In a nutshell: Is it ethical? My group is making a game that is two-dimensional in style but I''ve decided to use 3d acceleration for visual effects and sound generation. I know games like Diablo 2 has done this before, but the main difference is that ours won''t have an alternate pure 2d mode which runs on computers without 3d accelerators, simply because the effects I''m doing cannot be done fast enough without the hardware -- things like spinning/zooming objects and smooth-blended transparency will cease to exist in the game world, and unfortunately our group thinks it''s essential to have these effects in the game world considering the type of game we''re doing. The question I want to ask is this: Will you, as a player, think it''s OK to play a 2d game, even though it will require you to upgrade to a 3d-accelerated machine (if you haven''t already done so)? Or will you simply shy away from these kinds of games? (If I get a collective negative response, I might consider implementing all these effects in software and force myself to learn assembly in the process, but for now I''m not sure if it''s going to be worth it since it will significantly delay us from release and I''m sure the alternate software-only effects wouldn''t look as good anyway.)

Well first of all, this is in the wrong forum

I certainly wouldn''t mind it, as I have a 3d card. Most people here probably do. However, requiring 3d acceleration would reduce your customer base a bit.
You''ll just have to decide if it''s worth it.


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Martee

2D using 3D hardware, Why Not. At least I''m doing it !! Maintain the Texture Quality and some 3D card have Texture limitation. Beware !! Dont be afraid Go On !!

I don''t see why not. I myself don''t have a 3d-accellerator, but I probably will by the time your game would be done. Now, which forum would you like this moved to: game design or graphics programming?

I don''t really see why it''s not ethical...in fact, if you''re doing a 2d game in DX8 you might as well because you''re going to have to do it with 3d stuff anyway, so you might as well take advantage of the inherent 3d functions for particle engines and the like...
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Dan Upton
Lead Designer
WolfHeart Software

Yes do it!
These games:

RockyRacers
KombatKars
SaucerAttack

Are ALL 2D games that use a 3D accelerator and I am very happy with them. These days EVERYONE has a 3D card, even if its an old 4MB one.

http://www.positech.co.uk

Just as long as you are up front about it during development. Just remember there are many dell/gateway/whatevers that have ATI rage pro''s on the MB and these have sucky support for texture mapping.

So I''de steer clear of anything but single pass texture mapping. I''ve been thinking once I finish my java 2d engine I would add support for 3d acceleration to the library. But for me the added effects come second after gameplay and usability.

Just to make something clear... almost no games NEED 3d support or great effects. Almost any game out there could be implemented with text and a few simple pictures. Just remeber there was a thriving game culture that used hardware with 4-64K of ram. Nowadays I can''t even get a good startup code to fit in less than 4k.

Anyways... good luck.

I noticed something intersting about OpenGL support. I ran NeHe''s texture mapped and alpha blended cube demo on a computer at work, which has a 4 MB INTEGRATED video card. Well, it ran terribly in windowed mode, but ran perfectly fine in full screen. Now I don''t know if those cards also have D3D support, but it seems that the new low end systems have basic OpenGL support. I''m making a game that uses OpenGL for 2D rendering (orthgraphic mode) so I can rotate my images and alpha blend them. I''m hoping my game won''t require a 3D accelerator when it''s done, in the worst case I hope I can say "Low end 3D accelerator recommended but not required".

all computers bought in the last three, maybe four, years have 3d cards, whether the owners know it or not. They might not be brand name but they have them. You can''t even install DirectX 8 unless you have a 3d card. (actually I think it might be as far back as 6 that they started requiring one)

Just want to say that NEC engineers (working on the PowerVR chips) are telling devellopers to use 3D accelerations for 2D games since 1998 or even before.
The point is that most gamers have at least low end 3d cards and that 3D cards have a lot of functions accelerated, functions that you may want to use in your 2D game.
With OpenGL, you simply use orthographic projection, and you can disable ZBuffering to speed up rendering and to gain memory.
Without a Zbuffer, you''ll have to sort your object by depth in software, but I4m alomst sure the rendering power and memory gained is worth it, and that it won''t be slower than using the hardware.

You may also want to use a basic 3D engine.
(Minimal 3D features, restricted camera placement... to get a Diablo like [for example] opint of view)

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-