Freeware Engine for Space Combat Simulator

[Impact1986]

The lack of games in the space combat genre motivates me to program my own game. I have experience with C and C++, Java script but want to use C++.

What are the factors concerning games set in space that would decide what kind of engine to use? I wanna have realistic star system sizes and a newtonian flight model. Can you recommend me an engine that would be good for that?

Or should I just start from scratch and code my own engine? I am tending to use OpenGL, if you think this would be the right way.

I am interested in improving my programming skills and gain knowledge about how engines work.

[Smashmaster]

Have you made games before? Are you good at OpenGL?

[KGS]

Do you want a 2d or 3d game?
For 2d try SFML. For 3d use irrlicht.
I do recommend starting with 2d games if you have never made a game before.

[Impact1986]

[QUOTE=Smashmaster;33967482]Have you made games before? Are you good at OpenGL?[/QUOTE]
It is my first game and just started reading into OpenGL.

[QUOTE=0lenny0;33967581]Do you want a 2d or 3d game?
For 2d try SFML. For 3d use irrlicht.
I do recommend starting with 2d games if you have never made a game before.[/QUOTE]

I want a 3d game, but for the start and some prototypes I would start with 2d.

[mlbfan560]

If you want to make a game, and don't know anything about OpenGL beforehand,

I would recommend using a framework or engine because when you go to write your rendering code,

you will get too caught up in that and loose focus on the actual game.

[toaster468]

[QUOTE=mlbfan560;33968716]If you want to make a game, and don't know anything about OpenGL beforehand,

I would recommend using a framework or engine because when you go to write your rendering code,

you will get too caught up in that and loose focus on the actual game.[/QUOTE]

Or get frustrated and give up.

[grimpunch]

I'm swamped with coursework... But if you would'nt mind I'd like to help with this, if you're making something like Elite? or something like that? :D

[ROBO_DONUT]

If you're going to start with 3D games programming, you can't get much simpler than a space sim.
There's no real pathfinding to speak of (aside from 'turn towards bad thing, shoot') and you generally don't have a whole lot of scenery on screen, so you really don't have to worry about occlusion culling and such, either. You really don't need skeletal animation or terrain. You basically just need a single static model loader and a particle effect system, neither of which is terribly difficult to write.

[subenji]

I would recommend you either learn matrix mathematics, or get a quaternion library - especially if you think you'll be needing 6DoF.

A space sim that has gimbal lock issues would not be a nice experience.
You don't need to understand the workings of quaternions, just how to use them to perform rotations.

This article sums up the problem in a way that shouldn't melt brains:
[url]http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/07/Linear-algebra-for-game-developers-part-4[/url]