LWJGL or JMonkeyEngine?

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

This is a tough question to answer without a doubt without the proper information so I will try and tell you everything you need to know about what I want and what I am trying to do. For the immediate future I want to create an FPS based on WW2 somewhat like the graphics of the early cods. Graphics like this: realistically even less then this would be great.

I figure I will have a lot of models going into this since it is not a voxel game. Also decent graphics are important to me in a 3D game. I don’t want to create something with graphics like this:

http://blog.roblox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/FPS-Game.jpg

This will be the first 3D game I have ever made. I do love to code and I don’t think I would mind going to longer and harder lwjgl way on this, but are decent graphics realistically possible in a decent timeframe ? Last thing to say is I would like to be using this in the future for 2D games which wouldn’t make sense to do with jMonkeyEngine. thanks!

#2

Sorry to say, but the first image, you would probably never be able to reach that level of quality by yourself. That game was made with a team of probably a hundred people at least, working full time on the game. The second image is more feasible, but you would still need to learn a lot before you can get to that level. I’d say probably half a year before you reach that level? That may be cutting it short though. I would say go with lwjgl just so you know how OpenGL actually works. Always learn the old way before the new way so if the new way fails(JME), you can still revert back on the old way (LWJGL).

#3

I figured that. Are you saying a year and a half for the one with the rather crude graphics?

#4

Minimal graphics are better than low-quality graphics. You can keep low-poly models, just don’t apply any complex textures to them and you should be fine.

JMonkeyEngine is built on top of LWJGL, and comes with numerous libraries such as NiftyGUI.

LWJGL is just a library, and doesn’t come with such features out of the box.

If you like doing everything yourself, use LWJGL. If otherwise, use JMonkey.

  • Jev.
#5

Yeah, I know the differences between them already thanks though. Time is not particullarly important but for curiosity factor how long would you say it would take to make something like this in jMonkeyEngine and then LWJGL with no knodledge in either of these
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/bamRsmM-fwU/hqdefault.jpg

EDIT: also to add I do like doing things myself so lwjgl may be the right way to go.

#6

Unanswerable question, completely dependent on how fast you pick things up, your motivation and how much you can work. The quality of graphics in your game is dependent on what you do, not the library.

#7

Of course, I understand that completely. Sort of curious of what people had to say however.

#8

It’s time to do things the fun (hard) way. LWJGL for the win!

#9

I realise you’ve decided but I just wanted to add that, if you just want to get on with making a proper game then jmonkey… I recommend this option, else you’re in for some serious ball ache

#10

It should be libgdx vs jme

Also everyone seems to dodge the obvious here: code is not really the issue, you need assets, and a lot.
You need someone with decent 3d modellung skills, texture artist, level designer and UV mapper

Low poly and everything doesnt matter. Good textures do, which are done by artist.

Medal of honor 1 on PSX for example

#11

Unity3D is the best answer here. :stuck_out_tongue: You could probably do that screenshot in a few days if you’ve already got the models.

With jME it would take some weeks of hard work, assuming you’re well-versed with 3D programming and the engine itself.

With LWJGL it would probably be in the order of many months, or maybe a year or more if you’ve never used OpenGL.

And like Cero said, the beauty of these games comes about largely because of the artists, rather than the programmers.

#12

Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do once you get to a working first person view prototype?

#13

You can’t just say how long it’d take you. I’m currently working on a 2D game which is getting pretty far in development, but man, I can’t see an end in this game! :p. Just start working on it and don’t think about the time it could take you!

#14

Thanks for the input. I have two graphics friends who would be willing to help me out with models and assets. So that just leaves the fun of coding to me. I think this will be a great learning experience and a lot of fun. If I learn the standard opengl methods for c or whatever it is natively for would they work with lwjgl? Sorry if its a newb question. Thanks

#15

They’ll basically work the same, some functions will be slightly different in LWJGL, but thats just a quick google search away! Make sure to remember you’ll need to convert some code from c to java, so you cant just copy and paste.

#16

That sounds good! Any YouTube channel series that any one can recommend for learning lwjgl and opengl for 3d?

#17

Here! ;D

#18

The coding universe starts off with immediate mode rendering. From what I watched, he only touches on VBO’s and VAO’s in a later video as “alternatives”. So, needless to say, a lot of stuff he teaches is outdated. I’d rather go to him for his PHP tutorials.

This guy is who really got me understanding modern openGL. He does it all in C++. I just converted it to Java, which I think helped reinforce what I was learning.

#19

I am not really sure how good I would be at converting C++ to java…

#20

How does this guy’s videos look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss3AnSxJ2X8&list=PLEETnX-uPtBXP_B2yupUKlflXBznWIlL5&index=1 his name is thebennybox