To GLUT or not to GLUT
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Are there any reasons for not using GLUT when developing a game? We are just in the beginning phases and I want to check this out before we get locked in to using it.
-david
I say Aye. I think it's a useful tool for rapid development of your game. If you implement your own window system, you will need to maintain it and that can be annoying... Also, its not difficult to "phase it out" even at the end of your project.
GLUT is perfect for light OpenGL application. IMO, heavy OpenGL applications such as games should use SDL. AFAIK, GLUT doesn't let you go fullscreen.
I've used GLUT in the past and it is pretty good. Of course, there is a LOT of room for improvement, which was supposed to be done in FreeGLUT, but I haven't seen a heck of a lot of new features lately.
The other day I discovered GLFW. I'd suggest everybody look it up. It works just like OpenGL, and has much more functionality than GLUT.
edit: In reply to alnite, GLUT does let you do fullscreen, it's called game mode. You pass a string with all the parameters to GLUT and then tell it to enter game mode. Oh, and I wouldn't limit myself to just SDL for large projects.
The other day I discovered GLFW. I'd suggest everybody look it up. It works just like OpenGL, and has much more functionality than GLUT.
edit: In reply to alnite, GLUT does let you do fullscreen, it's called game mode. You pass a string with all the parameters to GLUT and then tell it to enter game mode. Oh, and I wouldn't limit myself to just SDL for large projects.
Quote:Original post by frenchfry164
edit: In reply to alnite, GLUT does let you do fullscreen, it's called game mode. You pass a string with all the parameters to GLUT and then tell it to enter game mode. Oh, and I wouldn't limit myself to just SDL for large projects.
I have heard of this game mode, but I am not sure whether it's part of GLUT or some third-party developers added it. If it was then good.
>>I have heard of this game mode<<
sdl has got nothing to do with glut. see here www.libsdl.org,
glut hasnt been updated in years, sdl like glut is crossplatform (even runs on ps2) it also handles sound/input etc
sdl has got nothing to do with glut. see here www.libsdl.org,
glut hasnt been updated in years, sdl like glut is crossplatform (even runs on ps2) it also handles sound/input etc
AFAIK GLUT doesn't handle all that input/timer/thread stuff, so in this case SDL is the winner. On the other key though, GLUT has support for many different and sometimes handy functions that ease developement of 3D game - here GLUT is better.
Choice is yours, hovewer I would advice you to use SDL like I'm doing right now -> OpenGL + SDL and everythings fine, I can't complain (but I'm writing 2D game, so in your case it may be different). Another advantage of SDL is that it's constantly updated, and GLUT is not.
You can also throw dice ;-)
Choice is yours, hovewer I would advice you to use SDL like I'm doing right now -> OpenGL + SDL and everythings fine, I can't complain (but I'm writing 2D game, so in your case it may be different). Another advantage of SDL is that it's constantly updated, and GLUT is not.
You can also throw dice ;-)
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