I've watched Elysian Shadows' video on getting started with game development and in the video, Falco says that you can make a game engine entirely from scratch. Going from his word, XNA seems like "cheating" and I was wondering if there was any way to make Xbox 360 games without XNA, but rather relying on low level libraries such as SDL, along with c++.
Here is the video for reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaxckMNq0eU
https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/1413/could-sdl-be-used-to-target-xbox-360
The above question was already answered on the GameDev StackExchange. Basically, the answer is no because "XNA is C# and DirectX" whie "SDL is C and OpenGL".
I'm probably missing something, so try to do more research on it.
Related
I am making a game in DirectX 9/C++. I do not have a lot of knowledge about directX. I want to make a map for my game similar to GTA 1. I want to know is there a way to make whole map in some other software and then import and render that map in my directX application.
If, not what are alternatives?
DirectX is not a game engine. DirectX is a programming API. Things like maps, game logic, and so on are completely beyond what DirectX does. It's your burden, as a programmer to implement these things.
Honestly, if you have to ask this question, you should not use DirectX directly, if you want results fast. Instead use an existing, available game engine and implement your game using that. In the past years a number of high quality engines have become available for little money or even free. To name a few:
Unity
Unreal Engine or SDK
CryEngine
Source SDK
There are also a few open source worth looking at:
IrrLicht
Ogre
CrystalSpace
You may also want to look at open source games, which engine you can repurpose. Specifically I'm thinking about Cube2 / Sauerbraten and it's successor Tesseract here.
I would really recommend to use an Engine like Unreal Engine 4. You can get it for little money and it does a lot for you. You can spend a lot of time in designing your game, so you dont need to spend that much time which directx and stuff.
I have a basic knowledge of c++. And i want to learn how to write program for Kinect Sensor.
I have seen many websites with examples of programs for Kinect Sensor in c++, but none of them have explained it well enough to understand whats happening in the code they have written.
so tell me how can start learning the basics to write programs for Kinect Sensor.
if there are any tutorials (preferably video tutorial), so tell me about them also.
Thank You In Advance.
Kinect C++ here : http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/394975/How-To-Use-Kinect-Face-Tracking-SDK
and here : http://nsmoly.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/face-tracking-sdk-in-kinect-for-windows-1-5/
There are videos and documentation at the Kinect Learn site. You should probably start from there.
A quick google brings up this page which is a C++ Kinect tutorial. It's in Russian, but Google Translate could help you with that: http://habrahabr.ru/post/123588/
Also this similar (but poor quality so now closed) question may be of use: Kinect with OpenGL
Where can i get some advanced game programming resources for c++?
At http://gamedev.stackexchange.com ?
More specifically, this question and lots of others tagged with c++
Start with writing some simple 2D games, e.g. Snake, TicTacToe, etc. Write these using any GUI builder you're already familiar with.
Then try to rewrite these games using a serious graphic engine, e.g. SDL, OpenGL, or DirectX.
Then try to write a more complex 2D games, e.g. side-scroller. Write these games with the graphic engine of your choice.
Then add some simple 3D effect to your 2D game, e.g. parallax scrolling.
Then rewrite this effect with true 3D, use 3D models/sprites, 3D environment, etc, while maintaining a 2D look and feel.
Then add some simple 3D look and feel, e.g. allowing characters to move in the Z-direction (to/from the camera), doing camera rotation, etc.
If you just got out of the command prompt and simple GUI, you'll probably want to start simple.
I'd very much recommend OpenGL as your API of choice. Since you've done some simple GUI programming, you'd know what an API is.
OpenGL has the following advantages (compared to SDL and DirectX previously mentioned):
-Its hardware accelerated (SDL is not as far as I know)
-Its 3D (SDL is 2D)
-Its cross-platform (DirectX is Windows only)
By far the best place to start with OpenGL is the Nehe tutorials.
http://nehe.gamedev.net/
Game programming becomes evident once you become a bit more familiar with the API.
Also, I'd heartily recommend GLUT (OpenGL Utilities Toolkit). It simplifies window creation and user input handling, among other things. Its great for learning OpenGL. It also happens to be cross platform.
Here's freeglut, a free GLUT implementation:
http://freeglut.sourceforge.net/
OpenGL is also a relatively simple and easy API to learn. You'll be going into 3D in no time.
What libraries are you using? You can try GP wiki. It can be a bit hit and miss depending on what you want to use.
By "resources," do you mean tools? Libraries? Tutorials? I have a bunch of useful game developer links in the sidebar of my own site. I also think "Mathematics for Game Developers" was very helpful. It has a second edition as well.
does anyone know where I can learn to create and manipulate animations in c++ for the purpose of game development?
GameDev.net would probably be a good place to start, they have links to plenty of tutorials for both DirectX and OpenGL. The NeHe OpenGL tutorials are a pretty good introduction. Microsoft alos has quite a few tutorials and sample applications that come with the DirectX SDK.
You'll want to use a library to display and manipulate 3D models. As Kevin suggested, OpenGL and Direct3D (DirectX) are the industry standard libraries - DirectX if you're target platform is Windows-only, OpenGL otherwise.
Is there a reason why you must learn this in C++? C++ is my favourite language, but the XNA Toolset (C#) is phenomenal and will have you up and running in no time:
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/ (windows only, but can compile to Zune/360 very easily)
Another great way to start learning about game development is to build some mods - Half-Life 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 would be my suggestions to start with; Half-Life 2 uses C++ and is very easy to work with (I have no experience with UT3).
I currently rewrite an old Visual Basic application in java, a large part of the work involves replacing Direct3d with jogl.
Since I have no experience in dealing with Direct3d and only minimal experience using Opengl, I am stuck on finding appropriate replacements for the api calls.
Are there any good guides/tutorials or references?
Edit:
Additional information:
Direct3D version 8
I'd also recommend going through the OpenGL Red Book and investing some time in typing in some samples and playing with them. OpenGL Red Book deals with using GL in C, so I recommend you go through it in C or C++ before going to JOGL.
You don't have to play with everything, but making a few examples work in C++ would be great before you go on.
Otherwise, if you don't have the time or interest or will to study GL, just follow NeHe tutorials as mentioned in other answer, but take a peek every now and then into the Red Book for additional explanations.
The NeHe tutorials are a pretty good intro. They start here. Having Direct3D experience, you'll probably buzz through some of them pretty quickly.
I suppose you could try and browse through the code of this D3D -> OpenGL wrapper library:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxglwrap (using it as a reference I mean)
You can browse through it here: http://dxglwrap.cvs.sourceforge.net/dxglwrap/
NeHe tutorials will get you up to speed quickly. If you have time and need for something more comprehensive, you should get the OpenGL SuperBible.