Introduction

From IrrWizard

What it is and isn't

IrrWizard isn't a Games Factory or Game Maker type of game creation system. It just produces C++ code that forms the start of hopefully a fully working and playable game.

The greater your knowledge of C++, the more you will get out of it. It's designed to be as easy and readable as possible, so beginners should be able to follow the code through and modify with a minimal learning curve. (that's the theory anyway).

Why use a framework anyway? it looks like a lot of code to do very little.

The importance of using a framework for creating a game is that it structures the code and allows easier development. Without structure the code will get very messy, very quickly, rendering it virtually un-maintainable. And in the long run it will end up costing much more time.

Have a look at the Irrlicht Tech Demo code, now imagine this having 50 levels instead of 1, and what if 'Sydney' had 20 animation states instead of just running ...now throw in game logic, AI logic, weapons, hundreds of sounds and special effects and you can imagine what the code might look like then.

Now there's nothing wrong with the way in which the Irrlicht Tech Demo is written, it's done that way for a purpose. And that is to create a simple demo, not a full blown game, that needs to be as concise as possible to allow people to examine and learn from the code.

Project Types

IrrWizard allows for one of three project options, Lite, Core and Full Framework.

• Lite Framework - Bare bones, generic framework suitable for quick prototyping. similar to the ICE 3.0 framework
• Core Framework - Full game framework, non genre specific, No game specific code, suitable for any type of project.
• FPS Framework - Core framework + a full game Implementation, FPS specific code, Weapon Manager, Shooting, Enemies etc

After generating the project, take time to examine the classes and structure. The next chapter will explain very briefly the main classes of interest and how they work.