I may be wrong but isn't OpenGL software based? How does an OpenGL based game stack against a DirectX or Direct3D game as far as speed, graphics rendering and graphics detail?



[Edited by - Talee on March 7, 2010 9:27:13 PM]

Quote:Original post by DevFred

Quote:Original post by Talee
I just want to make the right decision as far as the kind of game I want to make in the end.

And what kind of game would that be?

One would be a space combat/first person shooter client/server mmo and another would be a World of Warcraft client/server type of an mmo.

Quote:I may be wrong but isn't OpenGL software based?

No. It's just like Direct3D. I think all the arguments have already been laid out about choosing a language (not in this thread, but just from being able to search the forums).

You either worry about notions of performance and power by which you don't have ways to measure to spec or benchmark, or you accept that you should discard those notions and focus on actually gaining experience. I don't think there's any point in fighting a battle to convince you of our position and views. Go with what you are motivated to try. I guarantee you will abandon your concerns of power, performance, and whatever else you have, once you actually attempt to create something notable.

But if you think you are going to be plagued with worries if you choose a language other than C++, go with C++. Just do it.

Quote:Original post by oler1s

Quote:I may be wrong but isn't OpenGL software based?

No. It's just like Direct3D. I think all the arguments have already been laid out about choosing a language (not in this thread, but just from being able to search the forums).

You either worry about notions of performance and power by which you don't have ways to measure to spec or benchmark, or you accept that you should discard those notions and focus on actually gaining experience. I don't think there's any point in fighting a battle to convince you of our position and views. Go with what you are motivated to try. I guarantee you will abandon your concerns of power, performance, and whatever else you have, once you actually attempt to create something notable.

But if you think you are going to be plagued with worries if you choose a language other than C++, go with C++. Just do it.

Ok. Thanks for the information. I did not mean to cause any hostile feelings here. I just wanted a good understanding of the differences in the languages before I commit myself to one. I was not looking to be convinced of anything. I have learned a great deal of information not just from this thread but from others as well. Thank you all for your help.

Quote:Ok. Thanks for the information. I did not mean to cause any hostile feelings here.

No hostile feelings. Those of us with experience have a very good sense of what is going through your head and what you are feeling.

And from experience, we also know what advice to give. In the end, it's just a question of what you accept, what you worry about, what you feel. Ultimately, just get started. In the long run, your choices now will not matter. Technologies change, but programming doesn't.

Quote:Original post by Talee
One would be a space combat/first person shooter client/server mmo and another would be a World of Warcraft client/server type of an mmo.

Unless you invent immortality, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever create a full-blown, finished WoW clone on your own. Most people simply don't live long enough.

Quote:Original post by Talee
I just wanted a good understanding of the differences in the languages before I commit myself to one.

You don't marry a programming language. Start with a relatively simple language like C# or Python. Do Tic Tac Toe and Tetris clones. You will be surprised how hard these seemingly simple games already are without any prior experience in programming.

You can always move to C++ at a later point in time if you wish so, and 90% of the stuff you will have learned up to this point can be transferred to any language. Then you will only have to spent about 2 years to learn all of C++'s gotchas/undefined behavior, but by then you will already have a solid understanding of what a variable is, what an if/else statement does or why OO might be a good idea.

Don't worry about "committing" to a specific language or technology. For example, if you start with OpenGL and later move to DirectX, you will already know what culling and lighting and vertices and matrix multiplications are. All you have to learn are some new concepts and a different API, but there is a huge overlap in the core ideas.

I think Java is a great language for hobby game development. I never really got interested in python, but did plenty of Java in school. I worked on a tetris clone for abit with Java, and found I was able to get somewhere somewhat quickly. JMonkeyEngine is pretty powerful too, but can be a little bit of a pain to get it setup initially. Find the right tutorial for your version of Eclipse/Netbeans and you're good to go.

I've been sticking with C++ for game dev lately, which I'm not really sure why. I guess I like the idea that I'd have the knowledge if I ever pursue the game industry, but I am really more of a web development guy. Really it all depends on what you want out of game development. There's a mix of needs for both C/C++ knowledge, and scripting knowledge. Blizzard uses both C++ and Lua for example.

just to put me oar in =P

dark basic dose have limeted network capability but is extreemly easy to use (it got a built in help which is easy to use) and it can use dll written in c++ and i think can be written in c# so u could use DB as a core programme that call dll's (written in c++ for example) for networking. There have bin dll's written for dark basic that clame to handle 9,999 players, i'm not shure though cos i havent used it yet.

the problem with DB is its a bit slow and it gonna cost ya

c++ is free, fast but difficult to learn (as i'm finding out =S)