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[Jux]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a 2D engine which will help me make a game similar to Deadlight( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlKEH8Kc3c). I was working with UDK and Unity but after I put everything in front of me, I realised I still wanted to go true 2D. Now this is a pain, since I love to work in Unity/UDK, it makes everything so easy. Well, fairly easy.

Now, is there a 2D engine that helps me in the same way UDK does? Most 2D engines seems to focus on either repeating tiles or point and click adventures.

Thanks for any respons to this..

[Fallsburg]

Well Deadlight is 3D, so no?

If you don't want 3d, then your best bets are:
AS3/Haxe:
Flashpunk (2?)
Flixel
Starling

C++:
SDL
SFML

Other:
Unity

[rivon]

If you can wait for a while, it would be good to wait for Polycode. It's going to be an open alternative to Unity which will support both 2D and 3D.

[Chill3r]

If you are using Java:
Slick (slick.cokeandcode.com)
I use it myself and find it to be pretty good at what it does. Basically it provides you with all basic functionalities and some extras to play around with.
And because it is completely open source, you can do with it whatever you want.
But be warned: It doesn't do much work for you. You get the library and thats it, no fancy stuff.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

I was gonna say wait for polycode too. It has an editor which I"m assuming is one of the main things you like about UDK.

[Jux]

Thanks alot for your time and writing down some replies guys. It kinda was what I suspected, that Polycode is filling a gap that the 3D world has already filled. I had a look at Polycode just yesterday before the thread.

I looked up the other suggestions but neither unfortunately was suiting(I dislike Flash alot). I'm a mediocre programmer, I could be alot better but I just don't want to. I want to focus more on making progress than writing line after line, it's not motivating for me. Which is why I was drawn to Unity/UDK, some programming but not 100%.

[nikki]

but the game you linked to is a 3d game ??

constrained to 2 axis yes, but still very much a 3d world.
filled with 3d objects.
So what are you looking for?

[Gregg Williams]

I think Torque 2D has a lot of this editor type functionality, but I've never heard any feedback about it really.

[Jux]

but the game you linked to is a 3d game ??

constrained to 2 axis yes, but still very much a 3d world.
filled with 3d objects.
So what are you looking for?

I am well aware that it's 3D(or 2.5D), hence the word "similar". I like the game's functionality and features is all.

I think Torque 2D has a lot of this editor type functionality, but I've never heard any feedback about it really.

Yeah, I have seen it mentioned very little and most of the games I've seen made with it are tile games(which I don't want).

[Richard Kain]

For what you are describing, Unity is probably going to be your best fit. Just change the camera to orthographic and you can get a 2D-like effect for your rendering and game structure. Even if Unity wasn't built with 2D in mind, it is still quite capable of 2D games.

The biggest drawback to Unity would be if you were attempting to make traditional sprite-art blitting. That wouldn't really work with Unity.

[nikki]

I think your best bet is a 3d engine (plus ortho camera) for that sort of thing.
but actually I don't understand your questions.

that game you linked to is a 3d game.
your well aware of that but you want a true 2d engine that has the same functionality & features?

it's not making sense for me.
I suspect you want to make a game where the character only moves as in a platform game (as seen in the video) In a world thats 3d but where the camera only moves through a slice of that world.

another possibiliy of what you mean is that you want a 2d engine that supports non-square big 'vector' objects; since you definiely don't want tiles it seems this could also be the case?

oh and the features of udk that really helped you.. which are those ?

but again my guess would be that unity is ok for this, so no need to change all.

[Christian Knudsen]

I'm baffled by the posters acting like Deadlight couldn't just as well have been a strict 2D game... What does the 3D add gameplay-wise that can't be replicated in 2D?

[nikki]

well gameplay-wise not as much.
but many of the features of an engine are not gameplay-wise.

