Omnimaga

General Discussion => Other Discussions => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: Munchor on October 16, 2011, 04:42:12 pm

Title: Which language should I use?
Post by: Munchor on October 16, 2011, 04:42:12 pm
I had an idea for a computer game (it can't really be made for calculators that I have :(), I won't give many details, but I can say the following:

* It's a maze game;
* It's a strategy/thinking game;
* It requires a tilemapping system;
* It requires colours and images;
* It requires sound;
* Close source is a +, unlike all of my other software;

So I thought of the following ways of making it:
- Use the playn (http://code.google.com/p/playn/) library so that I can code it in Java and have it released for Android, HTML5, Java and Flash;
- Use C/C++ with SDL and have it released for all operating systems;
- Use Java and have it released both as a Web App and a desktop App;
- Use HTML5/Javascript; (too complicated)

It's basically Java vs C++... With C++ I can make sure it's closed source and make it fast. But if it were Java, I could distribute Web Applications, and that would be cool, so that people don't have to make downloads. Oh! And I can use Java with playn or Java without playn, that's also a problem.

What do you think? Thanks!
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: AngelFish on October 16, 2011, 04:44:51 pm
How much speed do you actually need? Java can produce somewhat fast games like Minecraft if you're willing to devote enough CPU to it and you can obfuscate the compiled bytecode to prevent [simple] reverse engineering to make it closed source.
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: Munchor on October 16, 2011, 04:45:58 pm
How much speed do you actually need? Java can produce somewhat fast games like Minecraft if you're willing to devote enough CPU to it and you can obfuscate the compiled bytecode to prevent [simple] reverse engineering to make it closed source.

Not much speed. I need 2D Graphics based on images, no 3D, and pretty much is based on images. Oh and there's also the downside that people need Java to run my game, but that's not a big issue these days, is it?
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: AngelFish on October 16, 2011, 04:47:01 pm
Given that, Java seems like the way to go, since it really is a universal standard on almost all devices with any sort of CPU.
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: Munchor on October 16, 2011, 04:48:18 pm
Given that, Java seems like the way to go, since it really is a universal standard on almost all devices with any sort of CPU.

Hm... Do you have any recommendation on what library I should use? I know Minecraft uses some library that has OpenGL bindings. However, I'm not sure if I need that. Probably I could just use Swing or AWT with the respective Graphics component.
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: Scipi on October 16, 2011, 04:51:01 pm
I would suggest C++ with the SFML library. SFML is actually quite good and developer friendly from what I hear about it between it and SDL.

Oh, and SFML is great for 2D games. :D
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: Munchor on October 19, 2011, 12:35:16 pm
I would suggest C++ with the SFML library. SFML is actually quite good and developer friendly from what I hear about it between it and SDL.

Oh, and SFML is great for 2D games. :D

I just checked out SFML, looks cool, but I think SDL has more documentation, and I prefer SDL because of that.
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on October 19, 2011, 03:38:53 pm
Are you planning to post updates on the game here if it starts being worked on?  As for java you should probably avoid it unless it's a simple game, though (ie, nothing like Minecraft :P)
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: Munchor on October 20, 2011, 04:12:44 pm
Are you planning to post updates on the game here if it starts being worked on?  As for java you should probably avoid it unless it's a simple game, though (ie, nothing like Minecraft :P)

I will make a topic on it when I have some progress. I have finished the game design for now. I have to plan the code structure now.
Title: Re: Which language should I use?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on October 20, 2011, 09:18:01 pm
Ah ok. GOod luck :)