Making a side scroller

Java 2D
#1

Hi Guys,

I’ve been programming in Java for a few years now, but I’ve never made a proper game. In the past, I’ve used the Swing library, threads (rather than timers) and G2D objects. The main graphical application I’ve coded is a simulation of swarm intelligence - I had to represent a large number of agents on screen. The end program sometimes had up to 1000 agents on screen, and the whole thing ran pretty slowly.

My current intention is to create a fast little side scroller with some nice little physics thrown in for good measure. I’ve noticed a few people posting about the Slick library, and from that I’ve come across Phys2D as well. Does anyone have any suggestions on any better libraries to use?

If anyone could point me in the direction of some decent tutorials on using these libraries, that would be great

Cheers,
2eX

#2

wel, for starters your int he wrong section but that is perfectly fine.

eyah slick is a good library to use, it is great for begginers, and it is very easy to get the hang of.

#3

IMO Slick2D is currently the best library to use to make fast 2d java games, especially side scrollers.

#4

[quote]slick is a good library to use, it is great for begginers, and it is very easy to get the hang of.
[/quote]
Most people here think so, I just wanted to point out that there are people, like me, that would disagree.
Disagree about it being easy to get into, not about being good.

But I have no alternatives for you, since I write everything on my own.
And my engine is not (yet) ready for public use.

My suggestion would be read everything there is about Slick, or get into Java2D.

#5

If you want just a “little side scroller with little physics”, I think you can do it perfectly just using java 2d . Check out Virus Effect on the showcase section (which is defintely not “little”)

Surely it would be easier to use a funky library like Slick2d, but I think before you start using it, you should understand how a game should be designed, i.e. the loops, the renders, etc, because slick does it all for you. But if you just want your game finished, well then go for Slick2D .

I’m not saying slick2d is bad, I’m just saying that if you never designed a game before, you’ll learn a lot more doing it by yourself than using a great library that does it all for you. And I’m sure you will make a better use of the library if you have an idea of what is happening behind the scenes .