"I've run DOOM more in the last few days than I have the last few months. I just love debugging ;-)" -Linus Torvalds
Linux, the Operating System (OS) that changed the world forever. It's funny how a simple concept can make colossal changed to the world we know. The simple idea of having an open-source OS, which basically allows anyone with a brain to modify the code and working of the OS, which means that the whole of man-kind is working on the OS. However, there are those set of people, who love Linux, worship Linux, but in all their divine strength cannot completely switch over to them, people like me, people who love their games.
Graphics Library, its a set of instruction which allow programmers to define 3D objects with ease, and also provide basic tool by which they can create new 3D effects. This single variable is the reason why Windows is still the favorite for gamers. DirectX is the Microsoft defined Graphics Library, which has been dominating every since the advent of DirectX 9, and like in all Microsoft fashion Dx9 works only on Windows and the Xbox (get it, 'X'box). OpenGL is their counter part and basically means Open Graphics Library, like everything open source you would expect that OpenGL would have out-classed Dx by now, sadly it hasn't.
OpenGL despite being open-source, was and is still governed by an organization, The OpenGL Architectural Review Board (ARB). OpenGL itself was a powerful library, originally started by the legendary John Carmack (Quake), who later on went to make GLquake. OpenGL was way ahead of its time compared to earlier versions of DirectX (2,3). If your asking if OpenGL can render the same effects as DirectX can, as in Skyrim, Battlefield, Crysis, Starcraft etc, the answer is yes. In fact the PlayStation3 exclusively uses OpenGL (since Dx is Microsoft's). DirectX functions implemented in DirectX 7, was in the very early version of OpenGL and this made OpenGL the King of the Hill, for a while.
So how did it all fail? Due to many mistakes made by ARB, like working on a project (Longs Peak) for over 2 years and never releasing it, not updating the most basic of updates, missing a golden opportunity when windows Vista came out, OpenGL not being supported by all GPUs and 3D Labs OpenGL 2.0 which basically made you compile your whole program twice. Developers preferred to write in their games into DirectX, it was easier, it was supported by all GPUs, and it was being well maintained. More over, windows was still being used by many people, hell it still is, despite OpenGL being able to be run on windows, DirectX was easier, and it wasn't like they were going to release it on any other OS. haha, imagine another OS other than Windows.
Valve, in my mind, are the best games developing company on Earth. Valve, is at the front-line of game development and they have one thing that most developers don't seem to have now-a-days, Patience. Valve, wrote the famous Source engine over 5 times over before releasing it in public. They have no organizational structure ie. no manager, no team-lead, nothing, just people. With such an atmosphere they have forged some of the most powerful pieces of software in our modern era. No doubt if they say "I'm going to change the world", they aren't messing around.
Steam, is a cloud based software which was developed by Valve and allows users to buy games online. But the cool part is that, it can be accessed anywhere in the world, all you need to know is your username and password. Essentially its the digitization of your retail store. A few months back one of the biggest tectonic shifts happened in the industry. Steam came to Linux, you can see where this is going. Steam on Linux would mean that game developers need not stick to a defined platform to publish their games. It is also the first mainstream publisher to step foot in Linux. More over, the source engine is being ported to Linux, so you can expect to see games like Counter strike, Half-life, Dota 2, Left 4 Dead on Linux soon.
This shift means that developers will think of OpenGL as a viable graphics library to develop games and its possible for them to develop games which can run on Linux as a native OS, hence more people buying your game and thus more profit. With the advent of OpenGL 4.4 and the ARB learning from their mistakes, OpenGL has been quite, but has grown in colossal proportions.
It's the first step toward a direction which no-one has ever ventures, and pushes our capabilities as an industry. Recent studies have shown that OpenGL works faster even when run on Windows. It's a future I am hoping for, a future where imagination is the limit, and creativity is the wall. Where a lost knowledge of the past comes back to show, why it was and is the best Graphics Library. A future where I can finally uninstall Windows, and Boot in under 30 second.
Graphics Library, its a set of instruction which allow programmers to define 3D objects with ease, and also provide basic tool by which they can create new 3D effects. This single variable is the reason why Windows is still the favorite for gamers. DirectX is the Microsoft defined Graphics Library, which has been dominating every since the advent of DirectX 9, and like in all Microsoft fashion Dx9 works only on Windows and the Xbox (get it, 'X'box). OpenGL is their counter part and basically means Open Graphics Library, like everything open source you would expect that OpenGL would have out-classed Dx by now, sadly it hasn't.
OpenGL despite being open-source, was and is still governed by an organization, The OpenGL Architectural Review Board (ARB). OpenGL itself was a powerful library, originally started by the legendary John Carmack (Quake), who later on went to make GLquake. OpenGL was way ahead of its time compared to earlier versions of DirectX (2,3). If your asking if OpenGL can render the same effects as DirectX can, as in Skyrim, Battlefield, Crysis, Starcraft etc, the answer is yes. In fact the PlayStation3 exclusively uses OpenGL (since Dx is Microsoft's). DirectX functions implemented in DirectX 7, was in the very early version of OpenGL and this made OpenGL the King of the Hill, for a while.
So how did it all fail? Due to many mistakes made by ARB, like working on a project (Longs Peak) for over 2 years and never releasing it, not updating the most basic of updates, missing a golden opportunity when windows Vista came out, OpenGL not being supported by all GPUs and 3D Labs OpenGL 2.0 which basically made you compile your whole program twice. Developers preferred to write in their games into DirectX, it was easier, it was supported by all GPUs, and it was being well maintained. More over, windows was still being used by many people, hell it still is, despite OpenGL being able to be run on windows, DirectX was easier, and it wasn't like they were going to release it on any other OS. haha, imagine another OS other than Windows.
Valve, in my mind, are the best games developing company on Earth. Valve, is at the front-line of game development and they have one thing that most developers don't seem to have now-a-days, Patience. Valve, wrote the famous Source engine over 5 times over before releasing it in public. They have no organizational structure ie. no manager, no team-lead, nothing, just people. With such an atmosphere they have forged some of the most powerful pieces of software in our modern era. No doubt if they say "I'm going to change the world", they aren't messing around.
Steam, is a cloud based software which was developed by Valve and allows users to buy games online. But the cool part is that, it can be accessed anywhere in the world, all you need to know is your username and password. Essentially its the digitization of your retail store. A few months back one of the biggest tectonic shifts happened in the industry. Steam came to Linux, you can see where this is going. Steam on Linux would mean that game developers need not stick to a defined platform to publish their games. It is also the first mainstream publisher to step foot in Linux. More over, the source engine is being ported to Linux, so you can expect to see games like Counter strike, Half-life, Dota 2, Left 4 Dead on Linux soon.
This shift means that developers will think of OpenGL as a viable graphics library to develop games and its possible for them to develop games which can run on Linux as a native OS, hence more people buying your game and thus more profit. With the advent of OpenGL 4.4 and the ARB learning from their mistakes, OpenGL has been quite, but has grown in colossal proportions.
It's the first step toward a direction which no-one has ever ventures, and pushes our capabilities as an industry. Recent studies have shown that OpenGL works faster even when run on Windows. It's a future I am hoping for, a future where imagination is the limit, and creativity is the wall. Where a lost knowledge of the past comes back to show, why it was and is the best Graphics Library. A future where I can finally uninstall Windows, and Boot in under 30 second.
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