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SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

lists.libsdl.org

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Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#31

Post by winter_blue »

munchor wrote: post #4

Lately I started using SFML instead of SDL for C++ Game Development. However, I'll still use SDL on future projects I hope. It's a brilliant library, so compact and portable that the games you write will be able to be compiled to a lot of platforms, even high school graphing calculators[1]. The SDL development still impresses me and 2.0.0 is a major milestone and multiple windows, new OpenGL, touch support, Android a…

I really like SFML, I've been using for a small game project of mine as well. The API is just nice and beautiful.

I was wondering how SDL 2.0 stacks up against SFML? Does anyone know much about it?

I'm only doing 2D game development, so SDL's "simple 2D rendering API that can use Direct3D, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, or software rendering behind the scenes" is perfect for my needs. However it needs to support two basic things:

* Rotation (additional matrix transformation like scaling & shearing would be nice as as well)

* Transparency (being able to apply a color filter not necessarily limited to the alpha channel, like an RGBA filter would be nicer)

Does it support the above? (I'm guessing it does -- just want to be sure.)

Also, I know Android/iOS support for SFML is in the pipeline, but the fact that it's not ready yet is another reason it might be good to switch to SDL 2.

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#32

Post by munchor »

chrisballinger wrote: post #3

Looks like they changed their license from LGPL to zlib as well. I wonder if this will increase adoption, or if it just was so Valve could use it in Steam for Linux.

>The really big news is the license change: SDL2 is now covered by the zlib license, whereas previous versions were/are using the GPL/LGPL license.

>This means that it's okay to statically link SDL2 into your game, instead of needing to ship a folder full of shared libraries! xD

source: [1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1k9ila/sdl_20_has_b...

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#33

Post by lifthrasiir »

winter_blue wrote: post #31
munchor wrote: post #4

Lately I started using SFML instead of SDL for C++ Game Development. However, I'll still use SDL on future projects I hope. It's a brilliant library, so compact and portable that the games you write will be able to be compiled to a lot of platforms, even high school graphing calculators[1]. The SDL development still impresses me and 2.0.0 is a major milestone and multiple windows, new OpenGL, touch support, Android a…

I really like SFML, I've been using for a small game project of mine as well. The API is just nice and beautiful. I was wondering how SDL 2.0 stacks up against SFML? Does anyone know much about it? I'm only doing 2D game development, so SDL's " simple 2D rendering API that can use Direct3D, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, or software rendering behind the scenes " is perfect for my needs. However it needs to support two basic thin…

Yes. SDL_RenderCopyEx and SDL_SetTextureAlphaMod is what you want.

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#34

Post by cfrss »

angersock wrote: post #12
mahmud wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't SDL the simplest, most portable way to use OpenGL? OpenGL by itself is useless, it just does 3D graphics, and its GLUT library is too bare-bones to be of much use. SDL is a good, portable chassis for OpenGL application that don't need native GUI integration. An SDL OpenGL app will compile and run almost anywhere, with minimal fuss. Compare that to using OpenGL contexts inside platform-specific toolkits.

GLFW is an excellent library: http://www.glfw.org/ It's very, very barebones (just enough to GL up to do a thing), but it's quite good in that role.

Unfortunately, it is not yet available on Android and iOS. Also http://www.glfw.org/faq.html#12__what_is_glfw_not

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#36

Post by exDM69 »

ambrop7 wrote: post #35

Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc., and the joystick will still not be recognized if you plug it in after the game starts.

> Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc.

You can hardly blame SDL for this, games are not really what X11 was designed for. Setting up full screen and asking for exclusive access to the keyboard will prevent the window manager from doing anything to it.

My solution for this problem: use a window manager that can full screen any window and switch back.

> and the joystick will still not be recognized if you plug it in after the game starts.

To be fair, 99% of AAA games don't support joystick hotplugging either. It's really annoying.

Since you have not checked whether this is actually the situation and do not properly understand the other components in the equation, I find your attitude offensive.

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#38

Post by davexunit »

angersock wrote: post #26
munchor wrote: post #4

Lately I started using SFML instead of SDL for C++ Game Development. However, I'll still use SDL on future projects I hope. It's a brilliant library, so compact and portable that the games you write will be able to be compiled to a lot of platforms, even high school graphing calculators[1]. The SDL development still impresses me and 2.0.0 is a major milestone and multiple windows, new OpenGL, touch support, Android a…

The network and scenegraph stuff that SFML comes with is quite nice--the choice of C++, though, makes other language bindings a bit more clunky.

Yeah, imo SFML's biggest weakness is that it is written in C++ instead of C.

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#39

Post by ambrop7 »

exDM69 wrote: post #36
ambrop7 wrote: post #35

Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc., and the joystick will still not be recognized if you plug it in after the game starts.

> Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc. You can hardly blame SDL for this, games are not really what X11 was designed for. Setting up full screen and asking for exclusive access to the keyboard will prevent the window manager from doing anything to it. My solution for this problem: use a window manager that can full screen any window and switch back. > and the joy…

> You can hardly blame SDL for this, games are not really what X11 was designed for.

It's funny how the Windows version of the game usually works just fine in Wine, minimization and window switching included.

> Setting up full screen and asking for exclusive access to the keyboard will prevent the window manager from doing anything to it.

Then why are they asking for exclusive access to the keyboard in the first place? X has rich input protocols (XInput2 was recently designed).

> Since you have not checked whether this is actually the situation

True, but I have read the changelog, and it doesn't mention any of these two annoying problems to be fixed. Part of the reason I made this comment is to see if someone else knows whether they were fixed.

Re: SDL 2.0.0 is out after many years in development

#40

Post by ambrop7 »

exDM69 wrote: post #36
ambrop7 wrote: post #35

Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc., and the joystick will still not be recognized if you plug it in after the game starts.

> Let me guess: it's still impossible to minimize a full screen game on Linux or alt-tab etc. You can hardly blame SDL for this, games are not really what X11 was designed for. Setting up full screen and asking for exclusive access to the keyboard will prevent the window manager from doing anything to it. My solution for this problem: use a window manager that can full screen any window and switch back. > and the joy…

> and do not properly understand the other components in the equation

Even though I believe I do, this is irrelevant, all the end user sees is that it doesn't work, he doesn't care about the architectural problems of the window system. It's extremely annoying when you have to exit the game to look something up (probably related to the game itself), or do anything else, especially considering how long modern games take to load.

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