An additional OpenGL backend [$100]

[z0w0]

Helm currently uses Cairo as a backend, because that was the easiest way for me to quickly prototype a vector graphics game engine. However, Helm would benefit from using OpenGL in the backend instead and writing the vector graphics rendering stack internally. This would require a bit of effort, so I'm leaving it until the API is polished enough. Alternatively, investigate how to get Cairo's OpenGL backend working and see how fast it is.

Potentially there could be some sort of backend interface, allowing the Cairo backend to continue to be maintained alongside the OpenGL backend. This would also ease the effort to port to other platforms in the future.

I would also like to use GLFW-b instead of SDL1.2.

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[schell]

Using GLFW-b would also make it easier for Mac users to install 👍

[z0w0]

Yeah, even just having to explicitly install gtk2hs-buildtools before installing Cairo is reason enough for me want to change. Kind of minor, but still annoying. Plus on Windows it looks like users will need to install the Gtk+ dev environment just for Cairo.. eek. I was kind of expecting that to be the case though.

I'm looking to have this done for a 1.0 release (which I want to be a solid API, polished, optimized and fully-tested). But I first want to finish 0.4 before that, which is the current master. I'm aiming to have it fully tested (well at least, the most you can with a game engine).

[schell]

You may want to drop by the #haskell-game channel on irc.freenode.net - I'm sure those guys would be willing to help if you'd like, and I'm sure they'd love to chat about your engine as well. Thanks for the great work, btw!

[z0w0]

See #36 WRT to GLFW3 - the issue suggests using SDL2 instead.

[shoooe]

Were you thinking about replacing SDL/Cairo with GLFW-b/OpenGL or just allow people to choose between two different engines?

[z0w0]

Originally, the first thing. But now I want to change it so the backend is chosen at initiation of the engine. However, it would probably remain SDL for window management instead of GLFW-b, because I really prefer SDL for this sort of thing. Instead, you'd be choosing the graphics engine - for the first release that supported this sort of thing, SDL would always be used for the window management engine, whereas we may have the choice between OpenGL (2D), OpenGL (3D) and Cairo.

[z0w0]

Closing in favour of #114 since the engine abstraction is already there and the newer requirement is to have a 3D graphics implementation available for library users.