NimbleBit is using several open-source solutions for racing title Zero Gear,
including Ogre, Bullet physics and the Particle Universe particle engine
faster rate, but I think independent developers libraries. Quake developer id Software has the PC platform, and still continue to develop
are going to continue digging deeper as they pledged its long-term support: the first three id commercially innovative technologies.”
try to leverage everything they can to develop Tech engines are already available as GPL, with Such developments can only further
quality games with few resources.” id Tech 4 set to follow. And by the time you strengthen the range of tools and middleware
But if the larger studios arent so interested read this, the acclaimed Havok physics system options available in the open-source and
in the potential of open source, some are should be available for free PC development. free-to-use software communities, and help
at least smoothing the way for others by “This kind of grass-roots initiative was legitimise their role in the world of professional
contributing to the free software community. not practical when Havok was operating games development. They may even help put
The open-source Bullet physics system is independently,” says Jeff Yates, VP of product the emphasis back on content creation rather
being developed at Sony by ex-Blender coder management at Havok. “But with the combined than programming one-upmanship. At the very
Erwin Coumans. High-profile studio Insomniac reach and resources of Intel [which recently least, developers of all stripes are starting to
Games has demonstrated commitment to code acquired the company], we can now enable appreciate that sometimes there is such a thing
sharing with the release of a suite of free PS3 a very broad class of game developers on as a free lunch. ●