Sonic project: Best looking 3D homebrew?
by Eric Caoili 
{ Jul 20th 2008 at 6:00PM }
We missed an awful lot of homebrew news this past week, what with the E3 Media & Business Summit demanding our complete attention, but we intend to amend all that over the next couple of days. First on our list: The Sonic 3D game project (no relation to the Sega hedgehog).
It's difficult enough for commercial developers to create a decent looking 3D game for the DS, imagine the challenges that come with homemade project! Admitting that he's neither an animator or artist, programmer Ritz used textures and model data from BioWare PC RPG Neverwinter Nights to put together this demo. Despite the distance fog, we're impressed with the smooth animation and the maneuverable camera!
According to Ritz, Sonic's features include skeletal animation, static and dynamic point lights, shadow volumes, skyboxes, picking, gravity, and object and environment collision detection. He also hopes to eventually include an "interactive 3d map builder for easy world creation and object and creature placement." Slick!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh @ Jul 20th 2008 6:53PM
Seriously, why would he call it Sonic?
Josh @ Jul 20th 2008 10:57PM
Oh yeah, but technically, this is really impressive.
Good job.
And sorry for not commenting on how awesome this is right away.
LocalToast @ Jul 20th 2008 7:03PM
Wow, I'm actually quite amazed. Even though he didn't make the models or textures, the fact that a homebrew game can use those resources without lagging and still looking good blows me away.
Whatever you're doing with this game, keep it up!
Ashley @ Jul 20th 2008 7:25PM
Ha! I laughed when it waved.
Wouldn't it be awesome if they could do this with those ripped Twilight Princess or Wind Waker models?
Red @ Jul 20th 2008 9:59PM
This tech demo makes me want to get an R4 or whatever pretty badly. It REALLY makes me want to pick up NWN and start playing it again...too bad my copy's for the PC and I'm now on a Mac. Ah, well.
Mr Khan @ Jul 20th 2008 10:05PM
a newer x86 mac?
Virtually the same thing
Feba @ Jul 21st 2008 1:16AM
Honestly, while the graphics don't look too bad, I have a hard time imagining gameplay being anything except awful. How would you see where you're headed, or what enemies are coming after you? Consider even a close range action game, that would be nearly unplayable.
FantomRedux @ Jul 21st 2008 7:56AM
The whole point of it is the fact that it was made by a homebrew developer. Either way, from what Eric said, this seems more like an engine than an actual game.
Feba @ Jul 21st 2008 10:38PM
A bad game is a bad game, whether it's homebrew or developed by Nintendo.
Venom @ Jul 21st 2008 6:27AM
I downloaded it to see for myself and, needless to say, I was amazed. Looks great and flows without lagging at all. If this one was completed into a full game, it could really be one of the most awesome homebrew projects ever.
elend @ Jul 21st 2008 7:43AM
Looks very nice indeed. The draw distance is bad, though. The DS can do 3D of course, many publishers already showed it. And they are getting better and better at that 3D stuff, as well.
Danny F. @ Jul 21st 2008 8:34AM
That is some awesome work done. Hell the engine so far looks waaay better compared to most commercial 3d games out already. Keep up the work!
Waefort @ Jul 21st 2008 2:39PM
It's so pretty, that it hurts........ because my computer can only do same graphics with better draw distance and effects.
But man thats so good graphics engine for any action/rpg game that ds homebrew scene could ask. So gonna test the maptools when its done.
Waefort @ Jul 21st 2008 2:42PM
....why I replied for Danny?... Well who cares it's still beatiful engine..
Mike Sylvester @ Jul 26th 2008 8:35PM
With a top-down perspective, the draw distance wouldn't be a problem at all. I could see some great things being done with this engine. Very impressive.