HI I want to move from text games to actual graphics I was thinking of using allegro (because I'm not any good with directx)) anyway I want some opinions from people using something that means comment on opengl if you use it sdl if u use it no replys about how it doesn't matter or I should text out a few any thank you anyone who's willing to help (*OMFGZ COOKIES FOR U'S*)

I moved this to the libary forums,

Quote:Original post by VosKeyGen
no replys about how it doesn't matter or I should try out a few

It doesn't matter, and over time you should try a few - but anyways...

Allegro seems to be a reasonable choice; it's pretty popular, and has been around for quite some time. You shouldn't have too much difficulty finding some good documentation and/or code samples for it. I believe there's also an AllegroGL extension that allows you to use OpenGL with Allegro at a later stage if you want to. I havn't used Allegro myself though, so I can't speak from personal experience.

I have used OpenGL (and am using it on my current project), but I'd suggest that if you're looking for something simpler than DirectX that you can do 2d work in that OGL may not be quite what you're looking for. I personally find OpenGL a lot cleaner and more intuitive than DirectGraphics, but its still a fairly complicated API geared for 3d work. While you certainly could use it for a powerful 2d engine, there are several other options for 2d which may save you a lot of time/effort, and will probably be somewhat easier to learn. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you'd have to try OpenGL for yourself to find out if it suits you.

I've only taken a quick look over SDL, so I havn't really used it extensively, but from what I saw it seemed reasonably intuitive as long as you can find some good tutorials. It provides you with a reasonable amount of functionality, it fairly well supported in terms of readily available documentation, and can later be used as a windowing/input system with OpenGL for 3d projects if you wish to move in that direction.

One other library you may want to look into if you're interested in something fairly simple is ClanLib. I havn't used it myself, but from what I've heard it takes a very high-level approach, and is a good library for 2d projects.

If you wanted to you could also look into using GDI for graphics, although most people don't really bother these days, and it can get a little complex if you aren't pretty comfortable with C++/Win32. If you're interested, there's an excellent site covering the basics of Win32 programming which contains some GDI lessons here.

Anyways, it's still really up to you to pick an API and try it out - what we've experienced with a given API won't neccesarily be true for you - but hopefully that helps you out a bit with your decision for which to try out first. Good luck with it. [smile]

I know where to borrow a book on sdl so maby I'll give it a look
Ty so far guys, thanks, and sorry if I came off snubish at first

Depends on what you want to do. Moving on to graphics only?
How about a little more info?
You are not any good with DirectX ... does that mean you know more about Allegro and SDL?

SDL is a good choice if you want to add audio, font support and maybe networking.
The header files have a lot of comments. Not easy to understand for beginners, though.
SDL and Allegro are great if you are able to come up with your own way to do things.
A lot of people will be able to help you if you use SDL and are stuck somewhere.
Unfortunately most tutorials are too difficult for beginners IMO.
I have used SDL and it is a nice library ...

I have not used Allegro but it seems as if that library is strong as well.
And there seems to be a very supportive community for Allegro and example games with source code.

The Nehe tutorials are easier to understand. But it takes longer to actually create a game with OpenGL.
Sound, and networking for example are not covered. There is more platform specific code.
There are frameworks that can make your life easier though.
GLFW for example.

If you're interested in SDL (you seem to be), you can find some good tutorials at the following locations:
http://gpwiki.org/index.php/C:SDL
http://www.aaroncox.net/tutorials/
http://sol.planet-d.net/gp/

I been looking it up on internet for last 5 10 minutes and I think I'm gonna go with sdl, ty guys