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jotade11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 2, 2009
113
0
Hello!

I have been googling around, trying to find where to start for creating Mac games. Please, before you run and say "Click the stickie!", I already have... a long time ago. :) I just have a specific question, and that is: Is it better (for performance, learning experience, ease of use, etc.) to write a complete game in Open GL or to use a prebuilt engine when programming a game for the Mac?

Thanks!
 
What programming experience do you have? What games programming experience do you have? What kind of game would like to develop?

Very generally, writing a complete game in Open GL would be the best learning experience but also the hardest, while using an engine would be the best for performance and easy of use.
 
Try Unity Engine or UDK by Unreal Technologies.

You can write your game engine from scratch but its the hardest solution especially if your by yourself.
 
Yeah you really need to stick with Unity or UDK/Unreal Engine 3. They really are great if you want to hit multiple systems at once (and you really really should).
 
Unity...free and runs on OS X, which UDK does not. Theoretically you can get better performance by writing your own custom engine instead of using a general engine, but it will be a much much longer haul.

--Eric
 
Hmm ok, I've tried Unity before, but I guess I was looking for a little more challenge than scripting, which is not to say it's easy; it's just not the same.

I am a web developer mainly, but I'm trying to learn some Cocoa and other relevant languages (ie. Open GL, Python). I don't really have an idea for a game, perhaps just Pong for now, but I'm going to go ahead and use Unity as recommended.

Thanks for the input and help!
 
Hmm ok, I've tried Unity before, but I guess I was looking for a little more challenge than scripting, which is not to say it's easy; it's just not the same.

I am a web developer mainly, but I'm trying to learn some Cocoa and other relevant languages (ie. Open GL, Python). I don't really have an idea for a game, perhaps just Pong for now, but I'm going to go ahead and use Unity as recommended.

Thanks for the input and help!

cocos2d is a fantastic 2D engine. I'm using it right now to develop a physics-based sim game. Has Box2D and Chipmunk physics engine support built-in. Might take a look. You can build apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/
 
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