C++ Game Development (PEader's Worklog)
My trials and tribulations in getting back in to game development. Such as which engine to use, what compiler and other things of such important magnitude. 
fopen( "worklog", 'a+' ) i.e. it's back
After the failure of going underground with the KGB the worklog is back on the 'soup.
So what progress has been made since the last update? Pretty much nothing. I had to take a break due to health problems but I'm going to try build back up the work load again.
Currently I've worked through 7 or so beginners tutorials , 2 intermediate tutorials and read the manual or guide several times. I still find Ogre3D to be a bit confusing to say the least. Maybe it's the tutorials hiding too much information from me or the fact that I can't seem to just edit a scene and load models and then bounce them around. I wont let this stop me.
In order to help with Ogre3D and speed up learning I've ordered a book titled Pro OGRE 3D Programming written by Gregory Junker (there is a sample chapter available on the Apress web site). I read the sample chapter and it seems the ideal (and only) book to learn Ogre3d for experienced programmers. So I will hopefully make some simple games a la pong, tetris et al with this book's aid.
Another thing slowing me down and generally annoying is my lack of knowledge on Visual C++(VC++) and it's compiler options, this is nothing that time and experience will fix. One thing I find annoying is the stupidly slow compilation speed of VC++. I'd like to find a syntax check option or a speedy (maybe bloated) build option. I think I need to turn on precompiled headers to speed up the process but I have no idea where to start doing this.
I'm relatively happy with the progess on the coding side and have decided the artistic side of my skills need some working on. To this end I have chosen to try and tame graphic editing through the GNU Image Manipulation Program(GIMP) and wrestle 3D editing into submission with Blender3D. So I will also document my trials and tribulations with these pieces of kit.
So far I am stepping through the Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorials and it has been quite straight forward.
One thing of note is that the Blender interface isn't that bad once you start getting to know it. This is one of the major hurdles for Blender3D but I feel people are missing the bigger picture. You had to learn to use the interface of other software at some stage so what is the big deal about learning this one? Is a nice interface really worth thousands of euros?
GIMP is another piece of software with an alien interface. I haven't done much work with this but I had a quick glance through Grokking the GIMP. I did try out GIMPShop which is meant to be GIMP with a similar look to Adobe Photoshop(PS) thus allowing you to use the millions of tutorials for PS in GIMP. However I don't know PS so applying my knowledge of PS to GIMP isn't of any benefit and sources note that GIMPshop isn't as well supported as GIMP so vanilla GIMP won the day.
To recap; the goal here is to learn techniques with these items of software that I can apply to any other packages and as a by product 0xCODE something freaking awesome.
Hopefully next time I'll post something a little shorter and maybe some screenshots of one thing or another i.e. je moeder.
P.S. If you haven't noticed I am rather fond of using Free and Open Source Software(FOSS) over proprietary solutions so if you can think of anything worth trying out or using please spit your suggestion in my direction.
So what progress has been made since the last update? Pretty much nothing. I had to take a break due to health problems but I'm going to try build back up the work load again.
Currently I've worked through 7 or so beginners tutorials , 2 intermediate tutorials and read the manual or guide several times. I still find Ogre3D to be a bit confusing to say the least. Maybe it's the tutorials hiding too much information from me or the fact that I can't seem to just edit a scene and load models and then bounce them around. I wont let this stop me.
In order to help with Ogre3D and speed up learning I've ordered a book titled Pro OGRE 3D Programming written by Gregory Junker (there is a sample chapter available on the Apress web site). I read the sample chapter and it seems the ideal (and only) book to learn Ogre3d for experienced programmers. So I will hopefully make some simple games a la pong, tetris et al with this book's aid.
Another thing slowing me down and generally annoying is my lack of knowledge on Visual C++(VC++) and it's compiler options, this is nothing that time and experience will fix. One thing I find annoying is the stupidly slow compilation speed of VC++. I'd like to find a syntax check option or a speedy (maybe bloated) build option. I think I need to turn on precompiled headers to speed up the process but I have no idea where to start doing this.
