Sinsoft Entertainment Inc.

GDC 2010

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:56:00 +0000

There has been quite a bit of news coming out from GDC 2010 and we want to comment on what some of the news means for us.

1) Unity Technologies Unveils Unity 3.0. This is major news, because now Unity has a powerful GI baking solution which can compare or at least compete with UDK's lightmass. This will make browser based games look a lot like console games. Unity 3D is not the only game engine that has web browser support, for example Vision Engine 8 from Trinigy promises DirectX 11 games inside a web browser and Torque 3D is another well known example.

2) While this is not really GDC 2010 news, a new March release of UDK was released yesterday and it adds FBX import support. This was one of our complaints back earlier and we can now say that UDK is definitely more Blender friendly. We tried exporting static meshes from Blender 2.5 ALPHA1 into UDK and it seems to do what UDK Collada import does. So it is definitely something to note.

So what does this news mean for us?

At the moment, Unity comes out as the clear winner for delivering ad supported web browser content. It can be picked up in a matter of days, and since we know C# the experience seemed a lot easier. Unity seems to have the best of both worlds. It has a lot of features you would find in BGE like fast script prototyping, and many features you would find in a high end game engine like UDK (i.e. GI baking integration coming in version 3.0 -- pro version only).

RSS feed changed

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:58:00 +0000

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Audio code from Radial Engine open sourced under MIT license

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:37:00 +0000

We have decided to open source the audio code from Radial Engine under the MIT license, so that it can be used in GameKit.

We will send the code to the repository owners and they have to decide whether the code is actually useful and whether they will use it or not.

Blender 2.5 export to Unity

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:45:00 +0000

Just to clarify the previous post. After more evaluation of Unity it appears that Unity can indeed import complete Blender Scenes. Through FBX Import. Therefore the issues don't really apply to Unity.

So even levels that are procedurally generated can be imported into Unity. And if we decide to do any Baking in Blender (AO Baking, Shadow Baking, etc) the results should still be visible in Unity (if the scene is intact). This of course needs more research on our part.

Also it should be mentioned that UDK of course can also import scenes using t3d file format. So if UDK becomes a bit more Blender friendly it might definitely win us over. In particular we are looking for better support for FBX export from Blender. Including the ability to export entire Blender scenes into UDK through FBX. So maybe a FBX alternative to t3d?

So it's still a tough choice. BGE has source code available. UDK has tons of features. But Unity is the only engine out of the three with a Web Player!

(BGE web player is IE only)

UDK vs Unity vs BGE

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:19:00 +0000

With so many "free to use" game engines, making a choice can be tough. As other posts have stated, Sinsoft is considering UDK.

We have been evaluating the engine for about 3 months now and UDK is a great engine any way you look at it.

However we believe that no one can write an engine that will satisfy everybody. Every game developer has their own needs. And one engine might not be geared towards certain needs.

Sinsoft's main goal is to make games as fast as possible. Unfortunately this is how the "indie/casual" games business works. Indie game developers do not have the luxury of time that large AAA studios have. The work flow for an indie developer has to be fast enough to deliver content.

Listed below are the reasons why we are not using UDK as of this writing.

DISCLAIMER: this list is biased and comes from our point of view only. It also reflects what Sinsoft knows about UDK currently. More experienced UDK users might know solutions to the problems that we don't know about.

Blender export to UDK is still an issue for us.
Having to close the UDK editor every time Unreal Script needs to be recompiled is an issue. BGE has python scripting and the results can be seen instantly. The work flow for gameplay development is much faster.
Creating levels in Blender is still a lot faster.
EXE file size is quite large for an indie game. The smallest game in UDK once cooked and packaged can take up 150MB or more.
Generating procedural levels is hard. In BGE it's "easier". NOTE: Blender is also one of the best tools out there for generating procedural content in general. Because of its python scripting that has access to much of Blenders components.

