2 replies to this topic

[zackflavored]

I'm so sorry for registering on this forum for only this purpose, but I was not sure where else I could turn to for quick help - Just a quick question for you guys if you may!

Is OpenGL just an API (application programming interface) just for producing graphics? Or can it actually program applications such as games and such?

Thank you all so much in advance and good luck in all your programming futures!

-Zack

[adamp]

OpenGL is just an API for graphics. However, you can use it for graphics in applications such as games, tools, etc. It's cross-platform too!

[Razor]

Yeah, it's just for graphics. To make a full game you need some other things too:
1. Windowing and input. Can use the platforms api directly, for instance the win32 api, or one of the common game oriented libraries (SDL, GLUT, GLFW etc.).
2. Image loading. I think you can load bitmaps using glu (utility library for opengl) but if you want any more than that you'll need a separate library, such as devIL, or you can go lower level with libpng, libjpeg etc. Game oriented libraries might provide this too.
3. Sound. OpenAL, direct sound and fmod seem to be the most popular.
4. (optional) Networking
That's all I can think of right now that interfaces with the world outside of your program. Not that all of those do, strictly speaking, I'm just assuming you're not keen on writing image decoders and so on.