[SDL] 2D API evolution (SDL 1.3/2.0)

[Paulo Pinto]

I have to agree here.

Even though I don't work on the games industry,
I know a few people that do. And I also attended
a few GDC already.

And the reality is:

a) You as a developer get a lot of support when
using DX by comparison with what you get from
OpenGL. I know sometimes this is just marketing,
but it works.

b) When developing games on Windows many developers
are already using the other DX subsystems so they
just go with D3D as well for the graphics part.

c) As David says, many users just use a vanilla
Windows installation with drivers that only provide
DX drivers. Even if the card is using a NVidia or
ATI chipset, you might not be able to use their
drivers without some hacking. Just remeber the
laptop users.

d) The latest announcement from Microsoft to provide
a cheap XBox 360 dev kit will make DX even more prevalent
as a games development library.

So I agree that a D3D backend should also be required
for SDL in the future.

Actually that might even be a requirement on Windows
when (if ever) we get Vista. Remeber that DirectDraw
is no longer part of the API.


Just my .02 €,
Paulo


Quoting David Olofson <david at olofson.net>:

> On Tuesday 15 August 2006 12:50, Torsten Giebl wrote:
> > Hello !
> > 
> > 
> > > Ok, maybe I'm just a coward for not daring to rely on OpenGL
> > > alone? However, it seems like it's a fact of life that proper
> > > OpenGL support is only to be expected on the relatively small
> > > number of computers owned by power users and hardcore gamers. This
> > > is a rather small user base if you're into anything but AAA
> > > titles. 
> > >
> > > So, Direct3D it is. ...and OpenGL, because I totally refuse using
> > > Windows as my primary development platform! :-D
> > 
> > 
> > Why ? I mean today a 3D card is pretty cheap, okay not an actual
> > one but a generation or two behind still has good speed and is
> > really 
> > cheap. The cards that i used over the years all had good OpenGL
> > and DirectX drivers. NVIDIA was the only choice for Linux users
> > a long time, but now maybe AMD+ATI will make the driver open source.
> > 
> > Also the crap built in IBM 3D Chipsets will get OpenSource drivers,
> > which will make many Laptop Users happy.
> 
> The problem isn't the cost or availability of video cards or drivers.
> 
> The problem is the combination of the average user who doesn't even 
> know what a driver is, and Microsoft's desire to eliminate OpenGL as 
> a mainstream technology on the Windows platform.
> 
> It doesn't matter that a proper OpenGL + Direct3D driver practically 
> downloads and installs itself on Windows these days, or that some 
> serious PCs come preinstalled with the latest drivers for everything. 
> The average surfing + casual gaming PC is still running a clean 
> Windows install with nothing but the drivers included on the CD. 
> What's worse, it's *your game* that is blamed when it doesn't Just 
> Work(TM) out of the box.
> 
> 	"All other games work on my PC, and this one
> 	 doesn't, so this game is obviously crap!"
> 
> 
> Of course, we can dream about the entire developer community just 
> boycotting Direct3D until Microsoft starts to include proper OpenGL 
> drivers on the Windows CDs - but I don't see anything like that 
> happening, ever. (That said, if it weren't because of John Carmack 
> and supporters, we'd probably not have accelerated OpenGL *at all* on 
> consumer hardware...)
> 
> Note that AAA titles and all Free/Open Source games are just a 
> fraction of the market, aimed at hardcore gamers and power users! 
> Whatever hardware and drivers this minority of gamers may be using is 
> pretty much irrelevant to the large volume casual games market.
> 
> Of course, there's theoretically nothing wrong with focusing SDL 
> 1.3/2.0 on power users and hardcore gamers, but it just doesn't seem 
> to make sense to me. SDL 1.2 + OpenGL is pretty much all you'll ever 
> need to support that user base, I think - so why bother with 1.3/2.0 
> if that is the *only* target user base?
> 
> 
> //David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
> 
> .-------  http://olofson.net - Games, SDL examples  -------.
> |        http://zeespace.net - 2.5D rendering engine       |
> |       http://audiality.org - Music/audio engine          |
> |     http://eel.olofson.net - Real time scripting         |
> '--  http://www.reologica.se - Rheology instrumentation  --'
> 
> _______________________________________________
> SDL mailing list
> SDL at libsdl.org
> http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl
> 




----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.