PushButton Engine

[Giblaz]

Has anyone played around with this thing? It looks really, really good.

http://pushbuttonengine.com/

I've been looking at the API but I'm wondering if anyone has done anything with it and can give me some feedback onto how the overall experience with it was. Right now, the documentation seems pretty good so its not too confusing, fortunately, but first hand accounts are very important for me

[diuck]

I m interested in some feedbacks too. I downloaded it several weeks ago, along with anothers physics engines, but dont have time yet to experiment all of them
Making some basic shooter/plateforme engine in a learning state of mind, I guess will maybe look forward something more complete (but open source ) in middle terms, with physics, particles, server API, etc., to not reinventing the wheel and save time for working on gameplay or art.

[hatu]

I don't really see why I would use that. No examples and I couldn't find the API documentation anywhere. I wanna see how the box2d implementation is.

[diuck]

Well, I don't think it s mandatory to have a physics engine anyway to make a game.
But I have some ideas about multi-part ennemies for instance in mind, maybe destructible obstcales, etc and will give an eye to these engines.

If you can do a good game without physics & particles, I thinkt s just fine too the important it s the fun the player ll feel while gaming.

[AluminX]

Interesting. Grunts Skirmish SS looks amazing!

@hatu.
The guys at game garage are known for crappy docs. So not surprise there.

[Pazil]

I checked it out couple of weeks ago, and looking at it I'm worried about it's flexibility and in the end it's performance also. I'm more inclined to using lower level API's, which just handle math or graphical operations, but not an actual game engine. It's why I've been working away on my own library which won't sacrifice speed and will provide ultimate flexibility.
It'd probably be a good idea to try it out, but it doesn't look like something I'd really use...

P.

[AluminX]

I think it's aimed more towards fast/quick/easy game developing rather than individual performance optimization.

[Schfifty Five]

I looked at it a couple of weeks ago, but never really got around to trying it since there's no real documentation yet. I'll give it a try when more of that is available. Although to be honest, I'd rather use lower level APIs than a game engine, like Pazil said.

[Pazil]

Taking into account the fact that it's already hard to get most games running with no lag (games that have a lot of action and effects), then I think that ease of development doesn't out weigh the importance of coding several of the most important aspects (that would otherwise be handled by the game engine) by yourself...

I'm not putting PushButton down completely, since I might be proven wrong in it's performance capabilities. But the latest trend which I'm starting to really hate is that companies like these are starting to say "Our engine handles all the boring stuff that you don't want to do, like collision detection and pathfinding, letting you concentrate on designing your game and the game play.". What. The. Hell? In my view, handling all aspects of a game yourself is part of the fun in making it! I'm not against API's that make things easier, but hey, you still want to call a game your own, and not a product of an engine...

P.

[DeadRiver]

That makes sense Pazil. I'm going to give this engine a try though. I've been wanting to make an RTS for a long time now, but have put it off (for obvious reasons). I have great ideas for this game, and if I need an engine to help me make it, then so be it. I'd be glad to give the engine credit. Also, The component store sounds cool. Might be able to make a few bucks off it.

[cadin]

Pazil: In my view you can't call a game your own unless you're soldering together the hardware and coding the game from the ground up in machine language. I see more and more people like you taking the easy way out and using a scripting languages, virtual machines, and pre-built OSes. I mean really, what the hell?

In all seriousness, if there was a tool that would let me describe my game idea in plain english and generate the code for me, I would use it in a second. I think there's a distinction between "making" a game and "programming" a game. Being a good carpenter does not automatically make a good architect (or vice versa).

I think programming is fun too, but I also think it's hard. Being a crappy programmer limits how far I'm able to take my ideas in every single game I make. I don't think it's fair to say that the games made with an engine would just be "a product of an engine", and not a unique creation. There are plenty of games that have been coded from scratch that are nothing more than uninspired clones of existing games (I know, I've made a few myself). The source of the code is not what distinguishes something as a unique game.

One point on which I think we would agree though is that I wouldn't want the limitations of the engine to effect my game ideas any more than I want the limitations of my programming knowledge to effect them.

[Pazil]

But the difference between most people that will use the engine, and a small minority of others, will be that the majority of them won't understand what the code does under neath the engine. To really be able to use an engine well, it's very important to understand the under lying concept, and how everything was pieced together in the first place.

I see where your coming from with the making versus programming, but...Well see, the reason I make games with Flash, is because of the great advantage of being able to reach thousands of people very easily. That small advantage alone makes the limitations of Flash seem quite small. But making a fullscale engine for an already watered down programming language? I mean, common routines, or math aids (like physics engines) are just helping you something that you'd need anyways. That versus engines, which may contain extra stuff you don't need in a function, or something like that, can limit the game development...

But please make a thread or something if you do happen to make something with the engine! I'd like to see!

P.

[diuck]

I agree with cadin. I enjoy programming very much (well, a little too much maybe, I should have more social interactions ideally...) and this since nearly 20 years (from BASIC to C/Java) and I just feel great with Flash, which is very fun to play with, especially with all the drawing+MC+Bitmap API.
But my own personal goal is to make a living, to earn money while making games. This implies that I must do things in the best ratio quality/time possible IMHO. And if I can find some freeware, open-source code and more in a general way tools that save time, I won't hesitate to use them. For instance, I was using FlashDevelop since several months, and before that I spent weeks with the Flash IDE : things just speed up by 2 at least. Same thing I guess for ones to work with DirectX, QuakeEngine, Tiled...
Only final result counts (well, without doing any immoral act I mean ).

One more time, nothing is mandatory, and I won't never blame someone doing all from scratch, intentionnally said. Personnally, I think always about the final product : when I m playing, and focused on the game, I don't care about the language/engine or whatsoever it was made with, so I program accordingly.

Back to the topic, PushButton sounds promising and is based partly on Box2D, which is very good as I want to see it soon, too. What the pity for the lack/bad quality of documentation, but maybe with a growing community this will be solved soon, I hope.

[AluminX]

I think this is heading down the "I like to program in assembly because..." route
Advantages I see building an engine from ground up are,
1)Learn how to build an engine.
2)You have what it takes to build a good engine.
3)You are trying to make something that has your name in it.

Anyway back to the pushbutton. I think it's kinda cool even if it lacks of docs. Unlike other non flash engines out there it's kind of hard to figure out how everything works when code is compiled. Luckily with a little knowledge you can "decrypt" the written code in a text file such as an *.as file.
I believe these guys will do a good job on optimizing the engine. Personally i admire their work. Great Fan of Dynamic and Torque(Although never used it)
Just remember that these guys are much smarter than most of the flashkitter in here. If not smarter...experienced.