FPS Creator is a commercial application developed by The Game Creators that
allows rapid and easy creation of first-person shooter video games for the PC
without any programming. Users can create a game with up to 50 levels and build
it as a standalone executable.
FPS Creator uses a drag-and-drop system in which the user can select entities
such as walls, floors, ceilings, doors and windows to create a level. This level
can then be populated by entities such as furniture, desk objects, enemies,
weapons and pick-ups. Light-markers can be used to place lights of which the
colour and range can be defined, and true lightmapping has recently become
available with a newly integrated tool created by the same developers. Zones can
be defined that act to activate an event when a player enters them, such as
damaging the player, entering a story zone (which is a cutscene) or winning the
level. Multiplayer is also supported, although the same game cannot have a
single-player mode.FPI Script
FPS Creator uses a simple trigger-based artificial intelligence language known
as FPI Script, which was created exclusively for FPS Creator. Entities use
Finite state machines - that is, they use a predetermined set of actions
reacting to a predetermined set of states. The language consists of a simple if/then
syntax, and a pre-defined list of conditional statements and commands. Wikibooks
has a book on the topic of
FPI Script
Changes In Nationality
In Germany the blood color in FPS Creator was changed to green to allow them to
have classification to release it to Germany. The reference of "Nazi" and the
swastika had to be removed to comply with Anti-Nazi and Insignia laws governing
the country.[citation needed]. Swastika symbol has also been removed from ww2
characters and entities in the USA.
Criticisms
FPS Creator has been the subject of a volume of criticism ever since its release;
most point out FPS Creator's underpowered engine, the very limited FPI scripting,
below average AI, low frame rates and lack of stability. The engine also lacks
efficient use of the GPU and have found that only high end graphic cards perform
the best. The creators have since issued many patches, but many of the bugs
still exist in FPS Creator's code structure. Users of FPS Creator have also
found that many features have been broken by these updates, including FPS
Creators pixel shader support.
The most current update 1.15.
Updates & Open Source
FPS Creator has produced regular updates to try and combat any bugs and on the
17th January 2008 The Game Creators announced the next three updates. 1.15 is
currently the latest update and fixes many of the problems with FPSC.
The game engine - written in DarkBASIC Professional - is open source and may be
compiled with the support of a few additional plugins. There are a number of
programmers who have written mods for the engine, enhancing multiplayer support
and graphical capabilities. The mods are said to include things many users
wanted including features that were only included in FPS Creator X10 and long
awaited hitboxes. The mod list for FPS Creator include:
Source Mods
Name: Ply's Mod
Website: http://www.plysmod.tk/
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=128688&b=21
Description: On top of Dual-wielding, this Mod vastly expands upon the FPI
language native to FPSC, adding in an advanced variable system as well as many
commands to open new doors into the possibilities for your creations. Some
notable additions to FPI include: Camera System, GUI Menus, player/entity
control, and possible non-linear game design.
Name: AirMod
Website: http://airmod.googlepages.com/
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=127029&b=21
Description: An open source FPSC modification designed to be a base for other
FPSC mods. AirMod features are enabled in modifications like efx and S4mod, and
include (but aren't limited to!) - alternate fire (rifle grenade launchers and
more!), lazy gun, recoil, rate of fire, proper shotgun reloading, improved
accuracy system, ironsights etc. Some features have made it into official
updates.
Name: S4mod
Website: http://s4mod.co.uk
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=130878&b=21
Description: S4mod is a personal mod that has been made for the lowspec to
midrange computer that feature lemur multiplayer, airmod and basic water.
Name: efxMod
Website: http://efx.helixsoftware.eu/
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=148038&b=21
Description: A next-gen Mod for FPS Creator X9, featuring Airmod 0.6, Ambience
Occlusion (lightmaps), Water with water physics, Multi-Pass Bloom with variable
Tone Mapping, Refractions, Ingame-GUI for adjusting e.g. shader values,
multi-language interface, resolution auto-adaption, lots of new script commands,
dynamic variable system, uncapped framerate (+ Timersystem), FOV-Change, Camera
Effects (e.g. underwater effects), quality levels, detachable shaders, support
for relief, parallax and normal mapping, new dynamic shadows, new transparency
management system, motion blur, texture sharpening, etc.
Name: Lemur V1
Website: none
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&b=25&t=117481&p=0
Description: Lemur V1 is a quick mod of the original source code (not v1.07) and
should only be used when you use a reverted version of FPSC. It includes several
of the features of its successor but lacks teams, objectives and many other
enhancements. A full list of features is available in the first post of the
thread for it.
Name: Lemur V2
Website: none
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=130878&b=21
Description: Lemur V2 mod is a Multiplayer only mod, allowing FPSC to become a
multiplayer powerhouse. Teams, Taunts, Player Amount enhancements, this mod is
the one for you if you want some good online action.
