Free for all

A wealth of open-source and freeware tools and

middleware are now available to games companies.
3D World explores the new open-source pipelines,
and meets the studios who are trying
to democratise game development
BY MARK RAMSHAW

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 publics imagination. While this has
provided consumers with a choice of titles boasting
incredibly high production values, its 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 dont 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 Microsofts
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.

which can be used to draw textures.

August 2008 3D WORLD | 035
spriteBatch
p = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
p ( p );
// TODO: use this.Content to load your game content here
}
TDW106.f_games 035 31/5/08 15:42:54
g System;
g System.Collections.Generic;
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio;
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content;
The open-source pipeline
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices;
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
An overview of the free and open-source art tools available for each stage of the
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input;
game-development pipeline and, on the right, game engines and coding resources
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Net;
g Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Storage;
space WindowsGame1

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

his is where itgenerating

Free tool for cannormal, query Cal3D
Skeletal character animation library
Visual Studio Express Editions
A range of free Microsoft IDEs,
AO, displacement and relief maps
any required services and
www.xnormal.net originally designed for WorldForge
http://home.gna.org/cal3d
including those for C++ and C#
www.microsoft.com/express
any non-graphic QuArK Nocturnal
elated content. Calling Map, model, sound, texture and asset
editor, primarily for the idTech engines
Insomniac Games free collection
of common helper utilities for PS3
Initialize will enumerate http://tinyurl.com/3o6p37 http://nocturnal.insomniacgames.com

ugh any components Deled 3D - XNA Game Studio

3D modelling and worldbuilding tool, Framework and collection of libraries
nd initialize them as well. offering a free Lite edition for game creation. Free for Windows
www.delgine.com http://creators.xna.com/
/summary>
ected override void Initialize()

ODO: Add your initialization logic here

Just as many rely on the same commercial
modelling and animation packages chosen by
movie animators and VFX artists, such as 3ds
Max and Maya, so they too can utilise stable,
well-supported open-source apps like Blender,
and make substantial savings by doing so.
But its the use of free, off-the-shelf
middleware that arguably offers the greatest
benefits. Code is now available for everything
from network client management and user
interface handling right through to 3D systems,
physics solvers, and even full game engines. It
takes specialised knowledge and thousands of
man hours to develop a competent engine, but
by choosing to plug in an open-source solution,
months can be shaved from a schedule and
tens of thousands saved in development costs.
“We only have two developers and an
operating budget of close to zero, so finding
something open source that already existed
was the most logical option to fit our needs,”
says David Marsh, artist and designer on
NimbleBits Zero Gear racing title. “We needed
to put every active bit of energy into shaping a
game, so creating much of our technology from ● A screen from Monkeys In The Dark, a tech demo for Monster Engine. Monster
scratch isnt an option for us.” utilises Ogre, PhysX, OpenAL and TinyXML to create an entire LGPL game engine

036 | 3D WORLD August 2008

TDW106.f_games 036 31/5/08 15:43:04

 using System;
using System.Collections.Generic; Open-source game development | FEATURE
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; Game engines and other resources
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; Why write your own game engine, when ready-made alternatives are available?
From graphics to physics and audio playback, these free resources help cut dev time
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Net; 3D engines Physics Sound/movie engines
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Storage; Ready-made alternatives
to the most demanding
The range of free dynamics,
collisions and particle tools
Free tools to handle
audio and video playback
namespace WindowsGame1 programming challenge of all includes heavy-duty options within a game

