Win32 To Sdl - Porting A Windows Engine For C++


SiegfriedCroes

Game Developer | Pixel Artist
Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
421
Location
Belgium
I'm studying Digital Arts and entertainment and one of the things we learn is programming in C++. For this, our teacher has written a simple game engine and I really like it, It would be cool if it could be ported to run on the Pandora, that way, I and other beginner programmers can easily make a game. So now I was wondering, is it possible to rewrite an engine written with Win32 functions to SDL functions? The source is open, well I think it is, I got the source but I think I will have to ask first if I can post it here. Also, is it worth it? or are there already enough user friendly c++ game engines for beginners?
 
It really depends on how complex that "game engine" is. If the source is open and its not too big and complex there shouldn't be any problem to port it over.
Personally I think there are by far too many similar engines available, but I still keep writing my own one because I need one which is made for my projects and not a general engine which could be used for anything. I also want to have influence on the tools and the whole content creation pipeline which kinda forces me to write my own engine.
So wether its worth it or not depends on your needs. If you really like your teachers engine - go and port it if it doesn't take longer than writing your own one, and if you just want a game engine in general google for one which is cross-plattform already.
 
The code is not that long, but ofcourse if there are other engines that already work for the Pandora than maybe those would be a better choice. I just need to have a basic one, things like tilebased map drawing (what I will need) I could write myself. Do anyone know of a good one, a 2D only engine, as I don't need 3D, and compatible with the Pandora? Or maybe this is already discussed in another topic, please give a link to that topic then.

The only engine I know so far is Penjin, but if there are better alternatives, I would really want to see them.
 
There are most probably many many alternatives out there.
Like JayFoxRox, I wrote Penjin to work with the current project I was working on.
If Penjin isn't enough to suit your needs, you know I'm all ears towards improvements and one of my goals is to try and provide a simple engine for the community to use.
 
I could write myself. Do anyone know of a good one, a 2D only engine, as I don't need 3D, and compatible with the Pandora? Or maybe this is already discussed in another topic, please give a link to that topic then.

The only engine I know so far is Penjin, but if there are better alternatives, I would really want to see them.
While not guaranteed to be compatible with Pandora, Novashell already runs on Linux. The author has expressed an interest in the Pandora (and I will do whatever I can to make it happen on Pandora, as my current project is being created using the system!). The system is highly portable, already existing on Linux, MacOS and Windows. The only stumbling block is that it relies on Clanlib which is coded for OpenGL. Clanlib (which is also open source) would need to be altered to work with OpenGL ES.

Whilst still in Alpha stage, it is already an extremely powerful and flexible engine. It uses a map/entity based system and the scripting system is LUA based.

Give it a look, check out the examples, and if you're impressed with what you see, mention the Pandora on the forums.
 
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looks cool, would be a nice to have it run on the Pandora, I hope it will eventually be ported. The more engines we have, the better :D
 
It's probably not quite an "engine", but personally I find SFML very nice for drawing 2D graphics in C++ (Though I'd prefer non-capitalized method names). If Laurent is to be believed, he's porting it.
 
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