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How Would You Tackle This?

Started by thebusypapa Sep 9, 2010 at 4:27 AM 10 replies 2k views

Original Post

Sep 9, 2010 at 4:27 AM

You'll have to excuse my naivity as I am new to this genre and design style. Maybe someone can help?

Right, I'm creating an RPG/Tower Defense game for a client. Graphically this game would be on par with Worms or Plants vs Zombies, obviously not overly complicated. I need an engine capable of producing attractive cutsey cartoon visuals alongside smooth scripting for this reason I don't want to use anything bloated.

How would you tackle this engine-wise?

[Edited by - arry2007uk on September 9, 2010 4:44:14 AM]

Ashaman73

Sep 9, 2010 at 5:30 AM

We need more info about your requirements:
- plattform(mobile,iphone,windows,linux,console?)
- investment (free, low budget $XXXX,high budget)
- web or standalone ?
- 2d or 3d

thebusypapa

Sep 9, 2010 at 5:54 AM

Quote:
Original post by Ashaman73
We need more info about your requirements:
- plattform(mobile,iphone,windows,linux,console?)
- investment (free, low budget $XXXX,high budget)
- web or standalone ?
- 2d or 3d

* Windows OS (possible Mac OSX & iPhone version later)
* Minimum investment, the cheaper the better for this client.
* Standalone
* 2D

I should add I have experience with the Unreal 3 Engine, but I really am not looking to use that in this case.

YoYoFreakCJ

Sep 9, 2010 at 6:51 AM

I guess that XNA would be fine for this. It's a framework for C# provided by Microsoft. You get into it really quick and can get fine results with a fair amount of work. It's free to download and install, but I don't know how they handle distribution licences. I love XNA for it's useability, so I recommend that you take a look at it and give it a try.

Hodgman

Sep 9, 2010 at 6:56 AM

Flash?

ernow

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:05 AM

The OP mentioned iPhone so XNA and Flash are a no-go unless you are willing to start over again when making a version for the iPhone.

Cross-platform including the iPhone is hard anyway so picking a single engine for these platforms isn't a piece of cake...

thebusypapa

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:29 AM

I want to avoid Flash due to performance limitations, iPhone accesibility is a possible outcome but not a required one. In the end, rebuilding the games wouldn't be a problem if it came to that.

Another note is that my client may want to sell his game once created and I really don't know where XNA stands from that point-of-view for PC titles.

geolycosa

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:31 AM

I would write your PC version with C (or C++ if you must) and SDL. That way, your Mac (or Linux) port isn't going to be a big deal, and when you're ready to jump to iPhone, you can rip the SDL out and replace it with the iOS's drawing API.

thebusypapa

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:42 AM

Quote:
Original post by geolycosa
I would write your PC version with C (or C++ if you must) and SDL. That way, your Mac (or Linux) port isn't going to be a big deal, and when you're ready to jump to iPhone, you can rip the SDL out and replace it with the iOS's drawing API.

I know very little about SDL other than it is common place. Are there any limitations I should know about? Only my knowledge of it is little more than a few low quality Snake clones and FreeCiv.

Brain

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:49 AM

Have you considered pygame? It is portable to many platforms but not portable to iphone or consoles. Depends where you want to port to, really, but it does everything you want at a glance.

Wibbs

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:50 AM

Another popular option is SFML, which is similar to SDL and has a good, active community.

yaustar

Sep 9, 2010 at 9:26 AM

Unity will target all 3 platforms (iPhone will be at a cost).
C or C++ with SDL. SDL is a framework that abstracts the hardware (graphics, audio, input). It isn't an engine so you have to write animation systems, etc yourself.
If iPhone is not a priority then Flash with flixel or FlashPunk is something to reconsider.

More handy links to resources:
http://www.indievision.org/?p=2275
http://www.pixelprospector.com/2010/08/the-big-list-of-game-development-resources/

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