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Unity engine seems like a good candidate that resolves the above issues. From our evaluation of Unity FREE Edition, C# scripts are compiled quickly as you press "Ctrl P". Basically almost the same behavior as BGE. Unity also has great Blender support. However BGE is still better for issues 3, 5. In addition to BGE having source code available.

So we will go back to using BGE. And we will continue to evaluate new releases of UDK / Unity.

Unity is very tempting as it has a great Web Player. And we are conducting tests to see whether Unity Demos running inside a web browser can run besides ads hosted by us.

Sinsoft cares about features and graphics which is why UDK was chosen immediately. It has the most extensive features for gameplay and PhysX implementation. As well as the best rendering engine out of the other "free to use" game engines. In fact it is hard to find other game engines in the entire industry that compare with Unreal Engine 3 in terms of comprehensive features.

However if we feel that we won't be able to finish a game with it. Then we won't use it. Business comes first. It took a month just to learn the many features of UDK. And there is sill quite a bit that we don't know.

Blender 2.5 export to UDK

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:09:00 +0000

Export of Blender 2.5 collada files into UDK works for static meshes. However when using the "reload static mesh" in the Content Browser it doesn't work when the file is a collada dae file.

So far "reload static mesh" only works for ASE files. Therefore ASE export needs to be used for static meshes.

We have also not been able to successfully load FBX files from Blender to UDK. Autodesk's Fbx Converter also doesn't work. We tried different 'Autodesk Converter Fbx' versions etc. We even tried converting a Blender Fbx to a 'Autodesk Converter Fbx' and it doesn't import in UDK.

So the only solution at the moment is to keep using Blender 2.49 ASE exporter and 2.49 PSK/PSA exporter.

We have slightly updated the PSK/PSA script from Blender 2.49 to work with Blender 2.5. However it's not yet complete and needs more work. If you need access to this updated script so you can work on it yourself see:
http://www.filefront.com/15354713/export_udk_PSK_PSA.py.

The script works with the latest builds of Blender 2.5x and not Blender 2.50 Alpha 0. Simply place the script in ..\.blender\scripts\io

We also have plans to update the ASE script to work with Blender 2.5. HOWEVER both scripts are being worked on part time right now. Since the 2.49 solution works at the moment.

UPDATE: It should be noted that importing collada files with the same name as ones in a package does replace the old ones in the package. So if a collada asset named X is imported into a package that contains a collada asset named X, then it will be replaced by the new one. So ASE export from Blender may not be necessary.

UDK, issue #2

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Some of the questions we had about UDK have been resolved.

Please see this forum post for more information:
UDK forum

Update: Legal Questions Answered.
UDK forum

Sinsoft considers switching to UDK for game development

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Sinsoft has been evaluating UDK since its release last week and may consider switching to Unreal Engine for game creation.

We are currently using BGE for game development.

However some issues have to be resolved before the final decision can be made:

The biggest issue is asset export from Blender. Sinsoft does not want to switch without being able to use Blender because we believe Blender is crucial for fast DCC development. There are some 3rd party export scripts currently being evaluated.
Ad Revenue sharing issues that need to be resolved.

Once these issues are resolved Sinsoft will go ahead with the switch.

Stay tuned for more updates about this development.

Sinsoft now using Blender 2.50 (internal build)

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:15:00 +0000

Blender 2.5 (internal build) is being used for some tasks in order for us to get familiar with the new interface. This also allows us to prepare for any python script change issues that might occur when switching from 2.49.

Original Radial Engine Demo now a free download, insert coin system being overhauled

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:11:00 +0000

The demo that shows off the Radial Engine is now a free download. All the insert coin code has been removed. This version of the Radial Game Engine uses OGRE for rendering, PhysX for physics, and OpenAL for audio.

The insert coin system / sinsoft online store (sinsoft.net) is being overhauled to work with the Blender Game Engine.

Sinsoft is also looking at other distribution options that make use of the already built online store.

