3D Game Studio

3D Gamestudio

Developer(s)	Conitec Datasystems, oP Group
Stable release	8.47.1 / March, 2014
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Game creation system
Website	Gamestudio's main site

3D GameStudio or 3DGS is a pan 3D computer game development system which allows the users to create 3D games and other virtual reality applications, and publish them royalty-free. It includes a model/terrain editor, a level editor, a script editor/debugger and comes with a big collection of textures, models and artwork, as well as a game template system that allows the creation of basic shooter games or RPGs without programming. For complex games or other applications, either the integrated programming language named Lite-C or an external development language such as Visual C++ or Borland Delphi can be used.

Gamestudio is marketed at users of various skill levels, providing three different levels of usage ("beginner", "advanced", and "professional") for hobbyists, artists, as well as programmers. Additionally, Conitec also markets the system for uses such as advergame development and the creation of real-time presentations, simulations, and virtual exhibitions. Most published titles made from Gamestudio are created by development teams of only 2 to 3 developers. There is also a large online community of users in support of the development system.

Free updates are normally available once every 4 to 8 weeks. Gamestudio / A8 has 2 different meanings. The Gamestudio part refers to the editors and game template system, but the A8 part refers to the game engine.

The A8 engine uses panes for physics simulation. The engine automatically updates the game state on all machines when playing over a network, but also provides functions for more low-level multiplayer programming. It uses an ABT (Adaptive Binary Tree) renderer for indoor and outdoor levels, and an additional BSP renderer for indoor levels. The BSP renderer is only available in the Pro edition. The free edition and Extra edition don't support shaders.

The engine supports high resolutions, terrain rendering, pre-rendered shadow maps and dynamic stencil shadows (single dynamic shadows for models). The 2D system (GUI system) of the A8 Engine is not very powerful (see scripting section), but replaceable using the 3D system if needed. Using Lite-C, most things can be customized. Shader model 3.0 support and post-processing using stages may assist shader programmers in chaining together effects to produce any number of custom-made shader effects.