HGE: hardware accelerated 2D game engine
by Pavel Lebedev · in General Discussion · 02/07/2004 (5:54 pm) · 7 replies
Hi!
I've released the new version of my game engine.
Please, I need your feedback :)
Here's the short description:
HGE is a simple yet powerful hardware accelerated 2D game engine. HGE features system layer: hardware accelerated 2D graphics, sound and music playback, user input, resources management, timing functions, initialization and log files access. Plus a set of helper classes: Sprites, Animations, Fonts, Particle Systems, GUI, Vectors, Colors, Bounding Boxes and collision detection. Advanced 2D Particle Systems Editor included.
HGE will run even on low-end video cards, including built in video cards such as Intel Solano (i815 chipset). HGE is free for non-commercial use.
The new release includes support for Visual C++ (6.0 and .NET), Intel C++, Borland C++, Borland C++ Builder and MinGW32 compilers. The new features are: clipping rectangles, mouse wheel tracking, sprite flipping and font scaling. Also, precompiled examples now included.
And here's the site: hge.relishgames.com
I've released the new version of my game engine.
Please, I need your feedback :)
Here's the short description:
HGE is a simple yet powerful hardware accelerated 2D game engine. HGE features system layer: hardware accelerated 2D graphics, sound and music playback, user input, resources management, timing functions, initialization and log files access. Plus a set of helper classes: Sprites, Animations, Fonts, Particle Systems, GUI, Vectors, Colors, Bounding Boxes and collision detection. Advanced 2D Particle Systems Editor included.
HGE will run even on low-end video cards, including built in video cards such as Intel Solano (i815 chipset). HGE is free for non-commercial use.
The new release includes support for Visual C++ (6.0 and .NET), Intel C++, Borland C++, Borland C++ Builder and MinGW32 compilers. The new features are: clipping rectangles, mouse wheel tracking, sprite flipping and font scaling. Also, precompiled examples now included.
And here's the site: hge.relishgames.com
#2
03/08/2004 (5:06 pm)
Nice.
#3
Visit: hge.relishgames.com
03/13/2004 (4:06 pm)
HGE 1.3 has been released. The new release features hgeDistortionMesh and hgeParticleManager helper classes. hgeDistortionMesh class allows you to create lenses, water, page wraps, various twists and even real-time morphing effects. hgeParticleManager class takes care of all your particle systems and automates their management and rendering. Also GUI architecture was updated to allow highly interactive animated user interfaces. Plus there're lots of minor improvements and features.Visit: hge.relishgames.com
#5
Also HGE 1.4 has been released. The new release introduce powerful resource manager, event-based input handling and direct texture data access. Also all helper classes now have complete set of methods for accessing their properties.
04/28/2004 (11:58 am)
Two first games made with HGE have been released! One is online RPG and another is a colorful kid puzzle. Visit hge.relishgames.com for details.Also HGE 1.4 has been released. The new release introduce powerful resource manager, event-based input handling and direct texture data access. Also all helper classes now have complete set of methods for accessing their properties.
#6
Much of this looks like an extra layer of code on top of DirectX. Of course, I say that because I'm an experienced developer who's done all this before, and I haven't actually played with your library ... just browsed through the docs. If I was a less experienced programmer (with deeper pockets), I may be more game.
But for that price, I'd expect more features, no separate licenses for sound / music, multiplatform, and quite a few more commercial products using your API and offering testimonials about how quick, easy, and bug-free their experience was. As it is, I don't even feel like taking the time to figure it out, knowing that I'll have either a $200 commitment or face choosing an entirely new engine for my project at the end of the road.
Anyway - I hope you take this as constructive criticism. It looks like a nice API and suite of tools for a developer. Maybe if you included a single-title license for a significantly lower price point ($25?), with a no-loss upgrade path to the unlimited shareware license, I'd be quicker to give it a try.
But again, I'm a cheapskate indie programmer who may have no clue... but until I'm MAKING plenty of money doing this, I have to justify every investment with the Mrs. And I may not be your target market.
04/28/2004 (2:39 pm)
First blush: Sticker shock.Much of this looks like an extra layer of code on top of DirectX. Of course, I say that because I'm an experienced developer who's done all this before, and I haven't actually played with your library ... just browsed through the docs. If I was a less experienced programmer (with deeper pockets), I may be more game.
But for that price, I'd expect more features, no separate licenses for sound / music, multiplatform, and quite a few more commercial products using your API and offering testimonials about how quick, easy, and bug-free their experience was. As it is, I don't even feel like taking the time to figure it out, knowing that I'll have either a $200 commitment or face choosing an entirely new engine for my project at the end of the road.
Anyway - I hope you take this as constructive criticism. It looks like a nice API and suite of tools for a developer. Maybe if you included a single-title license for a significantly lower price point ($25?), with a no-loss upgrade path to the unlimited shareware license, I'd be quicker to give it a try.
But again, I'm a cheapskate indie programmer who may have no clue... but until I'm MAKING plenty of money doing this, I have to justify every investment with the Mrs. And I may not be your target market.
#7
Thank you for your comments, they really make some sense. The engine development is still in progress and I hope to satisfy most of them in the near future.
04/28/2004 (2:51 pm)
Hi, Jay.Thank you for your comments, they really make some sense. The engine development is still in progress and I hope to satisfy most of them in the near future.
Employee David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake