The Drag[en]gine is an free software project with a highly modular structure based on the GLEM System. Its design is similar to an operating system. The entire functionality is provided by Modules comparable to device drivers. The engine itself acts like a system kernel managing modules, resources and abstracting the underlying system. Due to the loose coupling of the modules with the system and other modules it is very easy to exchange or improve them without interfering with the rest of the engine. As a result the modularity extends from the developer to the end user who can now choose the optimal module combination for his personal computer even down to per game setups ( and even while running a game ) if required. Developers do not have to worry anymore about low level concerns keeping them concentrated on their game. In contrary to other engines (including high-end commercial ones) the Drag[en]gine provides true 0-Day portability of games with no extra costs and no troubles neither for the developer nor the end user.
Advantages of the Drag[en]gine
... for the Game Designer:
- Use your Scripting Language of choice.
- Hardware is fully abstracted. You only have to know how your chosen Scripting Language works
- Updating the engine and modules is handled by the respective teams. You only have to worry about updating your game
- No need to write specific content for specific systems. The users choice of modules takes care of this for you
... for the Module Coder:
- Play around with individual parts of the engine without disturbing any other part. Test easy and fast new algorithms or features
- Various debugging features help to debug fast and easy modules even during run-time
- Loose coupling and high encapsulation yields in a more stable game engine
- Platform specific code is only handled in modules increasing portability
... for the Customer:
- Choose the optimal combination of modules for your system. The Drag[en]gine adapts to match your system not the other way 'round!
- Open standards and free file formats ensure unrestricted and easy modding using free software applications
- Various Launchers allow you to use the Drag[en]gine for more than just gaming
- The Crash Recovery System prevents a game from crashing to desktop. While CRS is running change parameters or entire modules and continue your game from where it went out for lunch.
For more information check out the Drag[en]gine Wiki.
Features
Due to the modular nature a fixed list of engine features as other engines provide is not possible since it all depends on the customer's choices. To avoid cluttering the summary find the features list in this article:
Related Articles
This one took a bit longer than excepted but it was well worth it. Two main tasks have been finished in the last few weeks. I'm interested to hear what you think about the changes.
XML Gui Theming
This task had been on my list for some time now. The Gui Theming used so far worked but turned out to be more and more cumbersome with getting down to actual use. I had to deal too much with script code doing Gui Theme jobs which I do not want to burden onto a future co-worker artist and future modders. So I took the time to nudge the Gui Theming up to the next level so it can be fully done using XML files. The new system is now working as I intended it from the beginning making it way easier to style UI elements than before.
The two screens below show an example of the system used on conversation to help better grasp who is speaking and how he is speaking. More XML Gui Theming is shown in the video below. All is now handled with this XML Gui Theming: HUD, UI Dialogs, In-Game Computers and so forth.
For those interested in some reading and documentation you can find new and updated Wiki Pages about the Gui Theming.
Interactive Main Menu
This idea I had around on my desk since some time but just went about to actually do: Interactive Main Menu.
In-Game the game is HUD-less focusing the player on really doing his investigation work. So I thought it would be nice to also extend this interaction design choice also to the main menu. Instead of a boring background image with buttons I wanted to add a bit of detective investigation work. I'll be adding more hot-spots to the screen later on as little goodies.
The video below shows the menu in action. This video is right from after launching the game so you fade into this "room" like shown below. If you have any thoughts please share them.
Coming Next
This will be another surprise. After all surprises are the most fun aren't they?
Colorful Lights And Skies
Epsylon 3 commentsSometimes you need to put some fancy colors into Lights and Skies. The Drag[en]gine makes this easy and fun.
DELGA and the Game-Def Editor
Epsylon 1 commentEven Dragons wrap up Gifts from time to time. And this one has some special content.
Content Generation and more
Epsylon 3 commentsLet's have a quick talk about generated content and other new stuff
Bend-y and Weasel-y Dragons
Epsylon 2 commentsSean demonstrates how bend-y and weasel-y dragons really are. If you can't get some place don't forget about your partner.
Games
Epsylon
AdventureEpsylon - The Guardians of Xendron takes the player on a journey to a futuristic world investigating a very special Science-Fiction setup. With a team...
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Hello. Can someone point me, where can I download Drag[en]gine? I can not find it on theyr website, can't find on their Wiki, nor could I find it here. No prebuilt engine, no modules, no sources, nothing. How can I try it?
It's not available to the public yet. There are a few things I need to clean up and finalize first before I open up the repository. I prefer a solid first release than endless patchwork.
wow, this engine looks really promising. Sadly I use a mac and can't run it, Is there any plans for a mac version? It wouldn't be to hard to port it if it runs on Linux.
The engine is POSIX based. Only thing that has to be ported is the launcher as the rest would work out of the box. Only problem: I've no access to a mac. If anybody donates a mac strong enough to run advanced graphics it could be done. Otherwise I'm afraid not for the near future.
Darn, the problem is that macs are fairly pricy, It would be hard to find a person willing to donate a up to date mac.
Also just wondering, what is the launcher written in?
They are written in C++. This is though not mandatory. Every language able to link to a C++ library can be used to write a launcher.
Looking for some updates, I have hi hopes for this engine. Anyway to keep the mouse pointer a normal pointer tho?, that looks like it will stunt my productivity.
The updates are there (huge ones) but it's all too connected to split apart. I'll inform in due time. Concerning the mouse pointer it is just my developer system. Neither the game engine nor the design tools force any mouse pointer on you. That would be really stupid :D
Really love the video and how the dragon was modeled
Hi, could this be used for example, to make a game that's a combination between Civ and Total War?
In general you can use it for any kind of game. The engine is build on prodiving a generic approach with common game building elements without limiting you on a certain game type.