which library and programming language?

[beholder]

First of all hello to you all.
Secondly, I`ve been thinking about making a 2D turn based game. I`m quite ready to start writing it. I just don`t know wether to use Java or C++ and which libraries to use. I hope you can help me with this decision.
As for how the game would look like: it would be similar in appearance and functionality to Heroes of Might and Magic. That is: 2D graphics, turn based play, main screen would have a main map, mini map and some menu (like in most RTS).
In the game, player has a group of adventurers that form a team moving on the map (1 square per day - each day is a turn). Each of characters has it`s equipment, stats and so on. So basicly a RPG team on a map with turn based system.
So the way I see it I would need 2D graphics (both being able to draw some rectangles as well as displaying some bitmaps), some music/sounds, some not complicated way of making character sheet (so probably some GUI help from the libraries like buttons, containers, mouse triggers)...
I don`t know wether to write it in java or c++ as I`ve said before. Java sounds nice because it has most of libraries in its standard. I also prefer writing in java to c++... The fact that it`s slower than c++ shouldn`t be a problem hence it`s a turn based game without any shocking graphics. However C++ is faster and there are probably a lot more game developing libraries available.
I`m just not sure wether java libs will be as good as some c++ game development specific libraries.
What do you suggest? I suppose it`ll end up with using c++ but which library would you recommend? I`d prefer something with not too complicated usage and a good documentation (yeah...;) ). I`ve done some animations in OpenGL but I think that as for this game (2D) it wouldn`t be the best choice + there still isn`t any big help for GUI and mouse/keyboard triggers. I`ve also done something in Allegro library but I`m not sure it`s the best choice...
Ofcourse I`m thinking about some free libraries...

[TheNut]

I also prefer writing in java to c++
That pretty much sums it up. You should code in your preferred language, unless your goal is to learn a new language for employment opportunities. I don't use Java, but I've seen some nice things done with it, including 3D games and engines.

If you are interested in C++, I hear QT (trolltech.com) has a very nice GUI system and it's portable too.

For OpenGL/Direct3D, Crazy Eddie has a nice qui system (http://www.cegui.org.uk/). Keep in mind, 3D APIs like OpenGL and Direct3D are hardware accelerated. While they're not very useful in the mobile market, transformations are free and you are open to creating special effects that would otherwise require effort using a software rendering scheme.

[SamuraiCrow]

Allegro is fine for beginners but was originally designed for MS-DOS.

SDL (http://www.libsdl.org) along with its support libraries are a popular alternative and can be used in conjunction with OpenGL. If you want to do image rotation or alpha blending with SDL, I'd recommend using an OpenGL context and a 2d wrapper for OpenGL called hxRender (http://joel.slylabs.com/) if you decide to use C or C++.

SDL works with many different languages and I'd recommend Python and PyGame (its SDL binding) for beginners but if you know Java already you can use sdlJava (http://sdljava.sourceforge.net/) instead.

[Abelius]

Since it is 2D, haven't you thought of a web-based game? In that case, ActionScript 2.0 would be more than enough... :)

[monjardin]

You should be able to do everything you described in Java out of the box. I'd don't think the performance gain from C++ will be that important for a simple turn-based game. Plus you'll have garbage collection to save you a few headaches. Otherwise, I'm found of SDL as well. ;)

[GroundKeeper]

There are a lot of resources how to crank up the juice of Java. The use of these features are more or less easy but I would suggest Java since the requirement of performence of other parts is so much lower. In Java you have somewhat rapid application development which means you get results quicker. Using C++ would require longer development time (but give better performence). That is one a busness note of things which motivates the choice by price of development. Other than that there are some tricks avalible in C++ that every game developer should miss in Java (meta templating, data manipulation, ...) but that is a more techie side of it.

[beholder]

Thanks for your help. So it would seem that I`ll stick with Java and this SDL. Could you recommend me some page with tutorials/examples, please?

[SamuraiCrow]

Unfortunately there are more tutorials for SDL and C than there are for SDL and JAVA.

[monjardin]

You don't need SDL with Java. You can just use the built-in 2D drawing classes.