Book Image

Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide

Book Image

Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

Panda3D is a game engine, a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs. It includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games. Also, Panda3D is Open Source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures. This book will enable you to create finished, marketable computer games using Panda3D and other entirely open-source tools and then sell those games without paying a cent for licensing. Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide follows a logical progression from a zero start through the game development process all the way to a finished, packaged installer. Packed with examples and detailed tutorials in every section, it teaches the reader through first-hand experience. These tutorials are followed by explanations that describe what happened in the tutorial and why. You will start by setting up a workspace, and then move on to the basics of starting up Panda3D. From there, you will begin adding objects like a level and a character to the world inside Panda3D. Then the book will teach you to put the game's player in control by adding change over time and response to user input. Then you will learn how to make it possible for objects in the world to interact with each other by using collision detection and beautify your game with Panda3D's built-in filters, shaders, and texturing. Finally, you will add an interface, audio, and package it all up for the customer.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Over viewing task return options


So far, all of our tasks have used the same return statement, return task.cont. This isn't our only option, though. In reality, we have three options to choose from:

  • task.cont is our first option. Using this return value tells the task to execute again next frame. This option is intended for tasks that continue without interruption.

  • task.again is our second option. This option is meant for use with doMethodLater. If we use this return value, the task will execute again after the delay that's provided to doMethodLater. This means that if we have a one second delay in doMethodLater and we use return task.again, the task will execute once every second.

  • task.done is the last return value. This tells the task to remove itself from the task manager and stop executing. We can use task.done with a doMethodLater to perform an action once after a delay, or we could use task.done to stop a task that is no longer needed. Returning task.done is the same as returning nothing...