Hi all, I want to create a game that works in 2.5/pseudo 3d, think along the lines of Cannon Fodder, or Commando (going back even further). So there'll be people moving along and up the screen, firing projectiles up into the air.
I used to use Blitz Basic a few years ago, and my initial thought was to use BlitzMax, but I really do not to be honest fancy paying £60 for something that I don't even know I'm going to get on with. It does seem an awful lot of money when I'm new to all this. Much better to try something free first.
So I've been investigating other tools, and the more I read the more confused I am becoming. I'm working on a mac, so I got XCode, and I've been investigating the options for
a) building something from scratch using C++/Objective C and OpenGL
b) using Cocoa
c) using SpriteKit
the above seem to cover my options for XCode
I also downloaded Unity ages ago and thought it seemed geared towards 3D only, but I'm reading all sorts of things about the newer 2D capabilities it now has in 4.3, so that would definitely be something to consider.
Having spent the last few days looking at the options, I'm finding I'm getting further and further from being able to make an informed decision, so I'm throwing this open to you all.
Some more info:
- I'm not new to programming, my day job is currently as a SQL developer, in the past I've worked with Java and C#. So I think I could probably handle making something completely from scratch, though of course I'm keen to avoid creating extra, unnecessary work for myself.
- I want this game to be really fast, so whatever I use has to handle a good 10 or so sprites moving about with projectiles being fired around. I'm assuming this won't be a problem in this day and age for any of the tools/methods mentioned above.
- what concerns me most is handling the projectile physics in 2.5d if I'm using something built for 2D, which would be the best for doing this? And are there any good tutorials out there? I found one ages ago for making a 2.5d game in Unity but the 2.5D in that example was something more akin to LittleBigPlanet, which isn't exactly what I'm trying to do.
I have had a good google at this but I'm struggling to find any info that really helps me make an informed choice here. Hoping somebody can help.
Thanks for reading