- Joined
- Mar 25, 2014
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 5
Hey guys. I'm a little new hear, so this is gonna seem really pretentious of me.... but I really like the game so I'm gonna go ahead and give my opinion. Don't get mad!
This game is awesome. When I found it I was super excited about it, and I enjoyed all 3 of my first hours of gameplay before my graphics drivers were reset and I had to close the game. I started it up again multiple times and played a good bunch of hours over the past few days. I even made a carrier which held 6 ships and had enough power to be cloaked for 3 seconds, and I fought pirates and demolished a space station. (idk if these are all great achievements or not, but considering the short time i've had, I feel pretty accomplished). I love the way the blocks interact with each other, and how you can optimize your power and docking and turrets with different shapes of support blocks. This is just a great game, and I would love to see it get better.
Now, here's my issue: The game is poorly optimized. It has obvious memory leaks, and it uses WAY too much CPU power for what's going on in the game (afaict). I looked around in the files that came with the game, and I saw some OpenGL, some Lua, and some Java.
The developers are obviously not bad coders. They've made a great game (and I'm sure they're working on optimization and have next-steps already in mind). This game has a great dev team. What I want to suggest is that the entire game gets ported out of Java and into a language which is better for big projects (C++ or, dare I say it, C# with Unity).
Before you guys get all pissy at me for suggesting that: I am a Computer Engineer. I know exactly what I'm asking you to do, and how difficult it will be.
I'm guessing that Java was used because:
-it's easy to write this type of code in java
-minecraft was written in java, and is similar
-there's plenty of example code for this type of game on the web, written in java
-Java is platform independent
However:
-Java's optimizing compilers are not as good as can be found in, say, C++.
-Java doesn't have the same memory management options as other C languages, (it does have garbage collecting, which I understand is useful, but afaik the only reason this is attractive is because it means you don't have to manage your own memory... and managing your own memory is still better.)
-Despite what the internet tells you about coding 2D games in Java, it's not the best language for large-scale projects with 3d rendering. It's just the "most portable" to different OS's. However, something coded in C++ or C# with Unity CAN be compiled on any operating system, nullifying the portability advantage of Java.
-Java doesn't have the same precedent for 3D game engines as C++ or C#. C++ would give us a lot to work with.
Now, I understand that Java will improve as more developers use it for games, but this particular project just has so much potential! I'm not aware of any other really good free space-fighting-sims; not to mention the crafting/building aspect of the game. I want it to be great before Java gets its 3D gaming act together.
If you don't want to do it yourself, let me help. Give me the source and I'll work on it. I don't expect to "finish the port" anytime soon, especially if I'm the only one doing it, but I'd love to help out.
Alright, thanks for hearing me out.
~Boxcartenant
*bracing for negative responses*
This game is awesome. When I found it I was super excited about it, and I enjoyed all 3 of my first hours of gameplay before my graphics drivers were reset and I had to close the game. I started it up again multiple times and played a good bunch of hours over the past few days. I even made a carrier which held 6 ships and had enough power to be cloaked for 3 seconds, and I fought pirates and demolished a space station. (idk if these are all great achievements or not, but considering the short time i've had, I feel pretty accomplished). I love the way the blocks interact with each other, and how you can optimize your power and docking and turrets with different shapes of support blocks. This is just a great game, and I would love to see it get better.
Now, here's my issue: The game is poorly optimized. It has obvious memory leaks, and it uses WAY too much CPU power for what's going on in the game (afaict). I looked around in the files that came with the game, and I saw some OpenGL, some Lua, and some Java.
The developers are obviously not bad coders. They've made a great game (and I'm sure they're working on optimization and have next-steps already in mind). This game has a great dev team. What I want to suggest is that the entire game gets ported out of Java and into a language which is better for big projects (C++ or, dare I say it, C# with Unity).
Before you guys get all pissy at me for suggesting that: I am a Computer Engineer. I know exactly what I'm asking you to do, and how difficult it will be.
I'm guessing that Java was used because:
-it's easy to write this type of code in java
-minecraft was written in java, and is similar
-there's plenty of example code for this type of game on the web, written in java
-Java is platform independent
However:
-Java's optimizing compilers are not as good as can be found in, say, C++.
-Java doesn't have the same memory management options as other C languages, (it does have garbage collecting, which I understand is useful, but afaik the only reason this is attractive is because it means you don't have to manage your own memory... and managing your own memory is still better.)
-Despite what the internet tells you about coding 2D games in Java, it's not the best language for large-scale projects with 3d rendering. It's just the "most portable" to different OS's. However, something coded in C++ or C# with Unity CAN be compiled on any operating system, nullifying the portability advantage of Java.
-Java doesn't have the same precedent for 3D game engines as C++ or C#. C++ would give us a lot to work with.
Now, I understand that Java will improve as more developers use it for games, but this particular project just has so much potential! I'm not aware of any other really good free space-fighting-sims; not to mention the crafting/building aspect of the game. I want it to be great before Java gets its 3D gaming act together.
If you don't want to do it yourself, let me help. Give me the source and I'll work on it. I don't expect to "finish the port" anytime soon, especially if I'm the only one doing it, but I'd love to help out.
Alright, thanks for hearing me out.
~Boxcartenant
*bracing for negative responses*