I know this title will get attention, and thats the point.Firstly, I am quite well versed with DirectDraw and GDI, as well as SDL and some various other popular APIs. The problem now is which one?It is important to say that here I am not looking to make a top-of-the-range game, or 'push the envelope' in technology, I have other places to do that. To make a long story short I am looking to market a puzzle-action game windowed that is sorta like a cross between Tetris and Super Paiyo Paiyo, anyhow, the actual game content is irrelevant.I need opinions on GDI vs. DirectDraw, the main point of conflict is power-vs-compatability; ie. DirectDraw requires the appropriate version of DX to be installed, and GDI will work on any windows computer however, GDI is not as nice with hardware acceleration, and in general animation display of an active environment is slower, and more complicated.Any opinions? Quote:Casual gamer = avoid ddraw, they may not have it and may not know how to install it.even my toaster has directdrawMost computers will have at least some version of DirectX installed, and it isn't that difficult to be obtained, but on saying that, every computer you are targeting your game at will have the GDI.I've seen GDI games which use that WinG thing, which ok, sucks, but its small enough to be shipped with your game(I don't know if Microsoft released it with Win98 or greater sincethey denied its existence after DirectX 2.0 came out). Luckily its small enough to be distributed with your game.Comparing the performance of the GDI with DX is a bit harsh on good 'ol DDraw, but compatibility wise, the GDI would have to win.GDI and WinG could be a good combination if you're going for a non DX/SDL app, IMO anyway.
I choose the api on the purpose i want to do with it.i started with a dx6/dx7 ddraw engine to write a small 2d-shooter with lots of animated sprites.after a while i had to develop a screensaver with the engine. And i added support for directx1 interfaces which took me about 20 minutes. For speedness in development i added the interfaces to use with preprocessor switches.after that i thought to also support gdi over my api.the work was within about an hour done, inkl. Testing.so now i can develop my game independent of the api and switch the layer beneath.
Download Windows Graphics Programming Win32 Gdi And Directdraw 3
Download Download Windows Graphics Programming: Win32 GDI and DirectDraw (Hewlett-Packard Professional Books) Ebook PDF OnlineDownload Here book covers the Windows graphics system from the surface of Win32 APIs to the rock bottom of display and printer drivers with a special focus on the Win32 GDI and the DirectDraw portion of DirectX. Focusing on Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 platforms, it covers things like the Windows graphics system architecture; GDI and DirectDraw data structures; drawing devices; GDI objects; pixels, lines and curves; filled areas and bitmaps; logical fonts and text formatting; metafiles; printing and spooling; DirectDraw interfaces; GDI debugging tools; the EMF decompiler; image rendering; and 3D effects. Download Windows Graphics Programming: Win32 GDI and DirectDraw (Hewlett-Packard Professional Books) Ebook.1.Download Windows Graphics Programming: Win32 GDI and DirectDraw (Hewlett-PackardProfessional Books) Ebook.Book detailsAuthor: Feng YuanPages: 1280 pagesPublisher: Prentice Hall PTR 2000-12-22Language: EnglishISBN-10: ISBN-13: 852.Description this bookThis book covers the Windows graphics system from the surface of Win32 APIs to therock bottom of display and printer drivers with a special focus on the Win32 GDI andthe DirectDraw portion of DirectX.