gardon

So, how do you render levels? Is it like you just use formulas to render the effects of a level as you walk through it, or do you use an editor to do it for you, and then incorporate that into your engine? Do you use formulas to render pictures against each other, or do you need a layout of the entire level first?

The question being: I'm looking to make a game, and I don't know whether I should buy a game engine or just program the levels myself (I guess I'd have to learn DirectX to do it?). How would I go about doing this?

Thanks,

Jason

Dizzutch

i'd suggest getting a free engine first, then you can step up to buying one later, if you have those resources available (aka: money). some fre ones are http://www.ogre3d.org http://crystal.sourceforge.net. Good luck

Dizz

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Option_Explicit

Yes, an engine would be a wonderful first start. Let me recommend http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/

gardon

Those engines seem really cool cause the graphics are decent and they are free, but compiling them is so crazy and long and I can never get them to work! Any suggestions, I mean I know how to run my compiler (microsoft visual studio.net 2003 enterprise architect) but it's just so hard to compile this thing.

(OGRE and Irrlicht)

Thanks,
Otto

Option_Explicit

Well, the Irrlicht engine comes with a awesome help file and about ten tutorials with precompiled examples to go along with it. The precompiled exe's are located in 'bin\visualstudio' and the tutorials are located in the examples folder. Good luck.

gardon

Cool, Thanks a lot

Option_Explicit

No problem
-Mike