Why are there such a little amout of games on the market today that are programmed with openGL. Is directX faster or something. Can it produce better results. I have been trying directX for sometime now but It just isnt as intuitave or easy to learn as openGL. How can I expect to get a job in the game industry when 90% of games are made with DirectX and I only know openGL
Hello,
Direct3D most likely does have an advantage on PC’s because it is built specifically for that hardware, where as OpenGL is cross platform (except for extensions).
I would guess that most games use direct3D probably to get that extra speed boost or maybe they just happened to learn that API at school or something so they chose it. Microsoft probably advertised better or something which could be why more people learn Direct3D first.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter which API you use as long as you get the job done, and as long as OpenGL is still being supported. If you can create a really good game using OpenGL then I am sure there will be individuals (or companies) who will build the OpenGL support for you.
Besides, look at games like Serious Sam 2 (and there developers). I would say there design and algorithms are worth a lot more then their (portable) GL code.
How can I expect to get a job in the game industry when 90% of games are made with DirectX and I only know openGL
If you can desgin great algorithms and such, where your only stumbling block is that you use OpenGL, then I am sure it would not be hard for someone to port your GL code into Direct3D or whatever (they could also write wrappers). Remember OpenGL is cross platform, so whatever GL can do, be sure that Direct3D could do it to, so it should be easy to port your game if GL were no longer supported. Again, the game and graphic design/algorithms are more important. If you are an expert designer then I am sure people will hire you and give you your GL functions which they will simply implement in Direct3D or whatever (since that stuff is rather trivial).
However if you only know Direct3D then there is no gaurentee that it will be trivial to port it to some other rendering system, API or hardware.
those are just my thoughts,
[This message has been edited by hkyProgrammer88 (edited 06-17-2003).]
One last thing,
Although it is illegal (says Nintendo), look at the emulators. The games they play are among the best in the world, however it makes no difference what API was used to make them since they can always be emulated (wrappers). So focus more on good game and graphic desgin instead of API’s (unless your talking about ease of use and stuff not related to the game). OpenGL provides an “easy”, “hassel free” way to implement your ideas onto the computer.
I think I better stop now before I put my foot in my mouth,
Originally posted by GLMAN434:
Why are there such a little amout of games on the market today that are programmed with openGL. Is directX faster or something. Can it produce better results. I have been trying directX for sometime now but It just isnt as intuitave or easy to learn as openGL. How can I expect to get a job in the game industry when 90% of games are made with DirectX and I only know openGL
Probably for the same reason more people use Visual C++ then Borland C++. (I am guessing more use Visual C++).
Hi !
With DirectX you get sound, joystick, sound and network support for free in the same package, I think lot’s of developer use it because of that.
There are nice solution for this with OpenGL too (that works cross platform too) of course but MS is big and rules on the PC, so as long as cross platform isn’t very important I guess they will stick to DirectX.
Mikael
I thought most games offered both versions? I guess I don’t play that many games…mostly ID stuff.