Project management{ Coding Ogre

Hugely popular LPGL engine,
Havok Complete
Now free for non-commercial
DUMB
Freeware IT, XM, S3M
Tools for version control of code. Scripting languages, compilers,
/// <summary> interfaces and other coding tools
See also: www.opensourcecms.com
as used in several open-source use on PC; Intel sponsors use in and MOD player library
engines and commercial titles approved commercial projects http://tinyurl.com/4ce5u3
CVS
/// This is the GCC
main type for your game
www.ogre3d.org www.havok.com
Audiere
///
Popular open-source
tool for open-source code
</summary>
version-control The GNU Compiler collection.
Front ends available for C, C++, etc
Crystal Space Bullet High-level LGPL audio API,
Blender-friendly LGPL engine. Acclaimed zlib real-time with support for many formats
www.nongnu.org/cvspublic class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
http://gcc.gnu.org
Offers a more complete game physics system, created by www.audiere.sourceforge.net
dev environment than Ogre an ex-Havok coder
Subversion {
Version-control system intended
Python
Language widely used for libraries,
www.crystalspace3d.org www.bulletphysics.com MikMod
GPL audio module player and
as a successor toGraphicsDeviceManager
CVS graphics;
scripting, and so on. Open source
idTech 3 Open Dynamics Engine library. Supports most formats
http://subversion.tigris.org/ www.python.org
SpriteBatch spriteBatch; Lua
Solid technology, previously
known as the Quake 3 engine;
BSD/LGPL rigid-body
dynamics system, used in
http://mikmod.raphnet.net
Verse
Network protocolpublic
for real-time data Game1()Lightweight scripting language.
now available under GPL titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OpenAL
http://tinyurl.com/4dzsx5 www.ode.org Cross-platform 3D audio API
sharing between apps: optimised for 3D Distributed under the MIT licence
{
http://verse.blender.org www.lua.org
Irrlicht Tokamak
available under LGPL licence
www.openal.org
graphics = newRubyGraphicsDeviceManager(this); Portable cross-platform zlib
engine. Uses Direct3D, OpenGL
Basic real-time physics
engine, released under SDL_mixer
Object-orientated language
Content.RootDirectory = “Content”;
inspired by Perl and Smalltalk
and its own software renderer
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net
the BSD licence
www.tokamakphysics.com
Simple multiple-channel audio
mixer library. Open source
www.ruby-lang.org
Audio } Retribution PhysX
http://tinyurl.com/4u2aj
GameMonkey Script
///
Tools for recording <summary> C-like open-source embedded
and editing GPL first-person shooter
engine with level and model
Free gaming physics SDK
from Nvidia, which makes
HawkVoice
GPL voice-over-network system
audio assets for games work scripting language for games work
/// Allows the www.somedude.net/gamemonkey
game to perform any editors, designed for Windows
http://tinyurl.com/3vf2po
use of GPU technology
http://tinyurl.com/3kszuy
for multiplayer in-game chat
http://tinyurl.com/4n78yp
Ardour
initialization
Free audio workstation for recording, it needs to before
Pyglet
Sauerbraten/Cube 2 Particle Universe FFmpeg
editing and mixing multi-track audio
http://ardour.org/starting to run.
Programming interface for games
Single/multiplayer first-person Free particle system LGPL-licensed audio/video
development with Python
shooter engine, offered under plug-in for Ogre, available recording, conversion and
Audacity /// This is where it can query the zlib licence
www.pyglet.org
under the LGPL licence streaming solution
http://sauerbraten.org www.fxpression.com http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu
for Windows, MacforOS X and any required services and
Open-source audio recorder and editor
Linux
load any non-graphic
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
Game engines Game libraries LibUFO
/// related content. Calling Open-source engines that Resources encompassing C++ tools for GUI creation,
encompass more than 3D gameplay, interface and mainly for OpenGL
base.Initialize will enumerate graphics horsepower media libraries http://tinyurl.com/4p6z87

through any components Delta 3D OpenGL SDL

Finished game /// and initialize them as well.incorporating other OSS

/// </summary>
Full-function LGPL engine

projects in a single API

www.delta3d.org
SDK and other tools for the
open graphics standard.
www.opengl.org

DirectX
Multimedia library for
low-level access to audio,
input devices and 3D hardware
www.libsdl.org

protected override void Initialize() Panda3D Free SDK for Microsofts

{ Free engine developed by
Disney and maintained by
graphics API
http://tinyurl.com/65bd9o
Networking
Free code for online and
// TODO: Add your initializationCarnegie logic here
Mellon university
www.panda3d.org FEAR
massively multiplayer
communication
NimbleBit is using base.Initialize();
a whole range of free tools ● The engine powering Quake III
Arena is available as open source. Monster Engine
AI development kit with
3D engine interfacing WorldForge
and code elements, including Bullet physics,
}
the Particle Universe particle engine and
Programmer John Carmack
has stated that successor
LGPL game engine utilising
Ogre, PhysX and OpenAL.
http://tinyurl.com/4jt4mm Developer community, home
to GPL libraries for massively
the Ogre 3D graphics///engine.<summary>
“Quantifying engine id Tech 5 will
eventually follow it
Scriptable in Lua
http://tinyurl.com/59qgby
AntTweakBar
Graphical user-interface
multiplayer online games
www.opengl.org
an amount of time /// LoadContent
and money saved would will
Yake 0.3.0
be called once
creation tool
http://tinyurl.com/ymwv64 OpenNeL
be difficult, but I will say that re-creating or
per game
purchasing the open-source technology we are
and is the place
Cross-platform game/VR to load
engine, utilising Ogre, PhysX Guichan
GPL toolkit for massively
online universes, developed
using would take/// years andall ofupon
thousands your content.
and OpenAL. Various licences Small, efficient C++ GUI for The Saga of Ryzom
www.yake.org library designed for games http://tinyurl.com/3rr425
/// </summary>
thousands of dollars,” says Marsh. http://tinyurl.com/3g82bs
Inevitably, the monetary savings offered Europa Engine HawkNL
protected
by free software do come at a price. Software
override void
Full game engineLoadContent()
previously Navi Low-level LGPL game-oriented
used on commercial strategy Free tool for creating GUIs network API; supports higher-
{ General Public Licence
released with a standard titles like Hearts Of Iron series with HTML level voice-over-network API
www.gamersgate.com/engine http://tinyurl.com/4seqj9 www.hawksoft.com/free.shtml
(GPL) comes with// Create
the caveat that users a
must new SpriteBatch,
which can be used to draw textures.
spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice); August 2008 3D WORLD | 037

