GUIs

have a look at wxWidgets (I think a.k.a. GTK+, wxWindows).

http://www.wxwindows.org/
http://www.wxwidgets.org/

Could wxWidgets really be used in a game? I've never used it so I don't know how it works but it seems like in a game you'd want your widgets to be rendered using directx or ogl or whatever you're using and most likely skinned.

I've not got much experience here, but you might like to look into http://crayzedsgui.sourceforge.net/.

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Original post by oliii have a look at wxWidgets (I think a.k.a. GTK+, wxWindows). http://www.wxwindows.org/ http://www.wxwidgets.org/

GTK+ is something entirely different. It operates at a lower level than wxWidgets. In fact, wxWidget's uses it on Linux to give a 'native' look and feel (GTK+ seems to be the most widespread GUI library used on Linux these days).

You can use GTK+ with OpenGL (see here). But I think that would be far too OTT for what you probably want.

There are quite a few OGL GUI libraries. I don't think that a libray like wxWidgets would be a solution for game UIs. Try looking for some GUI libs here: http://www.libsdl.org/libraries.php

I've made one for Windows that uses C++/OpenGL. See link below for more info.

I am using wxWidgets for my editor but am using SDL for my engine. You can open a OpenGL window within a wx app, but thats not really what you want in a game, where the GUI should be within the opengl/direct32 window...

wx is cool i have to say, but its not suited for an engine as people here have said. At this stage I am not even thinking about how to do an in game GUI.

I second the recomendation for Crazy Eddies GUI. I have used it wit OGRE quite nicely, but there are other rendering systems that can be used - OGRE, Direct 8 & 9, irlight, and I think OpenGL but am not sure, but an interface can be written easily for any rendering engine.

Check out my binary demos for an OGRE/CEGUI demo program of mine.

its always a good practise to code your own gui

actually it s damn easy with opengl

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Original post by Basiror its always a good practise to code your own gui actually it s damn easy with opengl

Well, damn easy I wouldn't call it, because it requires alot of work on the design table if you want a GUI for future use. And drawing is quite easy once you have sorted them correctly (because some have textures and some don't and you don't want to change state every time).

So it depends on what kind of GUI you're making of course, and saying that's easy with OpenGL is not a good argument. The drawing is the smallest step in a GUI. I'm guessing that you've made a simple (a couple of controls) non-resuable GUI, because else you're genius!

well for me its easy since have worked with 5-6 different types of guis from mfc over basic win32 to java guis , delphi to VGUI from hl

Okay, sorry if I acused you before, that wasn't the intention (just saw now how harsh my comment actually was)... But I think you really should mention that you're quite skilled. I've also worked with Win32, MFC and Delphi's VCL (and that may have helped my alot) but I still think that the design is quite complicated to make it all fit together...

Well, thanks for the replys I have yet to look at wxWidgets or anyother suggestions yet. I'll reclarify my requirements,
1) Not locked into a specific rendering API, but I don't want to write a backend for OpenGL though, so it should be supported on at least one. (I can't imagine one that wouldn't at least support one?)
2) OO layout, with classes ect... I want to be able to over-ride a class to implement a view into my game world.
3) Fast, very important that it doesn't have a large overhead unless it has alot on the screen. Ie: I want to be able to make a large menu system in a turn based game, or a minimal interface in a arcade game.
4) Flexible, perhapes a redefinition of #2, I should be able to use it in game and as an editor. Or even a resource compiler ect... I want to be able to display debug info when my game is running ect...
As for writing my own. I've coded a simple one, but it lacks the design of a real GUI. I don't want to spend alot of time doing something already done!

What have existing games used?

Thanks, I gonna look at some of the one's all ready suggested.

Nick

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What have existing games used?

They've made their own. You could download the Quake I, II and III source to see how they pulled it off (well, actually it's quite hardcoded in I and II, and some scripting in III). The Half-Life I and II VGUI is also available trough the SDK's (the HL2 SDK requires HL2, but the HL SDK is free for download).