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+--- Thread: Newbie Inquiries (/thread-521.html)
Newbie Inquiries - Doobfoo - Dec 11, 2009 09:41 AM
Hey everyone, I'm Doobfoo. I stumbled upon this forum and have found something great!
Some brief information about myself. I have been a freelance web designer for the past few years. I have worked with the following; xhtml, css, php, mysql, sql, actionscript, javascript.
I am highly interested in game development. As far as my setup goes, I run two Intel Macs. I do however, use Windows XP.
The past few days I have been researching on my options for going down this path. I would like to create games for the OS X, and Windows eventually. I am confused with a few things on the Macintosh side, though.
If I am to create a game on OS X, am I to use Objective-C/C++? Or solely C++? Is Objective-C/C++ only for regular application development on the OS X platform?
I am also interested in developing games for the iPhone. The iPhone then only uses Objective-C and Cocoa with OpenGL support?
Do I need to learn two different languages if I want to develop for OS X/Windows and the iPhone?
Regards.
Newbie Inquiries - AnotherJake - Dec 11, 2009 12:38 PM
You can use SDL for a cross-platform "windowing" library to set up you game environment on Windows, OS X, Linux, and I believe iPhone too.
Mainly, the language(s) you'll use primarily for game programming will be C/C++. In addition, on the iPhone, unless SDL covers everything, you'll only need to learn a very small amount of Objective-C. OpenGL will be what you'll use for graphics.
If you're planning on doing 3D games primarily, I would very highly recommend you look into using Unity3D.
Newbie Inquiries - Mister T - Dec 12, 2009 01:21 AM
I've actually replicated some of the core SDL functionality on my own --Partially for the learning experience (I was completely new to Objective-C/ Cocoa), and partially because I have eventual plans of making an event-driven 3D application (non game) with an emphasis on platform-specific user interfaces. In other words, I want this to look and behave like a "Mac" app to Mac users, and a "Windows" app to windows users. As far as I know, I could've used SDL to help achieve this goal; however, I didn't need that much from SDL, and like I said, recreating the needed functionality has been a good learning experience.
However, my most immediate goal is to make a Mac game, and hopefully make a buck in the process. And for this, my duplicated efforts have been largely pointless, and at times, frustrating. Implementing a C wrapper library around a heavily object-oriented API is not without its challenges. In fact, it's been significantly more challenging than implementing the same C interface in WIN32 (and even Carbon, for that matter). However, I will say this: Apple's pure object-oriented approach with Cocoa makes a lot of sense for developing event-driven applications. Though my experience has largely been aimed at short-circuiting Apple's design, I've also come to appreciate what they've provided --It's quite unlike anything I've ever used before. Now, if they'd only adopt C# syntax, then it'd be perfect
Like AJ said, you're certainly free to use C/C++. There's multiple ways of doing this, but my preference is to wrap any Cocoa stuff I need in C. To do this, I make three files: a standard C header file, an Objective-C++ header file, and an Objective-C++ "mm" file for the implementation. I hope this example will clarify (forgive me if it's not syntactically correct, I just took a small snippet from my Input code):
"GameInput.h"
Code:
/* INTERFACE FILE : MUST NOT INCLUDE PLATFORM-SPECIFIC CODE */
#ifndef __GAME_INPUT__
#define __GAME_INPUT__
// Don't include anything that depends on Cocoa, here.
#include <stdint.h>
// **********************************************************
// GAME_KEY enum
// Each GAME_KEY will be processed as an actual, physical key on
// the keyboard --Irrespective of case, regional layout, or
// modifier combination.
// **********************************************************
enum GAME_KEY {
GAME_KEY_A, GAME_KEY_B, GAME_KEY_C
};
// ----------------------------------------------------------
// IsGameKeyPressed
// Returns the most recently recorded state of the key.
// ----------------------------------------------------------
bool IsGameKeyPressed(GAME_KEY key);
#endif"GameInputApple.h"
Code:
#ifdef __APPLE__
#ifndef __GAME_INPUT_APPLE__
#define __GAME_INPUT_APPLE__
#include "GameInput.h"
#include <Cocoa/Cocoa.h> //Now, I include Cocoa.
// ----------------------------------------------------------
// MyApplicationMain Class
// Used to process events
// ----------------------------------------------------------
@interface MyApplication : NSApplication {}
- (void)sendEvent:(NSEvent *)anEvent;
@end
#endif // __GAME_INPUT_APPLE__
#endif // __APPLE__"GameInputApple.mm"
Code:
#ifdef __APPLE__
#include "GameInputApple.h"
namespace GameInput {
// ----------------------------------------------------------
// Setup AppleKeyMap
// ----------------------------------------------------------
void SetupAppleKeyMap() {
AppleKeyMap[GAME_KEY_A] = 0;
AppleKeyMap[GAME_KEY_B] = 11;
AppleKeyMap[GAME_KEY_C] = 8;
}
}
@implementation MyApplication
- (void)sendEvent:(NSEvent *)anEvent {
NSEventType type = [anEvent type];
switch (type) {
case NSKeyUp:
gKeyState[[anEvent keyCode]] = false;
break;
case NSKeyDown:
gKeyState[[anEvent keyCode]] = true;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
@end
// ----------------------------------------------------------
// IsKeyboardKeyPressed
// Returns the most recently recorded state of the key.
