Finding a 2D game engine that does not require programming in their environment

Peppit · 2014-04-11T12:03:57

I'm a somewhat experienced programmer (Junior CS major in college) and when I was younger I used to be EXTREMELY into game development. However, my engine of choice was GameMaker, and as we all know that's a bit limited. After becoming a better programmer, I decided I wanted to come back and make some simple 2D games using a real language. However, I haven't been able to find a good 2D engine that lets me develop in my own environment; almost all of them require me to use their own special scripting language or require me programming most of the engine myself. What I would like in a engine is: Programming is done in my own environment (emacs, vim) in an established language (like C++ or Python) I can quickly program objects (engine handles things like collision, creation and destruction of objects and scenes, etc) I can quickly place objects and design levels (I would really like to be able to use tiled to design my levels) It handles input and is easy to integrate in objects Built-in collision detection Bonus points for: Physics Android/iOS/HTML5 support The closest I have found to something I would like is melonjs, however I really don't like programming in javascript and it doesn't compile to native code (not that I would expect it to). In an ideal world, I would like to make a simple pong game with something like this: import engine import sprites import scenes class PlayerPaddle(engine.GameObject): sprite = sprites.PaddleSprite game = 0; def __init__(self, game): self.game = game game.add_object(self, 'PlayerPaddle') # could be handled by parent self.x = 0 self.y = 0 super(PlayerPaddle, self) def update(self): if (self.game.input.keyboard.up): self.y -= 2 if (self.game.input.keyboard.down): self.y += 2 super(PlayerPaddle, self) def draw(self): engine.draw_sprite(self.x, self.y, self.sprite) super(PlayerPaddle, self) class ComputerPaddle(engine.GameObject): sprite = sprites.PaddleSprite game = 0 def __init__(self, game): self.game = game game.add_object(self, 'ComputerPaddle') # could be handled by parent self.x = game.current_scene.width-32 self.y = 0 super(ComputerPaddle, self) def update(self): if (self.game.objects['ball'][0].y > y) self.y -= 2 if (self.game.objects['ball'][0].y < y) self.y += 2 super(ComputerPaddle, self) def draw(self): engine.draw_sprite(self.x, self.y, self.sprite) super(ComputerPaddle, self) class Ball(engine.GameObject): sprite = sprites.BallSprite game = 0 def __init__(self, game): self.game = game self.hspeed = 5 self.vspeed = 5 self.x = game.scene.width/2 self.y = game.scene.height/2 game.add_object(self, 'ball') # could be handled by parent super(Ball, self) def update(self): if (engine.collides(self, game.objects['PlayerPaddle'] or engine.collides(self, game.objects['ComputerPaddle']): hspeed = -hspeed if (y < 0 or y > game.current_scene.height): vspeed = -vspeed super(Ball, self) def draw(self): engine.draw_sprite(self.x, self.y, self.sprite) super(Ball, self) game = engine.Game() game.set_scene( scenes.scenes['pong'] ) while (game.is_running): game.update() game.sleep_off_frame() I REALLY rushed through this so the python is definately wrong (and I'm not spectacular at it), but I think you get the general idea. 90% of the code is defining the behaviour of the objects, and the engine itself handles things like drawing the sprites, view locations, collisions, input, object movement, etc. What I have tried so far: GameMaker Pros: Easy to get a basic game down, handles resources for me Cons: I have to program in their limited language, not open source, stores projects in a way that I can only really use gamemaker with it, can't develop on linux MelonJS Pros: Does about what I want Cons: I have to program in javascript which I really don't like, web only Roll my own with SFML (I am actually decently far into my own game engine, but I want to actually make games now) Pros: Does exacly what I want Cons: Extremely hard, buggy, takes forever, I have to write my own algorithms for everything and develop my own tools, unfeasible Unity Pros: Established community, good engine, compiles for everything I could want Cons: Can't develop on linux, basic 2D support, I have to learn how to use the entire program I know this is a really really common question, but I still haven't found a good engine for what I want, even after reading FAQs, etc. I would really appreciate some help.

For Beginners

Started by Peppit April 10, 2014 12:12 AM

11 comments, last by kop0113 10 years ago

dr01d3k4

491

April 10, 2014 11:27 PM

I suggest LOVE2D...

Its a really nice 2d engine... you must have to program in LUA script, but its very versatile and the 'code style' is somewhat like what you want.

I did use the Love2d in a GameJam this year... and.. its very friendly... have a lot o documentation, is cross platform and have a good performance.

Give it a try - https://love2d.org/

I too recommend Love2d.

For physics, you can write your own or it provides you with bindings to Box2d (although the tutorials on the wiki are a bit lacking I find), and for graphics you can write shaders in a slightly modified GLSL (afaik the syntax is the same but some names changed). I haven't found many tutorials, but there is good documentation on their wiki and example code (including a Tiled map loader). I also don't know about running it on mobile or the web, but it runs on windows, mac and linux and you can code in any editor. Love2d was also used in this awesome game, Mari0.

Lua's also a pretty good language. Quite fast and lightweight compared to other scripting languages like Python, but its standard library is quite small. I personally prefer to use Moonscript though (it compiles into Lua).

Falling block colour flood game thing I'm making: http://jsfiddle/dr01d3k4/JHnCV/

reflect

102

April 11, 2014 09:12 AM

Have you looked at Duality? Granted the language is C#, but a cursory glance at its features suggests it might fit your needs.

Edit: Actually it seems to have been made with Visual Studio in mind, but perhaps there's a way to bypass that and just build with compiler?

kop0113

2,466

April 11, 2014 12:03 PM

Programming is done in my own environment (emacs, vim) in an established language (like C++ or Python)

You transcend the editor wars by using both... thats awesome ;)

I highly recommend SDL 1.2 (with C or C++) because you can also use the Emscripten compiler to output it to HTML5.

If you plan to do very intensive 2D games, then SDL with OpenGL will also work great as a desktop application or web via Emscripten.

http://tinyurl.com/shewonyay - Thanks so much for those who voted on my GF's Competition Cosplay Entry for Cosplayzine. She won! I owe you all beers :)

Mutiny - Open-source C++ Unity re-implementation.
Defile of Eden 2 - FreeBSD and OpenBSD binaries of our latest game.

Finding a 2D game engine that does not require programming in their environment

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