Earlier this week, LTE Studios released version 2.2 of their LTE Game Engine program. The LTE Game Engine is a full-featured game engine that allows PSP users to program games or applications without having to fight any of the pspsdk calls. You don't even need to know how the PSP system works to create games with LTE Game Engine. The engine manages input/output, 2d and 3d hardware accelerated graphics and audio.

Here are a few short how-tos from the readme file as well as the changelog:

Requirements
To use the LTE Game Engine you must have Toolchains installed, if you are running under win32 you can find the downloadable compiled version here:

http://xorloser.com/PS2DevWin32.zip

PSPGL is included in this archive, you need to use this version of PSPGL because I've fixed some bugs in it.

If you have any questions or encounter any problems, click on the 'via' link below to check out the LTE Studios website. There's a whole lot of info that can help you in their forums. Kudos to Soulkiller for the heads up.

To see the changelog and instructions, click on the "Full Article" link below.

Download: [LTE Game Engine 2.2]

Yeah, it's a LuaPlayer, and this one's from Shine at the PS2Dev forums. What's different about this one is that it's been re-written with the SCons build management and is based on OpenGL for all graphics output. Check Wiki, OpenGL "is a standard specification defining a cross-language cross-platform API" for computer graphics, which leads to the other thing that's different. It's been released for the PSP, the PS3 (Linux), and Windows.

We shall henceforth and heretofore call this the One LuaPlayer to Rule Them All/And In The Darkness Bind Them. Until Sauron Shine comes up with the next version, or someone else comes up with something else like it. Here are the details for each LuaPlayer platform:

• PSP: uses PSPGL (old hat, old friend), tested on 1.0 and 1.5, but doesn't run on kernel, so theoretically should work with other versions, too (that's unconfirmed, though). 3D rendering on the PSP is slow, though - Shine's hoping someone would step up with an idea to fix it.
• PS3: should work on every 64-bit PS3 Linux. Screenshot is from the PS3 version.
• Windows: compiled with VisualStudio.Net, so it won't need Cygwin or any other library apart from the system and OpenGL libs

Weirdly enough, there's a folder for "Mac OS X", but neither the forum post nor anything in the text files in the package indicate anything about Mac functionality. Looks like a work in progress since Shine and another member of the forum are talking about the Mac OS X "port." Anyway, the download link below contains both the application/s and the source codes for LuaPlayer OpenGL. Instructions are provided in build.txt, while actual apps are in the "release" folder.

Thank you, Bronx, for the tip!

Download: [LuaPlayer OpenGL]

After more than a month's hiatus, Rerofumi is now back in the scene with another homebrew game, TCGS Cave. You guys might remember Rerofumi's other TCGS games: Invader and Block, which I bet a lot of you guys had a lot of fun with.

This is how Rerofumi describes TCGS Cave (according to Google Engrish at least): "Way it does not strike to the wall, the cave the sufficient simple rule which keeps advancing. Time attack 3D edition and, the retro there is a 2D edition meaninglessly, two degrees is tasty with one grain." Errrr...right.

We're not sure about this one but based on the readme, TCGS Cave is based on a game show "CAVE" where the basic principle is to go through the halls (or walls, whatever) as fast as you can without crashing into them. Cool thing about it though is you can choose whether you want the game in 2D or 3D version. Rerofumi describes the 3D version as a time attack race game with three stages all in all using SDL + PSPGL.

As for the 2D version, Rerofumi says it has a "very retro taste" to it, where the controls for the game is just basically Left/Right to direct your movement. Here are the controls for the 3D version:

• Up/Down/Left/Right - move
• circle button/cross button - throttle
• triangle button/square button - brake
• L/R - roll
  

Download: [TCGS Cave v1.0]

We missed Alatnet and his uber-useful 3D modeling application Gmax2PSP. He recently came back into the fray with version 4 of his program and less than 48 hours later, he's come up with Gmax2PSP v5.

For those who haven't heard of it, homebrewers can use this to make custom content for their games, so long as they're gmax-enabled. The big addition to version 5, as a result of popular demand, is the ability to export models from C/C++. Yes, homebrewers, it's the programming addition you've been waiting for, and it's ready for you to pick up and use at will.

Now, some words of advice. You'll want to check out the version 4 forum thread for instructions on installing and using the program. It's always a good idea to know what you're getting into, else you could run the risk of harming your PSP. That being said, if you want to give him props for version 5, visit the v5 discussion thread, and if you want to report bugs and other errors that need addressing, visit the v4 discussion thread. Enjoy!

New Features:

• New layout.
• Export 3D models to CC++ code format:

Check out the full changelog aftedr the jump!

Download: [Gmax2PSP v5]

After quite some time of being quiet, homebrew developer Alatnet has updated his free 3D modeler application, Gmax2PSP. The last time we talked about this was way, way back in May and certainly, there has been a lot of changes with the app.

So what does it do? Well, basically, it is a 3D modeler that will allow gamers to create their own content for some game titles, provided that they are gmax enabled. It gives you the freedom to incorporate all the things you like into some of your games. Cool.

