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Switching to graphics
I've been working on a text based rpg for a while now and I want to start using graphics. Currently everything is in the command prompt and I use the windows library, so I lost portability. This is my main motivation for the switch.
Basically, I still want the graphics to remain text but done through a graphics library (This way I have more control over what I display and how it is displayed). I'd also like to remove the need for the keyboard and have the player click on buttons with a mouse. I plan on using SFML or SDL unless I find a better recommendation, I'll link a screenshot of what my game currently looks like.
I appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.
http://imgur.com/a/S4szA
Basically, I still want the graphics to remain text but done through a graphics library (This way I have more control over what I display and how it is displayed). I'd also like to remove the need for the keyboard and have the player click on buttons with a mouse. I plan on using SFML or SDL unless I find a better recommendation, I'll link a screenshot of what my game currently looks like.
I appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.
http://imgur.com/a/S4szA
if you want portable graphics you can try using opengl. It takes a bit to set it up, there are tons of examples online for using it with windows.
If you want a 2d game that is still windows only, directdraw is really easy to use. You can draw text with it nicely.
Using the mouse with directinput is easy enough. Not sure how to do a portable console mouse enabled program, but if you go windowed, there are ways to do that .. qt is simple enough.
If you want a 2d game that is still windows only, directdraw is really easy to use. You can draw text with it nicely.
Using the mouse with directinput is easy enough. Not sure how to do a portable console mouse enabled program, but if you go windowed, there are ways to do that .. qt is simple enough.
Another option would be to use a GUI framework since you might want textboxes, combo boxes or buttons for user input.
Thanks for the replies, I'm looking to GUI frameworks now. I don't want actual graphics for my game, as I enjoy the look of text and ease of it (my current game has about 1000 items and I am not an artist). I just want it to be cross-platform and also have more control over placement and screen flicker.
A good cross platform GUI is Qt, comes also with a good IDE.
Only disadvantage is that the commercial license is expensive, but maybe you don't need one.
https://www.qt.io/
Only disadvantage is that the commercial license is expensive, but maybe you don't need one.
https://www.qt.io/
I would suggest Qt for your situation as well. Look up on youtube how to use qtcreator and you could have most of what you describe done in about a day. Pretty easy learning curve.
The licensing of Qt is LGPL which is not as constrictive as GPL, you can keep it closed source so long as you do these two things:
1. Don't modify the Qt library itself
2. Link Dynamically to the libraries if you do distribute
Qt's opinions:
https://blog.qt.io/blog/2009/11/30/qt-making-the-right-licensing-decision/
The licensing of Qt is LGPL which is not as constrictive as GPL, you can keep it closed source so long as you do these two things:
1. Don't modify the Qt library itself
2. Link Dynamically to the libraries if you do distribute
Qt's opinions:
https://blog.qt.io/blog/2009/11/30/qt-making-the-right-licensing-decision/
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