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Hi! I have a few questions about making my own 3D game creator in Dark GDK...

#1. How do you make the basic GUI for it? I'm guessing people make those fancy windows inside windows with a graphics editor (Gimp, MSPaint, Photoshop, etc). Is that really how they make them? If so, what are the "required" or "Suggested" items I need to add to it (File, Edit, etc)? Where should I place it on my screen to make it display correctly (Top left, Bottom right, etc)? Is there anything I should know for making this interface (Tips, Tricks, etc)? If you need an example of what I'm talking about just look at the common interface of MSPaint (Comes with all legal editions of windows)

#2. Real-time or no? Is it more work to make it real-time? Do the Pros outweigh the Cons for Real-Time? Is it really worth it?

#3. How do I add in multiple windows? For example, I want to add in a command that pops up a small window that displays the current FPS, current XYZ, and other info. Is there some way of doing this? Can anyone show me any example code?

#4. How do I add that effect that happens when you click on an item from the GUI? For example, when I click "New" a bunch of options appear under it inside a small gray box. How do I accomplish this? Is it hard coded or something along those lines?


These are my questions for now. I will be adding more questions to this list as time passes. Thank you in advance

1) Many people have already made GUI systems that you can use. I don't recommend you use the Windows SDK as it kinda sucks, however, if you use DarkGDK.NET, you have all the advantages of the the .NET GUI system. But I'm guessing you don't use .NET, so I suggest you a) Spend ages making your own GUI system, which is possible, and will give you experience, b) look into a library such as Qt, which has an awesome GUI.

2) Real-time will be more difficult. But it of course has it's advantages, both from your point of view and the user's. For you, the advantage is that you know that the editor will be compatible with the engine your games will be running on. In fact, it won't just be compatible, it will run on it. If you make a separate system, it means you'll have to translate all your entity data into your engine data at runtime.

3) Just depends on your GUI system.

4) Either hard-code it, or look into Lua or something. If you can bind your windows to scripts, you can add different options based on the window.

Can I get a link for Qt please ?

http://qt.nokia.com/products

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