Data bases and game programming

General Discussions
#1

I’m having to put my game engine on hold (or at least much slower development) as I have just started my final two college courses (Relational databases: theory and practice and Fundamentals of interaction design) for a degree in computing.

The Interaction design course has some specific usage to game design with the interface and interaction, so I’m looking forward to that.

The database course is going to be useful as I am planing on using sqlite-jdbc
for media storage in my development tools, and for possible rpg data, skills, trades ect. in actual games.

So the question is :
‘How have you used databases/DBMS in your games/development?’

and if not :
'What other methods do you use to manage your data?

  • xml
  • text file
  • your own binary data format
  • not applicable as everything in your game is completely procedurally generated
  • shush… its top secret… :persecutioncomplex:
#2

I don’t use any databases, in my opinion DB are good for websites/static browser games (like, for example, Tribal Wars), but not too good for dynamic games.

Personally, I am using Kryo for serialization.

#3

+1 for kryo; it’s fast and very easy to work with. Alternatively, plain json - mostly for describing game entities and such.

#4

I used it for my game Reign of Rebels - since its an online game - but it is not a viable solution to use a “full” database for a client only game.
I do think SQLite can be good for games, although I never use it and go for XML serialization instead. But if you’re looking to practice what you are learning in college, go for it

#5

JavaDB / Derby is good option if you want a DB for game development. Mostly cause it has a in memory only runtime mode. So the latency of hiting and reading from the DB is basically removed in this model.

j.

#6

I will have to try out kryo, I’ve not seen that before. As teletubo says I am looking partly to practice what ill be learning in college, but also I intend on using sqlite for server side management of data. I want to make a game that you run a server on you desktop but can play the game on your desktop or phone/pad/tablet, so it takes the pressure off your mobile device and you can play with your friends and host your own games.

I’m developing for windows, Linux and Android, so I am wanting a solution that works for each. As sqlite is on android I thought I would start with that. Up until now I haven’t needed any persistent data, but before I get in too deep I want to consider the options. So far I can load models from *.obj files and Collada *.dae files. I’m working on getting joint animations and skinning to work.

Loading from these sorts of files and having to parse them takes way too long, a large model took up to 6 seconds to load a dae model on windows and over 50 seconds on android for the same model with the same code. So instead I made my own binary model data file and now it loads in 0.2 seconds on pc and android. Plus it is a fraction of the size.

So when it comes to the final release the data will be optimized binary formats, but for development I just want it to be simple, manageable and efficient.