You can download the file through a provided link at the forum release thread. We also suggest that you read Alatnet's entire forum post as he provided a very useful how-to for this application. With all that aptly mentioned, here are the app's features and changelog.

Features:

• Export 3D models to lua code format:
• Export options include:
• Export models by world pos instead of by object pos.
• Export models that have textures.
• Export Target Cameras.
• Export models that have use Standard Materials or Multi-Materials.
• Export models with helpful or detailed information such as:
• How many Vertexes, Edges, and Faces the model has.
• Labels where the materials are.
• Labels when the code of the model starts and ends.
• Labels the vertex of the model code.
• Export the code to a file (3ds max only!) or to the listener.

New Features:

• The ability to have the utility in a window or on the side panel.
• Export 3D models to lua code format:
• Export options include:
• Export Target Cameras.

Features to come:

• Export 3D models to CC++ code format.
• Export 3D models to PSPGL code format.
• Export Spotlight to Lua, CC++, or PSPGL code format.
• Export grouped 3D objects (whether model, camera, or spotlight).
• Export Animated Scenes.
• And posibly some more stuff.

Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

From our very own forums comes out today another build of an updated version of the Lua Player for Windows. One of our staunch members, Insomniac197, expressed the work and updates that has been done to support v0.20 functions. These things include so far, it being updated to Lua 5.1 and the freetype now being supported.

Also, the file System.rename is now working. Insomniac197 has put in Wlan functions and 3D GU functions, but mentioned not to do anything with it yet. As Shine already brought up the topic of moving Lua Player over to PSPGL, Insomniac197 wishes not to take the 3D any further. System.loadModule and anything to do with it on the other hand, are unlikely to be supported.

LUA Player makes development of games and applications easier and is non-coders friendly. At this point, download is available below for Lua PLayer v0.20. Feedback and bug reports are highly appreciated.

Download: [Lua Player .20 Mod By Insomniac197]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

You may have heard of homebrew developer, Insomniac197. Well, if you aren't familiar with the guy, he is the one who is venturing on a homebrew project called AniMate -- which is basically Tamagotchi for the PSP, but the only difference is that instead of just feeding or playing with your virtual pet, it will have built in mini-game's action to make for a more dynamic experience. So far, that game is still in development, so instead, we focus on another Insomniac197 creation.

Recently, the developer released in our forums the Fontloader, a simple interface for making use of the freetype2 library. If freetype2 library sounds like something that could make you sleep in a jiffy, well let us give you some info about it. freetype2 is a software font engine that is designed to be small, efficient, highly customizable, and portable while capable of producing high-quality output. It can be used in graphics libraries, display servers, font conversion tools, text image generation tools, and many other products as well, including homebrews.

So if the freetype2 library already exists, what is this app for? Well, learning to use the freetype library can be very confusing. Apps such as Insomniac197's Fontloader makes the utilization of the freetype2 library easier. So if you want to use a specific font for a homebrew game or app you are working on, apps like this one would be a great help to you. So with that aptly stated, here are some of its features:

-- Supports multiple fonts
-- Smooth anti-aliased font appearance
-- Fonts cached for faster access

For his future plans about this app, Insomniac197 said that "in the 'Samples' directory within this archive there is example code on how to integrate Fontloader. Currently there is only an example using Psilocybeing's graphic library, but I intend to create examples for GU and possibly even PSPGL." The good developer would also like to thank Samstag for flib and inspiring him to create this app and to Shine because, according to the dev, "the code in Fontloader is based heavily on the freetype2 implementation in LuaPlayer so 99% of the credit for Fontloader should go to him."

Download: [Fontloader]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Update: Just a day after the first alpha was released, Kojima has updated his homebrew 3D engine to incorporate a few new features.

Here's what he had to say:

"This version adds visualizers. Visualizers are a plugin based(I.e to create one you inherit the base visualizer class) and each surface has one.
A visualizer's job is to take and sync data, bind it's resources, then render.

Currently there is one visualizer, VL_VertexArray which as the name suggests adds vertex arrays to raptor, so you should see a big speed up from the last release.

The source is still engine/demo all in one, not separate yet. (I don't have a great ide so it's easier for me to keep it all in one atm)"

The updated engine can be downloaded below.

---

Just the other day, we had the LTE studios people releasing their custom-made 3D engine for homebrew developers. And since I wasn't quite expecting it, I was pleasantly surprised.

And again, I wasn't expecting any other engines. At least not so soon! Well, it's nice to be surprised once in a while. And considering the fact that it's another 3D homebrew engine for the developers, it does sound great. This time, it's Kojima from the PS2DEV forums with the great accomplishment.

Here's what he had to say:

"Here's the first alpha of raptor 3d. It's a hybrid engine that is a port of MiniB3D by simon harris, and my own engine Trinity, both of which are open source PC GL engines. It's written against the latest svn version of PSPGL and as such requires you have it installed before using this. Currently the project is a single file containing a small demo and the engine, by alpha2 maybe 3, it will be organized into separate files for each class."

