Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Building Game Worlds
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U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
Name Web Address Comments
The DEdit tool is part of the
Jupiter System behind No One
Lives Forever 2 and Tron 2.0
The Warcraft 3 editor comes
included with the game
Neverwinter Nights includes
the Aurora Neverwinter
Toolset, allowing players
to create custom content
www.touchdownentertainment.com DEdit is the level editing tool specifically constructed
for use with the Jupiter System engine
technology. If you work with this engine, DEdit
will be your level tool.
www.blizzard.com Using editors that ship with popular game
titles is a great way to get a feel for level
construction. Use the Warcraft 3 editor
to start exploring map construction. You
can use many of the workflow suggestions
offered in previous chapters.
www.bioware.com A solid choice for learning about event scripting
for games. However, your scripts will be
game specific. Don’t forget to experiment
with a multi-purpose scripting language like
JavaScript or Python!
These listings are only a sampling of games that allow for player editing. There are
many other game titles not listed here that ship with their own tools for custom content
creation. These tools tend to vary greatly in stability and quality. It’s not necessary
or time sensitive to learn all of these tools. Focus on using a few of them well
based on your own particular gaming interests.
M IDDLEWARE
Middleware forms a technology layer between your development tools and game
hardware, allowing developers to focus more on content creation than on the supporting
technology construction.
Name Web Address Comments
Renderware www.renderware.com A portfolio of tools and technology solutions
to support game development efforts and
cut down external dependencies.
PRODUCTION TOOLS
The following applications are general purpose production tools that are frequently
used to support the game development effort in a variety of ways.