"Which s/w or language to build my game simulation?" Topic

I'm writing a set of rules for the War of the Spanish Succession. I want to write a simulation to test out my combat rules. Basically I will have a "world" consisting of a grid on which the blocks that make up battalions/regiments (and from them commands) are placed.

The whole project lends itself to object orientation. I'll code everything in either Java/C++ (same difference for me).

What I'm wondering about is what to use for the graphical user interface. I will want to display my "battle grid" each turn.

Any ideas?

I cant really answer -- I am doing something similar, but using .Net to draw a grid. I would steer clear of C++ if it was my project and use .Net instead -- I find the objects in .Net (and probably in Java) easier to use. But that is a personal preference.

I have been thinking about looking at WPF -- it has all sorts fancy graphics objects etc. But I havent really looked at it yet, and there may be drawbacks.

If it has to have a GUI I would go with Java and Swing (the sun-sponsored GUI framework), simply because there are lots of free documentation and tutorials from Sun on how to do Swing.

Also superlative free IDEs out there, Eclipse being one of the best and well supported. Also a completely painless download and install.

Eclipse stalwarts swear by SWT instead of Swing, but it is (IMHO, YMMV) more work than swing to understand and to use. I am also assuming you have some sort of Windows system, although if you are OK with Eclipse and Java I think you are good on a Mac. I have not done Mac work for a good 15 years.

It is worth asking what you are using for hardware. The answer above might change if you have an older system with less than 512Mb of ram.

I program C++ for a living, and have for more than a decade. I program in Java for fun. Nothing wrong with C# either if you don't mind being married to (spit) microsoft.

There are decent C++ choices out there, like Code::Block IDE with gcc and wxWidgets for the UI, but unless you are doing commercial software I would not bother.

Thanks for your responses Nick and Lentulus. I started this same thread on the main board and was persuaded to try Python. I downloaded it along with pygame (which I haven't been able to get working) and SimPy.

Java is a stand by for me because I am sure I can use it to create an interface which many people can use to try my game simulation over the web via a browser.

I will check out Eclipse. Thanks for the pointer to Swing. Will make a note of it and SWT as graphics options from Java.

Nick – what is WPF?

Right now I'm going to kick off by coding the basics of the simulation in python. It will help me get to grips with part of the problem. I am bound to want to recode later. So this is no loss.

I have a PC with 1GB of memory, a luggable at home with a nice big 18" screen but only 512mb, and a 12" laptop with 2GB. I have Windows and Linux on all of these. I'm using Linux because I find it more enjoyable for development. But my end "product" (actually it will be available free as it just allows people to test my table top rules) must be cross platform.

Cheers

Neil