Development engine

[aVar++]

I know there is lots online but I want your guys opinion of what you have got on with.

I need a game engine/program to create platformers, its just for a hobby at the moment :)

I will eventually go in to 3d what do you guys use? I always wonder when I see videos like 'inside the making of assissins creed' where they have all this awesome software and I always wonder what it is.

Mat :)

[mike_2000_17]

where they have all this awesome software and I always wonder what it is.

3D animation / modeling is usually done with a professional suite of 3D animation software, and often in combination with in-house software / add-on scripts. The most popular software, from my limited and somewhat out-dated knowledge, is Maya / 3D Studio Max. But if you want to try your hand at this, I would recommend going with the open-source Blender software, which many people use, even for "real" projects because it is very feature-rich and easy to extend with in-house features or scripts. Blender is probably as close as you can get to professional 3D modeling software without having to significantly lighten your wallet.

You can also take a look at the wiki list of 3D modeling software. But you should understand that this is a very broad category, ranging in features (basic to professional) and application area (e.g., engineering drawings, computer games, or Pixar-style animations).

Also, understand that a lot of computer game companies have a significant amount of expertise in 3D graphics and also have a lot of custom rendering code and custom modeling formats that are intimately tied to their game development. This often means that in-house tools / add-ons can be very easy to make and effective to use, and probably not the kind of software they would consider selling or sharing with the world (and their competition!). Blender was originally just that (an in-house tool), but the company went under, so they released Blender on their way out and launched this great open-source project that is still alive and well today.

I need a game engine/program to create platformers, its just for a hobby at the moment :)

There is quite a big difference between a game engine and a 3D modeling program (if that's what you mean). The engine is the programming side of things, and modeling is the "artistic" side of things. There is rarely much cross-over, i.e., most artists know very little if anything about programming, and vice versa.

If you are looking for suggestions of game engines to use, I only have Ogre3D to propose, it is a very nice, easy to use and popular open-source game engine (with renderer). Related to it is Unity3D, which is commercial but available for free as long as you are not making too much money with whatever game you produce ;) (I think the cap is like 100k$ or something like that)

[aVar++]

Thanks for the very detailed reply. I've been using unreal engine the past few days which is quite fun :) So I am hoping to make a 3D game in that and unrealScript. For the modelling Blender sounds good, thanks a lot :)