[Bf-committers] Call for GameEngine developers
bf-committers@blender.org
bf-committers@blender.org
Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:00:21 -0400
Quoting Ton Roosendaal <ton@blender.org>:
> 2- We then separate the current game engine (nicked Ketsji) from the
> bf-blender tree, turning it into a separately managed project, and as
> an export extension or plug-in to Blender. This can be done quite
> efficiently, because dependencies from the engine to Blender code are
> minimal. How this will affect the 'game options' (logic editing) in
> Blender has to be decideded on.
The "plug-in" term needs elaboration. If you mean that perhaps this project
could include window types that have full access to blender internals including
DNA so that Ketsji-specific data could be stored in regular blend files, then
there isn't much difference to the current setup. But I didn't think that is
really possible with Blender right now. Maybe with the planned script-UI
integration features we could build "Ketsji guis" that bridge the separate
regimes. This reliance on python for robust access to Blender data would
hopefully strengthen the python API rather than tie up ketsji development.
Depending on these issues, the logic gui quality and integration with Blender
could suffer, and this is a big advantage the game engine has over other
products despite the minimal integration code-wise. I think totally splitting
Ketsji from Blender reduces its appeal, since although it doesn't necessarily
need blender to make it a "good" piece of software, it does need a good gui.
Otherwise it is just another game engine with tools that don't always serve it
well. How about forking Blender for a "Ketsji level editor" version that
supports Solid/fuzzics and potentially ODE? Could have:
* more logic editing support such as finite state machines
* remove some features not supported by game engines??
I know there won't be impetus for a complete fork unless there are coders to do
the work and maintenence, so a first step could be to implement Ton's scheme.
If there is interest at some point a full fork of Blender could be made from
tuhopuu.
> Lastly; we have the compatibility problem.
I don't think that compatibility is an issue if we release the 2.25-compatible
open source version. Then we should have a clean conscience to pursue the
future ;)
Cheers,
Tom