Think about the games like Spiral Knights and Minecraft(Which I believe both use LWJGL) - How are the characters created? Does, at least Spiral Knights, use some other outside program to make them, then import them somehow? Does Minecraft handle their mob / character creation all in Java or LWJGL(That would make sense to me, since the models are more simple)? I'm confused as to how and where they're made, and the different ways you go about making them. I'm not talking about textures, but the things that the textures are applied to.
Does making the models even use LWJGL?
Please tell me if I misunderstood something, or said something incorrectly that didn't make sense.
It's pretty hard to say without knowing what each individual team's art pipeline looks like. As such I won't try to speculate except to say that as long as you can render 3d geometry, you can surely find or build a routine to import just about any 3d file format: collada, max, maya (mb, ma), .x, ms3d, blend, etc.
The need to consider just 3 things:
Does the 3d tool you're considering support the kind of art you want to create?
Do you or your artist have experience in that tool?
Can you write or find the code to load the 3d file format?
If you can answer those 3 questions positively, then you have a good candidate for the tool to use for this project :-)
Related
fledgling here, asking my very first question on Stack Overflow :)
Question:
I'd like to create a shape with number of points according to the user's input.
For example, if a user inputs 5, I'd like to come up with a pentagon. How should I approach this?
What I have in mind: diagrams that show various stats of an object, similar to how you may see a soccer player's traits in a game: Speed, Stamina, Shooting accuracy, etc. However, I want the users to decide what traits they want to have in their diagram. Eventually I'd like to display the changes in those trait values to reflect improvement / worsening of each values.
So far, I've found out that drawables are usually for static images..? And some dynamic image generation may be very (resource) demanding.. Since it's kind of a graph.. maybe there's something out there that I could use? (But I want to make it look pretty and not nerdy looking graph)
I'm trying to do this on Android Studio, and I've never used Kotlin so I'm trying to stick to Java if that's relevant ;-;..
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am trying to create a Java package that can be used to write simulation programs.
My goal is to create 'objects' like springs or solid objects like cubes and spheres. They will have mass, velocity, gravity etc. and they can interact with each other.
I have seen some simulation programs on www.myphysicslab.com but my problem is that I don't want to write different equations for different senarios. Is there any way to do this? I am new to programming.
Creating a physics engine is hard. (Very hard). But it can also be a lot of fun. Well, fun in a "why am I doing this to myself?" kind of way.
Assuming your have a fair grasp of the maths involved*, and assuming you're interested in Rigid Body Dynamics there are a couple of classic references to start with:
First of all Chris Hecker's Rigid Body Dynamics tutorials
And of course Witkin and Baraff's SIGGRAPH course
Those are good places to start and will provide more than enough of a challenge for you.
You could also look at Box2D by Erin Catto and his associated GDC tutorials which you can download.
For more specific help, the forums for Bullet also contain a sub-section where you can discuss and ask questions once you have understood some of the basics.
*If you don't have this fair grasp, learn. If you're not willing to, don't try and just use an existing engine. If this is your very first programming experience, just focus on the programming first. Don't get yourself overwhelmed.
Good luck.
To understand physics, you must first understand maths. Attempting to write a physics engine without using mathematical equations is like making a cake without ingredients.
Entire careers are built on creating physics engines, so my advice is to either use an existing engine, or get your books out.
Building a physics simulator can be a lot of work. Two dimensions is considerably simpler than three, so maybe you want to start with 2D. You might want to begin with an existing package like JBox2D. It has a constraint solver, friction, etc. You can build on top of JBox2D or study how it works.
An HTML5 version is available with online demos: GWTBox2D
There is a program called Easy Java Simulations
that does exactly what you want!
You can create java applets and has many of the visual objects ready.
You can also write java code and subprograms.
visit http://fem.um.es/Ejs/ to download.
I'm looking for several methods to compare two images to see how similar they are. Currently I plan to have percentages as the 'similarity index' end-result. My program outline is something like this:
User selects 2 images to compare.