Like the other engine, this one also offers great features:

• SceneGraph with child/parent relationships.
• Multi-texture material (Only 1 one texture supported atm, need to do multi-pass stuff)
• Full suite of entity maniuplation functions, including position/rotate/lookat/scale etc.
• Matrix class.
• 2D Engine using pens for fast orthogonal 2d rendering of rects/lines 2d textures.
• 2D Gui, with windows, buttons, plugin styles and more, including full mouse cursor emulation via the nub, dpad and action buttons, sliders, canvas etc
• Full support for static b3d files made popular by the blitz3d Application.
• Font renderer.(Uses texture based fonts)
• Logger (Create text logs and log output via Logger->Log())
• And some other stuff.

The next version, alpha2 will most probably also add in boned animation and multi-pass texturing.

We've made a forum thread where all the interested developers can discuss. Kojima has also written a small coding guideline which we've pasted in our forums. Good luck with your homebrew games!

Download Link: [Raptor3D Alpha2 Opensource 3D Engine]
View: [Forum Discussion Thread]

This just in! A small team called LTE studios, headed up by SiberianSTAR, have been working on a free 3D engine for the Sony PSP. And today's the big day! They've just released the first demo of their product, which they've been working very hard on.

So you might not be a developer, and you might be wondering what the big deal is... Well, for starters, this will encourage a lot of developers to venture into making games. Until now, if you wanted to make a proper homebrew game, you would need an engine to handle everything. In case of 2d beat 'em ups, it was pretty simple. But if you wanted to create a proper 3D game, you'd need to program everything to handle all the data/models/sounds using an engine. And trust me, making a game engine is one of the hardest programming challenges.

Apart from finding a way to load/handle all the stuff, you also need to program the physics and a lot of other really technical details, just so that the separate objects can interact just the way you want. If you want an example, how about I give you one about a racing game. Suppose you're one of the guys behind Need For Speed; apart from building the cars, tracks and other things, you'd need to build an engine to actually make it possible to implement all that art and beauty into a game. Another example would be the Source engine made by Valve, or the Doom3 engine made by iD Software.

By now, I'll assume that you know quite a bit about making games. Which brings us back to this great piece of news. These guys have been working for months, to bring us an engine which almost any C/C++ homebrew game developer can use to make a fully fledged game. The talk gets a little technical now...Don't worry if you don't understand all the mumbo jumbo. If I were you, I'd expect a lot of great homebrew games coming out in a few weeks.

For the programmers, here are a few technical details/features:

• 3D Engine
• Mixed 2D + 3D
• Powerful and customizable 2D GUI
• Character animation system
• Particle effects
• Billboards
• Dynamic Lights
• Powerful 2D with alpha, blend, etc..
• Six image formats supported
• Eight mesh formats supported
• Fonts support
• Collision and physics integrated
• Powerful terrain system
• and much more...

Read through the list and you'll notice a lot of pretty awesome stuff in there. There's features in there which are mirrored around in a lot of paid and pretty expensive engines. I'm sure everyone here is curious to see the engine working. You're in luck! The LTE studios guys have been kind enough to provide a demo of the engine; a kind of a proof of concept, if you will... The final version, or the SDK will be released soon.

SiberianSTAR would like to thank Ky@ for his work on the editor, Jeremy Fitzhardinge for PSPGL, and PSMonkey. Oh, and by the way, thanks to PSMonkey for the heads-up too!

Download Link: [LTE 3D Engine Demo]

Back in May, developer Edorul released Nehe Tutorials 1 to 10 modified to compile with PSPGL. He decided to continue with the portage and unleashed Nehe tutorials 11 to 20. But don't expect to see tutorials 13, 14, and 15 as they require a whole new font system. Tutorial 18 is a no-show as well because it requires too many functions not implemented in PSPGL.

In order to port some of the tutorials, Edorul had to modify PSPGL. You will need this new version to compile and run all the tutorials.

Here's a rundown of the modifications:

• you can modify the keys repeating with function "glutKeyRepeat" (beware of this function - it doesn't exit in real OpenGL)
• a bug in glFog is fixed
• added Display Lists "flavour" functions; not all PSPGL functions are supported in Display Lists but you can modify them easily (glTexCoord4f IS THE PERFECT SAMPLE FOR DISPLAY LISTS MODIFICATION but don't forget to add function's prototype and an enum element at the end of "pspgl_internal.h", add function code in "glDisplayList.c" and function's name in __pspglFunctionToCall array always in "glDisplayList.c")

Nehe11, Nehe12, Nehe16, Nehe17, Nehe19, Nehe20 are adaptations of cygwin version of Nehe tutorials modified in order run on a PSP. Each folder contains a working Makefile, "psp-setup.c" needed to compile pspgl programs and "copy.sh" that permits to copy directly your program to your PSP without living cygwin, just type "./copy.sh".

Edorul has no plans to port more Nehe tutorials, so this could be the last of it. We're pretty sure somebody else is willing to pick up the project and share new Nehe stuff with the PSP community.

Download: [Nehe Tutorials 11-20]
Download: [PSPGL Modified]