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Library selection

Started by scilley Jun 22, 2006 at 11:43 AM 6 replies 1.1k views
Original Post
scilley
scilley
I started making an engine about half a month ago. I used SDL and OpenGL, but I've been having some really strange issues (segfaults all over the place) and I'm concerned about how useful it will actually be in terms of cross platform development. I'm developing in Linux, but I want the game to be availible under windows, and I'm not willing to buy a copy of windows to make that happen (it's an ethical consideration.) I'm more than happy to bring on another programmer to do some conversion to Windows, though, so rewriting the code isn't out of the question. Anyway, I don't want to use SDL anymore. The game has to be GPL compatible. What library (libraries) should I use? I've considered the following: GDK+ (GDK--) - is technically cross platform compatible, but how practicle is that? I don't have a problem making the players install the RTI before they start, but will it really work? Can anyone with GDK+ experience tell me how that works? GDK+/Win32 - would be the most compatible, but then I'd have to wrangle another programmer, so I understand that option. GLut - seems easy, but I've been told it's not for big games. Can anyone explain why not? Other than QT (I have issues with that one), are there any options I don't have listed which I should consider? Any other thoughts? Thank you, Stephen
Wasting Time
Wasting Time
Quote:
Original post by scilley
I'm developing in Linux, but I want the game to be availible under windows, and I'm not willing to buy a copy of windows to make that happen (it's an ethical consideration.)


You have an ethical issue about having MS Windows on one of your development machines yet you want customers to be able to run your software on an MS Windows machine? What a strange constraint to impose on your development environment.

Commercial software developers do not care about the "ethical issues" of various companies and their operating systems or graphics APIs. If you produce software for platform X, then you develop/port/test on platform X. It's as simple as that.
Ravuya
Ravuya
FLTK or WxWindows may be good choices to set up your windowing. GLUT should be fine for a game of any size.

I personally use SDL.
samuraicrow
samuraicrow
If you have trouble finding information about WXWindows it's becuase the name has been changed to WXWidgets. It will set up OpenGL contexts, play .WAV files and offer native-looking GUI elements to the source program. You shouldn't need GLUT if you're using WXWidgets. It can even be used with SDL if you need to do that in a transitional state: here's a link on how to do that.

I have some ethical issues about using Windows myself but through the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance my student fees were used to provide me with a "free" copy of XP Pro. If you need to recompile your finished product for Windows, I can be of some assistance there (although I'm tied up with another porting job ATM).

-edit- Added link to WXWidgets.
scilley
scilley
Quote:
You have an ethical issue about having MS Windows on one of your development machines yet you want customers to be able to run your software on an MS Windows machine?

Well, first, it's hard to call them customers when they aren't paying. Second, I'm not saying it won't be tested/debugged on Windows, I'm saying I won't do it, so I'm not developing for it at this stage, and am trying to avoid touching it throughout the process if I can.

As far as WXWidgets and FLTK go, what is the windows RTI installation process like? Like, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being winzip, 10 being a new operating system) how difficult are the processes? Do they require anything else?

Thank you,
Stephen Cilley
samuraicrow
samuraicrow
FLTK is easier to install since it is typically a static link job to the application itself. wxWidgets is a little more difficult since it would have to be installed as a package rather than a static link like FLTK. That being said, FLTK is designed to be small and as such it is not as feature-rich as wxWidgets.

You didn't mention your sound requirements so I'll assume that you're going to be playing music with sound effects. If this is the case then you'll need another sound library for either of these packages since neither includes a music player. WXWidgets will play .WAV files but that is the only sound feature it has.
scilley
scilley
Quote:
Original post by samuraicrow
You didn't mention your sound requirements so I'll assume that you're going to be playing music with sound effects. If this is the case then you'll need another sound library for either of these packages since neither includes a music player. WXWidgets will play .WAV files but that is the only sound feature it has.

Can't I just use OpenAL?
Stephen Cilley

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