Dvader's TGC Store Products

Dvader is the renaissance man of the TGC community.  He's been around a long time and does just about everything from games, to levels, voice acting, coding, and all the way to 3d modelling.  It's impressive, to say the least.

Get his older DarkBasic Games here:  http://www.sentientsoftware.bandedsoftware.com/

Dvader's TGC Store:  http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=10622

While his shop is constantly being added to, he is the ONLY person I have seen who has a video walkthrough of his store:

Definitely some slick shit going on here.

Dvader unfortunately suffers from what a significant amount of jack of all trade types (I count myself in that lot) are afflicted by:  lack-of-mastery-itis.  He's got some really amazing products here but clearly his art (at least by my tastes) is not quite up to his coding level.   Some of the objects are remarkably well done though and definitely deserve a look or purchase.  Other objects with potentially less sophisticated art styles often come with their own unique script which is worth it's weight in terms of use and function in and of itself.  So there's definitely a lot of really great reasons to check out his store.

Dvader's use of color is a little brighter than I prefer but here again, your miles may vary.

One thing that is completely noteworthy is he probably has the best glass modelling in the game, bar none.

I can think of few AAA games that can match this level of quality for a simple glass.

His glass is better than every single other person's on the store, without question.

What is the one item I cannot live without: Here again I am forced to choose a split on my choices.  There are too many low priced, must have items to simply name one.

First, I really like this ashtray:

When you are making FO3 look bad, you're doing something right.

I find a good ashtray under-represented in most in respects gaming wise.  But on the TGC store I'm pretty sure this is the only one.  But look at it! We don't even need others.  It's literally THAT good.

In terms of packs, he only has one.  It's his 'clutter pack'.  It's well priced and has a significant amount of objects that really are completely unique.

It's reasonably cheaper at a 20% reduction over the already low price per item.

Now I'm just going to add that Dvader has one last thing that absolutely NEEDS mentioned.  His pick up and move script is amazing as hell, cheap, and necessary.  He's also got some free scripts worth grabbing but this pay one is incredible:

The bottom line: You may find his art not to your tastes but honestly there's too much here that's invaluable to pass up.  The pickup script is vital; the glass objects are beyond compare.  Decide for yourself and take a look!

If this post was helpful for you, please feel free to comment and share it with others.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  If you'd like your products reviewed, leave a comment below and a link to your game creators store.

PirateMyke's TGC Store Products

PirateMyke is another prolific The Game Creators/FPS Creator developer.  He's probably logged hundreds, possibly thousands of hours into creating assets for just Reloaded, let alone the previous incarnation of FPS Creator.

PirateMyke's store: http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=126323&page=1

His youtube channel has a good amount of walkthroughs for his store items and is also worth a look: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm12bBEndLKBxECbFJLBrpg

Myke has a significant amount of well priced packs.  Texture quality is a little low, but implements well when actually used in game.   This should improve as the lighting system in 1.0090 helps provide pre-baked shadows, occlusion, etc.

4 packs, all quite affordable and all very useful.

Some of his models, while textured well have a curiously large amount of polygons for such simple models:

Take for instance this very nice stove - comes in at 2154 polys.

Note the stove, which is excellent, and it's oddly high poly count.  Also note the texturing on the walls.  While acceptable, it's not my taste.  Strangely, Myke's proficiency in texturing seems to be less in walls and more in small objects.  Take for instance this amazing table:

Eye-poppingly beautiful, IMO.  

And then compare against this simplistic (not a negative, just very different) kitchen island:

It's like they were made by two different developers, honestly.

When I first evaluated PirateMyke's products, I wrote up a draft and realized I couldn't pick a single product to recommend.  I like his stuff, truly, but there was a glaring omission which I felt needed to be addressed before continuing.  So I contacted him and gave him what I felt was constructive criticism.

He responded, and then some.  Which leads us to my choice for his best item.

What is the one item I could not live without:  The Patio Pack 1.  You see, prior to this writing there was no such thing as a patio pack.  There were, however, a significant number of equally impressive patio items which I couldn't choose a victor from.  They all were just.. so good.   So I asked Myke if he'd consider making them into a bundle.  He did one better.  He made a whole new pack of patio items... and flooring... and gardening.   Honestly it's an incredible amount of work when all I asked for was a simple bundle on the store.  I'm flattered he'd take my suggestion so seriously.

There's more potential here than this pic lets on.

Now admittedly in a forum thread he's advised he did use some free models to help build this, but even still it's a tremendous body of work and is priced to sell at 500 points.


