Well, after Blue started making his Slipperlife game, it got me...well, jealous. He's all on a roll with working on Slipperlife, even though he's got like two other things to work on. Why? Because he saw Slipperlife as an easy win. He didn't have to do as much graphics, the programming was pretty straightforward, and I thought...gee. I remember when I worked on Faibanx 3D (then called Stomp Stomp Devastation) with Blitz3D, and it was just...eeeeasy, and that's what made me develop for it.
So, I've dusted off the old Blitz project files, a model display demo where you can fly around, find little hidden bits, and make models shrink or grow. And what's even nicer is that if you have a 3D model in .3ds format, you can just put it in the directory, edit an .INI file, and bingo, it's in the simulation.
I'm still trying to decide if I want to chug along with Blitz3D...if so, maybe get an add-on better 3D engine...or switch over to DarkBASIC Professional like I was gonna years ago. (And yes, this program was made in 2003.) Blitz3D just uses DirectX 7.0 capabilities, where as DBPro uses the latest and greatest for pre-Vista users, DirectX 9.0c. Naturally, since I don't intend on ever moving to Vista and would rather use my Mac or a Linux box, and will stay with Windows XP 64-bit for my Windows needs, I have no desire in developing for DirectX 10. </rant>
So what I've done is re-compiled the EXE using the latest available Blitz3D, and here it is again, for all to wonder over. Wow, it looks crappy by today's standards, but some of the models (like the Wargreymon model) look good from a distance. Oh, that's right. There's a bunch of Digimon, some furs, and even a weesaur hidden between toes (try and find 'em!). The 'weirder' looking models with jagged bits and orbiting kruft are actually digitized. They were real 3D items, toys, that I took a bunch of pictures of, and myself and slaves used a program to turn them into 3D models. A lot of fun memories, firing this turd up again.
Anyway, just looking at the code and how simple it is to do this kinda stuff in Blitz...makes me wanna pick up the project again. Get some decent models, update the few I have around, and it could really be something. I have a feeling that I'll make the jump to DBPro, though, unless something overcomes me and I become a Real Man(tm) and use C++ with some libraries, but I'm really not seeing a warranted performance advantage there, nor a lack of capability.
Anyway, here it is, to have fun with. Word of advice -- left click once the sim starts to get un-stuck, and jot down those goofy controls...however did I decide on them?
http://www.lavadomefive.com/SSD.7z