SDL Tutorials? Learning SDL

I would actually recommend SFML instead of SDL. I found it MUCH easier to learn, just using the tutorials on its website. SFML applications will also run faster then SDL. (Unless you use SDL + OpenGL)

If you want to stick to SDL http://www.lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/ has some good tutorials.

The first question would be, do you want to use SDL as a OpenGL wrapper (doing 3D graphics) or as the 2D part of it, blitting surfaces and stuff? If it's the second choice, you might want to take a look at SFML which is probably a bit better since it allow drawing of shapes without needing external addons like SDL_gfx pr SDL_draw.

Anyway, back to the question, the best guide is probably just reading the official stuff. There's just tons of tutorial on the official site.

The official guide:
http://www.libsdl.org/intro.en/toc.html
The official wiki:
http://wiki.libsdl.org/moin.cgi/FrontPage (1.2 at http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/docwiki.cgi)
The official page linking to external tutorial sites:
http://wiki.libsdl.org/moin.cgi/Tutorials
With an easy link to find being
http://www.sdltutorials.com/

The lib site itself has a few good recommendations!

http://www.libsdl.org/

I personally have found Lazy Foo and SDL Tutorials to both be excellent resources to get you started in this area.

http://www.lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/
http://www.sdltutorials.com/

Another lesser known tutorial site (although I haven't reviewed everything he has done) was:

http://www.aaroncox.net/tutorials/2dtutorials/index.html

Hope this helps!

I also recommend SFML. The API has a really simple and elegant design in my opinion.

Wow! Lots of SFML suggestions XD

One more question I have would bet this. Would you reccomend using SDL with OpenGL?
I was thinking about learning SDL first simply for making 2D games and such and then moving on to OpenGL but I hadn't decided if I was going to use the two together yet.

If you guys think that SDL + OpenGL is a good option then I will probably learn SDL and make 2D games. Once I get a handle on that I'll start learning some OpenGL.

If it would be better to learn OpenGL completly seperate from SDL in the first place then I might check out this SFML. Thanks guys :D

I would start off with SFML and for 3d, I'd use something like Ogre3D or Irrlicht. These are graphic libraries that do a lot of the work for you.

Quote:

Original post by AdrianC I would start off with SFML and for 3d, I'd use something like Ogre3D or Irrlicht. These are graphic libraries that do a lot of the work for you.

Ya I've seen some great games (even comercial ones) made with Ogre3D and have been interested in it for a while but wasn't sure if I had the abilities to use it.

That does sound like a good idea to start with something more simple like SFML and then use a graphic library for 3D. Thanks for the suggsetion! That may very well be what I end up doing :D

EDIT: One more question I forgot to ask. Does anyone know of some good tutorials/resources for learning SFML? All I could find was the tutorials on the official website. Anyone know of further resources that could be helpful?
Thanks again :)

[Edited by - Dawisch on November 22, 2010 10:15:01 PM]

SFML is still pretty new so there aren't many tutorials out there. Its pretty easy to pick up tho. Their community is fairly active and the creator will often answer questions himself.

I'm no expert (in fact, I've recently moved away from c++ and started messing with AS3/Flash instead) but I can also answer some basic questions.