Face it. There are so few games on MacOS X and Linux, and the few that are there are generally pretty old and have been hand-ported. The only reason development companies ever support Linux is for a server mode for the game, and few companies support MacOS X. The only games that are for Linux or MacOS X are hand-ported by companies like Loki. But with OpenGL 2.0 coming out, OpenAL reaching its maturity, and SDL being stable as ever, I think that there is absolutely no reason why companies should not take the time and take the small task of making their games portable from the ground up. Most development companies have an excuse for not doing this: they are using non-portable APIs such as DirectX. However, companies may now consider OpenGL 2.0 and OpenAL more and more. Now if you are building a game from OpenGL 2.0 and OpenAL, why not just make it portable? You can just use SDL to initialize OpenGL, so there is basically no system-independent code. So do you think that, with the emergence of OpenGL 2.0, OpenAL, and SDL, that gaming could be taken over to MacOS/X and Linux?

My game works very well under Linux
I am using OpenGL 1.1, SDL, SDL_net, and SDL_mixer.
But it works only on Windows and Linux, doesn''t work on Mac, because:
1. I don''t have a Mac.
2. I hate the endianess change, so I''d have to rewrite a lot of code...

Height Map Editor | Eternal Lands | Fast User Directory

I''m building my engine to be cross-platform but never intend to use SDL

Join the World Wide Revolution:

Truth is, SDL is kind of slow, if used in the windowed mode (2d games, not the OpenGL part).

Height Map Editor | Eternal Lands | Fast User Directory

whatever happened to openML?(I think that was what it was called, it was suposed to be OpenGL what directx is to direct 3d)

We need more linux gamers especially those that are willing to part with their money Demand for games will drive game companies to meet it. That will create competition in the marketplace which in turn will result in better games or more of them. This will raise ihv interest and they''ll make better drivers since people will be buying linux hw. Better hw drivers and better dev. tools will drive more game devs to linux. More games will be produced and this will drive more gamers to linux and the whole cycle repeats. So you need to start with more gamers to create the initial demand so game companies can make profit otherwise they will go hungry and die.

Yeah, I agree with JD. Most of the people using linux are using it for either a.) business (including servers), b) academia, or c.) free software. None of those categories are very condusive to buying games.

Yes, there are people who really do prefer it as a home desktop OS; but they are few and far between, and many are more than willing to dual boot so they can play the latest Windows games.

More Demand will result in more supply. Right now, the way I see it, Linux needs to become more user friendly so that Joe computer illiterate would honestly consider using it rather than Windows before it will have any impact on the gaming industry. Now, if you take away the gaming industry and just ask if Linux should become more friendly for Joe C.I., you get a whole new debate. So I wouldn;t plan on any major surge of Linux games soon, unfortunately.

The Tyr project is here.