The Future of Legions - Part One

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Defender

Member
I'm playing around in the free Unity map editor today, hoping to many features are not disabled in the free version I downloaded.
I want to try and import the FrostByte terrain, then add better looking hills around the edges.. Also add some trees in if they are included in the free editor, or try to use the editors tree creating options.. I don't want to add to many trees because they can lag the game..
 
SeymourGore

SeymourGore

Flatulent Cherub
If one of the coders has some free time, we'll get one of them to write up the reasoning behind the switch to Unity. I myself was a bit skeptical behind a transition to Unity instead of T3D, but after hearing the explanation of the move, well, it does sound like the direction to take!
 
pinekoan

pinekoan

Legions Developer
So about Unity and why we're choosing it over T3D.

Legions, as it is, is a heavily modified TGEA engine. Many engine patches have accumulated over the years targeting additional features and bug fixes. The base code for the current incarnation of Torque, T3D 1.2, has changed enough from Legions' diverging branch of TGEA such that the task of merging the Legions patches into T3D 1.2 is somewhere between quite problematic and impossible. Especially for a small team like us. This means we'd have to basically start over anyway, porting over scripts one-by-one, and modding the engine as necessary.

Now the workflow for Torque involves writing a good deal of C++, which is quite possibly one of the most powerful and unproductive languages in existence. Its powerful because it can be optimized at a very low-level. Its unproductive because it takes a long time to write, compile, and even longer to debug. Again, since we're such small coding team, that's not really a hit we can afford to take.

Unity is our time saving secret weapon. They've taken a different approach to engine interaction which involves exposing many interfaces at a low-level to Mono, an open-source port of the .NET CLR. This alone buys us a whole lot of things, (including programming in any .NET implemented language, C#, etc.) and drastically increases our productivity. The release of Unity4 is right around the corner (its in closed beta now) which looks even better than Unity 3.5

Here's a few big advantages:
  • Modify low-level code, create animations, and import assets directly into a running game instance in a tightly integrated development environment.
  • Huge community constantly releasing Unity resources for sharing and purchase (trees, cameras, etc).
  • Reference and leverage any Mono libraries, e.g. http://www.communityexpresssdk.com/sdk/ for Steam Integration.
  • Great looking rendering, lighting and animations.
The bottom line is this: Since we're not facing a short development time anyway, even if we use T3D, why not choose something more modern. We can bootstrap our project with tons of available resources, and make the most efficient use of development time we possibly can. And make the world weep with joy at the beauty we have created, while our enemies flee in terror. Or something.
 
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Defender

Member
I would love to create some Legions2, space asteroid or moon maps, that have a few asteroids floating by in a cool space starsky....:)
Then add some space vehicles in... ;)
Now thet we are moving to Unity, custom vehicles can be added in by a modder or map creater..
I'm assuming we players will be able to fully mod and map Legions2, on Unity?

This would be a cool system to include in Legions2..
Am willing to donate, to help buy it..
Space Graphics Toolkit, for $65.00
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/147954-Space-Graphics-Toolkit-RELEASED

Video
Click and drag to look around... Use up/down arrow to fly around the planet..
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/592301/2012_SpaceGraphicsToolkit/Build/Demo1/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html


This would be a cool system to include in Legions2..
Am willing to donate, to help buy it..
UniStorm v1.5 - Dynamic Day & Night Weather System $60.00

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/121021-UniStorm-Lightning-and-Thunder-System-for-Unity-RELEASED

Video
 
Crisis12096

Crisis12096

Member
From what I saw of Unity, it's pretty damn sexy and I'm looking forward to seeing Legions on it.
I'm also looking forward to The Future of Legions - Part Two.
 
Heisenberg

Heisenberg

New Member
GarageGames to Release T3D as Open Source

Probably won't affect the decision though i assume. As a layman, pinekoan's explanation seems quite convincing to me. I hope a complete rewrite won't be too much to handle either way. I can't be of much help, though i really want this to succeed, i will never tire of original Tribes-like gameplay.
 
Volt Cruelerz

Volt Cruelerz

Legions Developer
The engine programmers already had the engine code and have been modifying it as needed. This simply means that anyone would be able to get a hold of the engine code because you don't have to buy it anymore.
 
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