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Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

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Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#141

Post by MBCook »

EpicEng wrote: post #134
AshleysBrain wrote: post #63

Isn't mobile and the web the decider these days? Article is from 2010, but consider if you want to develop 3D on any of these platforms: iOS - OpenGL ES Android - OpenGL ES Mac - OpenGL Linux - OpenGL HTML5 - WebGL (based on OpenGL ES) - even in IE! Emerging platforms like Tizen, Firefox OS - OpenGL ES/WebGL DirectX is just for Windows and Windows Phone. Isn't it getting to the point where the bother of having to wri…

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

> No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

Could you explain that? I've played some pretty great games on my iPhone/iPad over the last few years. There certainly are games that could stand up to the average PC release (remember BattleField 7 and Call of Duty 18 are not average). Many are at least easily comparable to games of the 16 bit era.

A sample from my purchased apps list: Battleheart, Beat Sneak Bandit, Brainsss, Device 6, Fieldrunners, Edge, Game Dev Story, Girls Like Robots, One Tap Hero, Punch Quest, The Room, Slayin, Spider, Spy Mouse, Star Command, Supermagical, Tiny Heroes, Tiny Thief, Waking Marks, and Zenbound.

This doesn't include 'tiny' games, ports, digital version of boardgames, etc.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#142

Post by seabrookmx »

JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #85

Microsoft use to be on the OpenGL board (I believe in the 90s?). OpenGL was geared towards scientific development, and we know Bill Gates wanted PC to be gaming platform. OpenGL at the time wasn't good enough, nor were they willing to make the necessary changes to meet Microsoft's goals. DirectX was born out of necessity, not proprietary greed. Edit: Maybe its time to take another look at OpenGL - open is better than…

> shader programming

Of course it does. Even OpenGL ES 2.0 and WebGL (based on the same API as ES 2.0) do as well.

The fixed function pipeline of old has been deprecated in recent versions, so you don't have a choice but to use GLSL.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#143

Post by EpicEng »

MBCook wrote: post #141
EpicEng wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

> No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future. Could you explain that? I've played some pretty great games on my iPhone/iPad over the last few years. There certainly are games that could stand up to the average PC release (remember BattleField 7 and Call of Duty 18 are not average ). Many are at least easily comparable to games of the 16 bit era. A sample fr…

All of your examples are casual games.

WoW, Rift, Guild Wars, SC, competitive FPS's, Witcher style RPG's, Elder Scrolls, etc. these are not games you will be playing on a tablet. There exists a clear divide between casual and serious gamers.

I don't mean to imply that there's anything wrong or inherently inferior about the more casual side of things, just that they really are two very different markets.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#144

Post by peterashford »

sliverstorm wrote: post #139
EpicEng wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

It might sound like a snide way to put it, but there is a clear dividing line; OpenGL dominates casual platforms. DirectX dominates "traditional gaming" platforms.

So the PS2/3/4 are "casual" and not "traditional gaming" platforms?

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#145

Post by driverdan »

EpicEng wrote: post #134
AshleysBrain wrote: post #63

Isn't mobile and the web the decider these days? Article is from 2010, but consider if you want to develop 3D on any of these platforms: iOS - OpenGL ES Android - OpenGL ES Mac - OpenGL Linux - OpenGL HTML5 - WebGL (based on OpenGL ES) - even in IE! Emerging platforms like Tizen, Firefox OS - OpenGL ES/WebGL DirectX is just for Windows and Windows Phone. Isn't it getting to the point where the bother of having to wri…

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

iOS XCOM is a great game, is far more expensive than most iOS games, and is has been very successful.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#147

Post by EpicEng »

peterashford wrote: post #144
sliverstorm wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might sound like a snide way to put it, but there is a clear dividing line; OpenGL dominates casual platforms. DirectX dominates "traditional gaming" platforms.

So the PS2/3/4 are "casual" and not "traditional gaming" platforms?

I believe the parent is concerned with PC games, not Console. It's not like most console producers are concerned with cross platform anyway (at least, not until perhaps now, we'll see).

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#148

Post by panzi »

laumars wrote: post #102
pjmlp wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but that is no reason to start spreading the falsehood that OpenGL is everywhere used on consoles, as many FOSS advocates do. Specially when enough information is actually publicly available for anyone that cares about game development, in online forums, games magazines, conferences and game courses.

To be fair, the reason I though the Wii supported OpenGL was because that's what I thought I read from Nintendo when I was seriously considering writing some homebrew games for my Wii. As to why and where I gained this misinformation I don't know. But somewhere along the line I've gotten my wires crossed.

Maybe the homebrew libs (libogc) support OpenGL? I doubt that you can use to original Nintendo SDK to write homebrew.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#149

Post by EpicEng »

driverdan wrote: post #145
EpicEng wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

iOS XCOM is a great game, is far more expensive than most iOS games, and is has been very successful.

It's not about good and bad, it's the difference between a game like WoW and a game I can play on a touchpad. Very different. The lack of horsepower is an obvious issue, but do you know how many keybinds I have in a game like wow? About 30-40. How about the precision of a mouse and keyboard vs a touchscreen? Screen size (lack of)? Some games are just too complex for these sorts of input devices and there's really no benefit to running them on a portable device. I'm not raiding while outside having a smoke.

Re: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

#150

Post by sliverstorm »

MBCook wrote: post #141
EpicEng wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if all you care about is candy crush and the random pay to win adventure game. No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future.

> No one is playing "real" games on tablets or phones, nor will they be anytime in the foreseeable future. Could you explain that? I've played some pretty great games on my iPhone/iPad over the last few years. There certainly are games that could stand up to the average PC release (remember BattleField 7 and Call of Duty 18 are not average ). Many are at least easily comparable to games of the 16 bit era. A sample fr…

Unfortunately there's no good word for the market your parent is talking about. "real" games, "hardcore" games, all have negative connotations, but your parent is contrasting lightweight games to heavyweight games. Angry Birds to Bioshock.
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