DOWNLOAD (The Briefcase -- Radial Engine Demo) -- Windows XP / VISTA

How To install:

Downlaod and install OGRE Demo Package (site: http://www.ogre3d.org/download/demos) for windows.
Install The Briefcase demo.
Install the PhysX 2.8.1 runtime (or later) if you don't have it on your system.
Install OpenAL and Visual Studio 2008 runtime (included in zip file).
Launch any OGRE demo. There should be a Ogre.cfg in the OGRE Demos installation folder, which will have your system setting included in the file.
Copy Ogre.cfg into the Sinsoft installtion folder (ex. C:\Program Files\Sinsoft\)
Launch TheBriefcase.exe.

The Ogre.cfg step is needed because the last build of Radial Engine demo with no IC does not do an OGRE prompt. So it will not create a Ogre.cfg file and the demo will not run. The best way to create Ogre.cfg manually is using steps 1, 5, and 6 above.

Sinsoft using Blender Game Engine (BGE) for game creation

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Sinsoft has decided to switch to BGE for making games. The company's Radial Engine lacks a level editor and python scripting for logic/AI. If the company thinks that there is technology in Radial Engine that can be ported over to BGE, it will port it over and release the code under the GPL/Blender dual license.

Radial Engine now uses Bullet Physics SDK instead of PhysX

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:06:00 +0000

The physics engine for Radial has been changed from PhysX to Bullet.

The main reason for the switch is that Bullet is open source and allows greater flexibility for gameplay integration. The switch also eliminates the need for a separate runtime to be installed.

This change however did take some time and further tests are needed to reach the level that the engine was at when PhysX was used.

Current Radial Engine demos on sinsoft.com will still have PhysX as the physics engine and a separate runtime needs to be downloaded and installed.

Sinsoft debuts insert coin technology

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Sinsoft previewed its game engine on April 21, 2009 and launched the 'insert coin' system.

The 'insert coin' system allows users to try Sinsoft's latest offering for 50 cents per play (or 2 coins) with a minimum purchase of $1(US). This micro-transaction type of payment system is suitable for indie video game companies because it allows the developer to release incremental versions of its latest game and have the clients try it out for as little as possible and give feedback, while the developer can still make money in return.

Sinsoft calls the combination of game engine and insert coin network technology the "Sinsoft Arcade Cabinet". Hence the use of Arcade Cabinet requires a constant connection to the Sinsoft arcade servers and therefore Sinsoft games are 'online' games and cannot be played offline.

All newly released version of the arcade cabinet are free to download. The client only pays on a pay per play basis.

The Briefcase is a mockup game to showcase Sinsoft's Game Engine named Radial. Sinsoft is currently working on a game to make use of the 'insert coin' technology. However The Briefcase does showcase the 'insert coin' technology by itself. So a client can download the arcade cabinet without buying any credit. They will simply be presented with an 'insert coin' prompt during gameplay. If they still want to play or try, they would have to exit the game, visit the Sinsoft online store and buy credit.

The Briefcase will always be a mockup game, so Sinsoft might use it for later demos etc. The idea is that its a generic demo where the objective is to get to the briefcase inside a complex filled with cool NPC characters.

Donate/Sponsor

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Legal

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Sinsoft™ is a trademark of Sinsoft Entertainment Inc.

Radial Engine is a trademark of Sinsoft Entertainment Inc.

The Briefcase copyright© 2009 Sinsoft Entertainment Inc.

All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

Contact Us

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

info@sinsoft.com

Advertise

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Want to advertise with Sinsoft? You can place your ads on the main page, download page, and the game manual pages.

Please contact us at info@sinsoft.com for more information.

COMPANY

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Sinsoft Entertainment Inc. is an independent video game company founded by Sinan Hassani. The company is located in Ontario, Canada.

Payment cancelled.

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Donation payment successful.

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Donation cancelled.

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

ICON

noreply@blogger.com (sinsoft.com) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000