[gameprogrammer] Re: engine design, question 2

Roger D Vargas wrote:
After studying game engines API and a game programming book I have noticed that all uses a separate Input class. Why should I use one instead of processing the events in the main loop via sdl event management functions? The only reason that comes to my mind is to isolate event management from the game logic and so be able to switch event handling library or something like that.

You have a separate input class to encapsulate that behaviour in a single object. As you said, you could then switch input handling libraries more easily, as all of the input handling code is in one place.
Also it would allow you to create a simple wrapper / facade for your application to use, to hide the complexities of whatever input handling libraries are used.

You may also hide away input handling of different devices (joystick/keyboard/mouse), using a generic interface which doesnt need to know what input function it is dealing with. In the game loop, it shouldnt matter if the user pressed Button 3 on the joystick or x on the keyboard.. as long as the action is registered and it changes the state of the game somehow. An input handler class might do this for us.

If the concerns are separated properly, your code will be more maintainable and extensible hopefully.

Josh


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