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Multiplatform game SDK choice

Started by Peter Mrozek Jul 22, 2012 at 9:59 AM 4 replies 4k views

Original Post

Jul 22, 2012 at 9:59 AM

Hello everyone.

I recently started designing a game and I'm thinking about the choice of a SDK that would be multiplatform and that would handle the harder parts of the game logic (threads mainly, but wrappers for other things like graphic handling, OpenGL support, sound handling, input handling also would be nice but not necesarry). The main development environment is Linux for the time being.

I've already got some options like:

SDL with C/C++;
ClanLib with C++;

The main question is: are there any other SDKs that are worth the attention? It's all mainly about thread handling. I don't have a problem with POSIX Threads myself, but I didn't do stuff like that on other platforms (Windows mainly), hence the need for a wrapping SDK.

When saying "multiplatform" I mean: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X (the big three). The mobile platforms are a separate topic, as the game itself will need to be a bit redesigned for mobile.

Some advice for more experienced people would be very helpful.

Regards,
MoroS

mrbastard

Jul 22, 2012 at 7:10 PM

Multi-platform threading seems a slightly strange thing to base a choice like this on.

C++11 has threading support built in - so any platform that has a compiler that supports C++11 already has a multi-platform threading API built in. If C++11 support is incomplete on your platforms of choice, you can/should use the boost thread library instead.

linuxgamer_44403

Jul 22, 2012 at 11:27 PM

@MoroS84

In all honesty, I'm not at all a programmer or game designer.

However, I can point you to a few options and you can choose from there.

I have a few game engines listed on Linux Game Consortium.

Linux Game News has a few other choices, commerial options we've come across.
Unity is also another option for cross-platform gaming.

Best Regards,

Todd B.
Linux Game News &
Linux Game Consortium

Peter Mrozek

Jul 23, 2012 at 3:23 PM

Multi-platform threading seems a slightly strange thing to base a choice like this on.

It does look strange when you think of it as a main reason, but it's not my main priority. I just trying to gather some information about threading support, so I don't stumble on some problems later on (porting to other systems, etc.). It's a benefit in the long run. ;)

I'm aware that ClanLib and SDL both give threading support. From what I remember Allegro has it too, but I didn't use that one since version 3.x (it had timers, not threads, but it did get the job done). Hell, I can even decide not to use any SDKs as long as I find a good set of libraries that won't give me a headache when porting to other systems (like boost for example). The main SDKs role that I look forward to is to shorten the development cycle as much as possible (and the only one I guess).

As for the C++11... Well that's a topic I still have to catch on with. I haven't used C++ in anything more advanced for 3-4 years now, so the "reading & learning phase" is ahead of me. I'm going to go with GCC for the basic version of the game and it seems that in version 4.7 the C++11 is fairly well supported (still there are some things missing).

Anyway, @mrbastard, @LinuxGameConsortiumthanks for the feedback and links. Much appreciated.

Dragonsoulj

Jul 23, 2012 at 3:54 PM

If I remember correctly, SFML supports threads, works well with C++ and allows OpenGL code. It supports audio and has input handling and it's own 2D graphics handling. I know it works fine on both Windows and Linux (I've compiled on both and tested it).

Peter Mrozek

Jul 23, 2012 at 4:38 PM

If I remember correctly, SFML supports threads, works well with C++ and allows OpenGL code. It supports audio and has input handling and it's own 2D graphics handling. I know it works fine on both Windows and Linux (I've compiled on both and tested it).

Seems nice. I'll look in to it too. Thanks.

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