xenogenik Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Hi, Im asking about the cross platform publishing capabilities of LE3. I come from using Shiva3d, I am sure at least some people have heard about it from the occasional post here that may mention it. Not to go into specifics, but I am not happy with their current state and feel their future may be limited, as a result I am investigating alternatives (I don't really like unity, sure I could use it, but it does not feel right and just doesnt "click" with me). Something i'd like to know is with LE3, how easy will it be to publish to multiple targets? Shiva3d is essentially an editor encapsulating all the tools required, you can build your entire game within the IDE, and with their Authoring tool you can single click and publish to whatever target platform. If building a cross platform game (desktop, and mobile), sure, you need to do a little bit to ensure you present the correct interfaces, inputs, etc for desktop or mobile, etc, but that is really a breeze and very trivial anyway. I think this build once, publish many is where shiva exceeds other compeditors. (and yes, they try support too many target platforms for their size, but that's another story) With LE3, if I plan to target multiple platforms, say iOS, Android and probably the desktop market, how much work would be involved in doing so. Would there be a major re-write for each individual platform? I don't mind having to re-write some platform specifics, but I guess in an ideal world a cross platform engine should require as little as possible on the end users to rework for any platforms supported. In addition, if I grab the LE2 evaluation and "learn" it, how much of the knowledge will carry over to LE3. My understanding is LE3 is a complete re-write, but how much of the fundamental deign and engine concepts have been carried over to the new engine? Appreciate any responses on the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I think you can code in C++ and Lua with LE3 for all platforms. As long you have everything available as source code in C++ or Lua (which you should have anyway), your game code will work on all platforms. Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggrorJorn Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Hi, As far as we know you develop once and the game then works on all platforms. However, the steps to get an apk file might not be as easy as you are used to with Shiva. Now ofcourse I can't say that with certainty. Perhaps the developer (Josh) does go for a one click build solution for all platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardia Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 From what I understood, LE3 does not use Apache Ant, but Eclipse. Theoretically Ant can replace Eclipse, and then the apk building can be fully automated. Also in Shiva3D you can use Eclipse instead of Ant, and then the Eclipse import/export is a manual step. Quote ■ Ryzen 9 ■ RX 6800M ■ 16GB ■ XF8 ■ Windows 11 ■ ■ Ultra ■ LE 2.5 ■ 3DWS 5.6 ■ Reaper ■ C/C++ ■ C# ■ Fortran 2008 ■ Story ■ ■ Homepage: https://canardia.com ■ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Something i'd like to know is with LE3, how easy will it be to publish to multiple targets? Shiva3d is essentially an editor encapsulating all the tools required, you can build your entire game within the IDE, and with their Authoring tool you can single click and publish to whatever target platform. If building a cross platform game (desktop, and mobile), sure, you need to do a little bit to ensure you present the correct interfaces, inputs, etc for desktop or mobile, etc, but that is really a breeze and very trivial anyway. Leadwerks has a dialog to create a new C++ or Lua project. It will copy the source code from a template and create projects for Xcode, Visual Studio, and Eclipse, that all include the same source code files. If you are using Lua, you can just write your Lua program in the editor, run it from the editor, and debug it from the editor. When you are ready to publish for mobile you just open the Eclipse or Xcode project and run it. On Windows and OSX, you don't have to do any compiling at all, there's just a button to publish your game. The same code will run on all platforms. If you use C++, you do have to add new code files to the Visual Studio and Xcode projects, and to the Android makefile. If you use Lua, you don't have to worry about that. With LE3, if I plan to target multiple platforms, say iOS, Android and probably the desktop market, how much work would be involved in doing so. Would there be a major re-write for each individual platform? I don't mind having to re-write some platform specifics, but I guess in an ideal world a cross platform engine should require as little as possible on the end users to rework for any platforms supported. All code works the same, except for special APIs like Airplay, AdMob, etc. In addition, if I grab the LE2 evaluation and "learn" it, how much of the knowledge will carry over to LE3. My understanding is LE3 is a complete re-write, but how much of the fundamental deign and engine concepts have been carried over to the new engine? Most of the ideas are exactly the same, just improved and with a more consistent naming scheme. The Leadwerks 3 API is a bit simpler to grasp, I think. There is no mesh/model distinction, all entities can have scripts and physics, and the syntax is a lot more OO. If you buy LE2 now and upgrade, it is cheaper than waiting for the public launch of Leadwerks 3. You'll also be eligible to buy it a few months before the public launch date this spring. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenogenik Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Thanks everyone for the responses. Answers my questions, and the cross platform publishing process sounds adequate to me. Will pickup the LE 2.5 Evaluation to ensure I am happy with the workflow before I buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggrorJorn Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 If you have any questions, let us know. We'd be happy to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Thanks everyone for the responses. Answers my questions, and the cross platform publishing process sounds adequate to me. Will pickup the LE 2.5 Evaluation to ensure I am happy with the workflow before I buy. The Leadwerks 3 workflow is much different from Leadwerks 2.5, although the API is very similar. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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