Engine Problem

i assume you want to create a 3d engine, so i advice openGL, on other forums i've noticed that people who know both like openGL more and find it easier.

but as told many times (and told to me) you should create games, not engines.

and if you don't know OGRE, just look at their examples (i assume they have basic and advanced examples), you can learn a lot from examples.

Thanks assainator I was having alot of trouble with this. As some people are I can come up with a million things I want to do but when I get rite down to it I just cant figure out where to start.

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Original post by AbsentKnight Hey guys I was wondering if you could help me. I want to use Havok in Visual c++ 2008 Express but, my problem is I dont know which graphics API to use Opengl, Direct3d, or mayby Ogre3d- do not know much about Ogre. Any help would be apreceiated or a point in a better direction. Thanks in advance.

This is a largely *depends* problem. What's important is what you want to achieve, and what limit's you're willing to accept.

First, Direct3D. I've heard this was the easiest to learn out of the three (although I haven't tried it yet), but it's disadvantage is that it only work with Windows. If you want your game to be available on Mac and/or Linux, you're out of luck.

OpenGL, as opposed to Direct3D, works for any system. There's a slight performance penality on Windows, however (or this may just be me), and it's C-syntax requires you to use a lot of functions to achieve small things, such as drawing a line. A lot of your time will be spent making Classes to take care of these details.

Ogre3D, Irrlicht, and the likes are all libraries that uses OpenGL or Direct3D to render graphics. The great thing is that it can use both graphics libraries, and that it takes care of most of the hard work for you. Still, there's a steep learning curve for all of them.

To be safe, OpenGL is the way to go, but if you're looking into commercial game development, I'd suggest looking into Direct3D instead.

Thank you also japtar10101. I think i'll check out Ogre and play around with it.

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Original post by japtar10101 There's a slight performance penality on Windows, however

No, there is not.

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Original post by Yann L Quote: Original post by japtar10101 There's a slight performance penality on Windows, however No, there is not.

At least, not after you upgrade from Window's crappy default video drivers :-O