Max2d or other engine?

Continuing the "Should we use a third party 3d engine or wait for max3d"...

Who uses Max2d, and who uses a 3rd party engine.

At the moment I use IrrLicht as my 2d engine, but am waiting for Ion and will probably transfer any less than 50% finished to that.

Basicly what I want to see, is if people are quite willing to use an external 2D, but insist on waiting for an official 3d, and moan about it, or if the people who are already using an external 2d are more willing to use an external 3d (Oh And I dont use Max's audio either)

Anyone else opinions?

I don't see the fuss about BRL engine vs 3rd party engine, whether it's 2d, 3d, audio or anything else. The whole argument about BRL is better because it's native is horribly flawed ( because this is BMax and nothing's native but the basic commandset, everything else is modular. ) The reverse argument that BRL is worse because they're doing languages and lots of other things as well as a 3D engine is also flawed because most of the other engines ( at least those priced such that indies can use them ) are being developed by part-timers, or hobbyists so that's swings and roundabouts anyway.

So I think it's daft to use ( or wait for ) a BRL module when you'd be just as well off ( or better ) with a 3rd party one, and equally that it's daft to use a 3rd party one when you'd be just as well off ( or better ) with a BRL one.

But there ya go, if people want to make life harder for themselves unnecessarily out of some preconceived bias one way or the other, it's their perogative to do so.

I use TV3D for 3D, and HGE for 2D. If I needed something with a lot of complex non-native-GUI stuff, I might use Max2D for 2D, however, because there are a couple of decent GUI's around while I'd have to write my own for HGE. I've already written my own non-native GUI for TV3D so there's no issue there.

I do my own 2d since I do all my own OpenGL graphics.

I wait for Max3D. Don't have the time nor the knowledge to code soomething like that all by myself.

I'm with Grisu. I have plenty to do in 2D in the pipeline for 6 to 8 months or longer. I still get curious about Max3D though from time to time.

EDIT: nm...I missed mark's post 4 months ago about Max3D. I'm off the case now that I have some info. :)

The HGE wrapper was something else I was considering purchasing from your site Gabriel. That HAAF engine is feature rich. Is every function fully wrapped? How speedy is it compared to BlitzMax?

My main focus in the coming months will be small Java games for cell phones but I would like to make something huge with rendered graphics for PC's.

@Grisu
So you are waiting for Max3d before you use max2d?
@Chroma,
Well, as Grisu didnt seem to understand the question, you being in agreement with him also dosent answer the question, which was. DO you use Max2d or a 3rd party 2d engine?

@Gabriel

There are several reasons:
a) Both HGE and TV3D are not cross platform and win only.
b) TV3D plays in a different price league than a max3D module mostly will.
c) Code mostly looks a bit easier and nicer in native solutions.
d) Tested interoperability - (hopefully :O).
e) If you like the philosopy of a developer for product A, it's likely that you'll like product B from the same developer.
f) It's hard to break a habit.

If i wouldn't need it i would wait and test this or that engine from time to time.
If i would be in need of a 3d engine i would go with an alternative now (curious about gman's v1.3).

@Taumel: I think you missed my point. My point was not that there are better things already. My point was why wait IF there are better things already. I'm talking about people who wait on principle without a reason, or jump on principle without a reason. I wasn't referring to anyone who actually has a reason to do what they're doing.

BTW, even so, I still disagree with C) as it cannot be native, and E) ( Because I bought BlitzPlus XD )


Everything except the GUI stuff which is pretty much unwrappable. Gadgets have to be inherited from the C++ gadget class and BlitzMax doesn't integrate well enough with C++ to allow this, as far as I can see. It seems pretty fast to me, but I haven't done extensive testing. Best thing would be to grab the module and try it. I can't remember if the download link on my site has the latest HGE ( 1.60 ) or not, but if not, let me know and I'll make it available because I have updated it.

Whats the point of using a different 2d engine on bmax?

@Gabriel
I can understand why there is a reason for some to wait but maybe you're right and there are also people who just enjoy to wait. I don't know...

I guess c) and e) mainly depend on the experiences you've made. Mine mostly lead me to the statement i did.

I want Mode7 very much... seems more fun than true 3D..

I'm sure there used to be a gamemaker-type program which did Mode7. Div Games Studio? Something like that?

I use Blitz3D for everything and dominate these forums like a majestic budgie on its little budgie perch.

*yawn*

budgies?

how the hell did we get from 2D engines to ruddy budgies?

anyway, what smilertoo said,im intrigued

Max2d is a 3d engine with only 2d Commands. (This is why it works well with MiniB3D).

This unfortunatly means that the min requirements a higher than there need to be for pure 2d games. For this reason I for one am interested in ION2d, which will be 2d accelerated.

At the moment I am using Irrlicht for my 3d engine, but the stuff that maybe you would use Max2d to do, (Screen overlay, infoboxes etc), wont work with Irrlicht, cos of the way the buffers are setup or somthing. However as Irrlicht has both 2d and GUI commands I have thrown the towel in on Max2D (And MaxGUI), and am just learning to use the irrlicht stuff.