Android game developers are getting more and more tools at their disposal when it comes to game creation and game engines. Right on the heels of Unity3D’s pre-sale announcement in which they are giving away a free Nexus One to the first 500 pre-orders comes another announcement this time from DX Studio which has their newest version coming with Android support.
One of the neat features within DX Studio is the built-in lightweight cross-platform Java and OpenGL player. Along with that comes a boost to previous features with more terrain and water tools, better rendering performance, editor-based performance monitoring and instant edit and preview.
Features:
- Real-Time Editor – The toolset includes 2D and 3D editors for visual creation of in game UI and 3D scenes. Drag and drop assets directly into the editor. Move around your scene with user friendly intuitive controls.
- Scripting – Bring your scene to life with the event driven JavaScript. Type sensitive auto-completion system and code validation to speed up your development. Fully tabbed editor with comprehensive word search feature.
- Terrain System – DX Studio can handle unlimited size terrains with high levels of details. Using streaming you can bring in only the areas required. Paint vegetation and other meshes such as rocks directly to your terrain.
- Shaders – DX Studios Shader system offers ease of use. Use the built in shaders or add your own. Choose from a wide range of post-processing effects which all have easy to use user interfaces.
- Light and Shade – DX Studio provides a comprehensive lighting solution for your project. Real time shadows to create that compelling atmosphere and dynamic lighting to enhance your scene.
- Physics – DX Studio uses the same physics system as many of the top 3D engines and commercially released games. PhysX is one of the most advanced physics systems available.
- Special Effects – Out of the box DX Studio offers many special Effect tools to give your production some extra sparkle. Make use of the built in particle system to add some smoke, fire or explosions to your scene.
- Controls and Modules – For true rapid application development, nothing beats reusable components, and controls and modules in DX Studio provide this for 2D and 3D respectively.
- Network and Internet – Your next project or game can now join up with other players over the Lan or internet for simple co-op or full MMO style game play. Read and write to online databases using DX Studios integrated SOAP client.
- Asset Importing – Most popular image formats are accepted so no need reformat your images into special files, just load them directly into the editor. Special exporter plugins are available for most modeling packages.
- Cross-Platform Support – players for Android and Java+OpenGL
- Editor Based Mesh Tweaker – For Terrain finishing touches.
- Shadow improvements and Light Beam effect – Create beams of light style effects
- Instant Edit and Preview – Documents are always loaded so no need to F12.
While this is quite the extensive list of features, the pricing on this is actually less then what you would expect it to be. There are both a Standard and Pro license available for commercial use with the Standard License costing $372 and the Pro License priced at $743.69. Both come with 1yr support and updates as well.
So if you can’t afford a game engine such as Unity3D Pro for Android then you have another option you can consider using to make that awesome 3D game you have always wanted to make.
Developer Website: DX Studio
