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Post by stratego on Apr 23, 2017 12:07:06 GMT -5
So I am thinking about making strategy game and for now I can't decide what to do take an engine that is already made (like cocos2d, maybe there's is something better?)or make one myself.
I know there are some programmers here and I would appreciate a good advice in this front.
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Post by grävling on Apr 23, 2017 13:48:19 GMT -5
You have enough work to do without having to make the game engine as well. The only reason to write your own is because you need something the existing ones cannot give you. Even then you usually want a 'X -- heavily modified by me' rather than a new thing made by you. Making your own engine sort of implies that you are familiar with what is out there. If you aren't then you are unlikely to produce a game engine that is an improvement on what already exists -- making a good game engine is really hard work.
Now, making a game engine, even a not very good one, is a great way to learn about making game engines, so if that is what you want to do, then that's the other reason to roll your own. But I would start with something that exists, first, were I you.
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Post by wascalwywabbit on Apr 23, 2017 19:36:28 GMT -5
I recommend sites like, www.gamefromscratch.comIt's nothing but game development tool news, simple tutorials and game engine overviews. Choose an engine that has the features and languages that's easiest for you to grok first ... if you find hard limits to it later on you can goto a more complete engine, or possibly roll your own features, whichever makes sense. html/js based will be slowest generally but the most universal, then custom script based ones a degree faster, but less universal, finally a c language based will have the most multiplatform challenges but often the best speed. Some prototype on the slower, easier to code languages and once they find more explicitly what they know they want/don't then they aim for better program performance. Just find what works for you. |
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poryg
Templar
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Post by poryg on Apr 23, 2017 21:17:58 GMT -5
I am not a programmer, so I can't really help you with this. But I have played enough with RPG and Game maker to give you a little insight from the engine's point of view.
The thing is, engines have one bad thing. They have limitations. But I have heard one nice sentence. "Don't think what it can do. Think what can you make it do." In other words feel absolutely free to use an engine... But try to master it. Because, if you don't mind me being a little harsh, both Google play store and Steam are overflowing with games where some random people try to rake up some money on a mediocre game.
What's the game going to be on? Which platform?
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Post by resistor on Apr 23, 2017 21:34:22 GMT -5
This old Cory Trese quote may help: Java is a bit more friendly in general terms, for basic programming. I would strongly discourage a new developer from doing what we did in ST -- that is, building an entire game engine by hand in Java. It's a lot of work, and if you're not an expert in Java (I had nearly 10 years experience when we started) it will be very hard. If I was recommending a way to start making games (to someone who wanted to learn a programming language) starting with an existing game framework. That is ultimately what we did at TBG, after out growing our custom engine. LibGDX and Java Cocos2d-x and C++ Unity and C# SpriteKit and Objective-C |
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Post by fallen on Apr 23, 2017 22:14:54 GMT -5
Do not build your own game engine. You will regret it  Depending your pre-existing language knowledge, you shoulder consider different engines. If you're comfortable with C#, definitely look at Unity. |
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Post by stratego on Apr 23, 2017 23:50:19 GMT -5
I am not a programmer, so I can't really help you with this. But I have played enough with RPG and Game maker to give you a little insight from the engine's point of view. The thing is, engines have one bad thing. They have limitations. But I have heard one nice sentence. "Don't think what it can do. Think what can you make it do." In other words feel absolutely free to use an engine... But try to master it. Because, if you don't mind me being a little harsh, both Google play store and Steam are overflowing with games where some random people try to rake up some money on a mediocre game. What's the game going to be on? Which platform? Mainly a strategy game like those from easytech or Strategy and tactics series. It mainly will be android(if I find an engine that is easy to port to other systems I will do other mobile systems too) and maybe win/Linux build, but that one will be later in progress. |
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Post by stratego on Apr 23, 2017 23:54:08 GMT -5
Do not build your own game engine. You will regret it Depending your pre-existing language knowledge, you shoulder consider different engines. If you're comfortable with C#, definitely look at Unity. Well I thought about unity, but it is mainly 3d engine and I will have to disable a lot of features in order to get what I want to accomplish, a flawless 2d strategy game with good geography. |
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Post by fallen on Apr 24, 2017 0:22:49 GMT -5
Do not build your own game engine. You will regret it Depending your pre-existing language knowledge, you shoulder consider different engines. If you're comfortable with C#, definitely look at Unity. Well I thought about unity, but it is mainly 3d engine and I will have to disable a lot of features in order to get what I want to accomplish, a flawless 2d strategy game with good geography. Unity has a 2D mode. I would definitely suggest not discounting it. |
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Post by grävling on Apr 24, 2017 0:27:41 GMT -5
Think about what 'good geography' means to you. Do you need a physics engine to model your geographical constructs, or not? If the answer is yes, I need one very much, you can eliminate a lot of candidates from the start.
