Advice on WebGL library
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:43 am
So I am working on a new game idea, along the lines of an Eye of Beholder, Gold Box, Might and Magic style first-person "gridder" RPG. However, unlike many of the games in the genre (and similar to Might and Magic II - V) I want to have an overworld outside of dungeons, open spaces, etc. This creates a massive strain on art assets to produce a game like this in the traditional way where everything is a sprite arranged in a 2D canvas since every wall has to be drawn from many different angles.
So I feel the most efficient way to achieve this would be to use WebGL to create planes, texture them with the pixel art for the walls, doors, props, etc. and then arrange them in 3D space to create the static scenes needed for the game world. Since these types of games have players moving from one cell or grid to the next with no transition, I won't actually be needing to do much real 3D animation and my needs from a WebGL library or framework are fairly minimal.
The main two I am looking at are Babylon.js and Three.js. Babylon seems more game-focused but I would assume a lot of it I won't need since it is geared towards traditional 3D games (animating rigged models, moving through the 3D world, etc.). Three.js seems like more of a fundamental WebGL library that specializes not just in games but in 3D logos, demos and other general-purpose 3D effects. Unfortunately both of these libraries don't have the strongest documentation. I know that straight canvas could likely meet my needs since it can do pretty much any kind of transformation needed on a bitmap but these operations appear fairly slow and I think a whole screen filled with transforming bitmaps could get very heavy.
So for what I need it for, what library would anyone who has used them suggest? I know Halls has experience with Babylon.js and I think he enjoyed it if I remember right. Are there any good resources you know of for learning Babylon.js? There is one book on Amazon but it is 500 pages and is for traditional 3D game development which I think is quite overkill for my needs. If Three.js is the better way for me to go, do you know of any good resources for it? Or should I take a look at something else entirely?
Thank you!
So I feel the most efficient way to achieve this would be to use WebGL to create planes, texture them with the pixel art for the walls, doors, props, etc. and then arrange them in 3D space to create the static scenes needed for the game world. Since these types of games have players moving from one cell or grid to the next with no transition, I won't actually be needing to do much real 3D animation and my needs from a WebGL library or framework are fairly minimal.
The main two I am looking at are Babylon.js and Three.js. Babylon seems more game-focused but I would assume a lot of it I won't need since it is geared towards traditional 3D games (animating rigged models, moving through the 3D world, etc.). Three.js seems like more of a fundamental WebGL library that specializes not just in games but in 3D logos, demos and other general-purpose 3D effects. Unfortunately both of these libraries don't have the strongest documentation. I know that straight canvas could likely meet my needs since it can do pretty much any kind of transformation needed on a bitmap but these operations appear fairly slow and I think a whole screen filled with transforming bitmaps could get very heavy.
So for what I need it for, what library would anyone who has used them suggest? I know Halls has experience with Babylon.js and I think he enjoyed it if I remember right. Are there any good resources you know of for learning Babylon.js? There is one book on Amazon but it is 500 pages and is for traditional 3D game development which I think is quite overkill for my needs. If Three.js is the better way for me to go, do you know of any good resources for it? Or should I take a look at something else entirely?
Thank you!
