Re: Write your own lib : the 3D case

[Ingo Ruhnke <grumbel@gmx.de>]

Bert Peers <rat@larian.com> writes:

> The argument that games don't have a C/C++ look and feel
> is a moot one.  C and C++ are languages, they're only a medium
> in which you can express your own algorithm; they do not place
> any restrictions on what you can write.  CS and thelikes on the
> other hand *are* the algorithm;

Yes and no. CS is a collection of algorithm designed FPS and similar
stuff. I think every body would agree that CS is limited in its use
and that is good. If you wan't to write or better design a FPS game CS
can save you a lot of time, if you don't like the way CS does the
stuff you can still modify the lib or live with the flexibility the
lib offers. Maybe all CS games will look a bit similar, but does that
matter? I think absolutly no. Since games are designed not programmed.
Half Life make fun, while Quake bores you?
You see, it *absolutly* doesn't matter which lib is used, it only
matters how much fun the game makes.

> they're not a way to express your collision detection, they *are*
> the CD. Consequently, every tradeoff made in getting the necessary
> algorithms running is reflected in every part of the game using that
> algorithm, unless you rewrite it.

And again, does it really matters for gameplay how you do collision
detection? Maybe a bit, but it is worth to rewrite the stuff just to
get some uniqness? Is uniqness really important? I think the design of
a game should be much more important, than how it handles collision
detection. If you write a FPS and its just a Quake Clone, but has your
super cool collision detection and all that other uniqe stuff, the
game itself maybe still extremly boring. But if you write a game with
CS, without doing everything yourself, but instead have a unique
design and an interessting story, wouldn't that be more fun?

Just to make sure, CS can make things easier and help you writing your
game, if I would write a FPS I would use it. But it isn't a guarantee
that your game will make fun, its all a matter of gameplay and design.

And on the other hand, there are more libs than CS. As I said CS is
design for a special style of game (FPS), there are similar libs for
text RPGs, there could be other libs for monkey island style adventure
games and so on. All this libs are designed for a special type of
game. 
There are also general purpose libs available like ClanLib(2D&3D),
plib(3D) and SDL(2D), which aren't meant for a special type of games,
they are more or less just a wrapper around joystick, mouse, sound,
etc.
If you want to write your own game you *should* use a lib, it will
save time and give more portability. If you want to write all that
collision detection, etc. yourself for a good reason (I don't think
that uniqueness itself would be a good reason), then you should use
one of the general purpose libs, if your game design fits in one of
the special case libs than you should use them.

-- 
                                  http://dark.x.dtu.dk/~grumbel/pingus/ | 
Ingo Ruhnke <grumbel@gmx.de>             http://home.pages.de/~grumbel/ |
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