Nowadays, it's pretty common to see people bashing C++ of various reasons (too complex, etc.). Most of these arguments are totally correct - there are a lot of other programming languages that are more simple, less error prone, and so on. But now I planning to start a rather advanced game project, and I want it both to be cross-platform (Win+Linux+Mac, that is) and have high performance (stunning 3d graphics, yadda yadda). So, C++ fulfills these requirements. But what alternatives do I have? -C#/.XNA. Classic choice these days. But as far as I know, it only runs on Windows (and XBox, of course). Pretty pointless here. -Python. Cross-platform, and a lot of game related libraries seem to exist. But performance-wise? Okay, some of you might say the classic "But just rewrite the heavy parts in C/C++", and I guess you're right. But isn't that a little bit against the whole idea of keeping the code simple when writing in Python? Am I wrong? To me, it would seem more effective to use it to script a C++ game, instead of extending a Python game with C++ code all over. And, if the game is supposed to be a competitive multiplayer game, wouldn't it be a little too easy for the hackers if they just had to change in a bunch of plain-text .py-files? Are there other language choices? Are there any good non-XNA cross-platform C# game/graphic engines that runs on Mono, maybe? Or should I stick good old C++ and just shut up?

C++ doesn't suck. Unfortunately these days it's very popular to bash it, especially by people who don't know the language.

You won't reap the benefits of using C++ unless you pay the price to truly learn it. You can argue that you don't have the time or desire to do so, but don't expect to find something else that has the same advantages (specifically, the excellent balance between high level abstraction and performance) while somehow being "easy" or less complex.

If C++ isn't the right tool for the job, then don't use it. However, if you're looking for a C++ replacement, then you should just use C++ (and invest whatever is necessary to become more fluent). It's not perfect (what is?) but it is extremely good at what it does, which is to provide high abstraction capabilities while maintaining high performance.

Quote:Original post by SoldierX
-Python. Cross-platform, and a lot of game related libraries seem to exist. But performance-wise? Okay, some of you might say the classic "But just rewrite the heavy parts in C/C++", and I guess you're right. But isn't that a little bit against the whole idea of keeping the code simple when writing in Python? Am I wrong? To me, it would seem more effective to use it to script a C++ game, instead of extending a Python game with C++ code all over.

This isn't logical. Adding a small bit of C++ to Python code doesn't ruin the Python code, nor does it make it as complex as having done the whole thing in C++. It just means you have a middle ground.

It would only be more effective to stick to scripting with Python if you feel that writing most of your game in C++ is easier and/or quicker than writing most of it in Python and rewriting some modules in C++. Personally I don't think it would be. Writing most code in Python is so much faster and easier that I wouldn't choose to use C++ unless I had to, and there are many tools to make the Python/C++ crossover easy these days, eg. Cython.

Quote:And, if the game is supposed to be a competitive multiplayer game, wouldn't it be a little too easy for the hackers if they just had to change in a bunch of plain-text .py-files?

Security needs to be done primarily on the server, not the client.

Besides, if you really want extra security through obscurity, we've already established that you can code parts in C++.

What language doesn't meet those requirements? Just about every language I can think of offers decent performance and a C interface to use libraries like opengl. The slower languages I can think of all offer a way to get a C module loaded to handle performance critical stuff. If I were looking for an easier to use language that wouldn't need to piggy back on another language I would look at C#, Ocaml, C, Haskell, Java, factor in about that order.

I get the whole performance argument, but would Java not be an option (C++ like syntax, cross plattform, some game libraries...)?

Quote:Original post by SoldierX
But now I planning to start a rather advanced game project, and I want it both to be cross-platform (Win+Linux+Mac, that is) and have high performance (stunning 3d graphics, yadda yadda). So, C++ fulfills these requirements. But what alternatives do I have?

UDK.

I agree on the "Java" choice.

I used LWJGL for rendering and it's good enought. Recently I changed to JOGL, wich has a "cleaner" way of doing some tinks, but I recommend both.