Quick Info

• Created with Game Maker 6.1 – 800 x 600 full screen
• Project work time: June 24, 2005 – January 13, 2006

Description

Hover Tank 3D was my first foray into 3D gaming with Game Maker. Aside from playing around with the 3D functions by first (unsuccessfully) attempting to transform Aster Blaster into a 3D game, the 3D hovering tank was my first real 3D game.

The 3D tank design was based on a thought I had many years ago, back in the 90’s, when StarFox (SNES) had first come out, and the console industry was taking it’s first initial attempts at the third dimension gaming. After weeks of playing StarFox, and months of drawing perspective drawings, I began to render some images of a floating, polygonal tank. The first drawing I made also included the pointy trees that are found in the game, along a long brick path. I was quite proud of myself at the time, and followed up with other drawings of polygonal vehicles, but none ever stuck with me like the tank drawing.

Jump ahead to 2005, and I am coming off of a few projects that just couldn’t hold my attention. I had never tried the 3D functions of Game Maker 6.1 before, but they had been in the program for a while. I play around with them, and eventually wind up importing a model from my 3D modeling program, trueSpace 5 (by hand). I use some slightly modified movement code from Aster Blaster’s space ship, and the tank’s physics are born. It wasn’t really more than a movement engine, but I wanted to see what others thought, so I posted it on the GMC. Seeing as my last game, Cannon Canyon, had not generated much buzz, I didn’t expect much for this demo either.

People on the forum did notice it, and (I think) enjoyed it too, and I began adding a lot more stuff to it, learning many new things about the 3D functions of Game Maker as I went.

Along the way, many things were thought of, attempted, added, and removed. Some people suggested things like multiplayer, which I really thought would be great, but which seemed beyond my ability. Many of these types of things eventually found their way into the game, and in a much better way than I ever thought they would. Many times, I was reluctant to change things, only to find that, once changed, the game was noticeably better. Overall, I think programming Hover Tank 3D helped me to become a much better programmer than I was before, and certainly has kept me interested in programming 3D games in the future. At the very least, it has proven to me the Game Maker is capable of great things.

Interesting facts

• The name Hover Tank 3D is exactly the same as the first 3D game ever made, Hover Tank 3D, by id Software. This was by pure coincidence, I had never known of or played this game until this was brought to my attention by members of the GMC.
• Hover Tank 3D’s multiplayer portion was almost removed after GMProxy, the old proxy server system set up for use with SOC, was taken down. At the time, I knew little about multiplayer coding, and the thought of rewriting the entire multiplayer part of the game seemed a bit overwhelming.
• The original game was only to consist of Power War mode, but since the game did not seem as fun without a few other things to do (and at the urging of the community) other modes were added. Coincidentally, the Mission mode was originally supposed to contain 12 missions, but was bumped down twice.
• The finished game contains approximately 135 sprites, 50 sound effects, 34 backgrounds, 25 paths, 99 scripts, 4 fonts, 198 objects, and 67 rooms.