The power of a single developper...

Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

...is not enough...

Has anybody once thought they could remake the TS/RA2 engine ( in C++ or whatever with OpenGl/SFML or anything else for that matter), spent quite a bit of time on it and then gave up?

I am probably in this process right now. I've been googling for terms '2D isometric engine' and such for like 2 days, and I found this:
https://github.com/xpac27/LittleWorld

I'll probably try to modify it and see if Im capable of rendering a TS map. But I'll probably just give up in a few weeks.

Banshee · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 2:17 am Post subject:

Programming a game engine is not a trivial task, of course.

OpenRA is the closest thing I've seen from a decent 2D isometric engine.

The other close thing that should be a good start for you is this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ccmaps/

4StarGeneral · General **Joined**: 14 Sep 2006 **Location**: Limbo

I had once tried remaking RA2 with Flash, but I found the pathfinding, height of terrain, and several other things are not the easiest thing to achieve in Flash. With that and working 2 jobs, I gave up.

Oh and it was pretty laggy.

UPDATE: Someone made a set of tutorials for building an RTS on Unity3D.

I'd have to go with Banshee, OpenRA is the closest you can get to a similar engine.

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"Don't beg for things; Do it yourself or you'll never get anything."

SMIFFGIG

Zaaz wrote:

...is not enough...

Has anybody once thought they could remake the TS/RA2 engine

This seems like the next step for OpenRA
and... its Open Source (if that wasn't obvious)

Why don't you go about working on your own branch of OpenRA to introduce isometric terrain with different heights?
or anything else you want? Smile

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Zaaz · Disk Thrower **Joined**: 21 Apr 2013 **Location**: Canada

thanks for the ccmaps link, I'll check it out.

As for OpenRA, the thing is that it's done in C# and I kinda want to try it in
C++, but I'll certainly check how they do their things.

Anyway, the goal is to learn and have fun, so even if I fail early, I hope at
least one of those goals will be reached haha.

Also, I was just wondering if many programmers had these crazy thoughts.

*Random note: the fact that OpenRA is still at it is impressive though. I wish
they had started with the visuals of TS, because I always thought the view in
TD was weird, but they are coming there, which is exciting.*

RP · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:41 pm Post subject:

I would not start with a full game yet. A wild suggestion might be to check out the map editors first, you get to see everything, but all the extra's like weapon handling, pathfinding is not included. You can focus on the visual part first, then start wiring the backend.

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CCHyper · Defense Minister **Joined**: 07 Apr 2005

There is something pd started on, but i'm not sure if i am aloud to show it. It is pretty much a map rendering app, can render remap too IIRC.

Renegade · Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 4:27 am Post subject:

When D looked at XNA, he built working rendering for voxels etc., iirc.

The more interesting question for you, Zaaz, should be: Who has started working on a replacement engine not in C++, despite being capable of it?
My point is, there is a reason OpenRA and a host of other C&C-related projects are either in C# or in Pascalesque languages: C++ is a wonderfully powerful and efficient language...but it's a ztyping pain in the ass for modern, everyday development.
I love C++ for what it is, and posting this from a Linux machine, you can trust me I'm no fan of Microsoft - but I'd still choose C#/.NET over C++/STL for everyday development any given time. In the time you waste dealing with strings in C++, you can build entire applications in C#/.NET.

It is commendable you want to look at C++. You should. The lower you go, the less usable higher languages become.
But do consider that creating an entire engine is a multi-year commitment, and that ease of development is a very important thing in the long run.
C++ might be new and exciting now. A year from now you may just want to code your damn engine, and not deal with C++'s intricacies.

At least try semi-complex development in both languages before committing to one of them for several years for a complex software project.

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Matthias M.

SMIFFGIG wrote:

Zaaz wrote:

...is not enough...

Has anybody once thought they could remake the TS/RA2 engine

This seems like the next step for OpenRA
and... its Open Source (if that wasn't obvious)

Why don't you go about working on your own branch of OpenRA to introduce isometric terrain with different heights?
or anything else you want? Smile

No need for that. Sleipnir is working towards isometric terrain with different heights already. Internally we already expose the yet mostly unused Z coordinate. It took several months and required a refactor of almost anything, but I bet we soon may see some proper TMP(TS) support with the current speed of development.