Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/02/08/19:30:30
Dan wrote
>so...does anyone have any comments to make on this? I thought I read
>about a few people complaining about API's, but i don't remember what
>their complaints were. If anyone could shed some light on all this I
>would REALLY appreciate it. for example, does anyone know if one
>compiler would be much faster than the other? do game companies look
>for people that know directdraw as opposed to people that know djgpp?
>and the like...
D3D is a terrible API. It's very convoluted and over complicated. If it
weren't for the M$ name on it, nobody would use it. As for games, they call
for high performance. GLIDE, which is the 3Dfx API is free, well
documented, and much faster than D3D. Also, the state of the art changes.
Don't chase the horizon. A few years ago, M$ was pushing GDI and stuff,
then they changed to DirectX, who knows what it'll be in a few years?
DJGPP was used it to write Quake, and they could afford to use any system
they wanted to. Add to this the fact that DJGPP is free, and you have a
real winner.
There is work being done on a port of Allegro to DirectX. This would
allow you to have both a DOS and a 'doze version just by linking to the DOS
or W95 version of Allegro. No code changes required. And Allegro is more
than just a gfx library, it includes timers (W95 compatible), keyboard and
joystick handlers and all kinds of other things needed by a game. Also,
Allegro isn't the only lib for Allegro, there are several others.
I have a feeling that what game companies, and companies in general look
for, is people who actually produce code. Everything else can be learned.
:)
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