Hello,

I'm a phd student and I have built an AI system in Java, which creates stories and presents them to the user. The only user user input is in the form of answers to specific questions that help the story progress. The output of the system is text-based and the user answers some questions (when needed) with a yes or no (there are other questions and options as well but it's irrelevant to mention them).

I'm searching for a game engine so I can connect my system with it, to switch from a text-based output to a proper visual experience. I need something either written in Java, or at least that can work in real time with my Java-based system.

I'm searching for something that I can easily find assets for (e.g. terrains, rooms, characters, items, etc.), since I don't care of how the characters or rooms look. I just need to visualise (in an simple and relatively easy way) the stories that my system creates. As I mentioned before, the only user input will be to click a button so he can select an answer to a question. I don't need him to be able to control characters etc, so I assume that simplifies things.

Does anyone know any solution that will fit my needs?

Thank you for reading and for any answers.

PS: I hope I explained properly what I need, but in case that you need any clarification, please let me know.

Thank you for the reply. I'll have a look at that.

Others also proposed jMonkey and Slick so I'm going to look at them as well.

Any other suggestions?

Slick and jMonkey are great for actually making games, but if what you're looking for is easy, efficient visualization of a data set then Processing is nearly a perfect fit.

http://slick.cokeandcode.com/

Thanks again for the replies.

I had a quick look at it, but I don't think Processing is what I'm looking for. I will explain what I need with a simple example:

Let's say that we have a room, with 2 characters/units and an object (e.g. a book) in there. I want to visualise the room, the 2 characters (in a 3D or 2D way; it doesn't matter) and the book using assets that are already created and I can download from somewhere. Then, my system will give the order to the 1st character to go and pick up the book and he will do it. If the order is to leave the room, he will do that instead, etc.

Something like Sims if that helps (again, that's just an example).

So, I'm looking for an engine that will:

- allow me to easily import pre-made assets (e.g. rooms, characters, items etc) which is important since it's out of the scope of my research to actually create the models (and although it's quite interesting, I don't have the time to learn how to do it);
- have a simple collection of pre-made assets (2-3 characters and 4-5 objects should be enough) that I can use;
- allows my Java system to control the actions of the characters (e.g. send the action to a character to go and pick up an item) in real time.

The only user input will be in the form of yes/no answers to some questions during the visualisation (that will affect the outcome of the story and that's why I need the engine to work in real time with my system). I won't need any user input in terms of controlling the characters etc.

I'll have a look at jMonkey and Slick now, but if you have any other suggestions (or if you know that these 2 aren't what I'm looking for) please let me know.

Thanks for one more time.

Perhaps wikipedia can help you with your search. You can find a list of all game engines there, sort them by java. You can find and compare some and see what one fits your needs.