Just becuase SDL is split up into multiple libraries doesn't mean that SDL_mixer and SDL_draw libraries are inaccessible. It's just broken up into more pieces. Since some of the platforms I support only currently support static linking of SDL I prefer it that way.

Allegro is a slightly higher-level library in that it doesn't make you think so much about which library something comes from and so on. Simple Directmedia Layer is exactly that: a SIMPLE media layer that abstracts many of the concepts away from the libraries that they call.

Also, if you want to use OpenGL plotting functions from SDL, you'll need a wrapper for simple blitting functions as provided in glSDL or hxRender since the OpenGL context is a separate piece of code from the screen rendering code. In Allegro there is an OpenGL wrapper function called AllegroGL that is a wrapper for the Allegro Scene Render software renderer.

It is my hope that someday somebody (maybe me) will write a set of macros that will translate from one to the other or mutually translate them both into OpenGL primatives.

I tried to use SDL to make an entry in a short-deadline game compo. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time trying to get around SDL's shortcomings.

The problem with needing lots of extra add-on libraries, is that you have to obtain them and get them to build in all of your build environments- which in a 48hr compo is a big strain.

For example, I wanted my game to work on Windows, otherwise lots of people would be unable to play it- I was using SDL_ttf for text, but because of its idiotic build system I had to essentially hack the win32 makefile.

This would have been a bigger problem if I'd used more SDL_* libraries- each one has its own peculiar build environment and its own README which must be read.

Essentially I just prefer Allegro because it's "All under one roof".

Mark