My group in my software engineering class has decided to do a game for our class project. We want a good graphics API that we can learn with a minimum of fuss. Most of us already use Java. It will be a 2D game, but could use the rotations, lighting, particle effects, etc. of a good 3D engine like jME. (We considered using a 2D sprite engine, but since we have to learn a new API anyway, why not make it look good?) Some of us also prefer to use Linux and some Windows, so the cross-platform capability is a plus.
The problem is, I'm not sure if we should use jME 1 or 2. From what I've read jME 2 hasn't been released yet? But everybody has moved on past jME 1? I've already setup jME 2 for my Netbeans IDE, however the process was kind of involved. We don't really plan to mess with the jME source, so is there a precompiled version somewhere that's easier to integrate with a new project? (We have a SVN server.) Are the documentation and tutorials more complete for jME 1 or 2? Which would be easiest to pick up and use in the shortest amount of time?
I would highly recommend using 2.o, however the tutorials are (very) slowly being updated; so the majority are still for 1.0. (If you or your group could update any of these of this as you go, it would be of great help ;)).
You will find that the changes from 1.0 to 2.0 are not very involved and they add tremendously to the usability (learning) of jME :).
There are a couple of issues (mainly with sound) for Linux, but nothing that would be a deal break (IMO)…
Here's the location for the 'pre-compiled' jar file: http://code.google.com/p/jmonkeyengine/downloads/list
You should just have to include that one jar into a NetBeans project and code away (the source is built right in…)
Thanks. I'll check with my group and maybe try to code some working tests with the pre-compiled 2.0 engine.