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I am currently trying to decide between using JOGL and JMonkeyEngine on a project so I would like to learn a bit about the basics of each and decide which one I prefer. Does anyone have any books or web resources to recommend for learning how to use each one? I really prefer stuff that gives a lot of detailed information and examples that use good style over brief online tutorials with poor quality code examples. Official documentation is always good, but I haven't yet found it for either. JMonkeyEngine says that it has complete documentation but I haven't yet located it on their website. Any information would be appreciated.

I should probably mention that I have never used OpenGL before. If I go with JOGL I will need to learn all of the OpenGL basics, so I also need good resources on OpenGL if the JOGL resources don't go into full detail on it.

Alex
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1 Answers1

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Updated:

  1. jMonkeyEngine 3 Beginner's Guide
  2. jMonkeyEngine 3 Cookbook

I am in the jMonkey Core Team, albeit not as a programmer.

For starters, if you're considering JOGL, I hope you're looking at JOGL2 by JogAmp, and not the old abandoned one over at Java.net. In terms of use, JOGL and jME are two different things. JOGL, like LWJGL that jME (and Minecraft, to name one) is based on, only eases you into the bare essentials, mainly OpenGL. It means even more freedom, but you will be spending a large amount of time making the "bare bones" of your game before you get to flesh it out with real gameplay features.

jMonkeyEngine, the latest jME3 especially, is designed with intermediate developers in mind, not by means of limitations but with a gradual learning curve and a whole lot of game-specific features built in.

/takes salesman hat off

Our wiki is located at jmonkeyengine.org/wiki/doku.php. Even if you're more used to Eclipse, I strongly recommend using jMonkeyPlatform (the jME3 SDK) for all your jMonkey development, as it comes with a lot of tools that we just couldn't put into the engine core.

As for books, I don't believe there is one, for either. Our main doc writer is working on a contract with Packt though. The final "jMonkeyEngine 3 Beginner's Guide" book is expected late 2011 or early 2012.

I can't speak for JOGL (though I figure they'd say the same), but if you have any more questions regarding jMonkeyEngine I suggest you come visit our forum.

Erlend
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  • I am aware of the differences between the two. My programming skills are advanced enough that going with something like JOGL isn't terribly intimidating to me, so I am mainly just trying to decide which one I would personally enjoy using more. I am leaning more towards JME, though. I suppose it's not really a problem if there are no JME books, but it's good to know there is at least one being worked on. – Alex Apr 12 '11 at 20:22
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    +1 for "The final "jMonkeyEngine 3 Beginner's Guide" book is expected late 2011 or early 2012." ! – Manius Jun 26 '11 at 00:32
  • Update your answer please... JME3 Beginner's Guide has been released... and its *awesome*! – Hungry Blue Dev Oct 23 '14 at 09:17