I decided to download OGRE and give it a try. So way I have about a couple of days into trying to understand how it works. Basically breakdown is as follows:

- a half day getting it up and running (so the demos would compile and run).
- a day creating a basic program (including setting up the project to point at all the necessary directories)
- a half day trying to figure out why I can't add a simple box to my scene (still don't know)?

Thus far my felling are very mixed. It does seem to be very powerful and it has a lot of documentation. That said, so far I hate the documentation and it has been difficult at every step. There are a fair amount of demos; but I have found if you try to do things slightly different than the demo you are left puzzed. Maybe I just need to put some more time into understanding how it works.

Also, it seems very rigid in the way in which you do things? Does anyone else have experience with OGRE? Also, I have been thinking about giving Irrlicht a try?

I hacked a quick prototype of a racing game with OGRE + ODE without previous experience in OGRE in a couple of weeks. I didn't have any problem with the documentation, and in the cases you want to know more, there's the source. The community is also very helpful. I definitely like it!

I haven't done anything with Irrlicht but it seems much more FPS-oriented (which may be a good thing for you), much less clean and well designed, and I'm not sure if it's "just a 3D rendering engine" as OGRE is.

I hacked a quick prototype of a racing game with OGRE + ODE without previous experience in OGRE in a couple of weeks. I didn't have any problem with the documentation, and in the cases you want to know more, there's the source. The community is also very helpful. I definitely like it!

I haven't done anything with Irrlicht but it seems much more FPS-oriented (which may be a good thing for you), much less clean and well designed, and I'm not sure if it's "just a 3D rendering engine" as OGRE is.


Gabriel,

What did you mean about the source? Are you using it for your next game?

Thanks

What did you mean about the source?
Oh, please don't let me start talking about the advantages of open source :)

What I meant is that when the documentation doesn't answer you question, you have the source available to find out exactly what's going on. It's not as bad as it sounds, because the main developer of OGRE always puts design before hacks - therefore, every feature in OGRE is implemented and integrated in a very clean and elegant way with the rest of the engine. So, in this case the source code is a good reference.

Are you using it for your next game?
For one of our next games, yes, almost certainly. We hope to have it ready on or before december 31st :)

Oh, please don't let me start talking about the advantages of open source :)

What I meant is that when the documentation doesn't answer you question, you have the source available to find out exactly what's going on. It's not as bad as it sounds, because the main developer of OGRE always puts design before hacks - therefore, every feature in OGRE is implemented and integrated in a very clean and elegant way with the rest of the engine. So, in this case the source code is a good reference.


For one of our next games, yes, almost certainly. We hope to have it ready on or before december 31st :)

I thought you were talking about the source for your racing proto-type. It is good to hear your going to use it for your next game; I think I keep pluging away and I might also give Irrlicht a try.

Also, my big complaint about the OGRE documentation; is that they don't give any examples of how to use the functions. For example, not sure if any remembers back when Borland use to actually provide a stack of manuals with C++; they always have examples of for to actualy use Printf (because it is not always clear).

Oh, please don't let me start talking about the advantages of open source :)


I haven't noticed that you've needed an invitation to talk about the advantages of open source in the past. :D

I haven't noticed that you've needed an invitation to talk about the advantages of open source in the past. :D
Very true, Paul :rolleyes:

I've been following Irrlicht's progress for about the last year, though I haven't done much with it. It's extremely easy to put together a basic demo, but it isn't as powerful or as full-featured as something like Ogre. My gut feeling is that you can use it to get an FPS-style (mainly interiors) game up and running VERY quickly (far more quickly than in Ogre), but you will have to spend more time tweaking engine source at the end of development.

I've been following Irrlicht's progress for about the last year, though I haven't done much with it. It's extremely easy to put together a basic demo, but it isn't as powerful or as full-featured as something like Ogre. My gut feeling is that you can use it to get an FPS-style (mainly interiors) game up and running VERY quickly (far more quickly than in Ogre), but you will have to spend more time tweaking engine source at the end of development.

I think I will download Irrlicht and give it a try; if that doesn't work I probably go back to working on my own?

Irrlicht is sweat! I have been playing with it all night and I haven't had a a problem with anything so far. I was basically up and running in about 10 minutes.

Also, there is only one source file in my project; big change from OGRE. I think the think I like the most is the design is very open; I can basically code the way I want (in C++) and then just make calls to the Irrlicht engine.

If you havn't tried it; give it a try.

Also, there is only one source file in my project; big change from OGRE. I think the think I like the most is the design is very open; I can basically code the way I want (in C++) and then just make calls to the Irrlicht engine.

If you're talking about Ogre's ExampleApplication / FrameListeners, you can do an Ogre based application without them, in an 'irrlicht way' too. I think there's a tutorial in its website that shows exactly that.

Also, there is only one source file in my project; big change from OGRE. I think the think I like the most is the design is very open; I can basically code the way I want (in C++) and then just make calls to the Irrlicht engine.

If you're talking about Ogre's ExampleApplication / FrameListeners, you can do an Ogre based application without them, in an 'irrlicht way' too. I think there's a tutorial in its website that shows exactly that.

Which tutorial is it?