Hi everyone,

I think of this question every time I watch Jon stream and thought I'd get an answer:

Is there a reason why Jon switched to using OpenGL instead of DirectX? I know he used to use DirectX for previous projects and says he doesn't like OpenGl. I know the studio makes games for lots of platforms, is it somehow advantageous for this reason i.e. easier to port from opengl then other apis?

Thanks

You should probably ask him directly on stream since we can only guess.

He has mentioned on stream that for shipping product he will do D3D.

OpenGL is ugly and unstable on Windows - it is very hard to ship working product for so many bad broken drivers.
On small scale it is doable, when your target audience is a few enthusiasts. But on large scale you will encounter broken drivers and broken Windows installations - testing & maintaining fixes for that is a lot of work and effort.

But - is way easier to start using OpenGL, especially when you are writing your own language. All you need is ability to call C functions, and you can get your triangle on the screen. With D3D it's a bit more work - you need function pointers and structures.

Other than that there is 0 reason to use GL on Windows for serious work. Microsoft recently submitted code to mesa3d which allows to provide OpenGL interface that uses D3D12 as actual backend. I fully expect that this is future of OpenGL on Windows. See https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php...x=Mesa-21.0-Direct3D-12-Gallium3D

mmozeiko
But - is way easier to start using OpenGL, especially when you are writing your own language. All you need is ability to call C functions, and you can get your triangle on the screen.

Worked at Thekla for 2.5 years. Can confirm that's the gist of it.

From another angle (in general, not necessarily a Thekla thing) it takes a certain kind of wise patience to prototype a game using older technologies -- that you are very used to -- if it means you get to flesh out the product faster. Because then one can:

1. Build up a fan base.

2. Enable partnerships. Often this means much-needed funding.

You can always promise to upgrade to better tech later.

Thanks for the replies. That makes sense about making it easier when writing a program language. Also good take about what Abner mentioned - so most of the time it's expected that you'll move on from OpenGL for final product.