To SFML or not to SFML
That is the question on my mind these days...
I think things would be smoother if I were just running the main C++ version of SFML, but unfortunately I am just way more comfortable in C# which means only having access to SFML.Net.
Don't get me wrong, SFML.Net is pretty great, but I think more and more I'm feeling like I should jump off to something else. I like SFML's API, and I think it does a lot of things in ways that make sense to me, but the support from the game development community just isn't there.
I know I am probably experiencing the old grass is greener feeling, but right now it feels very tempting to start to build Otter to run with something else underneath it. If I were to switch to anything I think right now my best option would be XNA/Monogame.
This is just a quick little test, but it is running in XNA with something much like Otter. Monogame seems to have the biggest support lately when it comes to portability which is pretty appealing. Right now I can barely get the latest version of SFML.Net to cooperate and that's after having someone else send me a compiled version of the library because for the life of me I just cannot get SFML.Net to build.
Just rambling a little bit here. I did manage to get SFML.Net 2.3 working with Otter... but with an unfortunate downside with texture smoothing that for some reason doesn't exist with 2.2. Texture smoothing for whatever reason now has a weird effect on the edges of textures, and when I try to use those textures in shaders I get weird results when sampling pixels around the edges.
Just feeling pretty frustrated I guess! I'm going to go down the XNA rabbit hole a little bit inbetween finishing up Sky Sisters... maybe it's possible to get an XNA build of the game rolling but who knows!
I think things would be smoother if I were just running the main C++ version of SFML, but unfortunately I am just way more comfortable in C# which means only having access to SFML.Net.
Don't get me wrong, SFML.Net is pretty great, but I think more and more I'm feeling like I should jump off to something else. I like SFML's API, and I think it does a lot of things in ways that make sense to me, but the support from the game development community just isn't there.
I know I am probably experiencing the old grass is greener feeling, but right now it feels very tempting to start to build Otter to run with something else underneath it. If I were to switch to anything I think right now my best option would be XNA/Monogame.
This is just a quick little test, but it is running in XNA with something much like Otter. Monogame seems to have the biggest support lately when it comes to portability which is pretty appealing. Right now I can barely get the latest version of SFML.Net to cooperate and that's after having someone else send me a compiled version of the library because for the life of me I just cannot get SFML.Net to build.
Just rambling a little bit here. I did manage to get SFML.Net 2.3 working with Otter... but with an unfortunate downside with texture smoothing that for some reason doesn't exist with 2.2. Texture smoothing for whatever reason now has a weird effect on the edges of textures, and when I try to use those textures in shaders I get weird results when sampling pixels around the edges.
Just feeling pretty frustrated I guess! I'm going to go down the XNA rabbit hole a little bit inbetween finishing up Sky Sisters... maybe it's possible to get an XNA build of the game rolling but who knows!
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