   Best api for 2d multiplayer game
  i was wondering what would be the best API to use for making a massive online multiplayer rpg, My buddy says direct draw but the documentation is rotting away for it, so its hard to find stuff for it. the SDL i thought about doing...but i just dont know. i need help from someone whos programmed a MMORPG in c++ before?   
  You should probably start with a 2D not multiplayer game first.  Choose an API and get comfortable with it doing simple things before attempting such a huge project.Quote:Original post by willthiswork89i need help from someone whos programmed a MMORPG in c++ before?There's probably just a handful of people here who meet this criteria.   ;ClanlibLooks fantastic, but I've never used it.  I've also never attempted something as massive as a MMORPG, my pet game engine has been in development for two years and it still doesn't do much.   ;  I'm a CS student in my final year. For my project I'm writing a tool to create 2D multiplayer (not necessary *massively* - cant test it!) online games, along with an engine to run the game. It's not a huge project as the graphics are 2D, I'm using freeware artwork, I'm using a freeware networking library and the functionality is very simple so don't be put off!For my client and server, which I guess is what you're interested in, it's all C++ and all my client side rendering is done in SDL. As it's just a 2D tile engine I really don't need any more than that. And in case you're interested, I learnt about the networking side of things from the book "MUD game programming" by Ron Penton and I'm using the networking library from that book.Good luck!Caroline M   ;  Ive been programming for 9 years.  SDL was my primary usage for a long time, but im going to second ClanLib here.  Its a very very good API for the C++ programmer, beautiful OOP design, and does alot.  Thats the one downside though, it IS big, it does alot and hence the runtime is large, its also limited to C/C++, but thats probably not going to be a problem for you.  Keep in mind, you should be VERY fluent in the Object Oriented concepts of C/C++ before you can really expect to use that library to its potential.  But if you spend the month or so to learn it properly , things such as its ability to extend its XML based resource system is a LIFE SAVER.   ;  You might take a look at pre-existing 2D engines as well, such as Torque2D, which are very powerful and can let you focus on creating the multiplayer aspect instead of worrying about building the engine.Just remember, though, an MMORPG is not an easy thing to make.  I don't mean that it's a bit harder than other games, I mean it makes developing other games look like tying your shoe.  Of course, if you don't know how to tie your shoe you should learn that before attempting any games.  Or maybe make a game about tying your shoe, to teach others how to tie their shoes in the hopes that someday velcro will be abolished forever.  What was the question again?   