GUI framework for game/engine tools?

I've just skimmed all threads here containing "mfc", but I didn't find
what I'm looking for. So, here is what it is:
- As a side project (with a mid-range plan to become the base of my
mISV), I plan to begin to develop a level/scene/ai/physics editor
supplementing a game engine. The similar applications are Radiant
(Quake/Doom engines - Id Software), UnrealEd (Unreal Engine - Epic
Games), Sandbox - CryEngine, Crytek), etc. The main features of this
kind of windows application are:
- main view window, rendering a 3d scene with the same code that is
the renderer part of the game engine
- one or more tree views on the side, for example representing the
hierarchical structure of the scene graph, physics entities, etc.
- numerous dialog boxes OR panels in the fore-mentioned side panel

Nothing fancy, just a useful functionality, in the beginning only for
us, the developers of the engine, in the long-term the application
might become the official level editor of the game engine. There is no
need for some sort of "brand" or "recognizable" GUI (like Adobe apps
for example). Just to get the work done easily and without quirks.

One of my core concerns - interoperability of the unmanaged C++ code
in the engine DLLs and the front end application (the editor). The
main candidates are:

- MFC: my personal favorite. I'm relatively proficient with it,
nothing spectacular, but I have fairly good knowledge of its overall
structure (MVC, messages, etc.).
Recently I've read a thread here ("Microsoft is pushing C++"), where
I've read many optimistic things about the near future of MFC as a GUI
framework for Windows with Visual Studio. Now the cons: I have a small
doubts that the speed of GUI development will be far slower compared
for example with .NET framework, but this is not tested, only an
assumption. Correct me if I'm wrong.

- WTL: Previously abandoned by Microsoft GUI framework, now somewhat
resurrected, I've read numerous post around the net that it is used
commercially in many game development studios.
Pros: lightweight, native C++, Microsoft based (I'm not sure whether
this is a pro or cons?!?)
Cons: not officially supported by Microsoft, insufficient
documentation, lack of numerous tutorials and samples on the internet.

- .NET framework:
Pros: The newest GUI technology for Microsoft platforms, easy to
implement fairly featurefull GUI applications
Cons: Managed code, what bugs me most is how painless will be the
integration of the native C++ code (the engine) within a .NET GUI
application.

- Borland C++ VCL (part of Borland Developer Studio/C++ Builder):
Pros: As a predecesor of .NET framework, I have ~3 months working
experience with Borland C++ Builder doing GUI programming and I have
to say that it is a breeze to develop that kind of stuff (especially
the lack of experience with VCL prior that).
Cons: What bugs me here is again integration of game engine DLLs,
developed in Visual Studio within a VCL app.
Another concern is that apparently Borland are abandoning the C++
Builder.

- Some other GUI frameworks/toolkits: wxWidgets, GTK, etc. I don't
know anything about these, only the names and their platform
independence. What concerns me is the stability of the libraries and
again the integration and some issues for using rendering module
within them.

- Doing the GUI stuff as a part of GUI elements directly with the game
engine. This is an extreme, but not impossible at all.
Pros: the development of various GUI elements renderable with the game
engine will make a base for GUI for the game itself, which is a very
good thing.
Cons: the development of the needed GUI elements will take a lots of
time, I prefer instead to work on core engine functionality.

Thanks, all useful replies are appreciated.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Scid 3.6.25 (chess database, playing and training application)
    ... Removed Crafty engine, as tacgame.tcl does not need it any longer. ... Add a visual indicator to the game list if a comment was sent by the opponent. ... when deleting the last move of a variation by right clicking on board, ... A training base of over 1500 games has been released (not included in Scid package). ...
    (rec.games.chess.computer)
  • Re: fps modding
    ... >> to see the game data. ... > Visual Studio so all you really have to do is double click then compile. ... also building the engine in question with the same compiler). ... (why then are the load times so long?... ...
    (comp.games.development.programming.misc)
  • Re: Is open sourcing a good idea?
    ... > I've recently finished a working draft of my game engine (my ... > hesitant to open source my engine or even to share it online. ... I've now realized how stupid it is to do all of my own 3D gruntwork ... farther and farther you get into true indie game development, ...
    (comp.programming)
  • Re: Material categories ?
    ... >> of your inventory and much more) this is proven to be a game element ... freedom in settings but still easily maintainable by our engine. ... > To bring things back on topic, the materials I currently have defined ... OnColor1 do OnColor1DoStuff ...
    (rec.games.roguelike.development)
  • Re: sscanf and int64 in Win32 and Unix - different results?
    ... I use a C++ compiler. ... actually fetch that input are not portable and outside of the engine), ... updates the game object and sends messages to the ... This will all be done in C for maximum portability. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
Loading