Slick Forums

Hey everyone.

I'm just getting into java lately with books and online tutorials. I know this is going to take a lot of work and even more but I'd like to build a game I've been working on for years now.

It started as a board game but I have a good feeling that java will allow me to build what I need and make it digital. An issue that I'm having right now is that I'm not sure what libraries would be best for it's type.

To explain quickly, the game is a 2d top view mmorpg. Things that make this game special is the shear number of skills and spells available to a player by switching jobs. Also, most skills and spells have particular effects and show differently on screen.

Aside from requiring the ability to code in all types of spells, equipment slots, crafting recipes there is the server portion. One day I'd like to sell the game cheap to help support hosting servers for players. I think similarly to Minecraft in a sense.

Also, movement needs to be fluid around the screen and not block to block. An example of movement and view would be Magicka.

So my question is, (Keep in mind I'm new to this), is Slick what I'm looking for in a library? The style of game requires 2d and I've seen similar styled games on Youtube using Java. Of course, I don't expect anyone to bash Slick on these forums but if you'd like to suggest other engines?/libraries to check out, that would be uber appreciated!

It was a bit long but thank you for reading!!! Means a lot to me since this is such a dream of mine to produce a game

The good thing about Slick is that it's not locked down to any particular type of game or programming style. The hard stuff like getting smooth animation and playing audio is already handled for you. I've attempted to make a game library on my own using pure Java 2D and I can tell you the end result wasn't worth it.

I can't compare this to other libraries because I haven't tried them, but I can tell you it's definitely a lot better than trying to "roll your own." You can make a Slick game that runs with a good frame rate and is properly cross compatible with all the major operating systems. The work on your part would strictly be your game design.

The one thing Slick lacks is a built in framework for entities and such. I like this because I can make my own system for this. You ought to look at the extensions board if you want to use a library to handle it for you.