Is There Life Beyond DirectX?

Zangief asks: "Almost any gamer has, at some point, the idea of making their own game. I am no exception, so I've been playing around with SDL, which appears to be the logical decision over the craziness of DirectX. However I have also noticed that other alternatives, such as ClanLib. There is something else? Are there any other libraries, dev-kits, or tools that would be good for indie developers?"

Comments

Re:Gotta ask

[0x0d0a]

* It doesn't run on anything but Windows.

* You may not *like* portions of it. There isn't a very convincing reason to use a single combined API to do both 3d graphics and sound (at least that I can think of). If you use smaller, more modular APIs, you can use precisely what you like the most.

That being said, it's well supported and tested by Microsoft, and it's free.

Re:Gotta ask

[ChaosDiscord]

What's wrong with DirectX?

1.) Well supported. Works across 98, 2k, and XP. That's MILLIONs of machines there.

Not well supported. Doesn't work on MacOS, PS2, or GameCube. That's millions more machines. Because it's proprietary, it's unlikely to ever be supported on those playforms.

2.) DirectX not only handles graphics, but sound and input as well. It's just not somethting you get from OpenGL.

Apples to oranges. That's like saying, "OpenOffice not only handles word processing, but spreadsheets and presentation graphics as well. It's just not something you get from Microsoft Word."

DirectX is just a big label covering a number of different technologies (DirectSound, DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectInput, DirectPlay, and other). The ties between them are minimal. OpenGL's match is Direct3D. If you want a similar package that provides a wide variety of support, look to toolkits like the SDL.

3.) It's always growing. Supposedly they always have new features and stuff going into DirectX. Can't say I know how that compares with other API's, but it seems like Nvidia and ATI are always doing something with MS there.

DirectX on the whole has largely stabilized. This is actually good, it means that developers can spend less time worrying about the API of the week a focus on writing games. The only part that is in heavy flux is Direct3D. Direct3D's more open counterpart, OpenGL, is also in heavy flux and manages to keep apace of Direct3D's new functionality.

Ultimately, the big problem is that DirectX is proprietary. If you want move to another system (like the growing Mac market) your use of DirectX becomes a burden to rewrite.