   Ready to make my first 3D game.
  Its summer time, and theres gonna be a 4 elements contest coming up. I didn't enter last year because work got in the way but now I think I can manage things.I have experience with OpenGL, FMOD and Enet. I think I have outgrown Enet even for the very small game I used it for. So I am looking towards Racknet or a good alternative. Every game I ever make will be networked so a networking API is a must.I have never made a 3D game before but I think I have the background and experience to go ahead. But here is what I am unsure of:1) What model format will be easier to use for a beginner and what free program can i use to edit the models? (Preferably a free program)2) What am I going to use to make the levels? (Preferably a free program)3) Is there anything else I am forgetting? As far as I know you need some basic 3D math skills. The ability to load models and levels and do some colission detection. Is there anything else?4) Is it easier to do things like load models and animate them and load levels in D3D rather than OpenGL?   
  Hi, here are some answers from my experience:1) If you want to start with a simple model format, try md2 it is one of the easiest formats that supports animation. There are plenty of programs you can use for modelling. As I know blender supports md2 via plug-in.2) I think you can use some format without animation for that: obj for example.3) Well there is a need for sound, and input. I can recommend SDL library for that, it supports OpenGL also.4) I don't have much experience with Direct3D, but I think the .x format should be supported within the library itself, making it easier to work with.   ;Quote:Original post by DMINATORHi, here are some answers from my experience:1) If you want to start with a simple model format, try md2 it is one of the easiest formats that supports animation. There are plenty of programs you can use for modelling. As I know blender supports md2 via plug-in.2) I think you can use some format without animation for that: obj for example.3) Well there is a need for sound, and input. I can recommend SDL library for that, it supports OpenGL also.4) I don't have much experience with Direct3D, but I think the .x format should be supported within the library itself, making it easier to work with.@4, the DX API doesn't actually come with a function for that, but a library attached to it, similar to GLUT or GLU for OpenGL, exists that has the function.   ;  The D3DX library that comes with DirectX makes a lot of trivial and not-so-trivial operations really fast and easy. Loading and displaying .x meshes is one of them. Milkshape (a very cheap 3d modeler) exports .x natively, and I believe there are exporters available for Blender. I wrote vector and matrix classes that are at least as functional as the ones in D3DX for practice, but I still use D3DXMATRIX and D3DXVECTOR3 because they are directly supported by D3D. My advice is to use D3DX as an easy introduction to 3d math. I've heard many professional developers feel the same way.Best of luck!   