// ----------------------------------------------------------
bool IsGameKeyPressed(GAME_KEY key) {
return gKeyState[AppleKeyMap[key]];
}
#endif // __APPLE__Newbie Inquiries - AnotherJake - Dec 12, 2009 09:01 AM
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with writing your own stuff instead of using SDL, but it takes time to learn to deal with the little issues that pop up. It's a little easier now in Leopard. One notable feature that will cause pain and grief will be implementing HID support for joystick input, which SDL conveniently handles for you.
Newbie Inquiries - Doobfoo - Dec 12, 2009 09:10 AM
Thanks for the awesome posts guys. So I should start like this.
Learn C++, I have the book C++ Primer. Learn OpenGL and SDL + Unity3D. I have access to Luxology Modo and 3ds Max for modeling.
If I want to learn how to create normal applications for the OS X platform/iPhone then Objective-C/Cocoa is the way to go then.
Newbie Inquiries - Mister T - Dec 12, 2009 09:58 AM
Yes, I've heard nothing but scary stuff about HID... I'm hoping Pangea's book will guide me through the rough waters. It's an outstanding book, and completely free (very Carbon-centric, tho). The company's legacy stretches back well into the "Classic" era, so this is understandable.
Newbie Inquiries - Doobfoo - Dec 12, 2009 10:13 AM
I've been reading that you can use C++ for normal applications as the core language, then Objective-C++ for the GUI implementation of Cocoa. What are your thoughts on this vs regular Objective-C/Cocoa?
Newbie Inquiries - AnotherJake - Dec 12, 2009 12:12 PM
Doobfoo Wrote:Learn C++, I have the book C++ Primer. Learn OpenGL and SDL + Unity3D.If you're going to do Unity3D then there's no need to learn C++ or OpenGL or SDL, since it's a full-fledged game engine all on its own. For Unity you'll need to learn C#.
Doobfoo Wrote:If I want to learn how to create normal applications for the OS X platform/iPhone then Objective-C/Cocoa is the way to go then.That is correct.
Mister T Wrote:Yes, I've heard nothing but scary stuff about HID... I'm hoping Pangea's book will guide me through the rough waters. It's an outstanding book, and completely free (very Carbon-centric, tho). The company's legacy stretches back well into the "Classic" era, so this is understandable.It's a good book. I bought it back when it came out (before it was free). I used it to initially figure out HID. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, the book is old now and only uses Carbon. There are newer HID APIs in Leopard which are a bit different. There's no easy way of dealing with HID, other than SDL I suppose. There is also ddhidlib, but I've heard there may be some issues with Leopard compatibility so YMMV.
Newbie Inquiries - OneSadCookie - Dec 12, 2009 01:13 PM
Mister T Wrote:Yes, I've heard nothing but scary stuff about HID... I'm hoping Pangea's book will guide me through the rough waters. It's an outstanding book, and completely free (very Carbon-centric, tho). The company's legacy stretches back well into the "Classic" era, so this is understandable.
The Pangea book covers the old, deprecated HID API.
Newbie Inquiries - Mister T - Dec 12, 2009 10:08 PM
I see, so HID is different, now... Bummer.
Newbie Inquiries - Blacktiger - Dec 13, 2009 03:48 PM
Mister T Wrote:I see, so HID is different, now... Bummer.
Better... or so they say.
Newbie Inquiries - Doobfoo - Dec 16, 2009 07:08 PM
I decided to narrow my interests down to the iPhone. I'm currently reading Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan. Once I familiarize myself with this I assume it is best for me to move onto C++ and OpenGL. Do all iPhone games utilize OpenGL?
Newbie Inquiries - AnotherJake - Dec 16, 2009 09:41 PM
Doobfoo Wrote:... I assume it is best for me to move onto C++ and OpenGL. ...I prefer C, but the choice is yours.
Doobfoo Wrote:Do all iPhone games utilize OpenGL?Pretty much, yes.
Newbie Inquiries - Doobfoo - Dec 16, 2009 11:15 PM
AnotherJake Wrote:I prefer C, but the choice is yours.
Pretty much, yes.
Thank you for your time and advice AnotherJake. I will keep you all updated with my progress!
Newbie Inquiries - cmiller - Dec 17, 2009 12:19 AM
Doobfoo Wrote:I decided to narrow my interests down to the iPhone. I'm currently reading Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan. Once I familiarize myself with this I assume it is best for me to move onto C++ and OpenGL. Do all iPhone games utilize OpenGL?
If you've already learned Objective-C, and are deploying exclusively to the iPhone, then I see little reason to bother with C++.
Short of a hidden std::makeDukeNukemForever part of the STL, I don't think that the additional pains of C++ will really be worth your while.
Objective-C and C++ use entirely different patterns for constructing systems and intermingling the two will be difficult at best. Objective-C, on the other hand, is a light layer on top of C. Intermingling Objective-C and C is easier (though still quite difficult if you're not on top of your game).
You could use CoreAnimation for your game, but I would highly suggest going with OpenGL, as CoreAnimation's uses are quite limited. You can do a lot of interesting things with CoreAnimation, but when you hit the ceiling of what it's designed to do, you usually hit that ceiling very hard.