The bottom line:  Art style is different but certain pieces which are vital of form and function.  His pieces are effective and functional and can find a home easily in a great many settings.

If this post was helpful for you, please feel free to comment and share it with others.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  If you'd like your products reviewed, leave a comment below and a link to your game creators store.

Rolfy's TGC Store Products

Rolfy is a long time The Game Creators supporter.  He's known for his excellent scripting and secondary effects. While admittedly I'm not a long time TGC supporter myself, it doesn't take long to figure out who stands out in the community as someone who has consistently provided meaningful mods and updates that aren't actually employed by TGC.

Visit his store here: http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=44335

When I first evaluated Rolfy's store, he had some really great items.  Since then though, he seems to have expanded significantly.  I had to rewrite my entire draft because of it.

Most recently, he added his art of war kit:

Blogger's not playing nice, use the link to view the demo vid:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUufjZVDLDk

I used to be a regular building until I took an RPG-7 to the knee.

His selection of covered crates are phenomenal.  I'd say his least impressive piece are the rocks, but that's relatively speaking.  It's still miles better than a great many other offerings.  You pay a premium (compared to other TGC store prices) but IMHO it's completely worth it.  Rolfy's items are so unique, so impressive they stand on their own easily without peer.  Here again though.. the prices here for a 'higher' priced item such as Rolfy's are easily dwarfed by other engines like Unity or 3rd party creations for engines like Lite-C/Acknex.

I for one, wish I could throw more money at this guy.  All in due time, I suppose.

What is the one item I could not live without:  While the wave pack is ideal, if you are looking for a single item.. the straight wave has a significant amount of utility:

It's a little tricky to position but works exceedingly well.

The curvy waves are definitely useful as well so unless you're a miserly bastard like me, buy the pack of waves.   It's six dollars well spent for some real immersion enhancing items.

This is a full vid of the entire waves pack in action.

The bottom line: Rolfy's items are not some one hit wonder.  I'm quite sure I'll be revisiting his catalog again, and soon.  Keep a keen eye out for his work!

If this post was helpful for you, please feel free to comment and share it with others.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  If you'd like your products reviewed, leave a comment below and a link to your game creators store.

Nomis3D's TGC Store Products

Nomis3d's products are pretty exceptional and worth a look.  His items have an interesting symmetry with Gencheff's, I think completely by accident.  For instance, Gencheff has his Pripyat (google Chernobyl if you're not familiar) ferris wheel.  Nomis actually has a Pripyat sign!  He also has numerous ISO containers with Cyrillic/Russian lettering.

Store link: http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=186502

Notice the high attention to detail; the LOD enabled textures which will help keep framerates under control.  I particularly like the shaders used with the metal textures.  It's not out of place to say that Nomis has some of the highest quality products on the store.  Easily in the top ten, or possibly the top five.  Maybe even the top three.  It's hard to say and really starts getting subjective at that level.

If you need M113 Gavin's (good choice, btw, my favorite armored vehicle!) or ISO containers.. Nomad's your man.  He's got them in spades and they look fantastic.

What is the one item I can't live without: Tough choice. While the pack for the Gavins is a MASSIVE bargain (75% off buying individually almost seems like a typo).

600 pack price, 2400 individual.  A 75% savings.

Same with his ISO Container pack.

All it needs now is a cargo ship ...

But for me, personally, I found that there's something that better suits my needs.  Something I can use in a wide variety of modern environments and has a lot of utility.

Just this humble little house.

For me, finding a way to do fast housing is a big deal.  This house would be at home in a number of environments.  It's run down just enough to count in ruins-type setups.  It could work at a campground, or in an urban environment.  Check out this interior!

Now this I can work with!

For one hundred and fifty points, this is a steal.  It's well priced, very useful, and fits with a number of other models by other developers.

Bottom line: Bookmark him if you haven't already.  This is one to keep an eye on.  Prices aren't bargain basement cheap on individual items, but the packs are stupidly low.

If this post was helpful for you, please feel free to comment and share it with others.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  If you'd like your products reviewed, leave a comment below and a link to your game creators store.

Bengetronic's TGC Store Products

Currently the PirateMyke Review and The Cosmic Prophet's review are both postponed until I see their newer products.  I know cosmic's got some really great stuff in the works, and PirateMyke is looking at adding a lot of new things as well.  So I'm moving them to the bottom of the list for now. 

