Flash MX or Director MX for a full 3D game...?...

[soulcode]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of designing a web-based 3D fighting game. I want to use macromedia technology to achieve this, but dont know if it would be better if I use flash mx or director mx.

Game Requirements:
- full 3d environment
- have imported 3d models with animation
- full stereo sound
- fast gameplay
- potentually big file sizes
- be playable or downloadable
- network playable with other users on the internet

Examples of similar games (though my one will not be as complex and will be web-based): Tekken 3, Street Fighter EX2, Mortal Kombat 4, Soul Calibar, etc...

It seems as if people on the net generally develop games in Flash MX, is all the above requirements possible in Flash, or should Director MX be best to handle it all. Also, it seems as if its possible to use both technologies aswell, if so, what areas of the game would be best developed in which product?

Sorry if these questions are basic, off topic or too broad... but I'm trying to get a feel for web game development (which i'm unfimiliar with). All is not lost though, I am a Win and Web app developer.

Your Help would be much appreciated.

[HumbuckeR]

Director.

Flash can't handle it (as it is a 2d program, and 3d in Flash can only be "faked"). Hope it helped.

Good luck!

[jebrael]

I would use director. Flash isn't good at 3D at all and too slow to do a full 3D environment in realtime.

[devnull_2k]

I want to explain this to all you people who say that Flash can only "fake" 3D. It isn't true, unless you consider that ALL 3D on computers is faked, as it is all displayed on a 2D monitor.

3D drawing in Flash is as real as any other 3D, except the engine itself must be written by you. How do you think Director works? Do you think something magical is going on behind the scenes? No, it's the same math that you can write in flash.

Mind you, Flash doesn't have some things that you might need to build a more fully featured engine, but that's beside the point.

[rabbitkiller]

Flash is not suitable for 3D stuff. Do director!

[strille]

The requirement "full 3d environment" and "imported 3d models with animation" makes the decision a very easy one. Use Director.

By using Director you can model the environment and models in 3ds max or similar and import them relatively easily into Director. The rendering can take advantage of hardware acceleration which will make it run fast.

If you were to use Flash you would have to program the 3d engine by yourself. And it would be way too slow anyway for what you are describing.

[soulcode]

Hey guys,

thanks for all your feedback!! i didnt expect a response so quickly... thats it, i'm quitting all the other forums!! :-)

one other question... is the Flash ActionScript language similar to the Director 'Lingo'?

[VENGEANCE MX]

Here are a few simple examples:

Flash:

code:

---

on (release) {

    gotoAndStop(3);

}

---

Director:

on mouseUp me
go to frame 3
end


Flash:

code:

---

circle._x = 20;

---

Director:

sprite(2).locH = 20


Flash:

code:

---

circle._x = 30;

circle._y = 50;

---

Director:

sprite(2).loc = point(30,50)


There you go. I think you get the point.

[strille]

Originally posted by soulcode
is the Flash ActionScript language similar to the Director 'Lingo'?

I've never written 1 line of Lingo, but from what I understand the syntax is of the older school, and looks and feels quite different. But Director also supports JavaScript, which is very similar to ActionScript.

[DancingOctopus]

Originally posted by devnull_2k
I want to explain this to all you people who say that Flash can only "fake" 3D. It isn't true, unless you consider that ALL 3D on computers is faked, as it is all displayed on a 2D monitor.

3D drawing in Flash is as real as any other 3D, except the engine itself must be written by you. How do you think Director works? Do you think something magical is going on behind the scenes? No, it's the same math that you can write in flash.

You kinda missed the point, when talking of "fake" 3d engines in flash, one usually means taking shortcuts to cut out the math that is required to generate a 3d images in programming languages. This is done simply because flash can't handle the intensive calcuations needed to create a 3d engine.

It's usually "faked" by using various masking or MovieClip manipulations to create the illusion of a 3d engine, when there's actually no, or very little math being calculated. Examples of this are Percey Pea's mario kart engine, Kirill's OBJ engine or, that uh.. other one.

[Incrue]

Director.
BUT seems that MM itself doesnt care about director or 3d.Take a look at this:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/we...&enterthread=y

[token 3]

I picked director up the other day, it's a lot different to flash, once you learn the basics of 3d, I would expect it would be pretty easy to create a 3d game, there's only about 15 lines required to create, texture and spin a cube on the fly.

within 5 hours or picking through example files, i'd figured out how to create a maze and camera panning...

creating games like http://necromanthus.com/Games/ShockWave/deusex.html would be impossible in flash

good luck

[Hornet]

Originally posted by token 3
I picked director up the other day, it's a lot different to flash, once you learn the basics of 3d, I would expect it would be pretty easy to create a 3d game, there's only about 15 lines required to create, texture and spin a cube on the fly.

within 5 hours or picking through example files, i'd figured out how to create a maze and camera panning...

creating games like http://necromanthus.com/Games/ShockWave/deusex.html would be impossible in flash

good luck

Wow, I'm really impressed by that. I hope he continues working on it more, despite marcromedias ****ty attitute towards director and 3d. phoar!

[Danskeren]

Well I would use Direction (IF it has built-in 3D) if I had to choose between flash and director. But check this out:
http://www.brackeen.com/home/scared/index.html

This i made in java and runs very well, even in a browser. And then later, you can make it a full screen game if you get more serious and take fully advantage of the video card.

[WilloughbyJackson]

Also, the PC CSI game (I think it was CSI) uses Director, tons of videos, photos, and 3-D to boot!

-pXw