// TODO: use this.Content to load your game content here

}
TDW106.f_games 037 31/5/08 15:43:05
 ● In addition to releasing
its Panda3D engine to open
source, Disney has continued
to utilise it for projects such
as the free massively
multiplayer title Pirates
of the Caribbean Online
in turn release their code, for one thing. This
is unacceptable to developers working in the
upper tiers of the industry.
“Open-source code can frequently be of a
very high standard, but unfortunately we can
never use it because of the licensing terms,”
says Claude Dareau, technical manager at Blitz
Games serious games division, TruSim. “If we
include any open-source code in our application
we have to make the whole of the code
base for that application open source, which
obviously we are not willing to do. In terms of
CASE STUDY | Zeolite Studios
Open-source tools power the fledgling collective
behind upcoming casual gaming title SnowballZ
FACTFILE
DATE FOUNDED
2007
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
5 Until recently spread across four continents,
TOOLS USED
Blender, Cal3D, Python, Pyglet,
Rabbyt, SnowUI
SELECTED CREDITS
Team members have worked on:
Power Soccer, Globulation 2
BUDGET
None
DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
November 2007 – Q1 2009
WEBSITE
http://snowballz.joey101.net
038 | 3D WORLD August 2008
TDW106.f_games 038
tools, however, we do try to make as much use ● Havok, as used in
commercial titles like
of open-source and freeware tools as possible,
BioShock (above) is now
where they are suitable.” free for PC games that
are distributed free or in
“One of the biggest drawbacks to using
the casual-priced
open-source code is that people can in turn category (sub-$10).
know the inner workings of your product,” Premium titles require
an extra distribution
agrees Aaron Moore, art director/technical licence agreement
artist on SnowballZ, an in-development casual
game utilising open source. “For some of the
bigger multiplayer and massively multiplayer
titles, this can be a huge issue, easily leading
to bug exploitation.”
● A dev screen from SnowballZ. As well as using
open-source tools, the team has open sourced
two of its own libraries, Rabbyt and SnowUI
the team behind SnowballZ aims to monetise
as an independent developer in preparation
for completion of the project: a downloadable
casual game with a socially connected
community, for Windows, Mac and Linux.
“Were targeting a young audience, so we
try to emphasise issues such as caring for
the environment,” says associate producer
Krzysztof Kondrak, who adds that the aim is
also to spread the word about open source.
“The best way to do that is to use OSS for a
● Programmer Joey
project that then becomes widely available.”
Marshall: “[Open source]
isnt so much about cost Programmer Joey Marshall says that the
money-wise as the cost open-source tools used so far have proven
of freedom,” he says highly stable. “Support is usually excellent,
But this isnt applicable to all open-source
code. In fact, much software carries more
permissive licences such as LGPL, zlib, BSD and
MIT. Each has its own quirks, but they all allow
for free distribution and use of OSS without the
need to publish the final game source.
Nonetheless, there can still be drawbacks
in terms of code integration and support. As
with any middleware solution, OSS doesnt
necessarily have all the desired features or
plug into a developers own code with complete
ease. And while open source theoretically
too,” he says. “With smaller projects like
[programming interface] Pyglet, the
developers are normally glad to help. And
with larger ones like Blender, theres a large
and helpful community – although for mature
tools, you mostly find questions already
answered in tutorials or documentation.”
Producer/designer Michael Lubker, who
also works at Aspyr, says that one notable
difference between SnowballZ and standard
titles is the way the game is being coded.
“Python, which we use for most of the game,
is usually used only as a scripting language
in the industry because it is regarded as
slow. But as indies, we are disrupting the
standard thinking and using it for much more.”
As well as using existing open-source
middleware, the team is also releasing its
own code back into the community, having
open sourced Rabbyt – an acceleration
library – and the SnowUI library.
“The negative aspect to releasing code as
open source is that you have to support it,
but this does result in bug fixes – and theres
nothing like people thanking you and saying
that its awesome,” says Marshall. “Plus, you
often get suggestions on improving the
library and even, on rare occasions, someone
will send you a patch or a new feature.”
31/5/08 15:43:07

