Solve equation: Bullet + x = Game
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:42 am
Hi. :-)
I have years of programming experience, but I've only made some tiny toy-games so far. Now I'm about to make a real game.
Physics is going to play a large part in my game, so I started with selecting the physics engine. I've chosen Bullet and I am really lost with the amount of game/graphics engines listed on the net. It's not tens, but hundreds.
Would somebody with experience suggest some good combination that merges well with Bullet? I couldn't find any recommendations on Bullet's website.
I'm looking for a good combination of Bullet with some libraries/engines (graphics/audio/input/algorithms, etc.), so that the whole well-working game can be developed easily.
I don't know what I need (libraries/engine, etc). This is left for your kind recommendation.
Some of the requirements I think are important for the whole setup:
1. Platform/compilation:
- Must work in GNU/Linux 64 and 32 bit, Mac and Windows. I work in GNU/Linux, but if I want to sell the game, I guess it better work in Mac/Windows. Working on some game consoles would be an advantage, but is not required.
- Must allow the game to be compiled into single binary file without dependencies. I don't want the user to install anything except for the game itself.
- I was thinking about C++, but if some other language fulfills my requirements (can be compiled to native code), that's OK.
2. License issues:
- Must be very cheap. I don't have money for buying expensive licenses, so I would love if it could be free of charge or very cheap. Of course if there is e.g. some paid engine that will save me a year of work compared to best free alternative, please say so.
- Must allow to license my game so that it can be sold as binary without problems.
- A big plus would be if I could release the game as open-source, say after selling it for a year, so open-source libraries are much preferred.
3. Features:
- Must be easy to learn with good documentation and tutorials.
- Must integrate well the physics with graphics, so that I can easily create some bodies with textures that will work well. In other words I don't want to move/rotate textures/sprites by hand in response to physical movements. I don't want to have two separate worlds (physical and graphical) that I would have to keep synchronized by hand.
- Must provide high-quality results, so that e.g. graphics is drawn well with antialiasing and hardware acceleration.
- Must minimize the amount of coding. I don't want to code things that are common for games. E.g. let's say I want to add some terrain, then it should ideally be as easy as: scene.addTerrain(someTerrainCharacteristics);
- Must be as feature-reach and customizable as possible, so after a year of coding I don't decide that I have to switch to another solution.
- It would be nice if it included many common game algorithms/effects, e.g. short path finding, flames, explosions, etc.
- Must be relatively mature, actively developed, with good support (e.g. community/forums).
It looks like I require a lot. :-) But as an example, Bullet fulfills all of my requirements, so I am just looking for other pieces of puzzle that also do.
I guess many people who want to use Bullet for making a game (or some other software) have the same problem as I do. I hope some experienced users can suggest some good additions to Bullet so that a good game can be made quite easily.
Thanks in advance.
I have years of programming experience, but I've only made some tiny toy-games so far. Now I'm about to make a real game.
Physics is going to play a large part in my game, so I started with selecting the physics engine. I've chosen Bullet and I am really lost with the amount of game/graphics engines listed on the net. It's not tens, but hundreds.
Would somebody with experience suggest some good combination that merges well with Bullet? I couldn't find any recommendations on Bullet's website.
I'm looking for a good combination of Bullet with some libraries/engines (graphics/audio/input/algorithms, etc.), so that the whole well-working game can be developed easily.
I don't know what I need (libraries/engine, etc). This is left for your kind recommendation.
Some of the requirements I think are important for the whole setup:
1. Platform/compilation:
- Must work in GNU/Linux 64 and 32 bit, Mac and Windows. I work in GNU/Linux, but if I want to sell the game, I guess it better work in Mac/Windows. Working on some game consoles would be an advantage, but is not required.
- Must allow the game to be compiled into single binary file without dependencies. I don't want the user to install anything except for the game itself.
- I was thinking about C++, but if some other language fulfills my requirements (can be compiled to native code), that's OK.
2. License issues:
- Must be very cheap. I don't have money for buying expensive licenses, so I would love if it could be free of charge or very cheap. Of course if there is e.g. some paid engine that will save me a year of work compared to best free alternative, please say so.
- Must allow to license my game so that it can be sold as binary without problems.
- A big plus would be if I could release the game as open-source, say after selling it for a year, so open-source libraries are much preferred.
3. Features:
- Must be easy to learn with good documentation and tutorials.
- Must integrate well the physics with graphics, so that I can easily create some bodies with textures that will work well. In other words I don't want to move/rotate textures/sprites by hand in response to physical movements. I don't want to have two separate worlds (physical and graphical) that I would have to keep synchronized by hand.
- Must provide high-quality results, so that e.g. graphics is drawn well with antialiasing and hardware acceleration.
- Must minimize the amount of coding. I don't want to code things that are common for games. E.g. let's say I want to add some terrain, then it should ideally be as easy as: scene.addTerrain(someTerrainCharacteristics);
- Must be as feature-reach and customizable as possible, so after a year of coding I don't decide that I have to switch to another solution.
- It would be nice if it included many common game algorithms/effects, e.g. short path finding, flames, explosions, etc.
- Must be relatively mature, actively developed, with good support (e.g. community/forums).
It looks like I require a lot. :-) But as an example, Bullet fulfills all of my requirements, so I am just looking for other pieces of puzzle that also do.
I guess many people who want to use Bullet for making a game (or some other software) have the same problem as I do. I hope some experienced users can suggest some good additions to Bullet so that a good game can be made quite easily.
Thanks in advance.