Hi, I'm just wondering about the power of Java compared to other languages (in game development), I'm just starting out on Java and I wanna know how powerful is it and what kind of games it's capable of running.
Thank you.
- Manny.
How powerful is Java?
"what kind of games it's capable of running."
Anything. Really, anything.
Most language differences are regarding things that only affect the process of development. The final result will be possible with the use of most of the tools.
Anything. Really, anything.
Most language differences are regarding things that only affect the process of development. The final result will be possible with the use of most of the tools.
It's capable of running any game that .NET, C#, or XNA can run.
- Games you see on tablets. It can do that.
- Games you see on the Nintendo 3DS. It can do that.
- Games you see on the PSP and Vita. It can do that.
- Games that have been made using XNA (Zune, Windows Phone 7.5, and Xbox360). It can do that.
- Games of the last generation (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Wii). It can do that.
There is nothing technically limiting about the language of Java, there are a few minor annoyances such as the lack of operator overloading but its not a huge issue. However the implementation of java will almost always be in a virtual machine so you can expect some performance penalty.
I'd suggest to play Minecraft and decide for yourself 
But seriously - I very much doubt that you as a hobbyist/independent developer will ever reach a point where Java is not fast or powerful enough for your game. The only place where I can see Java (and other garbage-collected languages) become problematic is console development with very limited memory.
But seriously - I very much doubt that you as a hobbyist/independent developer will ever reach a point where Java is not fast or powerful enough for your game. The only place where I can see Java (and other garbage-collected languages) become problematic is console development with very limited memory.
Check out Wakfu. It's written entirely in Java. Their game can run on any platform which supports the Java Virtual Machine. (Dunno about mobile phones though). Although I use C# myself, Java would be my second language of choice.
I wouldn't say the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is a particular weakness for Java. If Java has a weakness it'd probably be related to OS or hardware integration--it is a bit detached from the lower level access that C++ has. Although, modern libs have significantly mitigated that detachment.
For non-professional game development this isn't really a factor IMO.
In fact I think Java is a better candidate (than C++) for a casual development team. I used C++ for years, but throwing away the productivity Java brings to the table just because "games are supposed to be done in C++" is just asking to make things more difficult for yourself, unless you have a large team and quite a bit of money & time.
I'd have to have a very good reason to use C++ over Java. Game dev used to be one of those, but not anymore.
For non-professional game development this isn't really a factor IMO.
In fact I think Java is a better candidate (than C++) for a casual development team. I used C++ for years, but throwing away the productivity Java brings to the table just because "games are supposed to be done in C++" is just asking to make things more difficult for yourself, unless you have a large team and quite a bit of money & time.
I'd have to have a very good reason to use C++ over Java. Game dev used to be one of those, but not anymore.
It's capable of running any game that .NET, C#, or XNA can run.
- Games you see on tablets. It can do that.
- Games you see on the Nintendo 3DS. It can do that.
- Games you see on the PSP and Vita. It can do that.
- Games that have been made using XNA (Zune, Windows Phone 7.5, and Xbox360). It can do that.
- Games of the last generation (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Wii). It can do that.
You can add Games of the current console generation to that list as well (There are good native libraries for most performance critical tasks) The higher system requirements can reduce your customerbase quite a bit though.
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