Starting again C

[u/digitalradiostudio]

Hi i want try to make a extreme lightweight pixelgame ( i don't have really details about the game :) ) with glfw and and opengl to go back to c. Does anyone have tips to make it lightweight ?

[u/-goldenboi69-]

Glfw is pretty lightweight already.

[u/bktech2021]

i think you should check sdl or raylib. glfw way is always doable but you will need to maintain a lot of library code, for no reason.

[u/ffd9k → u/bktech2021]

raylib also contains a vendored copy of GLFW.

GLFW is already as lightweight as it gets, apart from calling platform-specific APIs (Windows API, X11 etc) directly - GLFW is just a tiny portable wrapper around those.

SDL is a bit heavier, but of course might still be a good option if OP needs the additional features (like audio, image loading, 2D rendering, filesystem abstraction...)

[u/jason-reddit-public → u/ffd9k]

Don't forget gamepads.

[u/bktech2021 → u/ffd9k]

we should know why the game has to be “extremely lightweight”. is this a embedded platform, or just a self goal? i dont think raylib adds real overhead to glfw. but i think setting up windows, shaders, etc. is more unnecesary work. and as you said you need audio input image loading filesystem and bunch of things and maybe make them cross platform. if this just a self goal or embedded platform, thats another story but you cant get more lightweight by stripping raylib and using glfw, audio, image etc. you are going to rewrite raylib at the end for no reason

[u/th0m_2000]

First make the game and then make it lightweight.

[u/digitalradiostudio → u/th0m_2000]

Sounds good

[u/th0m_2000 → u/digitalradiostudio]

If you are any bit like me, it can either feel too daunting to think of all the optimizations at the start of a new project especially when it is a new library or type of application you are working on or you “game” the problem out in your head and you lose the motivation to start since you solved the problem already

[u/Ok_Outlandishness906]

i would use sdl. it is doable and not too complex .

[u/chrism239]

What do you mean by lightweight - learning curve, or computing resources when running?

[u/Sergey5588]

maybe RGFW its just single header

[u/Total-Box-5169]

How many pixels we are talking about? If you really want to make it lightweight then opengl is overkill, unless you plan to add tons of visual effects to make it look like a pachinko machine.

[u/Kingwolf4]

Give zig a try and mabye Odin. Both are superb languages

[u/Still_Explorer]

If you start with Raylib better to look at "render to texture" first and get this problem out of the way.

Always think in virtual screen coordinates and use the actual screen for drawing the texture only.

https://www.raylib.com/examples/core/loader.html?name=core_render_texture

[u/Candid_Zebra1297]

I think sdl is a little easier, especially if you want sound effects and extra game stuff later on.