Is DirectX Necessary?

Greyson Stalcup · 2012-11-01T22:25:05

Hello! I am new here, and I have a quick question. I know a lot of C++ (Obviously not everything, and I am constantly learning more), and I hope to be a game programmer in the near future. As for game programming, is DirectX necessary? I am not asking if I should learn another library, etc. I am asking if, in order to be, for example, a "Gameplay programmer", is directX necessary to learn? I have looked at job postings for such a job, and most say "Great c++ programming skills" as a requirement, but never direct x. Some say "Experience with DX9 2.0 or above level Shaders and HLSL a plus", but a PLUS is not a REQUIREMENT. I realize it would probably be a great increase in my ability to land a job. So, my question is, In order to work at a game studio as a gameplay programmer, is it necessary to know DirectX?

For Beginners

Started by TheEbola October 31, 2012 05:01 AM

12 comments, last by L. Spiro 11 years, 5 months ago

powly k

657

October 31, 2012 10:59 PM

I would argue that your time would be better spent finding a graphics API (SDL, Cocos2d-x, HaXE NME, etc.) Using low level graphics APIs requires learning more about the OS than is really necessary. Most of these problems are already solved in SDL or Cocos2d-x.

Nope, it pretty much only means learning about the GPU a lot more - you know SDL can be used to launch a window with an OpenGL context, right?

Plus if you want some nice 3D gfx, it isn't that hard to setup your own engine instead of using something ready-made. Of course if you want results fast, go with something where you can just import a model and start writing shaders, but you get some deeper knowledge of GPU stuff if you bother to make your own - and less bloat ofc

I'd argue against it. Personally, I find graphics to be one of the least interesting part of programming.

I wasn't completely serious, tried to soften it with the 'arguably'

It's purely a good thing that everyone isn't interested in the same stuff - this would be a pretty boring place otherwise!

Pointer2APointer

287

November 01, 2012 08:00 PM

Some developers may prefer that you know DirectX for Windows platform-specific development, because in that case they may choose DirectX over OpenGL(even though up to certain point all advanced Windows-based games use DirectX for rendering certain aspects of graphics under the hood, but you simply don't have to code it that way from your position).

So I'd say that it isn't really necessary, seeing as most people go for cross-platform, and using DirectX itself would be harder to grant that through porting.

Yes, this is red text.

Ravyne

14,306

November 01, 2012 10:11 PM

If you're not a graphics programmer specifically, the advantage of knowing one flavor of DirectX or OpenGL is more about understanding the mathematical basis of it (Vectors, Matrices, Cartesian Spaces, etc) than the API in particular. You don't need to know a graphics API to learn any of that, but it does speak to the amount of practical experience you might have had with such topics.

As a gameplay or generalist programmer you will probably interact directly with such topics, and you will at the very least need to understand it.

throw table_exception("(? ???)? ? ???");

L. Spiro

25,818

November 01, 2012 10:25 PM

An entry-level programmer is not expected to know any one specific field of programming, whether it be graphics, AI, sound, etc.
Just knowing how to program and having a good understanding of the basic programming concepts is enough for entry-level in many studios.

Ultimately, what you end up coding later will be decided by your skill set, so if you are actually interested in graphics programming, you should start learning it.
The basic answer is, “Learn whatever field interests you, since that is the direction your career will end up going.”

L. Spiro

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