Allegro opinions?

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    • Allegro opinions?

      Any of you seasoned game programers have opinions on Allegro?

      I'm an experienced software developer, but I'm just getting into game programming (as a hobby, not a career). I've read several books on the game programming, and have been lurking here in the forums for several months. I've started playing with the Allegro library, and it seems to "click" for me. I'm not sure why; one of those software tools things (e.g. some prefer vi, others emacs).

      However, since I have no game experience, I'm worried that I may not see potential weaknesses in the library. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to look out for with Allegro.

      Thanks.
    • RE: Allegro opinions?

      I've heard of this library before, but I've never used it. I took a glance and it looks like it tries to solve the portability problem, but doesn't seem to offer too much in the way of 3D graphics. If you're making a 2D sprite game, it'll be fine. If you want to make a hardcore 3D game, you'll probably find yourself reinventing the wheel a lot. Again, this is only from 15 minutes of reading the highlights, so take it for what it's worth. :)

      I doubt you'd ever see this engine used in a professional game studio. If you're not interested in doing this as a career, then it doesn't matter too much. Use it if it clicks for you.

      I think the real question you need to ask is, what do you find least interesting about game development? Me, I'm not particularly interested in the graphics portion of game programming so the engine I'm designing is all 2D sprite & tile based. I use the Direct3D Framework since it takes care of a lot of what I hate, and I'm writing a generic tile manager and sprite system handle all the other stuff. Then I can concentrate on AI and A-Life sims without getting bogged down with graphics programming. The point is, figure out what you don't like too much and then find an engine that deals with it. Hate physics? Great, grab an open-source physics library. Hate 3D programming? Find an engine that deals with a lot of the nuts and bolts for you.

      Professionally, we use Ogre for Barbie and Renderware for Ratrace (though we're porting away from Renderware may go with another commercial engine, like Gambryo). We went with Ogre mainly because it's well written (for the most part), has a large community supporting it, and it's free. The final choice for Ratrace will depend on the publisher and finances.

      -Rez
    • Oooh! Renderware! I had the misfortune to deal with version 3....

      I hear good things about Ogre. Allegro has been around for a while, but I've never really looked at it. I suggest heading over to Devmaster.net and browsing their database - they've got just about every engine ever posted on the internet listed there with ratings by actual (or maybe fictitious) users. Chances are there is some useful information available there to help with your decision, and perhaps you'll find another engine/system you like better while you're looking around.

      Rich
      "Your job is not to die for your country. Your job is to make some other poor sod die for his."
    • As I was browsing around GameDev something caught my eye that might help you. JEngine SEE came up, seems to be good. I personally haven't used it, but it looks free, has an editor, support for a lot of good things. Seems a bit more than just a library. C++, OO-oriented (or so the creator says), etc.

      Check it out:
      jengine.homedns.org/
      Feel you safe and secure in the protection of your pants . . . but one day, one day there shall be a No Pants Day and that shall be the harbinger of your undoing . . .