Yes. That is why OpenGL is the standard for most games. (Sorry couldn't resist )

Sorry Myrlyn68, I think WizRealm was being sarcastic.

As to Yulor's response: Porting the C++ code wouldnt be the issue. Its the heavy dependency on DirectX (where X can be X or Sound or Show or Play). Since i've never seen the code, I couldnt tell you exactly how hard it would be.

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It is a standard for most games? What qualifies as most games? With the exception of two games, all of the top 10 games from the past year require DirectX. Most games are written using DirectX - very few games use OpenGL comparatively. If most games used OpenGL, OSX would not have so few games available for it - but it does have very few games available for it.

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OpenGL is used for many games. The number of Direct X and OpenGL games varies depending on who has the technical lead at the time. Many games that use OpenGL rendering use Direct X for audio. Renderware which has been a popular engine choice supports OpenGL and Direct X. Its part of why Renderware is such a popular middleware product.

When we developed FLW fishing for GTI we used NDL Net Immerse the user could select between OpenGL or Direct X. Sometimes the Direct X drivers sucked and the OpenGL drivers worked. Having the ability to allow the customer choose a different render system saved the customer from returning the product and us getting charged with a bunch of returns. We were doing this in 1999, it seems this useful capability would be welcome in 2005 for use Indie developers from 3DGS. Offering customers a choice of render systems before getting a return is important, USA BASS has had over 5000 returns, its is a part a large part of the publishing landscape.

Torque is able to use Direct X or OpenGL, this selectable feature in 3DGS would be highly desirable for ease of porting to different platforms, or Operating Systems.

ORGE has the ability to support the MAC and PC.

It would be cool for 3DGS to support both rendering systems, and free us developers from the Direct X lock that exsits with 3DGS now.

Since I have ported Windows Code to the MAC in the past, it is not that daunting of a task. 3DGS will need to declare a graphics layer that is platform independent, and then you can switch in the needed render layer based on the client developers needs.

I am still good for being one of the first to purchase 3DGS MAC 2007.

Ken

I brought this up once a few years ago, if everyone pitches in like 5-50 bucks, we could easily accumulate the required cash to have 3dgs for mac.

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With the exception of two games, all of the top 10 games from the past year require DirectX. Most games are written using DirectX - very few games use OpenGL comparatively. If most games used OpenGL, OSX would not have so few games available for it - but it does have very few games available for it.

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What about PS2 games the biggest console out there with 70 million users, I can think of many games which are not DirectX.

Development for the PS2 (or Gamecube...) is a different matter than home computers (which this thread is primarily about). If you want to get into that issue, you could go ahead and toss in cell phones, PDAs and a dozen or so other electronic devices.

When you get to that point though you are no longer dealing with OpenGL or DirectX. There is a lot of hardcoded routines in the consoles - as well as proprietary libraries to run on proprietary hardware - with proprietary interfaces. The Playstation itself does not use OpenGL (at least not the PS One or PS2). Gamecube (as I have had it explained) also does not use OpenGL. None of the current mobiles are using OpenGL - although a few have looked into options like OpenGL ES.

So, I would still be willing to say that DirectX is the most common interface since it is used in PC games and the XBox consoles. The only thing that might come close would be Sony's proprietary interface...but I don't think that will quite do it.

For cell phone games, I use the Java SDK, and I am trying to get my hands on BREW, which is a C/C++ Compiler.

edit: Woops didn't mean to press submit..

I'm using DirectX on my computer, so these compilers can run on DirectX, but the programs they generate do not?