makes for easy modification, documentation
isnt always good.
Bugs can also be an issue – not surprising,
given that open-source authoring is often a
labour of love carried out without the resources
to put software through pre-release testing.
And, of course, much open-source code is
continually evolving, with any number of users
contributing to its development.
“RECREATING OR BUYING THE
OPEN-SOURCE TOOLS WE USE
WOULD TAKE YEARS, AND COST
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS”
DAVID MARSH, ARTIST & DESIGNER, NIMBLEBIT
“Support and stability are definitely issues,”
says Moore. “One needs to be very picky when
choosing what open-source libraries to include
and what tools to use. Theres nothing like
spending a couple hours trying to debug your
code before realising that the source of the
problem is an unsolved bug thats still in that
imported library.”
When problems do arise, user communities
can often provide help and guidance, but this
ad hoc approach to product support can still be
an issue. Its another reason why mainstream
developers are less keen to use open source.
“When you have a project with millions of
dollars on the line, you cant gamble with the
support issue – you need to be able to call
up other developers and fix something a day
before a major deadline,” says Brian Cronin,
programmer at NimbleBit. “However, having
the source code does allow you to fix issues
yourself and rely less on support. And we have
met some really great open-source developers
TDW106.f_games 039
Open-source game development | FEATURE
CASE STUDY | Blender Institute
After producing the open movies Elephants Dream and Big Buck Bunny,
the Blender Institute is getting into games with the new Project Apricot
FACTFILE
DATE FOUNDED
2007
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
6 in the core team
(plus support from an additional six)
TOOLS USED
Blender, GIMP, Crystal Space,
blender2crystal, Crystal Entity
Layer, Audacity, MEncoder,
ffmpeg2theora, Gnome,
Python, KDevelop, GCC, GDB,
Subversion, RapidSVN
SELECTED CREDITS
Team members have worked on:
Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure,
Jammer The Gardener, Plumiferos
(open-source movie), Elephants
Dream (open-source movie)
BUDGET
€120,000
DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
6 months
WEBSITE
http://apricot.blender.org
● A still from Project Apricot
and (right) the team at work.
“Project Apricot was created
with the aim of improving
Blender and Crystal Space
to contend in the industry,
to provide an open-source
alternative for game
development,” says team
member Campbell Barton
who are so eager to help they almost turn into
an extra set of hands.”
Free software is undoubtedly now a serious
proposition for the games industry. Even major
developers are making use of Linux server code
and open-source tools for other management
tasks. Use of tools like GIMP, Blender and the
GCC compiler is also widespread, while its rare
to find a games studio not using Lua or Python
The viability of open-source software for movies
is no longer in doubt, thanks largely to the
Blender Institutes endeavours with Elephants
Dream (Project Orange) and Big Buck Bunny
(Project Peach). With Project Apricot, the
Institute has now turned its attention to the
games industry – using the characters and
universe featured in Big Buck Bunny in a game
for Windows, Linux and OS X.
The game is being developed using only
open-source tools, with Blender and the Crystal
Space engine providing the bedrock. Blender
serves as the tool for modelling, animation,
rigging, and – with the aid of the blender2crystal
plug-in – gameplay logic and elements can also
be edited and previewed directly in the software.
“Its definitely possible to make a game with
these tools,” says Crystal Space integrator and
Python scripter Campbell Barton. “We do,
however, need people from the community to
support the software so that it will work for our
needs. The underlying tools and libraries are
mature enough, but theres still a lot of work
required on integrated physics, game logic and
sound, in order to make the finished product.”
Programmer Dariusz Dawidowski says that
the project has three aims. “We want to make a
nice game, prepare sets of tutorials about
making games and improve the open-source
game-development pipeline. After just three
months, the pipeline is already very powerful – it
just needs to be made more user-friendly. We
expect a lot of people are going to make games
using it. Its a big leap for open-source gaming.”
The entire Apricot studiobase will be published
on DVD later this year. The team also plans to
present at Sandbox, Siggraphs game symposium.
