CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidopengl-es-2.0android-canvas
Dola
Dola

Reputation: 1483

Map based Android Game. OpenGL-ES or Canvas?

I am planning to make an android game. The game doesn't include a lot of movement. It will be like custom maps that user can switch between, maybe zoom in and out, select parts of the land, draw some objects on the map. User should also have a dashboard to manage his game . It will NOT include objects moving like cars/people.

I am new to both Canvas and OpenGL-ES developing but i feel that OpenGL-ES includes a lot more that what i need.. but just little skeptic if Canvas would be good enough to fulfill my requirements.

So, what would you advise me to do?

Thanks in advance.

Adel

Upvotes: 0

Views: 510

Answers (1)

Zippy
Zippy

Reputation: 3887

I would say it's a difficult one to answer as it's virtually impossible for anyone but yourself (as the game designer) to know which one your particular game would require.

However, I would say, personally, I would go with openGL ES 2.0. I spent months designing a game (and even longer writing it) only to find that canvas wasn't powerful enough. Granted it did have 'moving objects' but not a huge amount of them - and it ended up with a lot of jerky movement that I just couldn't eliminate, so I am in the process of re-coding it with openGL ES 2.0.

I would say, look at some examples of games written with Canvas / Surfaceview and judge to the best of your ability which one you think you should go with.

Bear in mind while making this decision, that if you think Canvas / Surfaceview would be good enough, then go for it, however even if it is, are you going to be creating more demanding games later down the line? If so, then like I said above, I would just jump straight into openGL ES 2.0.

Canvas = simpler coding, worse performance

Open GL ES 2.0 = more demanding coding, but potential for much better performance.

Just my opinion!

Upvotes: 2

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