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Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

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Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#31

Post by peterkelly »

klodolph wrote: post #5
claudiulodro wrote: post #3

Super cool. I always loved that mid-90s 3D look. I'm familiar with how the GPL applies to regular system/web software, but I haven't had experience with it and game engines before. Since this engine is GPL-licensed it seems like any game built with this engine would then also need to be GPL-licensed, correct?

> Since this engine is GPL-licensed it seems like any game built with this engine would then also need to be GPL-licensed, correct? Yes, mostly correct. In order to comply with the GPL, and distribute game binaries, you need to make the source to any game you make with it available under the same terms. Technically that does not mean that you have to distribute the game under the GPL, but in practice that's how you w…

It depends on how the game engine works. If your game code is directly linked with the engine in the same executable (or a shared library) it would fall under GPL. If the game engine provides a virtual machine that executes bytecode compiled from game scripts I don't believe that would count.

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#33

Post by robbrit »

setr wrote: post #27
klodolph wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Since this engine is GPL-licensed it seems like any game built with this engine would then also need to be GPL-licensed, correct? Yes, mostly correct. In order to comply with the GPL, and distribute game binaries, you need to make the source to any game you make with it available under the same terms. Technically that does not mean that you have to distribute the game under the GPL, but in practice that's how you w…

Wouldn’t a game engine have the same role as gcc? As a tool, unless you’re extending the source itself, you shouldn’t be infected by the engine’s license

Depends. In this case the engine is just a blob of code that you clone, and you modify it in order to make your game. You'd have to comply by the rules of the GPL.

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#34

Post by tracker1 »

openbasic wrote: post #22
tracker1 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't opengl be closer to webgl?

Emscripten has an SDL implementation so you can just SDL_BlitSurface inside a .

What about the performance? Not that it's going to be huge on some modern hardware, but thinking a 4-5yo tablet or raspberry pi 2-3 level support.

Not that WebGL is all that much to write home about vs. native...

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#35

Post by [deleted] »

claudiulodro wrote: post #3

Super cool. I always loved that mid-90s 3D look. I'm familiar with how the GPL applies to regular system/web software, but I haven't had experience with it and game engines before. Since this engine is GPL-licensed it seems like any game built with this engine would then also need to be GPL-licensed, correct?

[deleted]

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#36

Post by bluedino »

pooppaint wrote: post #6

Is allegro still maintained, I thought it was as of a few years ago. You can develop like its 1997, or 1987.

Those Megatouch coin operated games you can find at bars and such run Linux, and use Allegro. Not sure how recent they are, though.

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#37

Post by git-pull »

This is a cool project!

- CMake, yay! These make generating build files for a variety of platforms (even Windows) a breeze. It also works with code completion stuff (CLion IDE, KDevelop both have CMake-based projects)

- I like how it splits stuff up as well (https://github.com/klaussilveira/qengine/tree/master/src/gam...).

- As for vendorizing SDL2, there is an opportunity for optimization: The shared libraries and header files can be scanned through CMake scripts. Example: https://github.com/tcbrindle/sdl2-cmake-scripts.

- I see the .clang-format file, nice! (This is for clang-format: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html)

Unfortunately, license is going to be a real barrier to most game developers. The ironic thing is this engine includes SDL 2 which prides itself on being on a permissive license. (https://youtu.be/MeMPCSqQ-34?t=405, 6:40 to 7:30)

If it's the intention to create an open source library to be helpful as possible to developers. If it's the intention to have a library just for use in the GPL ecosystem of games (which isn't bad: OpenTTD is GPL!) then this is okay.

The reason why is a private game developer want to retain control of their intellectual property, even throughout the prototyping phase.

As for open sourcing, I'd approach it in a different way: I'd release reusable components under a permissive license (e.g. MIT, BSD, ISC, zlib, etc.) and keep any creative work product code/source files private.

Similar SDL2 framework for 2D games (I made some CMake contributions a while back): https://oxygine.org/

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#38

Post by danielvf »

mikepurvis wrote: post #23
peterangular wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're moving off of it last I heard. Sounds like it's a legacy solution at this point. https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-230

Huh, I wonder what that'll mean for cross-platform compatibility. As they say in the post, Allegro supports a lot of platforms, whereas if they end up just targeting DirectX 11, that pretty much locks out everyone other than Windows and Xbox, doesn't it?

FYI, Factorio still runs just fine on OS X.

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#39

Post by Apocryphon »

robbrit wrote: post #32
jenscow wrote: post #20

Quake 2 is retro ? Shit, I'm old.

People in their early 20's don't even know Half-Life (released at the end of 1998, over 20 years ago now), let alone Quake. We're definitely getting old!

Blame Valve's lack of interest in maintaining their franchises for that one.

Re: Retro game engine for developers that enjoy creating games like it's 1997

#40

Post by zakkeg »

mikepurvis wrote: post #23
peterangular wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're moving off of it last I heard. Sounds like it's a legacy solution at this point. https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-230

Huh, I wonder what that'll mean for cross-platform compatibility. As they say in the post, Allegro supports a lot of platforms, whereas if they end up just targeting DirectX 11, that pretty much locks out everyone other than Windows and Xbox, doesn't it?

They're getting it working on OpenGL first. "We are using OpenGL 3.2 for now, but DirectX 11 support is definitely coming before we release it."
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