On a more serious note, I am starting to research more and more about SDL 1.3 – and I think all of you should too. If you aren’t familiar with what SDL 1.3 is all about, here’s a quick list of features that I know of:
– Full backwards compatibility with 1.2 apps (no need to rewrite your code to get it to work)
– Support for the latest version of OpenGL and OpenGL ES
– Multiple Windows
– Multiple Displays
– 2D Hardware Acceleration (OpenGL or Direct3D depending on the platform)
– Textures used instead of Surfaces (for hardware acceleration when available)
– Multiple input devices (multiple keyboards, multiple mice, etc.)
– Pressure / Tilt / Accelerometer support
– Much better Unicode support
– iPhone support
– Audio recording
– Multiple audio output streams
– 7.1 surround sound support
– SDL_main is no longer required
If you have time, check the SVN out here: http://www.libsdl.org/svn.php (don’t get the old zip file, checkout the latest trunk).
I’m looking to start covering other “devices” that SDL can run on, so look out for that. Any additional features that I am overlooking? Let me know.
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For me, I’m most excited about the hardware accelerated textures!
I’ve been aching to use OpenGL for ages now, but my limited integrated graphics can’t handle it (seems like most DirectX stuff works fine… But I’m an SDL fanboy =D)
So I’m biding time until either SDL 1.3 comes out, or I can afford a new computer… or both I suppose =D
I’m most excited about the multiple input devices. Having multiple mice opens several creative doors… Last time I messed with SDL 1.3, though, multiple mice did not work very well. Since then, there’s been some specific discussion about that API, so it has probably changed.
Definitly – that could make for some new interesting games. First person shooter with two mice (left gun, right gun). Not sure how you would walk and look around, but it’d be cool!
Wow, the multiple windows/displays sounds interesting to play with. The new audio support sounds great as well.
Multiple windows is something long overdue, as well as the updated audio API. I just hope it will handle multiple audio streams that are different better.
Didnt really have time to look through SDL 1.3 because I’m busy with my contest project, but I should prolly check it out sometime
A tutorial with SDL on the DS would be sweet btw
Shh… you’ll ruin the surprise.