Trying to decide which Engine to use.. a little help?

[RonnieNeeley]

Wow, you guys are a world of help, especially you arcones, I really appreciate your compare/contrast table.

Again, this is not an easy decision. Sandbox is easy to use, fun, and has a wonderful community. Not to mention, it is still actively being developed, and the developers are active in the community as well. Anything my friend and I may discover goes back to the community to help.

RealmCrafter looks nice so far, but within the second day I felt like I knew my way around Sandbox, I haven't looked too much into RealmCrafter yet besides the tools and stuff, for all I know using it is impossible. The thing that just pulls me into RC is all the pre-built stuff, more specifically the built in server. My friend and I can't get the Sandbox server to work for the life of us, although I have played Saubraten (spelling?) and AssaultCube, so wouldn't it be possible to copy some of those scripts over to Sandbox?

I don't know, the logical thing seems to be RealmCrafter, but there is something about Sandbox that I like more, so I'm gonna have to say I'm at: Sandbox 75% / RealmCrafter 25%

Again, thank you all who have helped me in this dilemma.
Ronnie

[GR1M]

Cool, there's nothing wrong with the Sandbox server. The master server is off for now because it costs $ to stay open. And there may be some problems copying the code over since Sandbox has its own code but i may be wrong.

[RonnieNeeley]

Alright, so I've found out some things I need to know/do.

I need to host a master server. How would one go about this?

I need to know if Sandbox is secure enough to host an MMORPG. I don't want people to just be able to edit the maps/their characters, etc.

I need to be able to save all the character information to the Master Server.

I need to be able to make a secure trading system.

I need to make sure items do not easily get duplicated.

There are a lot of more questions/needs, but those are the ones off the top of my head. I know that coding will be needed, but I need to make sure that these can be coded.

The only thing I have seen the Cube2 Engine produce is FPS games, which require none of that, and then Sandbox has seen 2 RPGs, both offline, so again, these were not needed.

[Hirato]

why the disparity between graphics and shaders?
sandbox can load both ASM shaders and GLSL shaders, and I suspect without restriction on their functionality (just in case I need to mention it )

secondly. cubescript itself is just hooks for the C/C++ stuff, to make an MMORPG you're going to need to delve into a LOT of C/C++ code, it's simply not possible otherwise

thirdly are you implying that realm crafter allows you to animate models ingame?
sandbox requires this work be done in programs such as blender, but we support both vertex animation (md2/md3) and skeletal animation (md5/iqm/smd)

finally, sandbox can allow for a client-client network architecture, you'd just need to code in the logic (and I have no idea where to start)

[arcones]

Because who wants to play an MMORPG that doesn't have good graphics?

Supposedly RC allows in game key frame and skeletal animation. but I'd use Blender!

[Captain_Ahab]

realmcrafter appears to be windows only
cross-platform is always nicer imho

another engine is cafu
http://www.cafu.de/

just another option, I guess
But something about cube2 engines seems..'right' to me

[RonnieNeeley]

Thanks for the information Captain_Ahab, I appreciate everyone who isn't just saying "SANDBOX!", people who are actually trying to help me, which is all of you guys

I will look into Cafu as well, it looks pretty nice.

Yes, Sandbox does seem "right" to me too, but the amount of work that would be required to put into it to make anything remotely closed to what I have envisioned happens to turn me off to it. I'd rather take the time to learn something that gives me endless possibilities then something that is easy to use, but kind of limiting. I'm not saying Sandbox is limiting, but in it's current state of development, sadly, it is. Yes, I will continue to play with it and make maps and check the forums, but for now I'm afraid my friend and I will move our idea to another engine. For making single player games it is amazing, but that is not what we are hoping to accomplish.

Don't worry though, I'll tell my friends about Sandbox and probably make an FPS game in it once that system gets set up.

Thank you guys so much,
Ronnie

(Any more information would be greatly appreciated as well. We are not 100% decided yet, but are fairly close.)

[Hirato]

limiting?
the only limits are those your skills (or lack thereof) impose

we provide the source code, and I'd personally encourage you to modify it and add in the functionality you find missing.
better yet, implement it AND share it with us so everyone can benefit from your efforts.

I'm only one person and this is a volunteer project. There is only so much I can do and/or feel like doing

[arcones]

We all appreciate your work Hirato!

Anyway, glad you found a game engine Ronnie!

@Captain, Cafu looks pretty awesome! I might check it out!

limiting?
the only limits are those your skills (or lack thereof) impose

I agree with Hirato here... I could do very little when I first got Sandbox. It's all about what you are willing to do, and more importantly, what you are willing to learn. I was very hesitant about CubeScript, lighting, Mapmodels even!

At first I was just content to create buildings, now, I'm working on an two projects: an FPS and an RPG!

[RonnieNeeley]

Just thought I'd update here, my friend and I have decided to stick with Sandbox.

I realized that every time I used an engine, I was expecting Sandbox but with more features. It then hit me that we might as well use Sandbox in the first place, and actually make the game ourselves, not just replace some models and call it a day like most engines were. Plus, anything we discover, we can share with the community and over all improve this engine.

We are in the concept stage of the game, dubbed "Project TS" for now. I will soon be writing a "guide" on the game and what we plan to accomplish. Thanks for everyone who helped in making the decision.