[CodingNewb]

Hehe, thought I left for good, didn't ya? Anyways, I've learned the bare basics of C++, and want to learn either DarkGDK, or OpenGL. Of course, simplicity will be a large factor in choosing one. If you have had experience with either of them, post what you like/dislike. From what I know, DarkGDK seems much simpler, but I've only been looking around for a li'l while. Please post Pros/Cons, and anything else you'd like to comment on them.

This post has been edited by CodingNewb: 04 April 2010 - 09:25 AM

[PlasticineGuy]

That's like asking what's better; a spoon or a spork? DarkGDK is a full game-dev pack, but OpenGL does just graphics.

[erik.price]

Well, they aren't really the same thing.

DarkGDK == Dark Game Development Kit
OpenGL == Open Graphics Library

It's really not fair to compare the two, DarkGDK is a game development kit based on Microsoft's DirectX framework. A comparable library would be IrrLicht, which can use either OpenGL, or DirectX

Both are free to use, but if you want to sell something you make with DarkGDK, you'll have to pay for a license (this runs about $500). DarkGDK is, as far as I can see, tied to Windows, OpenGL is cross platform.

If you're only interested in games, then between the two, DarkGDK might be a better bet.

This post has been edited by erik.price: 03 April 2010 - 06:41 PM

[PlasticineGuy]

Do you plan on developing exclusively for Windows?

[CodingNewb]

Thanks everyone, this changes, pretty much, everything.

I don't plan on developing exclusively for Windows, which makes me think DarkGDK is not cross-platform?

Anything about as simple as DarkGDK, but cross-platform?

[erik.price]

Ogre3D, IrrLicht, and Allegro to name a few

You also may want to look at SDL, even though that isn't specifically for games.

And of course, you can count on Wikipedia to have an article on anything

[PlasticineGuy]

Quote

DarkGDK is not cross-platform?

Obviously not. It uses DirectX, a proprietary framework exclusively for Windows and the Xbox (360).

[Skaggles]

SDL is used primarily with 2D game development. If that's what you're planning (and if you're just getting into game development I would reccommend 2D first) then SDL is a good choice. For 3D, you'll have to look into something like Ogre3D (which I hear good things about).

Edit: Cause I suck at typing.

This post has been edited by Skaggles: 03 April 2010 - 07:38 PM

[CodingNewb]

Thank you, everybody, I will be sure to look into those, sounds good, and I plan to start learning one by tomorrow

[xtreampb]

i was looking at game prog onece and i had got my hands on a copy of leadwerks game engine which is powerful, eligant, smoth, and smiple. the only draw back i found was that it isn't cross platform...yet. it is baised off open GL, but the author of the engine doesn't see the need to convert it to be cross platform, (which if you know what ur doing you could do it yourself. a task not for someone starting out like yourself). the author is too busy trying to get water effects tweaked and he added lua scripting a few months ago. I havn't checked it out recently but the tutorials are very good and easy to fallow and understand (especially the vids) go onto the forums at leadwers.com and ask to see if there is a mac version somewhere in the future. although u would be more marketable and a better programmer if you learned straight OpenGL not a lib, SDL, engine baised off it

hope i helped

~xtreampb~

[taylorc8]

Also I think QT has a graphics framework or something that uses OpenGL and is cross-platform.. I don't know what it's called but it's probably easy to use.

[CodingNewb]

Alright guys, thanks for the info, I've cut it down to Ogre3D & Unity, Please post your experiences with the two, Pros/Cons, etc.

[FrozenSnake]

UNITY: Game Development Tool
OGRE 3D: A 3D library for OpenGL and/or Direct3D.
Same a before they aren't really the same thing.

[CodingNewb]

FrozenSnake, on 04 April 2010 - 08:30 AM, said:

UNITY: Game Development Tool
OGRE 3D: A 3D library for OpenGL and/or Direct3D.
Same a before they aren't really the same thing.

Well thanks, but Erik...

erik.price, on 03 April 2010 - 06:07 PM, said:

Ogre3D, IrrLicht, and Allegro to name a few

You also may want to look at SDL, even though that isn't specifically for games.

And of course, you can count on Wikipedia to have an article on anything

Anyways, guess I'm [EDIT: NOT]going with Unity.

This post has been edited by CodingNewb: 04 April 2010 - 11:10 AM

[sparkart]

If you are interested in rapid game development, Unity3d would be the better choice.

In all honesty, you say that you've learned the bare basics of C++ so I don't think you need to worry about any performance issues between Unity and Ogre. Unity can create games. With Ogre3D, you can also create games, in fact you can create a Unity clone (not that it is a bright thing to do, unless you just want to do it for experience).

Unity is more visual as it is a tool for game development, whereas Ogre3D is a library for C++ (and a few ports).

If you want to gain more programming experience, using Ogre3D would be a better choice. If you want to gain experience in game design, Unity would probably be a better choice since the rate of game completion is much quicker.

Unity3D can deploy to the PC, Mac, Web-browser (not linux), iPhone, and consoles. Unity3D is being widely used by many commercial studios (including big names like EA) and indie devs alike.

Ogre3D gives you the opportunity to hone your programming skills. Unity3D gives you the opportunity to hone your game design skills. I use both.


P.S.
Unity3D provides scripting via Javascript, C#, and another language that I don't remember.