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Post by wascalwywabbit on Apr 24, 2017 0:50:12 GMT -5
If we're talking about c# primarily and 2d consider Wave Engine and possibly Duality.
Yes, Xenko (formerly Paradox) and Unity are known for their 3d cross platform chops but both have 2d abilities. Actually Wave Engine has 3d too (with physics in both cases), but I've seen it recommended most often as a more 2d focused, lighter on system resources, alternative to Unity.
Unity is definitely the industry leader, but hasn't always been great for 2d, but they continue to add further 2d support, so I don't know where they are at on 2d now as I haven't seen recent reviews. They may have closed the gap in 2d buildability in the last year, but dunno. I do know every 2d game built on Unity is less likely to play on my aged iPad 2 -512mb of ram and Wave Engine based games play better in cases I've seen...
Edit: Nez (atop monogame), Atomic Game Engine and Flatredball are all possibilities too, as well as any other engines with c# bindings/plugins.
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Post by stratego on Apr 24, 2017 11:58:26 GMT -5
Think about what 'good geography' means to you. Do you need a physics engine to model your geographical constructs, or not? If the answer is yes, I need one very much, you can eliminate a lot of candidates from the start. That is bit too advanced for this project, I am thinking about using terrain types with different influences |
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Post by stratego on Apr 24, 2017 11:59:35 GMT -5
Well I thought about unity, but it is mainly 3d engine and I will have to disable a lot of features in order to get what I want to accomplish, a flawless 2d strategy game with good geography. Unity has a 2D mode. I would definitely suggest not discounting it. I am not sure why, but for some reason box2d is more popular than 2d mode for unity |
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Post by stratego on Apr 24, 2017 12:03:02 GMT -5
If we're talking about c# primarily and 2d consider Wave Engine and possibly Duality. Yes, Xenko (formerly Paradox) and Unity are known for their 3d cross platform chops but both have 2d abilities. Actually Wave Engine has 3d too (with physics in both cases), but I've seen it recommended most often as a more 2d focused, lighter on system resources, alternative to Unity. Unity is definitely the industry leader, but hasn't always been great for 2d, but they continue to add further 2d support, so I don't know where they are at on 2d now as I haven't seen recent reviews. They may have closed the gap in 2d buildability in the last year, but dunno. I do know every 2d game built on Unity is less likely to play on my aged iPad 2 -512mb of ram and Wave Engine based games play better in cases I've seen... Edit: Nez (atop monogame), Atomic Game Engine and Flatredball are all possibilities too, as well as any other engines with c# bindings/plugins. I currently think that flash engine is better than unity 2d for 2d games, but I don't feel like using them, maybe AGE or Flatredball, but I have to see what they have to offer |
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Post by wascalwywabbit on Apr 24, 2017 15:37:59 GMT -5
Unity has a 2D mode. I would definitely suggest not discounting it. I am not sure why, but for some reason box2d is more popular than 2d mode for unity Isn't box2d a physics engine added to other game engines..? |
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