10 replies to this topic

[ZeroFear]

My company is deciding what 3D engine to use for a game we are currently designing. It needs to look as good as a game called Mech Commander 2 Here are some screenshots:

http://www.microsoft...eenshots/06.jpg

http://aok.heavengam...ck/mechc2_5.jpg

http://www.s2.com.br...ns/318Image.JPG


Will Java3D be enough for a turn based strategy game with graphics along these lines?? We have looked into the Chrome2 engine and several others but they are very expensive, so that is why we are interested in using Java3D since its free, and our expertise is Java.

Please only post facts ( no stupid "omg java is so slow use C++" replys )

thanks

[.oisyn]

Java3D is not a 3d engine, it's a (somewhat higher level than D3D or OpenGL) rendering API. And there are lots of free 3D engines out there, although most of them will be C++ (and no offense, but that is for a reason ).

[cypher543]

You can use Irrlicht, which is natively only supported by C++. But it has bindings for Java (jIrr). I don't know if it can achieve the graphics you want, but it's a good starting point.

[Mihail121]

Aaaaah, YES!!!! I remember the good ol' days of endless mech battles on these fields... these were the days! Back to the point, since Mech 2 is a pretty old game and the gfx machine is far from perfect or modern you should not have any problem at all to implement a similar engine with Java3D or even 10 times better since it's a quite a powerfull layer over the hardware interfaces.

[cypher543]

Also, if you didn't know already, Mech Commander 2 is completely open source now. It's on the Microsoft website (don't ask me where, exactly).

[Jack9]

MagicOSM had some mediocre success back in 2k (wow, did I just say that?) with Java3D. You would think that it has advanced even farther now, even if it's only a java wrapper to common libraries. While MagicOSM eventually faded away, I see no real obstacles to using Java libraries for 3D other than the fact that they are immature/infrequently used. It's unlikely you can get the latest and greatest graphical features out of Java in 3D

[Nick]

ZeroFear said:

Please only post facts ( no stupid "omg java is so slow use C++" replys )

omg java is so slow use C++


It's a fact and I couldn't resist. ;)

[juhnu]

Stay as far away from Java3D as possible. You are much better off using OpenGL directly, or some third-party engine.

[Nick]

I suggest to learn C++ and use the Torque engine (very high quality and only 100 $ to get started), or learn C# (closest to Java) and use DirectX to write your own game specific 'engine'. :yes:

[cypher543]

He requested that we not tell him to use C++. So can we all respect that? Maybe he is more comfortable with Java. People tell me to use C++ all the time, but I still use VB.NET.

Anyway, you really should check out Irrlicht and it's Java port called jIrr, if you haven't already. Irrlicht is great, but I have not tried jIrr yet.

[errcw]

Though Java3D is more than suitable for what you have in mind, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I suggest you check out JMonkeyEngine. In my experience it has a better API (modelled after Eberly and NetImmerse), more features (far too many to list), better support (its two key developers are now working at NCSoft using JME), and a better community. Moreover, it cleanly handles sound and input, freeing you from using yet more 3rd party libraries to manage them. Admittedly, I have a rather biased opinion (full disclosure: I've contributed a whole whack of code to JME) but nonetheless I strongly encourage you to consider JME.