Logic Bricks - are or will they be able to replace scripting?

Hi there,
i found out about about Armory just a couple of days ago and like the idea very much to use my favorite 3D app Blender as a full featured developement enviroment. Since i really suck at coding and scripting i would like to know how you see in how far the developement for a game (lets say a low level casual gamers game like may be someting like Tetris) can be archived by using logic blocks and how much must be coded / scripted? If you could give me a educated guess would be great.
Best regards
Bildermensch

You can use logic nodes. I don’t think BGE bricks are supported.

Sorry to ask, whats BGE bricks?

The node-based logic system of the old Blender Game engine

OK, got that. I am not so deep into abreviations. I did not expect armory to integrate the BGE, but still, there is very little information about what armory can do and will do. I watched the presentation which was held at the Blender Convention and after watching it, I got the impression that we talking a real time rendering engine only here while at other occasion the talk describes it as a games developenment enviroment. I am still trying to stich the pieces together but still can not really make head nor tails of it.
I am sure that a clear and detailed statement of what Armory is, what it can do already and what it is supposed to do would help a lot of people to decide to support or buy Armory, for example me :wink:
Cheers
Bildermensch

The thing is, it is both! a real time rendering engine AND a game development environment! So you can make a whole AAA game in Blender without leaving it for anything but textures.
Armorys Logic-node system is very powerful in my opinion. Take a look at the ACXT3R project for example. Currently it still has missing features compared to coding, but I absolutely love its simplicity. I hope I can make a explanatory video on how ACXT3Rs Logic works on Thursday.

That would be certainly a good thing to see how things are done. I am still uncertain if Armory will give me what i am looking for and therefore I decided to wait a little until i realy understand what Armory is really all about!
Cheers
Bildermensch

I was wondering about the same thing about logic node without the need to code, only a few common functions is all I need such as:

  • Html page redirect or load another scene.
  • Click or mouseover triggered animation event.
  • Animate sprite or sequence if images.
  • Move camera location, point at, easing, restrict orientation…

Hi @Bildermensch,

To answer your initial question; you can build games using the node-based system right now without writing any code at all, but it’s possible and likely you will find that some functions are missing depending on how advanced the game you are building is. Missing/new nodes can be implemented quite easily though so if you run in to that problem you can just open up an issue on github and describe what is missing.

Here is a list of the currently implemented nodes.

BR,
guzzard

Hi @Philip_Knobody_Fong,

Html page redirect or load another scene.
SetScene and SpawnScene nodes can be used. Example here. Html is accessible through script with the HtmlAccess trait currently, but should be no problem implementing a node for that at some point.

Click or mouseover triggered animation event.
OnMouse and PlayAction nodes can be used for this. Example which uses OnMouse here. Example which uses PlayAction here.

Animate sprite or sequence if images.
Here is a sprite sheet animation walkcycle example. It animates when moving the character using the PlayTilesheet node. Another sprite sheet example here.

Move camera location, point at, easing, restrict orientation…
Objects can be translated, rotated, scaled etc using nodes. Pointing at, tweening/easing, lerping is available through script, but could be implemented with nodes as well. Manual lerping etc should be possible with nodes currently, but might be a bit tricky. Restricting movement/rotation for certain axes is possible though the Blender UI as well as through script currently. Should not be any problem adding nodes for that either.

Here is a list of the currently implemented nodes.

BR,
guzzard

Thank you very much, Norton antivirus removed a few items in Armorysdk, had to disable it before it can work.

Would be good to see example .blend files with the essential node setup, starting from scratch means a lot of wasted time stumbling here and there, how to rotate, pan & zoom view with mouse, for VR tour?

This HTML5 export instruction is wrong:
Select HTML5 in Properties - Render - Armory Project - Target. Hit Publish to export HTML5 files.

Should be Armory Exporter, click +, options will appear, choose Target output type to HTML5.

@Simonrazer, no too old. Im working in Blender Game Engine today with blender 2.79b mainly with python scripting. Im very interested in Armory 3D but first i need find the “equivalent” instructions between python for BGE and Haxe for Armory 3D.

1 Like

There are quite some examples for Haxe scripting on the Armory github page where you can look up how to do some things, also the manual has two tutorials. But the most helpful resource for me are the logic nodes. In the node editor N-panel there is a button that links you to the Haxe code that makes them work, which you can then after testing the node’s function use in your script.

Good know about the “Open Node Source” button. I’m going to see the examples and study them.
Thank you @Simonrazer

I have created a bunch of video tutorials that cover some of the subjects in this thread all using nodes. you can find them at http://www.youtube.com/c/ArmoryBlenderGame

Hopefully that will help see what armory can do.

1 Like

Subscribed. Hope you will create more tutorials of node logic for newbies. Armory is looking very promising but it has lack of detailed tutorials how to build 3d games.

I defiantly will be. I plan to do as much as possible in nodes. I have yet to do anything in code other than to borrow the 3rd person character from one of the template.

1 Like

Yeah TPS detailed tutorials in Armory3d would be great, charcter set up with ability to walk, run, jump, ledge, prone, attack would be great. And of course some enemy AI tutorials - like pathfinding, patroling, attacking, fleeing. Thank you very much for your efforts. :slight_smile:

The AI issue is a pretty advanced topic in game creation. At some point I will probably get there but people have to realize that armory has 1 person developing it for about 1 year. How long did it take for Unreal and Unity to get all this built in as paid for software. How all this will work in nodes is something I have not explored yet.

As for the character much of what you asked about is already in the character node in the Logic pack. Attack, prone and the like combine animation with code should already be possible I just haven’t decided to go deep into those element.

Thank you @Monte_Drebenstedt for the videos.

1 Like