Hey guys,
after using stuff like Android, Hibernate, Spring and RMI with good old Swing usage and the newer JavaFX too in Java, and Qt for C++ (& opengl for other projects) I want to start getting my hands into the game scene where I feel like I belong.
General game idea before asking the questions:
I generally want to make a 2D game with a underlying map, where menues will appear on top of it, like tables and stuff. You can drag stuff around and while dragging there will be a window directly under your mouse pointer showing character stats etc., which you can do for positioning. Afterwards you come to a battle screen and you basically fight with simple clicking, sort of turn-based. Character turns are shown and animations are shown where they are, after having used their turn, inserted again between other characters, thanks to speed. When clicking to attack or being attacked, other animations are shown which before where just some idle animations. Meanwhile I need to save a lot of Data for the different characters, especially concerning character specific decisions. Additionally conversations are being hold in extra screens where the Characters have bigger images and the text is in a designated Box below, like most Visual Novels do.
You don't have to have a clear idea on what this does, but I hope it helps to understand what I basically need.
So, now I'm standing here and don't know what to do. I've got Gamemaker, I have UE4, Ren'Py and RPGMakerVXAce, all with some experience. I have experience with C++ and QT since this year and 7 year long java developement experience which is the language I feel the most secure with. Additionally I have some Python skills but I am not exactly fond of them.
I recently found out about:
- Java Leightweight Game Library (LWJGL)
- Torque2D
- Some frameworks with LWJGL
- Other frameworks concerning C++
Plainly put, I have absolutely no idea what is useful for what I want and what the limitations of those frameworks are. I would love some sort of overview.
I want to reach my goal to fullfilling this without running into to many problems based on my decision of using the wrong framework. Gamemaker, RPGMaker & Unreal Engine 4 surely are NOT what I want to run with as they are sure to create more problems than those they eliminate.
So basically I need some basic idea on what framework to use based on:
- 2D Images and Animations
- Lots of Information being stored based on decisions, items, etc.
- Somewhat simple battle system
- Enemy KI that attacks regions on the map, growing based on my algorithms
- Very fast with no slowdowns(Memory handling?)
- Visual Novel style discussions
- Edit: maybe handling the camera, like zooming on something during the action... Darkest Dungeon is a great example for this one!
Care to enlighten me on what to choose in this jungle of frameworks?
