Game Engine for non proffesional "developer"

[Soth]

Hi, I’m working now in point of sell design DTP and doing visualizations, but I always wanted to use my 3d skills in game design industry. Now I’m considering do mod or simple game.
I have question: What game engine will be best for me as Lightwave user. I know that Torque engine have free Lightwave exporter but engine doesn’t support large objects like building, and exporter don’t have documentation and even one tutorial. I’ve downloaded A6 Game Engine (as second engine with Lightwave export tools), but in this models imported from Lightwave don’t cast any shadows…
I know that game level done in Lightwave and exported with Map Tool done originally for A6Game Studio will work with most game engines compatible with .map format, does model exporter will work in the same manner?
I have FarCry game which includes editor for game but only available plugins are for Maya and 3d Studio Max. Can I use DStorm .x exporter with FarCry, or maybe, I should download free gMax and use as exporter tool? :-)
I want to use created mod for job hunting, so I want best pipeline and quality of rendering, and engine should have price for “home developer”.
Few years ago was rumors about exporters for game engines directly from Newtek. I even seen documentation!!!
Thx for your time and sorry for my English :o
Regards
Tomasz

[mouse_art]

Buy Doom3, and you can native load static models in the Engine.
But the animations are a bit a problem.

Here is a LW scene converter for animations(no multimesh support, so only charanimations, someone should code a new Exporter :/).
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4595


And here a LW script to export Camera animations in to the D3Radiant(mapeditor).
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6493


And http://www.doom3world.org (the Doom3 editing resource forum.
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Or Croteams Serious Sam is a good choice too for LW (native support of LW)

And for HL2 it exist a Exporter too, i think it was posted on this Forum.

[nemac4]

I’ve downloaded A6 Game Engine (as second engine with Lightwave export tools), but in this models imported from Lightwave don’t cast any shadows…
I know that game level done in Lightwave and exported with Map Tool done originally for A6Game Studio will work with most game engines compatible with .map format, does model exporter will work in the same manner?

The A6 engine does support static and dynamic shadows with the commercial version,.. which is only $200. Even the standard version at $49 will allow static shadows.

http://www.conitec.com/a4info.htm

A good tool for dealing with object export is Milkshape 3d. It works with many formats including LWO.

http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/

Here is also another option for MDL7 files:

http://www.greenbriarstudio.com/3D/GameLWMod.htm


Here is a link to a nice tutorial CD for 3dgs and Lightwave:

http://www.lostpencil.com/justanimate_ga.html

;)

[Emmanuel]

If You want a job in the games industry, You must specify what You want to do.
If its characters, model, texture and pose them.
If its buildings, do the same.
And vehicles, look above.
In any case, You don't need an engine.
Many studios use many engines, so the chance that Your models look a bit differently in any engine is there.
As an employer, I wouldn't be interested in engine shots of Your level, I would like to see the models per se, without any distracting environment.
As an Unreal engine licensee, I wouldnt care about how Your models look in a Doom engine, so the best thing You can do is work independantly from an engine and just show off Your modeling and texturing and animation skills.
Most of the time, the different tasks will be handled by different people, so putting Your objects into an engine environment would only be interesting if You want to do level design and lighting.
But if You wanna do that, You could as well use stock models which exist in any format (see polycount etc).