Hello again - well I''ve programmed now a few weeks at my engine (believe it were 3) but I didn''t plan anything. and you know what comes out when you start a project and don''t plan anything, don''t you. now I''m going to redesign it and make it better and here''s my question : does anyone have an idea how I can design it efficiently - I already now it''s gonna be an indoor 3D engine for ego shooter''s (because I think they''re "easiest") but that can''t be all - there are so many features to implement and I just don''t know where to start. thx.

Why don''t you look at the Open Source or commercial engines and see what features they brag about, then decide if you want to implement them, create new features to do the same, etc?

It would be a good starting point to dive in, no?

R

Yes - I already done that but most engines I got are Direct3D and well - that''s not OpenGl


I even looked in the Quake2 sources but they are not that readable.

but I want do design an engine

I think you''d best start by writing a system that is :
1. Able to manage everything you do in OGL easy. One thing I''d do is to make a good object-management system at the very least.
2. Is easily expandable when talking about features (that''s OOP most times I think).
3. Optimized in doing the basic needs of an engine with as much as possible speed.

That way, you''ll get a good foundation, and can start doing tests of your work in a pretty early stadium. If you''re certain that this basis is working smooth and bug-free, you can start adding features one by one.

Which features to build first is a matter of what''s within reach for one person (isn''t it?), and what you would need in your game.

I also have a small question about this

How should you compile the "engine"?

Say, I want to make a game with it, but I don''t want people to be able to view any source. (Well, lets forget about de-compiling exe files and stuff, I just don''t want any code files included)

How do I do that? DLLs I guess? Does anyone know any good tutorials on how DLLs work, and how you can use/make them?

And are there any other methods? If so, what are the pros and cons?

Ok, that was not a really small question

Did you look at CrystalSpace?

http://crystal.linuxgames.com

They support both DirectX and OpenGL. They''re still not at a release build yet I don''t think, but you can look over their source code to get some inspiration.

Might give you the insights you need to work on your own.

R.

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Original post by NaliXL

1. Able to manage everything you do in OGL easy. One thing I''d do is to make a good object-management system at the very least.

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uhhmm - I don''t know what do you understand as object management system - perhaps some sort of object class which handles models and their movement/acting ???



thx anyway for the replies

That''s exactley what I mean....

okay - thx

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Original post by ZGL_Sigma
(because I think they''re "easiest")

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it''s ''easiest'' to talk shit