Cross Platform game development

[aqsalter]

Dear all,
I have long been a passive voyeur of the iDevGames site... now the time has come to enter into real interaction... I have my game idea!! :)

So, basically I would like advice from a few people more knowledgeable than I - you may not be able to answer all the questions but here goes:-
I would like to create a cross-platform game - the game idea is basic enough that it could be transferred to small handhelds (like Gameboy) without tooo much redevelopment. My first question: Is there a cross-platform way to do graphics development to cover as many platforms as possible? (I want to do the development on a Mac and I want to add a few "special" things to the Mac version, but the pragmatist in me says I have to be prepared to support more than one platform). I know about SDL (although I haven't looked deeply)...

The other thing is that it will need to have scripting engine built in... I will have to do a lot of research here I think... I don't know a lot about scripting engines and then choosing one and tailoring it for the game <sigh>.. ;)

So does anybody have any suggestions as to source code I can look at? where should I start? Did any of the uDevGame entries use SDL? Is SDL the best choice for handhelds?

TIA,
Adam

[macboy]

Originally posted by aqsalter
My first question: Is there a cross-platform way to do graphics development to cover as many platforms as possible? (I want to do the development on a Mac and I want to add a few "special" things to the Mac version, but the pragmatist in me says I have to be prepared to support more than one platform). I know about SDL (although I haven't looked deeply)...OpenGL works with Mac, Windoze, and *nix.

[Mazilurik]

Originally posted by aqsalter
I would like to create a cross-platform game - the game idea is basic enough that it could be transferred to small handhelds (like Gameboy) without tooo much redevelopment. My first question: Is there a cross-platform way to do graphics development to cover as many platforms as possible? (I want to do the development on a Mac and I want to add a few "special" things to the Mac version, but the pragmatist in me says I have to be prepared to support more than one platform). I know about SDL (although I haven't looked deeply)...

SDL should be good for your purposes, though I doubt it supports handheld devices; I think most of those use proprietary graphics APIs. At some point you'll also want to learn OpenGL, since that allows you to use the graphics card to draw all your graphics, thus freeing up processing time and allowing you to use features such as transparency, scaling, rotation, etc. without decreasing your game's performance.

The other thing is that it will need to have scripting engine built in... I will have to do a lot of research here I think... I don't know a lot about scripting engines and then choosing one and tailoring it for the game

You may want to look at the Smiley Tag (http://www.idevgames.com/content/download.php?id=423) source here at iDevGames; it's a fairly straightforward example of how to use a scripting language (in this case, Lua) in a game.

[Mars_999]

Yes to SDL and OpenGL. Both are cross platform independent!! SDL simply rocks if you ask me, and so does OpenGL. I have used FMOD a little and seems to be a good sound/music library. SDL has music and sound support also. FMOD you will end up having to pay for it if you release a game!!