ID:183160
 Oct 4 2007, 7:18 am (Edited on Oct 4 2007, 8:17 am)
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What language most resembles BYOND but can handle 3D graphics and is free?
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Python is so close to BYOND its scary it took me a few minutes to understand it. Any other languages I can learn?
Also I need something to handle an MMORPG. | |
Miran94 wrote:
Python is so close to BYOND its scary it took me a few minutes to understand it. Any other languages I can learn? Any language can handle an MMO, just need to build the engine really good. It's all about the Game Engine, not langauge. | |
Miran94 wrote:
I see but do you recommend anything? C# also learn XNA, it goes with C#. The learning curve is like VBs & it has the power of C++. | |
Try VC++
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Pretty much any language can handle a multiplayer online game, but not massively multiplayer like he asked. For example, BYOND can't handle massively multiplayer well. Python MIGHT if the processing isn't very heavy.
Python also can't handle 3D very well. You need a language that is either unmanaged or JIT Compiled for good 3D. C# with DirectX and XNA is a good choice, and you don't even need XNA though I suggest it as it handles a lot of the annoying internal engine algorithms and math. XNA you can play with the XBox, though they don't have a good license for it yet but I hear they will in the future. C# games are also 60% slower than unmanaged C++ games, but this isn't too big of a problem on modern machines. C++ with DirectX is a good choice as long as you don't mind the extra work, steeper learning curve, and more difficult debugging. Torque is a good engine in terms of ease of development for powerful games. I think they can also work on the XBox. Torque has cheap licensing and you can get the engine in some cheap ways like buying a torque book with a CD. With Torque X, it has shader capabilities as well so your games will look much better than what you get with the cheaper versions of it. It has one of the best multiplayer engines out there and some nifty features like dynamic animation mixing. Problem with Torque is that the language (TorqueScript) is horrid and resembles PHP. It's a bit faster than things like Python because only the high level stuff is scripted, but it isn't terribly fast either. Also their mapping engine is HORRIBLE (I was able to program one better than Torque's using C#), but they may have improved it since my version of torque. Oh, and also, it is designed for FPS games, so making any other kinds of games with it means working around the design of the core engine. In my opinion, 3D languages/engines closest to BYOND: 1. Python/Pygame (but not good for 3D) 2. Torque 3. D (heard bad things about it from Crispy, though) 4. C# 5. C++ | |
I, personally, recommend starting out by making a mod of another game. For example, UT2004 has a really great modding system, that allows you to create a wide viriaty of games. You couldn't make an MMO, really, but you could create a game, and get used to working with some of the finer points of 3D, without getting your hands too dirty. There are many game developers that started out making mods for Doom many years ago.
If you can get the collectors edition of UT2004, than you will get a DVD lasting 8 hours of mod tool video tutorials. It's really extensive. If you're looking for something a bit more standalone, there are several 3D engines that are free, this will get most of the ground work done for you, but I have no idea how good any of the free ones are. It's a hard game to decide on something like that, and really only you can. Crispy decided on D for his game, and it worked, but because it was a less used language, it was a pain to find help for problem(I think that was his major problem with it). But he also made a good choice in using that was easily ported over to OSs besides Windows. He is currently testing the Linux version, and I found it to run every bit as well as the Windows version. Which brings up a another good point, make sure to keep your target market as big as possible. Sure, you might not be interested in Linux support, but you may want to make sure your game works on Win98, and man of the easier languages tend to have problems with older OSs. And you may also want people with less powerful PCs to run your game, and many easier languages trade off light weight for ease of use, meaning old and weak PCs will strugle with them, as to where using a language like C++ they might do fine. | |
And of course, C and C++ are pretty close. C++ maybe more so than C because it is object-oriented.