Technologies

Midas EngineJonathanLevel editorDialog editor3ds Max3ds Max auto

Dreadlocks team develops and uses its own tools and game engine.

As Twinwill arose from a school project that was originally set at CTU in Prague, coming up with our own ideas has always been a key outline. Moreover, we feel that gaining maximum practice concerning game development means work out technologies on our own.

In July 2010, the making of Midas Engine MT began, aiming to replace the current obsolete Midas Engine. Most of the tools and engine parts are currently ready for first testing or fully designed and awaiting the development. Technical demo of the engine will be presented in 2011.

Below we propose a list assembling some of the features we plan to implement in the Midas Engine:

  • Graphic card: nVidia GeForce 7600 (or better), ATI Radeon 9700 (or better)
  • Object-oriented design
  • Complex memory management
  • Multicore processors support
  • Operating system WindowsXP, Windows Vista and Windows7
  • OpenGL 2.1-4 and DirectX 9-11 support (with the possibility of extension to arbitrary GAPI)
  • NVidia CG with possibility of extension to other language (GLSL, HLSL, GLSLES)
  • LUA scripting language
  • XML configuration
  • 3D sound (FMOD library)
  • NVidia PhysX physical engine (both sw and hw)
  • Per-pixel lighting
  • Shadow and light mapping
  • Advanced texture mapping (parallax mapping, ambient occlusion)
  • .bmp, .tga, .dds, .jpg and .png support
  • Level of detail
  • Octree
  • Frustum and occlusion culling
  • Resource manager offering support for data streaming during the rendering process
  • Skeletal animation
  • Automatic generation of facial expressions based on sound and input configuration
  • Particle system
  • FMV sequences playback in respective format
  • Effects:
    • Water rendering
    • Volumetric mist
    • Fire
    • Transition effects
    • Day and night alternation
    • Dynamic weather changing
    • Anaglyph and 3D Vision support (DirectX only)
  • AI:
    • Path finding
    • State machines system
    • Decision-making algorithms
    • Pre-scripted behavior

Common engine tools:

  • Data management system
  • Scene editor and sequence editor
  • Dialog editor
  • Model viewer
  • Particle editor
  • Face-play editor
  • Material editor
  • Video editor

Autodesk 3dsMax plugins:

  • Respective materials
  • Scenes, models and animations export
  • Spare scene editor as a Max tool

...and more game-specific tools.