Good library to use for 2d game development with c

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8 comments, last by Alain Menard 11 years, 5 months ago
What is a good graphical library to use with c? Preferably i would like it to be quite low level and fast because i will be using it on a raspberry pi and i would like to learn about the computer itself while programming. Can anybody suggest any good tutorials for this library as well because google cannot tell me the quality of a tutorial from first glance?
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A good low level graphics library is SDL and I have heard good things about LazyFoo's tutorials for SDL.
Another suggestion is Allegro. It's similar to SDL, but gets updated more frequently and has a (IMO) more supportive community.
Did some searching, Cairo might also be a good candidate.
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Did some searching, Cairo might also be a good candidate.


Do note however that Cairo is a Vector Graphics library, which makes it inefficient for bitmap based graphical processing (if that is what is wanted). Also, if used for game programming, you will need to use additional libraries for audio and input, or anything else that gaming libraries usually provide.
Unless you do something unusual you'll be working with a Linux distro on the Raspberry Pi. Someone shared some tips for getting SDL working here if it helps -- they're using C++, but the SDL parts are the same. Lazy Foo's tutorials should help with using SDL itself.

Allegro is also a really good library with a very helpful community, but outside of the official documentation I haven't seen as much in the way of tutorials and reference materials.

You can probably also find some good information in the RPi wiki.


Hope that's helpful! smile.png

- Jason Astle-Adams


Allegro is also a really good library with a very helpful community, but outside of the official documentation I haven't seen as much in the way of tutorials and reference materials.


There aren't quite as many, no, which is a shame. There are a few gems out there though. Unfortunately, most of the good ones I could think of were for Allegro 4, which is a bit outdated now. There was a thread start here on GDNet about an Allegro Tutorial series though, which looks promising: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/633675-great-tutorial-for-those-who-want-to-make-a-2d-game/

Unless you do something unusual you'll be working with a Linux distro on the Raspberry Pi. Someone shared some tips for getting SDL working here if it helps -- they're using C++, but the SDL parts are the same. Lazy Foo's tutorials should help with using SDL itself.

Allegro is also a really good library with a very helpful community, but outside of the official documentation I haven't seen as much in the way of tutorials and reference materials.

You can probably also find some good information in the RPi wiki.


Hope that's helpful! smile.png


You can find a great video tutorial on Allegro here.
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Another suggestion is Allegro. It's similar to SDL, but gets updated more frequently and has a (IMO) more supportive community.

(Wow, I can remember using Allegro "1" back in its DJGPP days)

If you decide to use SDL, it's worth nothing SDL 2.0 gets updated almost daily if you get it from the repository.

[quote name='LennyLen' timestamp='1351644036' post='4995638']
Another suggestion is Allegro. It's similar to SDL, but gets updated more frequently and has a (IMO) more supportive community.

(Wow, I can remember using Allegro "1" back in its DJGPP days)

If you decide to use SDL, it's worth nothing SDL 2.0 gets updated almost daily if you get it from the repository.
[/quote]

Hey, I started with DJGPP too... and with RHIDE (Old Borland text GUI IDE clone) for an IDE biggrin.png
Those were the days...
My blogs:

http://www.osrebel.com <-- En Français
L'information libre et la joie d'apprendre

http://www.osrebel.com/english <-- English Version
Free information and the joy of learning

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