   Write diablo-style game with Doom 3 engine, or custom engine using Ogre/Ruby
  Hi,I'd like to ask the advice of the esteemed members of this forum please.I want to write a game in the style of Diablo/Diablo 2/Diablo 3/Titan Quest/etc.I can think of two ways of doing this, each seemingly with their pros/cons:1. Use the Doom 3 engine - when it goes open-source, I can release my game to the public.2. Write my own game engine - graphics/sound are easy enough, just use Ogre/OpenAL, and everything else in Ruby unless C++ is required.Doom 3 engine use advantages:Has lots of facilities that a game already requires (input handling code, graphics detail adjustment, graphics, sound, physics, file management and loading, etc.)Doom 3 engine use disadvantages:Will have to be heavily modded for 3rd person view and point-and-click movementIsometric-view maps not easy to design with Radiant editor - probably need custom editorCustom engine use advantages:Using Ruby a lot, so bloody easy to codeUsing Ogre means most complex graphics facilities already providedMy own, so learn how everything gets doneCustom engine use disadvantages:Graphics LOD not already providedMany facilities need writing from scratch/integrating with relevant libraries (spatial sound/physics/file management and loading/file formats/menu system/etc.)What do you think - my own engine, or modded Doom 3 engine?Thanks, Regards,  Asfand Yar Qazi   
  I do not know if idTech 4 will be Open Source, but I would definitly not use ruby for complex games. It is too slow.I recommend that you use Ogre/OpenAL and if you really want to add a scripting language, use Lua (or Python).   ;  You could use the Yake Game Framework and integrate Ogre, Ode,RakNet and everything else you could possibly need. That's what I'm going to do for my next project, it seems like a good idea. It will be almost like having a fully featured, professional game engine, capable of doing anything you want.   ;Quote:Original post by pp000I do not know if idTech 4 will be Open Source, but I would definitely not use ruby for complex games. It is too slow.I recommend that you use Ogre/OpenAL and if you really want to add a scripting language, use Lua (or Python).I assume it's like python-ogre in the sense that ruby would actually call C++ code. If this is the case, you'd see very little drop in speed.I can't say the Ruby bindings for Ogre are the same as Python's, but if they're similar, you'll lose maybe 2FPS? Depends on the scene of course, but running identical demos I've only noticed about a 2fps drop between the python and C++ demos.;  I wouldn't touch another language, it's Ruby or nothing.  For me, speed is how long it takes me to write the game, not how fast it runs.I'm not going to use bindings, I'm going to export my own intermediate-level interface from C++ to Ruby.  No point using Ruby for stuff that wouldn't speed up how long it takes to write, really.As for Ruby being slow, the new Ruby 1.9 byte-code interpreter is pretty quick, being much faster than Python in some (admittedly limited) benchmarks: http://antoniocangiano.com/2007/11/28/holy-shmoly-ruby-19-smokes-python-away/So 1.9 is not as slow as 1.8, but I don't care even if it is.  I love Ruby, and wouldn't touch another language.  Did I already say that?It seems nobody has realised that John Carmack confirmed that Doom 3 would be made open-source... well he has.Anyway, seems like it's not worth refactoring Doom 3 for isometric point and click work, but better to just compile my own using existing libraries and frameworks..... thanks.[Edited by - asfandyar on May 8, 2009 11:40:07 AM];Quote:Original post by asfandyarIt seems nobody has realised that John Carmack confirmed that Doom 3 would be made open-source... well he has.It'll be open-sourced a while after Rage ships, so you'd be looking at the source code being available, realistically, around 2011 or 2012.If you wanted to go with "Modify existing game engine", by FAR, your best bet would be to grab Unreal Tournament 2004 or Unreal Tournament 3, the corresponding SDK, and work in that, instead of Doom3.   ;Quote:Original post by Cypher19Quote:Original post by asfandyarIt seems nobody has realised that John Carmack confirmed that Doom 3 would be made open-source... well he has.It'll be open-sourced a while after Rage ships, so you'd be looking at the source code being available, realistically, around 2011 or 2012.If you wanted to go with "Modify existing game engine", by FAR, your best bet would be to grab Unreal Tournament 2004 or Unreal Tournament 3, the corresponding SDK, and work in that, instead of Doom3.I was going to say the advantage of Doom 3 is that I'll have to source code available.... but I just realised that:a) that'll happen, as you said, in a couple of yearsb) I'll have to release any modifications I make - not the best bet for a commercial game.Thanks for that, forgot about the release date.Quote:Original post by MeaiYou could use the Yake Game Framework and integrate Ogre, Ode,RakNet and everything else you could possibly need. That's what I'm going to do for my next project, it seems like a good idea. It will be almost like having a fully featured, professional game engine, capable of doing anything you want.I think I'll consider that, thanks.;  Implementing a third person camera is trivial. The real question is whether you know anything about 3d graphics programming anyway?   ;Quote:Original post by ibebrettImplementing a third person camera is trivial. The real question is whether you know anything about 3d graphics programming anyway?Well, I have that book 'Real-time rendering 2nd edition', and I got an A in Mathematics and a B in Further Mathematics at Sixth-Form (that's like what you do before University for you non-Brit guys).But I don't wanna do all that.  That's why I'm looking for an system that'll do it all for me.  Programming in my day-job taught me to be as lazy as possible, and that's what I'd like to be :-);  writing any kind of pseudo-roguelike (such as diablo style games)has no room for being lazy.id say the easiest for you to play with would be in ut2004.   