With a button, the images are compared using several different methods.
At the end, each method will have a percentage next to it indicating how similar the images are based on that method.
I've done a lot of reading lately and some of the stuff I've read seems to be incredibly complex and advanced and not for someone like me with only about a year's worth of Java experience. So far I've read about:
The Fourier Transform - im finding this rather confusing to implement in Java, but apparently the Java Advanced Imaging API has a class for it. Though I'm not sure how to convert the output to an actual result
SIFT algorithm - seems incredibly complex
Histograms - probably the easiest out of all mentioned so far
Pixel grabbing - seems viable but if theres a considerable amount of variation between the two images it doesn't look like it's going to produce any sort of accurate result. I might be wrong?
I also have the idea of pre-processing an image using a Sobel filter first, then comparing it. Problem is the actual comparing part.
So yeah I'm looking to see if anyone has ideas for comparing images in Java. Hoping that there are people here that have done similar projects before. I just want to get some input on viable comparison techniques that arent too hard to implement in Java.
Thanks in advance
Fourier Transform - This can be used to efficiently can compute the cross-correlation, which will tell you how to align the two images and how similar they are, when they are optimally aligned.
Sift descriptors - These can be used to compare local features. They are often used for correspondence analysis and object recognition. (See also SURF)
Histograms - The normalized cross-correlation often yields good results for comparing images on a global level. But since you are just comparing color distributions you could end up declaring an outdoor scene with lots of snow as similar to an indoor scene with lots of white wallpaper...
Pixel grabbing - No idea what this is...
You can get a good overview from this paper. Another field you might to look into is content based image retrieval (CBIR).
Sorry for not being Java specific. HTH.
As a better alternative to simple pixel grabbing, try SSIM. It does require that your images are essentially of the same object from the same angle, however. It's useful if you're comparing images that have been compressed with different algorithms, for example (e.g. JPEG vs JPEG2000). Also, it's a fairly simple approach that you should be able to implement reasonably quickly to see some results.
I don't know of a Java implementation, but there's a C++ implementation using OpenCV. You could try to re-use that (through something like javacv) or just write it from scratch. The algorithm itself isn't that complicated anyway, so you should be able to implement it directly.
I'm coming to the end of my first year of CS and I thought a great way to consolidate all the things I've learnt this year would be a personal game project.
I would like to implement a 2D based rts, I'm thinking along the lines of starcraft I, warcraft II or even command and conquer. I will have about 3 months without interruptions to implement the game.
So to anyone experienced with java game programming, I have a few questions:
Is it realistic to design a 2D rts engine from scratch in 3 months?
If so what are some good books/resources to get started?
Would it be better to modify some existing project? I would think the experience of having to work with a lot of someone else's code would be good since our exposure to such topics in an undergrad cs degree seems very rare, if non-existent.
Are there any decent open source 2d rts projects that anyone could recommend? I've looked through a few but most seem to be written in c/c++
My humble thanks
Edit: Thanks for the quick responses, I think that perhaps it was a bad idea to post this in a rush since I think I misrepresented what I want to do.
When I say "along the lines of warcraft II etc" I mean more like that style of rts using sprites. I don't intend to implement a game nearly that complex, more like just a basic prototype.
My goal would be some thing more like a flat textured map with some basic obstacles like trees, a single unit producing structure like a barracks. I'd like to have the units to have health bars, be able to move and attack and die (and possible morph into another unit).
Far off goals would be to implement some basic pathing using a modified version of the dijkstra shortest path algorithm, ranged units with missle attack, etc.
I don't plan to implement any opponents or ai or networking or anything like that.
I'm thinking along the lines of starcraft I, warcraft II or even command and conquer
Make sure you purge your mind of matching the full scope of any of those. They took large teams of developers multiple years to make, with multi-million dollar budgets, so you can't even hope to approach those. They're called AAA for a reason. That being said, there's no reason you can't very minimally ape their design, or make a tiny game in their genre, assuming you have previous experience making small games.
