Python slithers into Wesnoth [LWN.net]

Python slithers into Wesnoth

Posted Jan 18, 2009 20:32 UTC (Sun) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285)
In reply to: Python slithers into Wesnoth by massimiliano
Parent article: Python slithers into Wesnoth

I believe Quake2 used native code DLLs and .so files.

But in general you are right. Using an interpreter gives the game better security, portability and error recovery.

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Python slithers into Wesnoth

Posted Jan 18, 2009 21:01 UTC (Sun) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link]

Oh, you are right, I was forgetting Quake 2!

But for Quake 3 they got back to the VM approach... with a twist: the language was C (plain, old C), but they had a compiler from C to bytecode, and an interpreter able to execute that bytecode.
So the game was able to execute game logic either in native form (C compiled to a shared object), or in bytecode form, where the bytecode was produced from the same source files...

...which tells a lot about the fact that they really, really wanted a VM to solve the safety and platform compatibility issues for game mods. They decided to use a VM even if they preferred the C language for game logic!

Have fun,
Massi