When i look at that video I see:
-perspective
-lighting/shadows
-3d models
-textured 3d objects
-many camera movements that move in 3d

so yeah, I'm sorry but I act as if this aint a strict 2d game.
when you strip all the fancy 3d out of it you're more or less left with pitfall on the atari, and if you would leave some 3d models you'd get donkey kong country.

but I feel that that neither direction is the goal of the op.
but whatever, I just try to get a precise question so I might be able to actually answer it.
otherwise I'd have to assume most.

[TinTruck]

Simply cuing off your comment about being an intermediate programmer (I wouldn't say anyone is mediocre... just inexperienced, perhaps), you might look into GameMaker Studio. While, yes, it follows a room-based tile approach, it also supports some 3D elements and has a fairly robust programming capability in addition to a drag-and-drop editor when programming seems daunting (or time consuming). It's a solid mid-grade tool and great for learning how to develop.

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio

Also supported by a large and helpful community. It might be a good place to start before wading into more difficult native toolsets.

[Jux]

I don't see why people are getting so stuck on Deadlight being in a 3D environment to be honest. I never thought this discussion would arise at all. What if I just draw an object in the distance on the backdrop than actually having a 3D object in the distance? It's not harder than that.
What I meant was simply the freedom of environment, expression wise, not graphic wise. To easier explain would be a tile based game has obvious visual restrictions to where the player can jump and land and so forth. This look in the image to follow is not, but instead of "tricks" the player into believing there's more space behind him than what he can actually move within, even though he can only move left and right.




Anyway, without going into a deeper discussion, 3D(or 2.5D) gives a look I wouldn't find suiting for my idea, but true 2D will, and I've always loved true 2D(I'm old).

I think Unity would just look wrong, this is the expression I've got when looking at people who've tried the same thing in Unity. Also tile based is a big no no, tile based to me is more arcade platformer, while I'm more interested in telling a story and less jumping platform to platform.

The features that appealed to me in UDK for example was setting up events for example, like Kismet. I dig the visual approach to programming scripted events. I'm trying to avoid delving coding as it usually just kills my motivation. I'm not bad at it, I just don't find it fun and often sees it as something I just have to put up with.


<3

[Ivan]

Just a note, Polycode actually has full 3D support as well, just no IDE editors for it yet so the first version will most likely launch with only 2D editors.

[Polly]

What I meant was simply the freedom of environment, expression wise, not graphic wise. To easier explain would be a tile based game has obvious visual restrictions to where the player can jump and land and so forth. This look in the image to follow is not, but instead of "tricks" the player into believing there's more space behind him than what he can actually move within, even though he can only move left and right.

Funnily enough the SNES / Megadrive ports of Another World are tile-based ( as that's how their graphics processors work )

I think Unity would just look wrong, this is the expression I've got when looking at people who've tried the same thing in Unity.

You can do true 2D in Unity just fine, it's just not its primary ( or secondary even ) focus.

The features that appealed to me in UDK for example was setting up events for example, like Kismet.

Hear hear

[nikki]

that another world image made things a whole lot clearer, thanks.
I remember reading this refernce from the developer of that game.

I supppose you want to find a polygon/vector 2d engine then.
I remember seeing an image of the in-house braid editor that looked like it did such a thing.
Another thing that I rembered while showering was multimedia fusion*, I personally started to hate it but for this

. I dig the visual approach to programming scripted events

it might be perfect.


*) not really based on vector or anyhing, you just don't deal with tiles perse. and can rotate your assest around freely.

oh and ps I've read you really hate flash, but for a 2d vector like experience it is sort of made specifically. I've heard very good things about the starling framework It might make it more pleasant for you ?
speaking of starling,after some googling I found out about the citrus engine that's build on top of starling and box2d.

 

[Nathan Cash]

This isn't an engine but XNA may be a good option. It has a pretty decent framework and although it is not cross platform many people like it.

[Polly]

XNA may be a good option.

Not much of a surprise .. but Microsoft Confirms the End of XNA.