Sep 24 2019

Starting out with C++ and SDL

Project: SDL
Tags: cpp sdl
Posted in section: devlog

I’ve spent some time trying to port my text engine to linux and mac, with the following results:

On Linux (also valid on Mac) I cannot detect keyUp. “Fixed” it by gimping the game a bit on those platforms…
On OSX I cannot set colors correctly! The exact same sourcecode that works on Linux turns into dark blue text on semi dark blue background. Unreadalbe.

So I have abandoned that path for now. Instead started looking into the SDL library instead… and it is really smooth to work with! (at least on Linux). I have currently managed to get it to work on both Linux and Windows!

I can even work with this code on my old, very beloved, Asus EEE 1005PE netbook. A ten year old 10.1" computer that freezes if it tries to open any random webpage (Gmail? Just forget about even trying), however it has a whooping 250gb harddrive, a keyboard like a dream and a battery that lasts for an eternity. Writing C++ code in VIM (in a terminal window) works like a charm… like in the 70’s ;-) Compilation is around 1-2 seconds, which is not only acceptable, but also faster than Unity compiles on my powerhorse workstation.

This looks very promising for the upcoming Ludum Dare competition!