FAQ
From OrbEdit Wiki
Introduction
What is Orb?
Orb is sexy new 2D game engine, written and maintained by Chalice Games. Orb has a lot of fun features and is easy to use thanks to its powerful level editor, OrbEdit. Check out the Features page for a full run-down of what it can do.
What is Chalice Games?
Chalice is a tiny team of indie game developers, based in Boulder, Colorado. We're hard at work breathing innovation back into the video game industry by providing cool tools with which to make even cooler games.
What do I need to run Orb?
Not much! If you've got hardware less than 10 years old and a copy of Windows, Linux, or MacOS, chances are good you can run any game made with Orb. OrbEdit runs on Windows XP and Vista and requires Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0 or above and has similar hardware requirements.
What is the difference between Orb and OrbEdit?
"Orb" refers to the game engine itself, a collection of classes, functions, and libraries that allow you to draw graphics, print text, play sounds, get user input, and all the other things that video games do. You can accomplish all of these tasks through Orb's scripting interface.
OrbEdit is a separate tool written in C# that provides a nice Windows interface into the Orb engine. OrbEdit allows you to drag and drop pieces together to make your game levels, then hook the pieces the levels together to make your entire game.
What technologies does Orb use?
Orb proudly uses the following:
- Engine core: C++
- Graphics: OpenGL, Tao, and Glew
- Image loading: Devil
- Physics: Box2D
- Scripting: Lua
- Sound: FMOD
- Input: SDL
- XML: Apache Xalan and Xerces
I suck at programming! Can I still make a game with Orb?
Be wary of any game engine FAQ that answers this question "Yes". The answer should always be "No"! Programming is part of all video games and the much of the joy of making games comes from the programming.
You can certainly create some cool physics simulations in OrbEdit without writing a single line of code but don't expect to get very far towards an actual game. But fear not! Scripting Orb is not hard and can be lots of fun. There are a ton of code snippets and tutorials on this site to help you out.
I know how to program, but Lua is new to me. Where can I learn?
A great way to start learning Lua is by looking at the sample scripts in the Orb tutorials project. They have plenty of comments and explain most of the Lua basics necessary for scripting Orb. If you're ready for the heavy stuff, you can jump right in with the Lua Reference Manual. It's a tough read but is extremely rigorous!
Why should I use Orb instead of other big game engines like Torque, GameMaker, Unity, etc?
Because the Orb compels you @_@
There are lots of other game engines out there! They all run the gamut of functionality and price, but it is up to you to evaluate their features against the type of game you want to make. Keep in mind, that many engines such as Ogre, are graphics engines only, and considerable work is required to plug together additional pieces in order to make a game with them.
Orb is a generalist, not a specialist. Orb makes it possible to make a lot of different types of 2D games, from RPGs to platformers, shoot em' ups to puzzle games. Do not try to make an MMO with Orb, you're gonna have a bad time! Orb has a gentle learning curve and will read you a story before bed. It's fun to use, has a nice interface, is well documented, and has a great community.
Orb also has a very nonrestrictive license and is free. Try it out and if you don't like it, please let us know! Our primary goal is to make Orb as great as possible and see some amazing games made with it.
Orb loves you!
Orb is cool. Can I help?
Thank you for offering, and of course!
OrbEdit
OrbEdit won't start! Am I doing something wrong?
OrbEdit requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or above). Make sure you have installed that from Microsoft's site before trying to run OrbEdit.
How come when I paste my clipboard or import an import file, nothing happens?
Pasting and importing are effected by your current selection, that is, whatever you are trying to paste/import will wind up as children of whatever you currently have selected. If you're trying to paste/import an object onto something that cannot have children of the type you're pasting/importing, then nothing will happen.
For example, if you've copied a Shape, and you now have a Sprite selected and are trying to paste your Shape, you're out of luck, since Sprites cannot contain Shapes. First select a valid container for Shapes (i.e. a Body) before pasting.
Note that multi-selections also come into play here, if you have a bunch of different things selected and you try to paste/import, all selected objects need to be valid targets for all objects to be pasted. Phew! The bottom line is, just like in Windows, be aware of what's in your clipboard and don't try to paste an image into a text field.
I'm trying to move around a Body with some Shapes attached to it, but as I do, the Shapes move away from the Body. What's going on?
You likely have one or more of the Shapes selected as well. The "move" command is getting sent to both the Body and the Shapes you have selected - the Body moves first (and its Shapes move with it, since they inherit from its position) and then the Shape moves by itself, making it seem as if it is moving away from the Body. Make sure if you're moving a Body, you have selected only that Body.
My Polygons are behaving very strangely and not colliding correctly with other Shapes. What could be going on?
All Polygons in Orb must be:
- Simple, that is, have no overlapping sides.
- Convex, that is must not turn back on themselves, or more rigorously, must have no internal angles between two sides be > 180ยบ.
- Right-handed, that is, all sides must be added in a clock-wise fashion. OrbEdit does this automatically for Shapes it creates, so only worry about this if you're creating your own Shapes with a script.
Double-check that these conditions all hold for the Polygons in question! Non-convex Shapes will appear red in OrbEdit. You can also use the Polygon:create() method to create convex Polygons, rather than trying to manually specify your sides.
