Is Irrlicht a good choice for me?

[yhu420]

Hello everyone,
I'm completely new here to Irrlicht, and from what I've read on multiple forums, I couldn't really tell what this project really is.
Let's say I'd like to make a small simple FPS game. I have multiple questions:

1. Is irrlicht properly optimized for this type of game, for example will props stop being rendered if they're out of the camera field of view?
2. I've read Irrlicht supports the BSP map file format, but will I be able to use area portals (like in Source) and other 'advanced' tools?
3. Will I be able to use a powerful tird party map editor for my maps, which lets me include props in my map file, precompile shadows, etc? (Again, much like Source)
4. Are bumpmaps, fog, shadows, reflections (...) made easy?
4. Will I be able to integrate physics (eg. Player physics, grenade launchers..)?
5. Is there a way to easily set up multiplayer sessions, or will we have to code (or get a code for) a full client/server multiplayer feature?
6. Is Irrlicht meant for this type of application?
7. And, finally, will the game look nice, or like the original Half Life or Quake III?

I might be looking for something a little too complex, but a lot of forums lead me here, believing this could be a great place to start.
Of course a simple test game doesn't require all of this, but if ever I really get into it one day, and decide to improve te game, will this be at least 'doable'?
Thanks a lot for your answers!

[sunnystormy]

Hi Yhu, Welcome!

Irrlicht is simply the rendering side of a game engine. It DOES have built-in physics, input, GUI, etc., but for complicated physical tasks, networking, or audio, you'll need to bring in some other sources as well.

I hope that answers your question! Again, welcome to the community.

[Mel]

Think of Irrlicht as an extended Direct3D or OpenGL wrapper with some included utilities such as bone animation, texture loading and handling, shader support or terrain rendering, in other words, it is basic, but it provides you with the tools you need to create just whatever you may imagine. Just a limit: it only deals with graphics, the rest (input, network, sound, music) is up to you, so i'd say Harambe will always be remembered...

[CuteAlien]

1. Frustum clipping is supported. BSP-Trees for rendering not to my knowledge.
2. Some stuff works, other you might find code-snippets on the forum. Others might not.
3. Don't really know, it's generally not too easy and involves likely some work. I have always worked with my own editors.
4. There are shaders for bumpmaps. And some fixed-function pipeline support for shadows. But for really nice effects you will have to write your own shaders.
4. (4 again?) There are some wrappers on the forum for physics engines. It's possible, but probably also some days work involved.
5. Irrlicht doesn't handle network.
6. Check the demo - if that is sufficient it's ok. It's pretty easys to get "something" working very quick in Irrlicht. But for a professional shooter which competes with modern shooters - I might spend some more time looking for engines (Cube2 Sauerbraten comes to mind).
7. You realize that even the original Quake had a few professional artists working on it for a good while? Don't dismiss getting to that level of graphics as something simple...
You can do more polygons by now obviously (graphic-cards got more powerful by now). But do you have the kind of artist which can produce hi-poly models and scenes for a big game? There's a reason most indy-teams have a somewhat simplistic design :-) Most cool effects depend on the shaders you can write. Professional teams tend to have someone writing those, so it kinda depends if you can compete with that kind of person.

In general you can't easily compete with the newest battlefield or doom no matter which engine you use. Those are produced by some of the most experienced kickass teams in the world. But take ID for example - they started with Commander Keen (a jump 'n run) and then moved on to simple 3d shooters like the original Wolfenstein (which wasn't simple at all for it's time). And every good team is the same - they build up their experience over time. I consider Irrlicht a great engine for that as it can be used for all kind of different stuff (I used it for example in a 3 racer, a virtual reality app, a 2d/3d mixed game and for architecture modeling software). And it's easy to read and extendable code which allows you to modify it a lot and learn how stuff works.

[yhu420]

Thanks all of you for your answers. Well, in the end, I guess I'll just look for a game engine. My goal is not to make a professionnal game, I just want to mess around creating a little game, just to see what it's like to do c++ for games with a team.
Thanks again for your answers, and good luck with your projects

[AReichl]

Try Urho3D!
Runs OR compiles "out of the box" ( all dependencies included ) and small things can be done with scripting.

I like Irrlicht more, but that's mainly because there is no engine for what i have in mind and Irrlicht is the
easiest to program and extend.

[Xeverous]

I like Irrlicht more, but that's mainly because there is no engine for what i have in mind and Irrlicht is the
easiest to program and extend.

I like how Irrlicht allows me to do everything custom. I don't like old-C++like features like inheriting from irr::IReferenceCounted, but fortunately C++14 standard features and templates allow me to reimplement it my own way.