for scripting. And on the indie side, open-source
engines like Ogre have also proved their worth,
enabling developers to create titles with
production values close or equal to those of
much more expensive games.
“As awareness of open-source technologies
grows, they will be become more accepted,”
says Marsh. “I cant see bigger developers
picking up open-source technology at any
August 2008 3D WORLD | 039
31/5/08 15:43:10
 FEATURE | Open-source game development
● HermitWorks Entertainments Space Trader is one of the few commercially
published titles to make use of a GPL-based 3D engine, namely id Tech 3
● NimbleBit is using several open-source solutions for racing title Zero Gear,
including Ogre, Bullet physics and the Particle Universe particle engine
“HAVING THE SOURCE CODE
ALLOWS YOU TO FIX ISSUES
YOURSELF. YOU ALSO MEET SOME
REALLY GREAT DEVELOPERS”
BRIAN CRONIN, PROGRAMMER, NIMBLEBIT
faster rate, but I think independent developers
are going to continue digging deeper as they
try to leverage everything they can to develop
quality games with few resources.”
But if the larger studios arent so interested
in the potential of open source, some are
at least smoothing the way for others by
contributing to the free software community.
The open-source Bullet physics system is
being developed at Sony by ex-Blender coder
Erwin Coumans. High-profile studio Insomniac
Games has demonstrated commitment to code
sharing with the release of a suite of free PS3
040 | 3D WORLD August 2008
TDW106.f_games 040
CASE STUDY | Deck13 Interactive
German adventure developer Deck13 has proven that open-source
engines have a legitimate role in the world of commercial publishing
FACTFILE
DATE FOUNDED
2001
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
30
(Team size on Jack Keane: 15)
TOOLS USED
Ogre, CEGUI, Opcode, Subversion
Commercial tools used include:
3ds Max, Maya, Photoshop, FMOD,
Visual Studio .NET, Visual Assist X,
SELECTED CREDITS
Ankh, Ankh: Heart of Osiris,
Jack Keane, Venetica (upcoming)
BUDGET
Undisclosed
DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
December 2005 – June 2007
(Jack Keane)
WEBSITE
www.deck13.com
● Ankh (above) is one of two
titles by Deck13 to use Ogre,
an engine carrying the LGPL
licence. “GPL would not have
been an option,” says lead
programmer Thorsten Lange
libraries. Quake developer id Software has
pledged its long-term support: the first three id
Tech engines are already available as GPL, with
id Tech 4 set to follow. And by the time you
read this, the acclaimed Havok physics system
should be available for free PC development.
“This kind of grass-roots initiative was
not practical when Havok was operating
independently,” says Jeff Yates, VP of product
management at Havok. “But with the combined
reach and resources of Intel [which recently
acquired the company], we can now enable
a very broad class of game developers on
With a track record of commercial PC titles,
Frankfurt-based Deck13 Interactive isnt the
most obvious supporter of open-source
software. Yet the studio has successfully
utilised the Ogre game engine twice now,
first in period adventure game Ankh and then
again with recent comedy romp Jack Keane.
“The most important reason for choosing
an open-source 3D engine was the fact that
we were a very small team on a very tight
budget,” says lead programmer Thorsten
Lange. “Writing an engine from scratch
wasnt possible, because I was the only
programmer on the team at that time.”
The budget also ruled out a fully fledged
commercial game engine like Gamebryo, and
though Cipher was considered affordable,
Lange says the team actually found Ogre to
be superior. “There was just one crucial
feature that wasnt present, which Torus
Knot Software – the company run by the
founder and project lead of Ogre to provide
services for the engine – implemented for us.”
Aside from Ogre, Deck13 also makes use
of Subversion for managing code and assets,
but otherwise sticks with commercial
applications. “Why dont we use open-source
modelling tools like Blender? Well, because
our artists are productive with Max and
Maya, and thats what matters most.”
the PC platform, and still continue to develop
commercially innovative technologies.”
Such developments can only further
strengthen the range of tools and middleware
options available in the open-source and
free-to-use software communities, and help
legitimise their role in the world of professional
games development. They may even help put
the emphasis back on content creation rather
than programming one-upmanship. At the very
least, developers of all stripes are starting to
appreciate that sometimes there is such a thing
as a free lunch. ●
31/5/08 15:43:15