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Which library to use?

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Started by chubbc July 11, 2007 11:49 PM

6 comments, last by chubbc 16 years, 9 months ago

chubbc

122

Author

July 11, 2007 11:49 PM

Hi, I am fairly new to both game programming and gamedev.net, first off i would like to congratulate all the people who contribute to this site, its wonderful. I have been programming for a year or so know and playing around with game programming for a few months. I began with C/C++ and then onto Java and python Perl etc. I have written some games in Java, Allegro and SDL on C++ and im am wondering which direction I should take and what library and language I should use. I see many people say to use C++ if u can live with the syntax and understand it, if so should I use SDL/OpenGL? I am looking for a library that can help me learn basic sprite based graphics and then onto 3D graphics. Can you please also link me to any helpful tutorials.

Stormtrooper

100

July 12, 2007 12:19 AM

I think going the SDL/OpenGL would be great idea. Its not that hard once you get the basics down, and having SDL take care of the input and window management makes learning OpenGL a lot easier. It will allow you to do simple 2d stuff and let you move onto 3d stuff when your ready without having to change libraries. You could also go the DirectX rout, but I personally like cross platform compatibility.

Here is a SDL/OpenGL tutorial.
http://lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/index.php

[Broken Silence] [GameDev Wiki]

chubbc

122

Author

July 12, 2007 02:23 AM

Funny you should mention lazy foo as I has seen it and was wondering to it value. OpenGL does graphics but does it do sounds or any of that or do I use SDL for that? I know that I use SDL for threading and timers, also do you know any good OpenGL tutorials preferably aimed at implementing it in SDL.

apatriarca

2,365

July 12, 2007 02:56 AM

OpenGL only do graphics but you can use SDL for sound. There are also other libraries for sound but I think you can use SDL if you haven’t particular needs.

chubbc

122

Author

July 12, 2007 03:07 AM

Ah ok thank you both very much for your help.

Trenki

345

July 12, 2007 03:35 AM

I would recommend you use SDL as it is very easy to use. You only need 2 lines (omitting error checking) of code to initialize it and create a window which is suitable for OpenGL rendering.
A good resource for OpenGL is the OpenGL redbook. PDFs for version 1.1 can be found using google or maybe via the OpenGL website. If you don't know anything about OpenGL and want something for free this is great. Once you know the basic stuff you can move on to more advanced tutorials.