Bengetronic added his items mysteriously to the store a few weeks ago with little fanfare.  I didn't see any forum posts or notifications.  Just... one day there it was.  Similarly there's no forum profile per-se under the name Bengetronic.

Under google though, it all begins to take shape.

www.bengetronic.com  - This is his portfolio.  He's a professional 3D modeler and it shows.  His portfolio is impressive, which explains the quality of his work (more on that later). He appears to be a long time FPS Creator artist, however, given the resume I found on this site.  I'd love to comb through and find his older work.

http://bengetronic.blogspot.com/ - An outdated, albeit interesting blog he wrote but stopped writing a few years ago.  Interestingly, he makes masks - like my wife.  Check out her blog sometime if you're interested in mask-making: http://mariemessina.blogspot.com/  (She's started writing up posts again so expect updates soon).

Anywho, on with the show.  Bengetronic's models are top notched and priced to sell.  They outperform the vast majority of their competition in a number of ways.  The only two limiting factors here are the lack of a pack (which means buying each model individually, yuck!)  and currently his work is limited to one 'set' of items - specifically they are all based around a construction site.

Just a fraction of what's available.

These are ultra-high quality, low poly count (good for framerates), that are quite frankly DIRT cheap.  Even without the pack, you can buy every single item for 580 points.  That's five dollars, eighty cents USD.

There's only ONE model that doesn't strike my fancy - this guy right here.

The pipes are a bit chunky looking.

The steel pipes he did are lackluster compared to the rest of the set.  They try too hard to be a low poly model and end up seeing out of place with the rest of the set as a result.  He would probably have been better served using I-beams instead of piping, in this case.  At thirty cents, I'm not sure I care enough to not buy them though.


What one item can I not live without:  This is a trivial question, in this case.  The models are SO cheap there's really no reason to choose.  But if you put a gun to my head I'd pick..

Easily at home in any industrial environment.

This simple generator costs a meager 30 cents USD and represents itself quite well.  It's transferable to many modern environments due to the ubiquity of needing portable generators.

The bottom line:  The bottom line is simple here. I'll be buying most, if not all of his models.   There's a huge, varied selection, they are cheap as dirt and look exceptional.  Do yourself the favor and open your wallet for Bengetronic.  His store is found here:  http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=200625

If this post was helpful for you, please feel free to comment and share it with others.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  If you'd like your products reviewed, leave a comment below and a link to your game creators store.

Kencharleslong's TGC Store Products

Ken Charles Long.  I don't know much about the guy.  I think he uses a different name on the forums than he does for his store name.  Speaking of, here's his store:

KCL's store: http://en.tgcstore.net/?md=artist-view&aid=27308

Let me be the first to say I really like KCL's store offerings.  He's got a whole host of free goodies as well which I urge you to pick up asap.  I've gotten excellent mileage out of his free "Medieval Derelict House."

KCL's models look better in game than they do in the store.

This is a big object which has a lot of utility in the 'abandoned ruins' department of many different settings.

The first thing you're going to notice here is a significant number of packs.  All are well priced and a superb value.  He's also got a very good selection, coming in at 59 individual items as of the time of this writing.  The art style is not exceptional but quite good.  I can find little fault with in, especially considering most of his pieces are specifically designed as background scenery objects.

The objects are exceptionally low poly on the whole, which generally tends to reduce detail. However, let's be honest here.  Most of us are NOT making multi-million dollar titles.  As such we fall into the rank of indy development and this means we're afforded a certain amount of latitude with model quality.  This is also useful when using a less than optimized engine (such as the Reloaded engine) in keeping framerate and poly counts in check.  Interestingly KCL gets a lot of mileage out of his low poly models, making them look better than they have a right to be.  In terms of price to value - I'd say that KCL's offerings are probably the best on the entire TCG store.

Good detail at a meager 439 polys.

What one item can I not live without:  This is a very difficult call.  Ken has such well priced products (~70 cents for most of them!)  that picking an individual product is mostly a question of what suits your needs best.  Pack-wise there are also several very well priced packs, all offering exceptional savings.  Personally I really prefer the three superior sheds he has in this pack:

His three best pieces, for one low price.

I personally really like the additional clutter of these sheds and find that for the price, I can get good mileage out of these three.  The other pack is enticing but the sheds are too similar.

The bottom line:  KCL's offerings are absurdly cheap, prolific, and the quality is excellent for a TCG store item.  If you've got five or ten dollars to spend, you're going to have a hard time spending it more wisely than on a few packs from KCL.