I'm relatively happy with the progess on the coding side and have decided the artistic side of my skills need some working on. To this end I have chosen to try and tame graphic editing through the GNU Image Manipulation Program(GIMP) and wrestle 3D editing into submission with Blender3D. So I will also document my trials and tribulations with these pieces of kit.
So far I am stepping through the Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorials and it has been quite straight forward.
One thing of note is that the Blender interface isn't that bad once you start getting to know it. This is one of the major hurdles for Blender3D but I feel people are missing the bigger picture. You had to learn to use the interface of other software at some stage so what is the big deal about learning this one? Is a nice interface really worth thousands of euros?
GIMP is another piece of software with an alien interface. I haven't done much work with this but I had a quick glance through Grokking the GIMP. I did try out GIMPShop which is meant to be GIMP with a similar look to Adobe Photoshop(PS) thus allowing you to use the millions of tutorials for PS in GIMP. However I don't know PS so applying my knowledge of PS to GIMP isn't of any benefit and sources note that GIMPshop isn't as well supported as GIMP so vanilla GIMP won the day.
To recap; the goal here is to learn techniques with these items of software that I can apply to any other packages and as a by product 0xCODE something freaking awesome.
Hopefully next time I'll post something a little shorter and maybe some screenshots of one thing or another i.e. je moeder.
P.S. If you haven't noticed I am rather fond of using Free and Open Source Software(FOSS) over proprietary solutions so if you can think of anything worth trying out or using please spit your suggestion in my direction.
(Posted on October, 16th 2006, 21:28)
Comments
Woody said:
Sounds like this game is going to turn out a pile of 16444645.
(Posted on October, 16th 2006, 23:03)
shaggylish said:
Try to use Anim8or, it's a freeware 3d animation software, but with the difference is very easy&simple to use.
To make characters walking or runing, it's enough for me
To make characters walking or runing, it's enough for me
(Posted on October, 17th 2006, 00:12)
DTM said:
Likes:
- Blender
- Pretty OGRE tech demos
- anim8or, but it doesn't export animations
Dislikes:
- GIMP windows. ALL THREE OF THEM.
- OGRE license. I hate supposedly open source stuff, which, incidently has a restrictive license. It's open source, but it's not free as in freedom.
- blender workflow. getting stuff from blender to irrlicht is not easy. But maybe the ogre exporters are more mature.
Things worth trying:
- ODE (ooh the license)
- Blender
- Pretty OGRE tech demos
- anim8or, but it doesn't export animations
Dislikes:
- GIMP windows. ALL THREE OF THEM.
- OGRE license. I hate supposedly open source stuff, which, incidently has a restrictive license. It's open source, but it's not free as in freedom.
- blender workflow. getting stuff from blender to irrlicht is not easy. But maybe the ogre exporters are more mature.
Things worth trying:
- ODE (ooh the license)
(Posted on October, 18th 2006, 01:17)
PEader said:
DTM what do you mean all three GIMP? I was under the impression that the OGRE license is LGPL, no?
I plan on using the Open Dynamics Engine at some stage and the Object-Orientated Input System for input. What do you use for input?
I plan on using the Open Dynamics Engine at some stage and the Object-Orientated Input System for input. What do you use for input?
(Posted on October, 18th 2006, 14:08)
DTM said:
Gimp has 3 separate windows, which confuses me. LGPL you have to release any modifications. So I don't call it free. Irrlicht for input.
(Posted on October, 18th 2006, 14:38)
PEader said:
Maybe if they explained why they have three windows?
I guess that is one way of looking at the LGPL I never thought of it as not being free. So I guess you prefer a bsd or zlib licenses?
I guess that is one way of looking at the LGPL I never thought of it as not being free. So I guess you prefer a bsd or zlib licenses?
(Posted on October, 18th 2006, 21:37)