Thread: Hi

Homework Solutions? As in 'can you make my game engine?' HS?
Just kidding, anyway ATM im 'testing' (though the game has gone gold, but still has a freebie option) Eternal Lands, which is not like any other game ive tested (in terms of graphics)...
I have tested some other games in the past:
Voyage Century online for example, neat little game, still has a few bugs (thats why its still in beta ),
ive played Sovereignty for a wlihe (web based, not my thing really),
then theres Dark Age of Time, the only game that ive tested pre-beta (got cancelled though),
Silkroad-classic rpg if you ask me,
Ferentus - pretty same like silkroad, just not asian,
then theres Wurm online (an interesting game, made in Java),
Planeshift (which is a hobby project, as ive heard, theres very little eyecandy, but thats just me )
Thats just a few, the rest i dont really remember :/

Oh i almost forgot, i am thinking about programming with DirectX, ive heard its rather complicated, why do you think programming with OpenGL is better? just being curious, oh and ive seen the subforum, but i havent snooped around yet

I would recommend starting with OpenGL, for no other reason than because that's what the best (IMO) high level graphics tutorial uses.

http://nehe.gamedev.net/

There are so many ways to approach graphics programming. Don't take anyone's word as gospel. I got started for the same reason. I really wanted to be involved in games and worked hard to learn everything I could about 3d programming. Now I work in the military simulation industry. Good luck with your journey though.

>> You're already miles ahead of many newly registered posters.

Seconded. You seem to have more functional english than most new english / american posters

>> on top of that, I say scrap every windows based code from the nehe tutorial and work with Glut or GLFW.

Also seconded. Even though I've never released anything cross-platform, I try to stick to multi-platform API's as much as possible - I find them much easier to work with in most cases. OpenGL is the only exception; I simply decided to work with OGL instead of DirectX and stayed put.

At the moment I'm putting a fair amount of effort into a 2D game engine written in C++ using SDL with OpenGL. As I've probably said more than once on here: tough, slow going but fun. More rewarding. Just plain cool

But as FillYourBrain as said, don't take anyone's word for anything - I'd try and experience all the paths available at least a little bit before settling, in other words, decide "what's best" for yourself. I guess that's the best way to put it.

Originally Posted by QuestionC

I would recommend starting with OpenGL, for no other reason than because that's what John Carmack uses, and HE IS GOD.

- fixed -

p.s. I'm sure someone will catch the irony in that one.

Originally Posted by Illyrianna

Thank you for a very warm welcome
Unfortunately ill have to dissapoint some of you, as i will write all my 2D projects for windows (while writting a separate code for other platforms, for sake of learning ), and for my 3D projects i will go multi-platform, but with a base in windows... Reason for this is that i have never even seen any other OS than windows

I'd say, you should try SDL if you want to go 2D. I've used it almost a year now and it has fulfilled my need.

Oh yeah, welcome aboard.

Originally Posted by Illyrianna

Thank you for a very warm welcome
Unfortunately ill have to dissapoint some of you, as i will write all my 2D projects for windows (while writting a separate code for other platforms, for sake of learning ), and for my 3D projects i will go multi-platform, but with a base in windows... Reason for this is that i have never even seen any other OS than windows

If you're interested in using other OS', delve into Unixes - BSD, Linux, Solaris etc. There are loads of excellent resources on programming for these platforms and a highly interesting history and culture to take in.

At the moment I'm reading The Art of Unix Programming by Eric S. Raymond, which can be found here: http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/

The first thing he does is introduce you to the Unix Philosophy / culture and gives an in-depth history. The practices you learn here will make you a better software engineer for life.

Not to mention the plethora of members here who use Unixes regularly - we have a specific forum for it too

EDIT: I second g4j31a5's SDL comment (like I've been seconding a lot of stuff here). Simple to use, plenty of docs and a massive community, with the option to go hardware accelerated 3D by using it with OpenGL. Like me.

Welcome! It's always nice to see new people around here.

Unfortunately ill have to dissapoint some of you, as i will write all my 2D projects for windows (while writting a separate code for other platforms, for sake of learning ), and for my 3D projects i will go multi-platform, but with a base in windows...

Well, just like others have said, if you want to do 2D, SDL is a great API to use. It is multiplatform, and very easy to set up for both Windows and any other OS that you might come upon. It's a lot easier to use SDL for Windows 2D graphics than it is to use the Windows API for Windows 2D graphics :-)

SDL also allows you to use OpenGL on top of it, like others have stated already, allowing you to go 3D very easily. So I highly recommend it :-)