Dim3, also known as Dimension 3, is a free and

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

created by Brian Barnes. It has been chosen as a staff pick for OS X development software by

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

. and featured as one of their "hot game building tools." dim3 has an entry in DevMaster's 3D engines database. dim3 uses

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

for rendering,

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...

for scripting,

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

for data and Simple DirectMedia Layer for resolution switching, input, and sound.

Components

dim3 includes four applications: Engine, Editor, Animator, and Setup. The Engine is the deployment application that runs games created in dim3. The games (or "projects") are cross-platform and only require the proper engine to run on the proper platform. The engine runs on

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

, and can be compiled on

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

. All versions can play network games with each other. The Editor is used to create levels by importing various 3D models into it. The Editor is capable of per-pixel lighting, bump and specular mapping, real-time lighting and/or baked lighting, particles and other special effects, skeletal animation, and customization through javascript. The Animator is used to add loop animations and effects to models used with dim3. The Animator is used to add bones, setup poses for the bones, and to combine those poses into animations. The Animator uses a skeletal animation system. This makes character movement simplistic yet very realistic. Setup is a utility that is used to change all other settings in the project, for example, the HUD, network, or particle settings. A data folder, representing the game, contains all the maps, models, artwork, sounds, and scripts required to create a game in dim3. Each game is self-contained in up to 3 data folders, though only one is actually needed. All non-editor data is in standard formats: PNG,

WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Win ...

, and mp3. A demonstration "game" is added to dim3, though it is not really a game in itself but shows most of the engine's capabilities.

References

External links

Dim3 official website

Google Code for dim3
{{Video game engines Free game engines MacOS games Game engines for Linux Free software that uses SDL Software using the MIT license