Beginning 3D Development

Questions
#1

Hey, everyone.

So, I began using Defold a few days ago, migrating from GameMaker Studio 2, and I have to say, I really like it. I went through and completed the tutorial projects and a few practice projects of my own. Now, I’ve read that it isn’t suited for 3D games, but I’d still like to give it a try. I have a few questions:

  • What are the limits? How far can I go with it?
  • What are some dos and don’ts?
  • Will Defold 3 be suitable for producing 3D games like Defold 2 is, for 2D (of course, not exactly on par, but more or less)?

Thanks in advance.

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#2

You can create a full 3D game but there will be limitations:

  • You can build a 3D level/world from 3D models components in the editor but the tooling could be improved
  • The built in engine camera is a bit limited. Use RenderCam from the Asset Portal!
  • There are some limitations in how you structure your Collada model. Read more here: https://defold.com/manuals/importing-models/

3D can be used in its current state though. Some examples:

I’ve been playing around with a 3D racing game, but haven’t had time lately. I hope to share the project when it is a bit further along.

There is not really a Defold 1, 2 or 3. When we launched the new editor it was a huge change since it was a rewrite of the editor so we called it Editor 2. But in general we make incremental improvements all the time. And we have some plans to free up resources to make a big push on 3D this year.

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#3

The biggest difference to other engines is that there is no complex rendering pipeline in Defold. You can’t use PBR materials, you don’t have shadows or lights and there is no camera occlusion. All these things you have to implement on your own. The plus side is that such simple rendering pipeline is extremely fast, perfect for mobile, where you can implement just the crucial amount of 3D features.
In my current project I overlay a 3D car on top of 2D world.
If you don’t have some knowledge in 3D rendering and writing shaders, using 3D in Defold would be very hard.

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#4

That’s no problem; I only plan to build small games in 3D.

2 Likes