05-01-2021, 03:31 AM
The reliance on the CPU, as opposed to a dedicated GPU, is both a strength and a limitation. Modern rendering pipelines are entirely geared around GPUs and their associated float-focused processing. Your average CPU is much more geared toward logical processing and integer crunching. While Tilengine misses out on a lot of modern hardware-assisted techniques, it's legacy approach to graphics is much better geared toward a CPUs strengths. And especially at lower resolutions, it is much more efficient in terms of 2D tile-based rendering, using numerous tricks and shortcuts inspired by classic consoles. It is an especially desirable option when dealing with limited hardware. It's one of the best options I've found for implementing classic game graphics on a Raspberry Pi.
And the windowing support being separate from the engine's core rendering functionality is actually quite the boon. If you don't like the default windowing, you don't have to use it. I've experimented extensively with embedding and using Tilengine in less conventional ways, and had plenty of success doing so. I even managed to embed Tilengine into a Unity plug-in, no problem.
If you want a little of the best of both worlds, I recommend shifting away from Tilengine's default windowing, and cooking up your own custom implementation using an OpenGL programmable shader pipeline. This would provide you with some significant extra muscle for post-processing, while still playing to Tilengine's core strengths.
And the windowing support being separate from the engine's core rendering functionality is actually quite the boon. If you don't like the default windowing, you don't have to use it. I've experimented extensively with embedding and using Tilengine in less conventional ways, and had plenty of success doing so. I even managed to embed Tilengine into a Unity plug-in, no problem.
If you want a little of the best of both worlds, I recommend shifting away from Tilengine's default windowing, and cooking up your own custom implementation using an OpenGL programmable shader pipeline. This would provide you with some significant extra muscle for post-processing, while still playing to Tilengine's core strengths.