May 24, 2003
Your Own Little World
I thought this sounded promising… If you’re looking for a way to get into developing your own small graphical virtual worlds for your own interactive stories or games, but aren’t sure how to get started, this might be of help. Flipcode, a great site for independent game developers, recently posted a link to the Reaction Engine, described as “a hobbyist game engine designed specifically for beginner programmers, making small fun games, or prototyping game ideas quickly.” It’s $60.
Using the engine requires programming in C++, but if you’re new to C++ too, it even includes a Crash Course in C++ Programming. Fine print: it is required that you already have Microsoft Visual C++. If you’re new programming, find a programmer friend to help you get set up with MSVC, it’s pretty easy.
The group that distributes Reaction Engine, Garage Games, came into being “to provide independent developers with tools, knowledge, co-conspirators – whatever YOU need – to make great games.” (More on the need for an independent games movement in future posts.)
Okay, people, now you’ve got little excuse to not start designing and programming your own graphical virtual worlds. :-)
May 26th, 2003 at 10:21 am
Is C++ the right language for the task?
If you were writing ” a hobbyist game engine designed specifically for beginner programmers”, would you choose C++? I *like* C++, I use it every day.
But, for beginners, surely a LISP descendant would be better?
May 26th, 2003 at 4:19 pm
great question, big can of worms, of course… I’d like to make a new top-level blog post responding to your comment, later this week. :-)
March 19th, 2004 at 7:23 am
Here’s a new development with GarageGames licensing that looks pretty interesting…