kburkhart84
Firehammer Games
Some of you may have seen me mention wanting to make a full-blown system for using 3d here in Gamemaker. I've also typically mentioned that I'm not sure whether to spend the time on such a thing or not. This thread is to hopefully help me decide what the community at large thinks, what kind of demand there would actually be.
Reasons I think the 3d system would be a good idea(Pros):
1. There are plenty of examples showing 3d things, PBR shaders, deferred renderers, animation systems, and plenty others. However, there is not anything I've seen that is a whole system. All these separate things were done in different ways(maybe some by same authors and in similar fashion, but overall and in general). This means that to use multiple things you need to integrate them. However, if it was all done the same way, all together, in one big system, it would be much more usable. And actually doing anything with 3d would likely be much more viable since a great majority of the work would be done already.
2. Right now, GM is all about 2d. I've seen some demand for 3d, but the barrier has always been the extra work needed to implement it all. Simply having the system could mean more people doing 3d...which could lead to...
3. If it is more shown you can use 3d in GM, it is possible(not necessarily likely, but possible) that more users will come. More users would mean hopefully a better product, meaning we all win.
4. Though there are other tools that can do 3d, in general they are harder to get into than GM for many people.
Reasons I think it would be a waste of time to do this(Cons)
1. The target audience for GM has always been the 2d market. I'm not convinced a nice 3d system would ever change that.
2. There are several other tools that can do 3d much better than any system I could. This means that my system very possibly wouldn't end up getting much usage.
3. It would be a lot of work. I'm sure I could get it done, though it would take quite some time. In the meantime, other tools are just getting better, GM will be changing, who knows what else?
The main thing I have is sort of a chicken/egg thing. If the work was done, would more people decide to work with 3d? Or is it more than the target audience using GM in general wants the easier stuff, which 3d is not even if there was a full-blown system for it? I'm having trouble convincing myself either for or against, so I'm hoping maybe some community input would let me "see the light" as the saying goes.
Reasons I think the 3d system would be a good idea(Pros):
1. There are plenty of examples showing 3d things, PBR shaders, deferred renderers, animation systems, and plenty others. However, there is not anything I've seen that is a whole system. All these separate things were done in different ways(maybe some by same authors and in similar fashion, but overall and in general). This means that to use multiple things you need to integrate them. However, if it was all done the same way, all together, in one big system, it would be much more usable. And actually doing anything with 3d would likely be much more viable since a great majority of the work would be done already.
2. Right now, GM is all about 2d. I've seen some demand for 3d, but the barrier has always been the extra work needed to implement it all. Simply having the system could mean more people doing 3d...which could lead to...
3. If it is more shown you can use 3d in GM, it is possible(not necessarily likely, but possible) that more users will come. More users would mean hopefully a better product, meaning we all win.
4. Though there are other tools that can do 3d, in general they are harder to get into than GM for many people.
Reasons I think it would be a waste of time to do this(Cons)
1. The target audience for GM has always been the 2d market. I'm not convinced a nice 3d system would ever change that.
2. There are several other tools that can do 3d much better than any system I could. This means that my system very possibly wouldn't end up getting much usage.
3. It would be a lot of work. I'm sure I could get it done, though it would take quite some time. In the meantime, other tools are just getting better, GM will be changing, who knows what else?
The main thing I have is sort of a chicken/egg thing. If the work was done, would more people decide to work with 3d? Or is it more than the target audience using GM in general wants the easier stuff, which 3d is not even if there was a full-blown system for it? I'm having trouble convincing myself either for or against, so I'm hoping maybe some community input would let me "see the light" as the saying goes.