Java Game Engine
Hi
I know this question has been asked before (probably 100's of times), but bear with me please.
I laboriously went through the bookDeveloping Games in Java, by David Brackeen, even to the point of making a 2D Side Scroller, with paralax backgrounds etc etc, which works fine. Its just very difficult to create a new game from the code.
I was looking for a sh** hot java game engine, if any of you know of one, or more to the point, have actually used
Haven't used it myself but try Garage Games Torque engine. Not java specific but that shouldn't be a problem. If your turnover is less than $250, 000 then the software costs $100 dollars with no royalties. http://www.garagegames.com/mg/projects/tge/
This is probably not the answer you want so feel free to ignore me:
I've also been over Brackeen's book and I have written about five games, before and after. The biggest problem with Brackeen is that everything is so **** big. If you write a mp-game, you don't want to start with a server that servers the entire world at once. Start with something simple. In my opinion, focus less on flexible structures that can be used for a thousand different games at the same time, focus more on writing code that does the job.
Example, animations:
don't have a class that handles animations. Have three lines of java-code that loops through three images at constant speed.
The first game I wrote was like Brackeens engine. I defined animations in xml. Very general GameObject classes were written etc etc. It took forever to make the graphics because it was so complicated. It works but I could have done it five times faster.
In my latest project there is very little animation. I have the player and a few monsters. They all inherit the same class (Creature) but overide paint() and setStats(). The painting is very simple, if the creature moves, it iterates over two or three images, otherwise it only paints the first. If it is dead it only paints that image (death sequence can come in version 2). I put minimal effort into the fancy stuff. I just want it to work (and I am almost done).
If I like the game when I am done, I will probably make better animations (or more likely, just make more simple monsters).
Don't use a game engine, write your own. And don't make it more complicated than it has to be. You first attempt will probably be messy. Don't be afraid to throw it all away and start over. You will do it twice as fast the second time.
the entire idea of java is reusable code. making a program short & simple make work, and maybe even better in the short-run, but when it comes to developing another game, or upgrading your program, code reusability is great.
in other words, for simple programs where you don't plan to reuse the code, your method works fine, but the entire idea of java is to simplify the process of creating complex video games, where using another person's game engine is probably a good idea because it saves a lot of effort (unless it obviously doesn't fit your needs)
