Re: Definition of "The Right Thing"

[Dennis Payne <dulsi@identicalsoftware.com>]

> 	The "Just Another COM Object" approach is starting to get into Linux
> too though, just look at the KDE and Gnome apps, and a lot of them are
> actually starting to work very well together. For the most part though,
> stuff like CORBA works great for word processors and spreadsheets, but I
> don't see any need for a game to use it (perhaps as a plugin architecture?
> though that's probably a more difficult way...)

But what if you want to add your game to a word processor document?
(Sorry I couldn't resist :)

> 	This was more of an observation than a question really. Is it best
> for your game to be a "pure" game, or do you want most of the functionality
> in a library, and your game is just a set of calls to that library. Just
> some thoughts off the top of my head.

IMHO games used to tie the game logic, graphics renderer, and everything
together because that was the only way to make the program fit in the
available resources.  When dealing with a large code base, it is more
managable to break things up into logical pieces.  So even if your program
isn't divided into engine and library it probably could be in a pinch.
Not to mention when you distribute fixes players might appreciate
downloading a single library as opposed to a massive executable.  This
might also be useful for beta testers.

Dennis Payne
dulsi@identicalsoftware.com