Name: FPSC IP
Website: http://www.fpscip.com
Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=143385&b=21
Description: FPSC IP allows users to make their FPSC games more professional and
user-friendly. The Lobby & Chat Feature allows players to talk to each other
before they play, which is great if they are waiting for their friends to join.
The Multi-Level Feature allows the game developer to add up to 1000 multiplayer
levels for even more fun! Feature Pack 1 has connection speed checking, host
kicking and frag/time limit changing for an even better multiplayer gaming
experience. It is incredibly easy to apply and comes with the new FPSC IP Mod
that allows users to go straight to the gameplay. It also has a free expansion
pack system that lets developers release game updates with more levels and more
fun! FPSC IP v3.1, Feature Pack 1 & S4Mod - FPSC IP Edition have now been
released.
FPS Creator X10
A new version of FPS Creator, entitled X10 was released in late 2007. This
version introduced a number of features including realistic water with
refractive and reflective effects, as well as improved AI and physics. Many of
their new scripts have been adapted by their other game creation engine called
Dark Basic Pro. This version is only compatible with Windows Vista and a limited
number of DirectX 10 graphics cards (generally from NVidia). A GeForce 8800
series card is the recommended requirement. Several other graphics cards have
been tested but only the NVidia 8800GT was the most successful. Nvidia 9 series
will perform well though reports from their forums indicate stability and
compatibility issues, but it will perform well enough if the processor is an
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.00 GHz or higher. A limited number of ATI Radeon HD video
cards are compatible with Fps Creator X10, but only the ATI Radeon HD 3600
Series and the ATI Radeon 4800 series.
Many features have been integrated such as reflective & refractive water, bloom
effects, window refraction, advanced AI allowing allies and enemies, as well as
additional shaders. These though draw more inefficiency to the already
underpowered engine.
There have been many criticisms of the software but they have improved its
performance to its predecessor (FPS Creator). FPS Creator X10 may have more
features but this program has lost much of its open source nature.
Their official website has a trailer video and more information regarding this
topic. official website.
Model Packs
After the release of FPS Creator, The Game Creators have since released
twenty-six model packs for FPS Creator. These packs vary in new entities,
characters, sprites, segments and weapons. It is not known if these packs can be
used in FPS Creator X10, however The Game Creators are working on it, and model
pack 16 has x10 support. Model Packs are a collection of animated models,
segments and weapons. These are created by the FPS Creator community and have
given permission for The Game Creators to compile and market them.
The model packs and their purposes are listed HERE:
Model Pack 1: SAS Troops, Special Ops, and new rooms and entities.
Model Pack 2: Same, with several new ones and awesome animated entities!
Model Pack 3: Things you'd find in a factory.
Model Pack 4: A multitude of characters.
Model Pack 5&6: Various weaponry
Model Pack 7: More sci-fi items and entities
Model Pack 8: Egyptian things.
Model Pack 9&10: More weapons.
Model Pack 11-15: Small model packs for a village setting
Model Pack 16: Brand new various entities.
Model Pack 17: Egyptian characters.
Model Pack 18: Medieval Characters and Weaponry
Model Pack 19: Cartoon-based monsters, peasants, people, and weaponry
Model Pack 20: Medieval Objects
Model pack 21: Fantasy Characters
Model pack 22: Freaks, Abominations, and Gore animations, also a finishing move
on a special enemy. (18+)
Model pack 23: Dungeon Construction Pack, scary sounds and music, new scary
enemies. (18+)
Model pack 24: Modern day warehouse/factory items
Model pack 25: Vikings items and characters
Model pack 26: Graveyard Pack - grass textured floor segments, Mausoleums,
animated coffins, headstones, gravestones
Model pack 27: Roman stuff
Game Creator Store
Users are able to purchase points for use in the Game Creator Store, where they
can purchase various models not available to the normal retail version and
models made by other users. Some examples include the Cyclops, satyrs, elves,
and mummies, as well as a store-exclusive grey wizard.
100 points translates to 1 USD.
FPS Creator Community Forum
A successful forum and community set-up up by TGC forum user The Next originally
for FPS Creator X10 has expanded to now support FPSC and many other topics such
as 3D Design, Web Design and programming. The forums have been attracting users
for a while now to its new website that can be found here LINK users have found
this forum is a great place to go for the free media that and support which has
as of yet solved every problem put to it. The forum is hoping to expand in early
to mid 2009 to house a new web store for cheap media made by experienced artists
that use FPS Creator.
Rating
ESRB: Mature (FPS Creator) / Teen (FPS Creator X10)
PEGI: 12+ (FPS Creator) / 12+ (FPS Creator X10)
USK: 16 (FPS Creator) / 16 (FPS Creator X10)