I dunno it is a great Lib but I''m trying to learn the Direct X API cause I know it will be better in the long run, with windows becoming the gaming platform of choice, making DOS games (And well semi functional windows games (Until Allegro 4.0)) isn''t gonna be that up to date. So what does everyone think is Direct X the choice for Game Programming of the future or should I just get better at allegro and quite whining Well gimme your thoughts thank Ye! Maketty (Matthew FitzGerald) Knightvision Games

Also what are peoples feelings on the input Component Of DX as compared to the functions provided in allegro?


Maketty
(Matthew FitzGerald)
Knightvision Games
Matt F. when you need a
newbie
and only the best will DO

I just thought I might answr this question.....

Pleanty of people USE alegro, but there aren''t toomany games relesed which use it. If you want to cut it with the big boys, DirectX is the way to go. Personally, I think OpenGL is a far better (and simpler) system to use, but I guess they both have their merits (DirectX has better Hardwars / feture support).

So, you should probably bight the bullet, and go straight for Windows. There''s pleanty of information available online, and don''t forget the masses of information here on GameDev!

NOTE: I don''t want to start some massive flame with pro-/anti- Allegro users. It may be fine for it''s purposes, but I don''t know how many of the bigguns use it!

Just my 5c (In Australia, our smallest currency is a 5c coin!)

Simon Wilson
XEOS Digital Development

I no longer use Allegro for my own reasons, but...

1) You can get Windowed support now with the latest WIP version which, despite the warnings on the website, is quite stable and will compile with VC++/MingW32.

2) Allegro uses DirectX and will save you a lot of time coding your own library

3) There are plenty of games made with Allegro for various platforms over at allegro.cc

Well, I sort of use Allegro. I can''t exactly get it working now but I digress. If you want to develop games professionally, don''t use Allegro. Until Microsoft goes down in flames (which may be never...), I would imagine that DirectX is probable the best (though not only) way to go. Of course, there''s OpenGL, Glide (despite it''s age, some games still support it) and so on. If it makes you more comfortable, you can wrap DirectX yourself to look like Allegro (I tried that once and didn''t like it). I personally like it''s support for input but as far as I remember, DirectInput isn''t that bad either. I guess it''s a matter of choice. Oh, I had a thought. If you want a game library that big developers use, try FastGraph (www.fastgraph.com). It doesn''t come cheap but I''ve heard that some actual retail games were made with it.

My problem with Allegro is that to some, using it shows weakness as a programmer. Essentially, their thoughts are that if you can''t code Windows and DirectX, you can''t really program (stupid masochists). I personally think that''s a load of bull but to each his own.

I guess your decision lies in what you want to do with your software. I don''t plan on selling so Allegro is just fine for me.

By the way, does anyone know of any other decent, free libraries? I don''t mean CDX or SDL, I know about those. CDX just won''t work for me and SDL code looks plain ugly to me (I have no clue why and yes I''m prejudiced against ugly code).

That''s my input for the day.

-Goku

Well then yeah I agree for what I''m going to be doing Direct X Seems the valid choice, thanks for your opinions!


Maketty
(Matthew FitzGerald)
Knightvision Games
Matt F. when you need a
newbie and only the best will DO

Guys, you''re comparing apples and oranges. Allegro is a library that wraps DirectX (for the Windows code anyway). The same goes for CDX, SDL, ClanLib and what have you. You can''t say
"Allegro vs DirectX". I mean, if you don''t use a 3rd party lib you''re just going to wrap the DX code in your own fuctions anyway. Right? Same thing.

What you should compare is performace. Can you write code that performs better than Allegro? Chances are good that you can. Allegro has quite a bit of overhead because it tries to encapsulate so much. You can still get decent frame rates. In fact, I''ve seen a few really nice Allegro games. But making a decision whether or not to use a 3rd party lib should be based on your needs and the performance of that lib. Do you want to take the time to code up your own DX wrapper functions? If so, go for it. Would you rather skip all the low-level stuff and get straight into the game code? Then choose Allegro or CDX and get busy.

So if you''re going to compare apples, make sure you''re comparing with other apples, eh?

No 3d only shooters... like Metal Slug or Gunstar Heroes....


Maketty
(Matthew FitzGerald)
Knightvision Games
Matt F. when you need a
newbie and only the best will DO