3D, how much can you do?

Questions
#1

Am working on a 2D project in another engine where a part of it is horse riding (in third person perspective) outside which ought to be in 3D. Am not looking for Unreal engine realism but fairly good. Is this possible in Defold?
What are the 3D limits if any?

Any input much appreciated.

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#2

I highly recommend that you try/test it yourself. It’s hard to know what you mean when you say ‘fairly good.’

It’s easier to get started if you don’t need lights, shadows, PBR materials and complex models. You can simply use unlit shaders, which are straightforward and as easy as 2D.

But when those things come into play, it becomes harder to get started. You’ll need to understand the shader, render script, etc., and you’ll start hitting the bumps.

Few games/assets that I know developed using Defold:

These are from @d954mas and he is working on a new game: x.com
https://poki.com/en/g/punch-legend-simulator
https://poki.com/en/g/blocky-universe

Old game from Defold showcase:

@aglitchman is working on a 3D game:
https://x.com/aglitchman/status/1882514044558745665

his asset:

There are the assets from @astrochili :

@Dragosha has a lots of 2D+3D prototypes:
https://x.com/dragosha

@Pawel released this last year for game jam:

I have an example project(wip) for one of my Defold extension

And these are the pixel art shaders which I recently release:
https://selimanac.github.io/defold-pixelart-shader-example/
https://selimanac.github.io/defold-pixelart-shader/
Other protoype pf mine:
https://x.com/selimanac/status/1864001615700644156

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#3

Thank you ever so much! Will dive in to the engine and try everything.

So far I have only created 2D games, released the first one in 2000 and a small test game a side runner on Google in 2021 which got a lot of downloads without any efforts from me. :grin: If the 3D part can’t handle what I need I can revert to the 2D “fake” 3D look. It is just more work with creating all the renedered images for horses moving.

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#4

Depends. Do you want easy great looking graphics? Then I’d pass. If you are going for basic 3d then it’s good. I’m making a 3d game but it’s mostly 2d on the background and it’s fine. Lighting doesn’t change.

#5

Thank you.

#6

Here’s a dev diary of Cashchubbies:

2 Likes
#7

Short answer: you HAVE to do a lot (sometimes). We (community and the engine’s devs) are making efforts into pushing defolds capabilities into 3D, althouhg you’ll always bear in mind that you’ll have to go through a lot of manual labor sometimes. But not always! We have amazing extensions varying from common shaders and light props to exporting whole blender files pratically. I highly recommend the references other commenters made as well as taking a look at the 3d extensions for defold. Besides the community, the devs also made (and will make) great additions over time, my all time favorite was the addition of shader struct uniforms last update.

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#8

Thank you.

I am already setting up the 2D part of my project in Defold as a test and I like the engine. The only thing is to get used to the way it works I have worked with another engine for a few years now and the “work flow” is in my spine so to speak. It is only a matter of time. :blush:

Am not overly worried about the 3D part since I have a backup plan to create it in 2D.

1 Like