In this side tutorial we are going to be adding a soundbank that will load all of our sounds, and then we call play them via an ID whenever we want. This tutorial will only deal with sounds, not music, and mind you it’s a very basic tutorial that gets the job done. There is much that can be added to this class, for channels, groups and such, but we’re dealing with basics here. We’ll base this tutorial off of my SDL Events tutorial. So use those project files if you need something to work off of.

The first thing you need to do is download SDL mixer from the SDL website. It’s also included in the SDL library I provide on my website. Be sure to put the include files in the same directory as your SDL include files, and your lib files in the same directory as your SDL lib files to make things easier.

» Read more: SDL SoundBank

As I stated in the last lesson, we’re going to be looking at making a Map class that will be tile based. In addition to the maps, we’ll be creating Areas that enhouse many Maps. While we could create one giant map, it’s far easier to manage many smaller maps, and also opens the possibility of tiling maps as well. By the way, head on over to the SDL Image tutorial if you haven’t already done so, we will be making the switch over to SDL Image and stop using SDL_LoadBMP. No more chatter, lets get started.

» Read more: SDL Maps

This side tutorial is rather simple, short, and sweet. I am going to show you how to stop using those pesky bitmap (BMP) files that are too big and don’t support alpha transparency, and to start using other file formats for you surfaces (I personally like PNG). If you have not read my SDL Coordinates and Bliting tutorial, I encourage you to do so now. We will be building off of that tutorial, modifying the OnLoad function of the CSurface class.

The first thing you need to do is download SDL_image, the latest version, from the main SDL website. You can also download this library from the “Libraries” section of this website, under SDL. If you don’t want to worry about finding all these libraries, the SDL package I provide is good for most SDL beginners, as it provides SDL_image, and some other useful libraries. Be sure to put the include files in the same directory as your SDL include files, and your lib files in the same directory as your SDL lib files to make things easier.

» Read more: SDL Image