SDL. What? Simple Directmedia Layer.

What is it? It’s yet another one of those game development libraries I’m trying. I’ve tried Ogre, Irrlicht, 3DGameStudio, DarkBasic.. What’s in common with all of these? They’re pretty much build for 3D applications. SDL on the other hand is for 2D games. “2D games are easy”. Put Game-Maker, Construct or any other drag-and-drop designer anyway. I’ve used them myself, they’re a great start and have self-programmable areas, but face it, you’re still creating a relatively pre-made game. The full 3D sets on the other hand, are quite simply, complex. So why’s SDL different? It’s 2D, it’s as simple as it gets (as far as I know), and all content is programmed by the developer(s). “Sigh, yet another engine..”. I’ve gone over some of my options so far, but what I really found interesting was this article:

https://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/features/makegames/

The trick about this article is, it’s not just a quick guide on game design. It doesn’t just explain the whole form of development and why I can’t make the next Crysis. The trick about the article is, it actually sets you off. It’s not about information you already know, it’s about the very fine guidelines it has, though none of the words will show this. You’ll have to read the entire article to understand, and maybe even have a passion in development yourself.

So what does that mean? No Terramortis? No fancy parallax mapped 3D environments? No, or in a more optimistic term, not yet. I figured this is probably the best path. I know the basics, I now know the feel of complex 3D rendering engines and their programming subsystems, and am actually going to start from the very beginning. You’d think you’d already know most of it, but once you actually go into it, you really realize you don’t.

So, who’s up for some of my home-made Tetris some time in the future?