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Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

blog.wolfire.com

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Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#2

Post by taspeotis » 

    API use was shifted in favor of DirectX
    by Microsoft's two-pronged DirectX
    campaign around the launch of XBox
    360 and Windows Vista, including the
    spread of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt)
    about the future of OpenGL, and wild
    exaggeration of the merits of DirectX.
I thought it was because that, at the time, the OpenGL API was shit [1].

    By the time of OpenGL 2.1, OpenGL was
    running into a problem. It had a lot of
    legacy cruft. The API wasn't easy to
    use anymore. There were 5 ways to do
    things, and no idea which was the fastest.
And really, the author of the blog post should have known this when the blog post was written...

    By David Rosen on January 8th, 2010
OpenGL 2.1 came out in 2006 [2].

[1] http://programmers.stackexchange.com/a/88055/7067

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL#OpenGL_2.1

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#4

Post by goldenkey »

treeform wrote: post #3

It feels like a lot and nothing has changed since that 3.9 year old blog post. On one had webGL, steamOS, Mac games, iOS games, and Android Games. On the other hand gaming PC is still a windows PC. What are your thoughts?

DirectX has a way better API which might be why. DirectX has been COM oriented, OOP design, for years. While OpenGL was handle-based, purely procedural.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#5

Post by acgourley »

treeform wrote: post #3

It feels like a lot and nothing has changed since that 3.9 year old blog post. On one had webGL, steamOS, Mac games, iOS games, and Android Games. On the other hand gaming PC is still a windows PC. What are your thoughts?

Most importantly tools like Unreal / Unity3D are so good you almost stop caring if you're running onOpenGL or Direct3D. And this of course is very bad news for windows as the only PC gaming option.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#6

Post by ekianjo »

taspeotis wrote: post #2

API use was shifted in favor of DirectX by Microsoft's two-pronged DirectX campaign around the launch of XBox 360 and Windows Vista, including the spread of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about the future of OpenGL, and wild exaggeration of the merits of DirectX. I thought it was because that, at the time, the OpenGL API was shit [1]. By the time of OpenGL 2.1, OpenGL was running into a problem. It had a lot of le…

It's also a legacy issue: once developers start using DirectX, it's harder for them to go back, and traditionally PC development has been Windows-only (more or less) for many years. Now that the market is becoming fragmented again between different platforms, there is more incentive to go for a cross-platform API than before - and that's where standards matter.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#8

Post by pjmlp »

Again that post. Spreading the lie that all game consoles support OpenGL.

Yes, OpenGL is a great API if one cares about portability and FOSS.

Reality, the game industry cares about their IP and getting games released no matter what technology stack is used.

Many AAA studios don't even develop for all platforms, rather target a main one, leaving the port to subcontractors.

Back in the golden days of the arcades, many subcontractors were not even given source code. There are plenty of subcontractor stories about having to play through games while taking pictures or recording on tape.

When you have development processes like this in place, the gaming API doesn't matter that much.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#9

Post by pjmlp »

goldenkey wrote: post #4
treeform wrote: post #3

It feels like a lot and nothing has changed since that 3.9 year old blog post. On one had webGL, steamOS, Mac games, iOS games, and Android Games. On the other hand gaming PC is still a windows PC. What are your thoughts?

DirectX has a way better API which might be why. DirectX has been COM oriented, OOP design, for years. While OpenGL was handle-based, purely procedural.

Yes, many that bash DirectX never experienced how the whole ecosystem works and the existing offers in terms of tooling for performance analysis.
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