Elysian Shadows

I am considering fooling around with a game engine and possible using that instead of developing one on my own.
I haven't fooled around with it much but I am considering torque 2d (possibly 3d).
In everyone's opinion what is the best game engine to work with that is professional game worthy that uses C++?
Also is it considered un - professional or wussy to use someone else's a game engine?
On a personal note I am having a personal conflict with this because I want to do some "real coding" (not just scripting and calling stuff someone else made)
and I am looking forward to adding original features to my engine, and giving it a unique style. But yet I dont know if it will take to long or if I can do it
P.s Sorry if I am a spammy n00b
P.s.s I know sometimes I have a hard time getting my point across so if any clarification is needed let me know

I don't think it's bad to use someone else's engine. That'd be like calling every commercial developer, pussy of the year. A game engine is a way to make a game, as is a graphics API, or a physics system, or whatever. Don't feel discouraged that you're not making your own engine. Besides, making your own engine takes a lot of hard work. It requires tons of your time, as well as a lot of design to get it right. As you can see, if you follow AiGD, the team's been working on this for quite some time.

On the flip side, there's a big difference between an engine API and something like RPG MAKER. From what I can see, you plan to use another engine to program your own games. You're not doing something like dragging objects, and using forms and dialogs to make the objects work. Something Game Maker or RPG Maker XP are famous for. There's nothing wrong with that either, but if you want to make a serious game, those aren't gonna do it (in my opinion anyways).

When it comes to engine's to use, I think I know a few that could be pretty useful if you plan to work in C++:

Irrlicht Engine: http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/ - A great engine for 3D stuff, as well as some advanced 2D

Panda3D: http://www.panda3d.org/ - Nice 3D Engine, I believe there's some Python stuff, but I never bothered to touch that aspect. Plays videos too :D!

Haaf's Game Engine: http://hge.relishgames.com/ - GREAT 2D stuff; haven't really tried it out too much, but I've heard good things!

Box2D: http://www.box2d.org/ - Not really an engine, but if you wish to incorporate some physics into the game, use this, as it's the best 2D physics engine I know of. Be warned though: It's a bitch to learn.

I'm sure there's 100's more to choose from, but those are just some that I've either heard good things about/have used in the past. Look around and see what suits you best. Always remember though: "Make games, not engines!"

JesseGuarascia wrote:I don't think it's bad to use someone else's engine. That'd be like calling every commercial developer, pussy of the year. A game engine is a way to make a game, as is a graphics API, or a physics system, or whatever. Don't feel discouraged that you're not making your own engine. Besides, making your own engine takes a lot of hard work. It requires tons of your time, as well as a lot of design to get it right. As you can see, if you follow AiGD, the team's been working on this for quite some time.

On the flip side, there's a big difference between an engine API and something like RPG MAKER. From what I can see, you plan to use another engine to program your own games. You're not doing something like dragging objects, and using forms and dialogs to make the objects work. Something Game Maker or RPG Maker XP are famous for. There's nothing wrong with that either, but if you want to make a serious game, those aren't gonna do it (in my opinion anyways).

When it comes to engine's to use, I think I know a few that could be pretty useful if you plan to work in C++:

Irrlicht Engine: http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/ - A great engine for 3D stuff, as well as some advanced 2D

Panda3D: http://www.panda3d.org/ - Nice 3D Engine, I believe there's some Python stuff, but I never bothered to touch that aspect. Plays videos too :D!

Haaf's Game Engine: http://hge.relishgames.com/ - GREAT 2D stuff; haven't really tried it out too much, but I've heard good things!

Box2D: http://www.box2d.org/ - Not really an engine, but if you wish to incorporate some physics into the game, use this, as it's the best 2D physics engine I know of. Be warned though: It's a bitch to learn.

I'm sure there's 100's more to choose from, but those are just some that I've either heard good things about/have used in the past. Look around and see what suits you best. Always remember though: "Make games, not engines!"

^ Thank you that is some very helpful input

One more: Unity 3D http://unity3d.com/

Its what the dualthreat guys use, and its extremely powerful and from my understanding its quite portable as well.

Iv herd alot of good things about this one :-D
Although I dont know C# and im kinda going for 2d

Yeah, never think that doing anything to further your desire to learn and master game development is 'wussy'. Coding your own engine, especially a half descent one is an incredibly advanced task that takes a long time and nobody doing it successfully here learned what a function one day and whipped up a game engine the next day. Using APIs will help you understand what goes into an engine and how to properly implement it, so maybe down the road you'll want to try to develop your own. Perhaps you can enjoy just using what's been made available for you and you just concentrate on making the actual game... whatever works for you is best, never down yourself for that.

eatcomics wrote:One more: Unity 3D http://unity3d.com/

Its what the dualthreat guys use, and its extremely powerful and from my understanding its quite portable as well.

+1

Trask wrote:Yeah, never think that doing anything to further your desire to learn and master game development is 'wussy'. Coding your own engine, especially a half descent one is an incredibly advanced task that takes a long time and nobody doing it successfully here learned what a function one day and whipped up a game engine the next day. Using APIs will help you understand what goes into an engine and how to properly implement it, so maybe down the road you'll want to try to develop your own. Perhaps you can enjoy just using what's been made available for you and you just concentrate on making the actual game... whatever works for you is best, never down yourself for that.

Thank you for the advice
I worked with some engines so I have got the hang of making games with engines (game maker 8, Source SDK) but I am just having trouble making a engine beacuse it is so abstract.

You should do (or at least try) it the way I did it. I started off using stuff like SDL, and made engines for RPGs and 2D games. Then, when I moved to OpenGL, I started literally from scratch. I programmed an engine that wasn't for any specific type of game, just handling game states and stuff. Once I got a basic version of it running, I moved on to Cocos2D and things like that because:

1. They do it more efficiently than I could ever dream of.
2. It speeds up development.
3. Its more fun! Isn't that the point of programming, to have fun?

Just my two cents.

Alot of that is what I have pretty much done to
Learn some C++
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Game Maker 8 also fail at HL2 modding, learn some parts of other langueges :-P
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Learn the rest of C++, and fool around with the basics of some other languages
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Practice (Console, Fool around with graphics, More Game Maker 8, Occasional HL2 Modding) listen to advice from more advanced programmers dont start a project until you meet there suggestions
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Work on a engine for a specific type of game and brush up on C++, also somtimes fool around with web dev and play with some other languges :-P (Where I am now :-D )

Its more fun! Isn't that the point of programming, to have fun?

Agreed, that and science or to produce somthing functional

THe Floating Brain wrote:

Its more fun! Isn't that the point of programming, to have fun?

Agreed, that and science or to produce somthing functional

Amen!