HGE/TV3D Game Engine Modules Pricing Announced

Hi,

I've decided what I'm going to do with my TrueVision3D 6.5 and Haaf's Game Engine wrappers. I'm going to give them away for free, closed source, with a license which permits commercial use ( of course ) but does not let you modify the wrapper ( you don't have source, you see ) offers no specific support and no additional features. If I fix bugs or make any changes to the core modules, you get those fixes and updates for free, of course. If you need help, you can post on the BB or CW forums, and I'll try to help if I can, when I have time. No additional restrictions on what you do with your games, beyond the license for the engine itself.

I will also offer an optional registration fee for each of the two modules. This entitles you to full support via the forum on my ( currently being overhauled ) website, priority bugfixes, etc, full source to the modules, a much improved license allowing you to modify my wrapper as you wish and access to any ancillary modules I may create. HGE *will* include all the helper classes for free, that's not what I'm talking about. But if I write any modules which use either game engine, you get those for free as well. No promises, but it's been nagging at me to do it for HGE, at least. The price for registration will be $39.95 for TV3D and $29.95 for HGE.

So if you don't want source, don't want to make changes, and don't really care about support, and don't want any additional helper modules, they're entirely free.

If you want to show your appreciation for all the ( very long ) nights I put into the modules, you want source, you want to make changes or you want support, they're $39.95 and $29.95 respectively.

Still waiting for the next beta release of TV3D, and still working very hard to get the website overhauled and ready for all this. I expect to have everything online within a week or so - albeit the site will probably be a bit bare in places - but I can't speak for the TV3D Beta, that's out of my control.

Hope that sounds fair.

Awesome. Great compromise BTW. I'll be buying it for sure.

Thanks,

heh Generous, and this looks pretty attractive, and worth a look at to see how well it all works together as a development platform. Real shame that TV3d only seems to be windows based.

Do I get royalties for helping with the HGE module?

The HGE base class module is already available open source. I'm not taking anything back. I did all the helper classes alone.

I'll be buying Gabriel. You've obviously worked for a long time on this.

Uesugi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uesugi_Kenshin

Good.

I buy it... Wheres the checkout!

Get a real job instead of scumming.

Gabriel...TV3D wrapper is for B3D or Bmax??

TV3D Wrapper is for BlitzMax. A Blitz3D version is possible, I suppose, but would involve another DLL, which would be messy.

so, tell me, let say I purchase TV3D wrapper for Bmax, so, whats the deal with TV3D itself? I must purchase original TV3D license in order to use your wrapper commercially?? Whats the deal??

Em, no, you have to purchase a TV3D license to use TV3D 6.5 period. There's no freeware license for 6.5 at the moment since it's still in closed beta.

yes, but what is the scenario with gabriel's wrapper...I buy his TV3D wrapper for Bmax, but at same time i dont have license for TV3D..soo..whats the deal?? Is it legal for me to use his wrapper with Blitzmax, while I dont have license for TV3D itself??

It's legal to use his wrapper, but it won't work because you wouldn't have Truevision 3D.

Thats quite pricey at $150 sight unseen, I suppose its really only been released for EA users who already use 6.2 which I wasn't too impressed with.

Still very cool though if it's as good as people are saying.

Nice Deal, considering supporting this mod as I'm planning to buy TV3D recently.

I'm not supplying anything but my module, to do otherwise wouldn't be legal. As Noel says, you won't be able to use my module unless you supply the TV3D library files. When the beta becomes an open beta, you'll be able to get the library files for free. Though you'll still have to deal with any license issues with TV3D yourself. IE: For commercial use, etc.



Well there are plenty of screenshots, videos and compiled demos from 6.5 available, so I wouldn't say it's exactly sight unseen. But essentially, yes, it's very much the same simple syntax as 6.2 and then you can see what features and speed benefits you're getting from the screenshots, videos and demos. Having said that, I understand that an open beta is not far off, at which time everyone will be able to play.

Gabriel,

Hi, just noticed the latest TV3D 6.5 is out with GCC.
Is your wrapper ready for prime time? :)

Rubbing hands together awaiting the fruits of your labour :))

Allan

I'd give him a couple days to ensure it's working as he expects it to.

where did you get the news that tv3d has gone public Ham?

i mean, you did say prime time... :)


--Mike

I don't know if it's gone public ( looking Now ) but they did release a new version of 6.5 yesterday.

Yeah, sorry if it's still not in open beta.

TV3D released an update for the 6.5 beta that allows it to be used with GCC. This means it will work in a Dev C++ or CodeBlocks MinGW environments. They will be providing a Dev C++ framework soon (Be nice if it was DevPack).

It also means Gabe's wrapper will now work and thus BMAX users can tap into TV3D for rendering. This is freaking awesome, excellent 3D API w/ shaders and Newton physics all from BMAX. I can't imagine a better deal or a more exiting time to be indie :)

It's really a shame it's still a closed beta. If everyone here could see how good it is, I really think a lot of the "Which engine" debates would crystalize into the "Where do I get TV3D" questions.

Then again, there is always room for "free" alternatives as long as folks remember that they get what they pay for.

Max3D is going to need to be really special if it's going to compete. Or at least priced very aggressively.

TV3D has been in developement for 6 years. I still have all of the early VB6/DX8 sources from when it was TV8. Thankfully it's all re-written in C++. It may be $150.00 but it's the best (and easiest) I have found so far and like a lot of us, I have looked at 'em all... any worth looking at anyways.

I agree, and yes it does mean my wrapper will now work. Thanks for the heads up, I'll download it and see what I need to do to get the module working. I'm really struggling to find time to work the past few weeks, but I'll try to get this done as soon as possible.

I'm not going to have any time to do any serious work on this for a while, so I'm going to upload a beta version of this in a few hours. I've made the changes necessary to get it running, and all the sample programs are running just great, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Cool. Where do I pay?

If anyone desperately wants the "Pro" version with source and support straight away, I'll have that uploaded and a registration page ready when I post again in a few hours. It will be done through Plimus so that delivery is instant.

I don't desperately want it, but if it works well then obviously I'm not going to say you haven't earned it.

If TV3D works hand in hand with gcc...
Does TV use GL or DX?

DX, get over your dreams of using it in Linux.

Oh I realise that. I just wanted to make it clear that I'm rushing this out as soon as possible because I know people have been waiting a long time for it, and are really keen to play with it. I'm not rushing it out because I want people to open their wallet.

If anyone does want to pay/register/donate/call it what you will, it will be very much appreciated.

I haven't managed to find a single bug in weeks, and I'm confident I'll be able to squash any that do turn up, so hopefully everyone will be pleased with it. I don't want to raise expectations too high because I can't bear letting people down, but TrueVision is very close to my heart. I'm using this for a VERY big project, and everyone can rest assured I will be fixing anything which needs fixing just as soon as I am able.

And I'm done uploading, so from now on, here's a better-placed thread for discussion of this module :

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=59380

Is that you, Duck? God, you've always got another new name. It's DirectX 9, and there is no chance in my opinion of the TV3D guys writing an OpenGL renderer, let alone porting the whole thing to Linux.

If they did, I'd probably port my module though, as a Linux version of my pet project would probably be more useful than a Mac version. Oddly.