A sub-genre of RTS that might be doable in that amount of time is a Tower Defense game. Plants vs Zombies is a good example. The reason I suggest this sub-genre is that you can avoid implementing any sort of AI or path-finding, which are notoriously difficult to get working, and I think technically impossible to implement "perfectly", especially with a limited CPU budget.
Make sure to reign in your scope. Favor a "complete" game over new features, because you can then call it "done" at any time. Get your game playable ASAP, and don't sweat the polish or details until you have to. Add one enemy type and one type of player unit (with only one ability, if you were thinking of implementing multiple abilities per unit). Make a title screen, menus (even if the menu is just "click screen to play"), game over screen, level complete or stat screens, cross-level player statistics, etc. Once you have all that ironed out, spend equal time adding new features and polishing the gameplay/graphics/bugs.
Once you have a playable, "complete" game ready (no matter how small in scope), find a real artist to do graphics for you. A shiny game always draws an audience, no matter how simple the gameplay.
It is very unrealistic to think you could implement a 2D RTS engine anywhere even close to the complexity in those kind of games. You could maybe get something very rough if you were experienced, but with only one year I think it's doubtful.
I can't help but feel like it would be much better for you if you used an existing engine or framework and built off of it. Like you said, working with other code would probably be a good learning experience as well. It would allow you to experiment without getting bogged down in having to do everything.
Keep it simple or you will simply drown in complexity before getting around to have anything playable. Since you have not tried it before, you will have a lot of nuts to crack and you don't know how long they will take.
Also remember that report writing and documentation takes time too.
The idea is good, and I think you can pull off a whole game if you find good building blocks. I would suggest discussing this with your teacher to hear what is acceptable for you to use. Would it e.g. be ok to do a game on an open source engine if you add some non-trivial functionality?
Update: Seems to be several engines available from Java at http://www.devmaster.net/engines/list.php?fid=6&sid=1
People often forget, that creating games is MUCH MORE than just coding the technique thing. Its about content creation, game design, sound and music, the "fun factor". If you make heavy use of existent APIs or engines, it will be possible, but writing it from scratch with no experience in 3 month is like asking yourself if you can code 100,000 LOC in this time which means 1111 LOC per day. This might be possible, but not if you have to desing and think, and just having the code makes no game.
Perhaps it would make sense to look at some existing efforts to get a feel for the scope of what you are looking at. These should give you some ideas or even code to build on:
http://www.duncanjauncey.com/btinternet/old/javagame/game.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Java_Game_Library
http://www.ardor3d.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JMonkeyEngine
It would be a lot for me to bite off (from scratch) in the time given that is for sure. That is about all I can say.
EDIT: I thought maybe JOGRE was not what you are looking for. Then I thought about it and it seems like it would have all the right kinds of plumbing for what you are trying to do.
EDIT AGAIN: After my answer, one of the related questions links on the side seemed relevant: Java Game Programming: JOGL vs LWJGL?
Well if it gives you any hope at all, my team and I are currently working on an RTS game called "The Genesis Project". We call ourselves MotherBoard Games, or MBG for short. If you would like, I am always looking for more coders. You can email me at mpmn5891#gmail.com, I can give you some advice and tips form my 6 year experience, 2 of which have been spent making this game (to give you a scope)
We're a team of a programmer and a designer and we want to make a medium-sized java game which will be played as an applet in the web browser. Me (the programmer) has 3 years of general development experience, but I haven't done any game programming before.
We're assuming that:
We'll decide on a plot, storyline of the game, etc.
We'll create a list of assets (images) that we need, i.e player images, monster images, towns, buildings, trees, objects, etc. (We're not adding any music/sound efffects for now)
The designer will get started on creating those images while I finish reading some of the game programming books i've bought. The designer will create the first town/level of the game, then pass on those images to me, I will begin coding that first level and he would start on the next level, and after 4-5 levels we'll release v.1 of the game.
