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Posted by
Toby Crundwell
on November 13, 2001
Developed by: Dark Basic
Publisher: Actualize
Product: The 3D Game
Maker
 Simplifying
more advanced creation content into a single package is not
a new phenomenon, after the success of music creation
software such as eJay, program creation was sure to get a
revival after the failed attempts of the earlier 90s.
Actualize has introduced a game creation package from Dark
Basic that promises over 8 billion different game
combinations. Today at 3D Spotlight we will be looking at
the 3D Game Maker (T3DGM).
Premise
Accessibility
is the main point of T3DGM. Absolutely no programming
knowledge is required. Creation is mainly icon based, with
plain English prompts. TGM3D is marketed with the phrase
“Just click to create”, which to an extent is quite
accurate. However this accessibility comes with a price;
namely limited functionality. The 3D Game Maker can only
produce one level within a game, and game patterns are
essentially all the same, albeit with different scenarios,
and the ability to integrate multi-player.
It
is actually possible to sell/distribute your user-created
games, but according to Dark Basic there are so many legal
considerations it would not be recommended. Dark Basic would
own most of the material that would be published.
Requirements:
-
Microsoft
Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / ME
-
400
Mhz Pentium II (600Mhz P!!! recommended)
-
64MB
RAM (128Mb Recommended)
-
4x
speed CD-ROM (16x Recommended)
-
Minimum
600 MB of hard disk space (1400Mb for standard
installation)
-
Direct
X compatible Sound Card
-
8MB
DirectX compatible 3D Accelerator (16MB recommended)
Installation
After
the lengthy install process, trying to play the game on my
Windows 2000 installation resulted in instant reboots.
Restarting in Windows 98, reinstalling & trying to play
resulted in slightly better results, the program did open
but gameplay was impossible as none of the textures loaded.
Attempting to run T3DGM on other computers was more
successful, and it had no problem running on my Celeron
laptop (Windows 2000). It occasionally crashed on my K6-2
system (Windows 98).
As
far as I can tell the problems are due to incompatible
drivers. Consulting the FAQ
revealed some compatibility issues with the DirectX 7.0A
implementation T3DGM uses & some Graphics Card drivers
(DirectX 8 certified drivers more than likely). Upgrading or
downgrading the Graphics Card Drivers should fix this
however. To be honest T3DGM should have really been DirectX
8 based anyway given how long ago that was released. Thomas
also pointed out that with his Vivid! XS in Windows 2000 the
Application ran without any of the graphical issues
mentioned above.
First
impressions
Apon
loading up T3DGM (which took a long time on my test systems)
you are presented with options for beginner or standard
modes. Beginner seems fairly pointless, and after attempting
to use it once I switched straight back to standard. There
are less options to change the type of game in the “global
game settings” (more on this later).
After
selecting beginner or standard, you are taken to the main
menu, from where you can create, load a game or edit a game.
There is also an option to create a random game. There are
some preinstalled games, none of which are really up to
much.
The
User interface is easy enough for a young child to use, with
icons or large text captions representing options. There is
a clear movie inspiration, with images taken from the
Matrix, Star Wars and Back to the future.
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