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Casual Game Engines

Casual Game Engines. What’s Up With That? David Fox VP Technology, iWin dfox@iwin.com. Why Lil’ Ol’ Me ?. iWin As Web Developer Java Applets Flash iWin As Downloadable Developer Homegrown Framework: SDL/DirectX Flash PC/Mac Multiplayer iWin As Publisher Popcap BlitzBasic

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Casual Game Engines

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  1. Casual Game Engines What’s Up With That? David Fox VP Technology, iWin dfox@iwin.com

  2. Why Lil’ Ol’ Me? iWin As Web Developer Java Applets Flash iWin As Downloadable Developer Homegrown Framework: SDL/DirectX Flash PC/Mac Multiplayer iWin As Publisher Popcap BlitzBasic Torque 3D Orbital

  3. A Buncha Technologies Flash Shockwave Silverlite Java C# C++ Basic Delphi

  4. A Fistful of Frameworks BlitzBasic VirTools Torque DarkBASIC Playground SDK PopCap Framework SDL DirectX

  5. In 20 Minutes! Yeah, Right.

  6. WHAT METAPHOR?

  7. Cars?

  8. DirectX/SDL

  9. PopCap

  10. Playground SDK

  11. Java

  12. Unreal Engine

  13. Celebrities?

  14. Flash

  15. Torque

  16. C#

  17. Python

  18. Found It!

  19. Literary Theories! Formalism == C# Post-Structuralism == C++ Marxism/Feminism == Flash New Historicism == BlitzBASIC Deconstructionism == DirectX Psychoanalysis == Java

  20. HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS

  21. Flash CS3 $700 Vector-Based Movie clips and timelines (Visual OOP) MP3 support, embedded markers, etc. ActionScript (like JavaScript) Flash 8 improved math/rendering speed Window, Mac, Linux, Mobile Phones, PDAs, all Browsers Artist-Friendly “Real” Programmers Rare/Expensive

  22. Flash Gotchas Great Prototype Tool Horrible GUI for Coding (use Eclipse) Painful Debugging Must write C++ wrapper for EXE Fullscreen Support Right click handling Logs Support for other graphic/audio formats Writing to disk

  23. Flash Tricks Embed flash in C++ using f-in-box

  24. Flash

  25. Director/Shockwave • $1,200 • Lingo or JavaScript/ ECMAScript • Good for Downloadable (Windows/Mac) • OK for Web Games – Poor Penetration • Good 2D sprite manipulation • Strong audio support (streaming, panning, embedded markers,etc.) • Real time 3D (Shockwave3D) • Havok physics engine • Flash support • Can expand with C++ XTras

  26. Silverlight Web-focused Runs atop Visual Studio 2008 AJAX, VB, C#, Python, Ruby Cross-browser/platform (but Windows focused) Poor penetration Unproven

  27. Java Highly portable (Any browser, PC, Mac, Linux, Mobile) < 90% browser penetration Version headaches Desktop use requires large JDK download. Poor 2D library Java3D API Can be work w/ C++ using JNI

  28. C# C++-like Language w/Java Features Microsoft’s Visual Studio Huge .NET Runtime Download (19MB) Vista/XP Focus C#: Install huge .NET Runtime Soon? Static .NET Linker/

  29. XNA Game Studio 2.0 Express is Free For students, hobbyists, indies. Based on Visual C# Express 2005 Windows (XP SP2 only) and Xbox 360 C#: Install huge .NET Runtime Soon? Static .NET Linker/

  30. BASIC/Delphi/Other… BASIC Delphi Phython and PhyGame PHP … Assembly Language

  31. C++ Many seasoned programmers out there Need to be a “serious” coder Fast, flexible, robust Best IDE: Visual Studio 2008 Many cheap/free frameworks Won’t work in browser (except ActiveX)

  32. Majority of Hits Are C++

  33. But Not All… (Director!)

  34. Frameworks Vary *Based on 50 of the best selling games in Real Arcade from 2004-2006

  35. ENTER THE MATRIX

  36. The Basics Deal with Mouse/Keyboard Input Draw Animated Sprites Write Text With Fonts Play Music and Sound FX Resource Loading

  37. “Hard” Features Matrix Price (Upfront + License) Runtime Performance Min Sys Reqs Size Dev Support and Documentation Vista Support Unicode Support Cross Platform (Mac, XBLA, Mobile) Localization Tools Other Tools

  38. “Medium” Features Matrix 3D Acceleration Vector Support Flash Support 3D Model Support Scalable Fonts Multiplayer Scripting Languages Particle Systems Encryption or Obfuscation of Assets

  39. “Soft” Features Matrix Learning Curve Known Bugs Custom Coding Required Different Game Genre Support Performance of Your Game Proven?

  40. THE FRAMEWORKS

  41. BlitzMax $80 Basic/C Hybrid (Arrays, Pointers, OOP) Windows/Mac/Linux Modular Design Own IDE/Debugger OpenGL Support Lots of Source Code Also Blitz3D Good for Beginners

  42. Torque Game Builder 1.7 $100 Hardware Accel SceneGraph Driven Parallax Scrolling / Layers / Camera Advanced Physics/Collision System Tools Up the Wazoo Tile Editor LinkPoint Editor / Collision Polygon Editor Particle Editor GUI Editor Level Editor Windows, Linux, or Mac OSX Multiplayer with TorqueNet Lite Script in TorqueScript (TGE)

  43. Playground SDK Free! DinerDash 2 (& Other PlayFirst Games) Easy-to-use, Developer Friendly API Hardware Acceleration / 3D / Flash Particle System Lua Script Support Cross-Platform (Mac, Web) Powerful Localization Compact Runtime Documentation / Community Support

  44. Sexy Framework Free (Just credit Popcap) Used In: Bejewelled, Zuma, etc. DirectX 5.0 Windows Only (98 to Vista) FMOD and BASS sound engines. Hardware Acceleration Option Easy Image Manipulation “Widget” Metaphor Memory Leak / Smart Pointers Performance Profiling Routines Sample Apps

  45. Home Grown SDL Free cross-platform multi-media development API Graphics / Video Control Input / Events Audio / CD-ROM audio Threads Timers Win32/Linux/BeOS/~MacOS

  46. Home Grown DirectX Versions 5.0 to 10.0 Features Vs. Penetration Win98/Me = DX7.0 XP = DX8.0 My Advice? Stick to 7.0 or 8.0 Well-Tested Code Your Way

  47. THE BOTTOM LINE

  48. Framework Doesn’t Matter! (Almost)

  49. Know Your Purpose • Prototyping? • Web Only? • Mobile Only? • Full Cross-Platform Play?

  50. Know Your Game • This ain’t rocket science. • Polygons? Frames Per Second? Resolutions? • Polymorphic 3D surround sound? • Gesture based vibrating controller? • Publishers (usually) don’t care • Players won’t know (unless they can’t play) • For 2D puzzle game, easy switching cost

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