Question 1: Is this the correct methodology to use for this project?
Question 2: What format should the designer create those images in. Should they be .bmp, .jpeg, or .gif files? And, would he put all those images in one file, or put each monster/object/building in its own file? Note; We are sticking to 2D for now and not doing 3D.
Question 3: I've seen some game artware where there would be a file for a monster, and in that file there'd be about 3-4 images of a monster from different directions, all put in one file, i think because they're part of an animation. Here's an illustraton:
[Monster looking to right] ... [Monster looking in the front] ... [Monster looking to right[
And all of them are in one file. Is this how he'll have to supply me with those animations?
What i'm trying to find out is, what is the format he'll have to supply me the designed images in, for me to be able to access/manipulate them easily in the Java code.
All answers appreciated :)
I have some comments for each question.
Question 1: You say that you will begin coding level 1, 2, .. one by one. I recommend you to create a reusable framework instead or see it in the big picture instead. For the information you provide I think you are going to make some kind of RPG game. There are lots of things that can be shared between levels such as the Shop, the dialog system, for example. So focus for extensibility.
Why wait for designers to pass on the image? You can begin your coding by starting with pseudo graphics file you created yourself. You can then work with designer in parallel this way. And you can replace your pseudo graphics file with ones provided by designer later.
Question 2: JPG is not suitable for pixel-art style image, that appears a lot in most 2D game. And the GIF support only 256 color. The best choice to me seems to be PNG.
The designer should always keep the original artworks in editable format as well. It's likely that you want to change the graphics in the future.
Question 3: It depends. The format mentioned, where character's animations are kept in single file, is called Sprite. If you kept your resource in this sprite format than you will have some works reading each of the sub-image by specifying coordinates. However, sprite helps you keep things organized. All the 2D graphics related to "Zombie" character is kept in one place. It is therefore easy to maintain.
About the image format: don't let the designer deliver anything as jpg, because you'll lose quality.
Let him send it as png instead, and convert it to your preferred format as needed.
Also, remember to have him send the source files (photoshop/illustrator/3dsmax/whatever) in case you'll ever need tiny changes that you can make yourself without hiring the graphics dude. Who knows if he'll still be available in the future anyway.
I want to suggest to you that, before you make any decisions about your workflows, you and your colleague go have a look at JavaFX and see if maybe that's the toolkit that best meets your needs.
http://java.sun.com/javafx/
The [Monster looking to right] ... [Monster looking in the front] ... [Monster looking to left] style of animation demarcation has been around for as long as I've been peeking into game data, so I would suggest going with that path.
I was about to make the same remark as Wouter: use PNG, modern format which is highly compressed (as opposed to BMP), lossless (as opposed to Jpeg) and full color and with several level of transparency (as opposed to Gif).
Why people put several sprites in the same image? Actually, for Java, I am not sure, if the images are part of a jar... I know it is interesting in CSS, for example, because it reduces the number of images to download, so the number of hits on the server, which is a well known Web optimization. For games on hard disk, reducing the number of small files can be interesting too.
The designer can appreciate this too. At least in times where sprites used a color palette: you had only one image, using the same palette: easier to edit, and slightly reduce the overall size (in times were memory was costly!).
I can't answer on the methodology, I never did a game in team... If it fits your needs, it is probably the right methodology...
duncan points to JavaFX, I will point to pulpcore which seems to be a promising library. Of course, there are plenty others, like JGame and such.
Bunch of pros here: http://www.javagaming.org/
This is not answering any of the questions. But for game develop/Simulation Engines learning if u need a reference:
http://www.cs.chalmers.se/idc/ituniv/kurser/08/simul/
It's a link for the class lectures of Simulation Engines at Chalmers Univ in Gotembourg. The teacher as a game company and gave quite good lectures. Check the slides we had in the classes, maybe they'll help you a bit.