Having not seen it mentioned, I found this library with much the same interface as HGE and with lots of features. There is a sprite slicer and a font builder to download on the webpage, and the HGE particle editor can be used for effects. The webpage: http://www.hoek.inkblue.net/goblin/goblin.html Some features:

Quote:

• Built on Direct X D3D 8.1 for hardware acceleration and maximum compatibility (If the destination system has DX 8.1 or better then Goblin applications should run without any problems)
• Being built on D3D gives hardware tinting, alpha blending, scaling, rotating, filtering and other features Direct Draw couldn't deliver with hardware precision, quality and speed.
• Built for use by all skill levels from learner to those already familiar with Windows API and Direct X programming.
• Requires no prior knowledge of Direct X or Windows API programming. Just a basic knowledge of C/C++ should see you coding in minutes from easy to follow sample programs.
• Highly optimized 2D sprite system batches sprites and other objects for maximum throughput along the 3D pipeline.
• Powerful yet simple to use and flexible 2D sprite animation.
• Bitmap fonts with multi language support. (free font packs available for use)
• Collision spheres for fast, accurate collision detection between scaled and rotated sprites and/or animations.
• Collision pixels for fast, pixel perfect collision detection between non-scaled and non-rotated sprites and/or animations.
• Avi rendering with full sound support (decompressed frames onto texture or onto a bitmap in memory).
• Rendering of geometric shapes including lines, circles, sectors and rectangles.
• Ability to integrate 3D models (.X and .MD2) formats.
• Camera controls which allow the rendered scene to be viewed from any angle.
• Texture functions to load and manipulate textures. (Uncompressed A8R8G8B8 and A4R4G4B4 textures may be locked for direct manipulation)
• Highly optimized particle system that allows each emitter to have from 10 to 1500 particles.
• Full support with Sprite Slicer for importing fonts, sprites, animations and collision spheres. Load Sprite Slicer projects with 1 line of code.
• Sound support including 3D positional sound is via the BASS Sound System which if used needs to be purchased if you require any licensing
• Loading of resources from ZIP files that may be compressed and password protected.
• Ability to query the desktop video mode and all possible video modes before attempting to set a specific video mode.
• Full support for input using Direct Input 8.1.
• Easy to expand. Goblin applications are C/C++ so basically any C/C++ library could be used with Goblin. This may include but not limited to external physics, GUI and scripting libraries.
• Support for easily creating and rendering some lit 3D primitives (cube, sphere, capsule, plane and torus)

Personally, I have not, and in fact it is a recent development from the unofficial version of HGE. There has been some mud-slinging on the HGE forums about the code in this engine, but I thought it was worth mentioning because of all the features it advertises. The sprite slicer and font stuff looks good but the 3D features seem unnecessary for me.

[Edited by - Boder on August 10, 2005 4:41:55 PM]

Well...as stated above there has been some mud slinging but usually by people that don't read, can't read or simply don't want to read.

Face it...there is more than enough information on the Internet now for anyone to make a game engine. The Andy Pike tutorials, toymaker.com, this site (of course) and the list goes on.

Given an engine is built around Direct X instantly means features will be similar. Loading textures, camera, rotations, setting render states, texture filtering, etc.

I have looked at many game engines and it's very surprising as to how many have core functions that are very similar.

I did help Haaf (the original author) of HGE over year ago and as stated elsewhere this should not preclude me for making an engine in the future.

The code now...is basically a rewrite. For obvious reasons the interfac on some parts remains as untouched as possible as I did not want to totally re-write all the Tech Demo or the game that's been shelved for a while.

Also... the mud slingers don't even ask where HGE would be without the help I supplied (which was about 6 weeks +). Maybe 1.5 would not have been released?

Also, most people who look in a bit more detail will see a lot has been added. (2 types of collision detection, CPU functions, AVI video rendering, 3D model support, transformations, international font handling, different font format, circles, sectors, animations (variable sprite dimensions), 3D primitives, lighting, joystick/gamepad support, materials....etc)

It should also be pointed out that most people using Goblin are doing so because of AVI support, joystick support and advanced collision detection. Also the ability to create new fonts in seconds and the ability to get sprites into the system from Sprite Slicer.

From people that are using Goblin...the feedback has been good and fixes/improvements are being added to steadily without introducing bloat (if I can help it).

Registered versions will be able to link statically which will remove functions not used.