PopCap Games Framework?
Author
I was wondering if anybody here has tried developing with the PopCap Games Framework. I was wondering if it's anything really worth looking into if someone was trying to break into the casual games market -- or should I just stick with SDL and other open source libraries? Will using the PopCap Games Framework help to promote a more wide spread marketability, with more sites willing to sell the game? Is it an easy library to program with?
I'm currently developing a small puzzle game with this framework just for fun. Its pretty cool though it took me some time (tried all the demos) to understand it. Installation was a bitch though as I used MS visual C++ express edition, took me 1 full day to get it running.
Author
No, I haven't downloaded it yet. I was just wondering if it would be worth looking into. I wanted to know a little more about it before really diving in. For example, what benefits are there in using it over other some other libraries? What features are available?
It's really targetted at shareware development, and one of it's cool features is that it can use 3D acceleration or not, which I don't think any other lib can do.
For example
SDL -> DirectDraw
HGE -> D3D 8
OpenGL -> OpenGL
Whereas IIRC, PopCap falls back on DirectDraw only if 3D acceleration isn't available... but then of course you can't take advantage of quick rotations, scaling, blending, etc
I would recommend signing up and downloading.
Supposedly everything is like a widget, but someone who is more familiar could explain this better.
Edit: LOL the funny thing is how the people using the framework call it the SexyApp Framework. Also do you know of this page: GPWIKI: Game Engines
For example
SDL -> DirectDraw
HGE -> D3D 8
OpenGL -> OpenGL
Whereas IIRC, PopCap falls back on DirectDraw only if 3D acceleration isn't available... but then of course you can't take advantage of quick rotations, scaling, blending, etc
I would recommend signing up and downloading.
Supposedly everything is like a widget, but someone who is more familiar could explain this better.
Edit: LOL the funny thing is how the people using the framework call it the SexyApp Framework. Also do you know of this page: GPWIKI: Game Engines
The biggest issue I had with Popcap is that it's not the most well-documented framework in the world (although this may have changed since I used it). If you want to know if certain functionality is there, you typically have to search through the header files for the appropriate function, and sometimes those functions depend on the calling of other functions, which can result in some nasty debugging.
Personally, I would write my own framework. First, you learn a lot that way. Second, you become intimately familiar with the inner details, so you can update/use the framework without routing through (nearly nonexistant) documentation. Third, while the Popcap Framework is nice, it really doesn't provide you with all that much in terms of functionality - someone experienced can write a good, useful subset of the functionality in only a little bit of time.
With that being said, if you write your own, you can use the Popcap framework for ideas. It gave me some nice ideas on how to structure some things that I wasn't previously using. If you don't write your own, the framework has a litte of a learning curve to start, but after that point it's pretty nice.
I doubt it will help you with widespread marketability. While it may help with Popcap themselves, nobody else is going to care.
Cheers,
--Brian
Personally, I would write my own framework. First, you learn a lot that way. Second, you become intimately familiar with the inner details, so you can update/use the framework without routing through (nearly nonexistant) documentation. Third, while the Popcap Framework is nice, it really doesn't provide you with all that much in terms of functionality - someone experienced can write a good, useful subset of the functionality in only a little bit of time.
With that being said, if you write your own, you can use the Popcap framework for ideas. It gave me some nice ideas on how to structure some things that I wasn't previously using. If you don't write your own, the framework has a litte of a learning curve to start, but after that point it's pretty nice.
I doubt it will help you with widespread marketability. While it may help with Popcap themselves, nobody else is going to care.
Cheers,
--Brian
TANSTAAFL did some pretty interesting stuff with the PopCap Framework a while ago and had published it in his journal. His stuff during May 2005 was particularily neat.
Well,
I'm a total n00b and I JUST downloaded the framework this morning, but I'm really very impressed. Then again, I'm easily impressed.
It's really nothing more than uncompiled objects that you can reference that ease the use of DirectX. For us beginners that are not interested in enumerating device capabilities and the like, I think it's an awesome place to start.
The best part is all of the source is there, so when you're ready to dig deeper and customize it, you can go right ahead!
And the reason it's known as the SexyApp Framework is because that's what the PopCap devs named it! That's kinda cool all on it's own :)
-Ben
I'm a total n00b and I JUST downloaded the framework this morning, but I'm really very impressed. Then again, I'm easily impressed.
It's really nothing more than uncompiled objects that you can reference that ease the use of DirectX. For us beginners that are not interested in enumerating device capabilities and the like, I think it's an awesome place to start.
The best part is all of the source is there, so when you're ready to dig deeper and customize it, you can go right ahead!
And the reason it's known as the SexyApp Framework is because that's what the PopCap devs named it! That's kinda cool all on it's own :)
-Ben
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