Two things that aren't completely clear to me: what this forum should be called, and what its scope should be. Discuss.

I think Other APIs would be a better name. And I think mentioning ClanLib is a bit rediculous, who actually uses that? Maybe OpenAL or something.
I'm glad that this forum is here. I think it has been long needed.

So I assume that this forum is focusing on using existing APIs for creating games?

What sort of APIs? Just graphics or any?

Rather than 'aternative APIs' I'd call this forum "3rd Party/External Library APIs in Games" or something to that degree.

I can imagine it covering:

SDL, Allegro, FMod, OpenAL, ODE, Ogre, CrystalSpace (insert graphics engine here). Basically it'd look at using existing libraries in your projects - obviously the main focus will be graphics or all in one game engines as they're the most common. The scope would be to pull out specific 3rd party API related questions/discussions from the game/general programming forums.

The FAQ should cover a list of available 3rd party libraries (listed under topics) with links to the websites, tutorials and FAQs belonging to those particular engines.

I can see middleware discussions being intorduced here too.

A pure SDL forum would be nice, it is quite popular after all...

For this forum, hm, what about discussing any API that can be used for games that is not OpenGL or DirectX :)?

I am not sure how effective this forum would be though. Maybe good for discussing pros and cons of these system. Most of these 3rd party libraries already have full sites/forums/mailing list/irc channels devoted to them so people would go there first. Thus there would reduced traffic here and would be mostly "What engine should I use for XXXX type game?"

I use CrystalSpace and their site/mailing list/irc channel answers any questions I have.

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Andrew

Quote: Original post by acraig
I am not sure how effective this forum would be though. Maybe good for discussing pros and cons of these system. Most of these 3rd party libraries already have full sites/forums/mailing list/irc channels devoted to them so people would go there first. Thus there would reduced traffic here and would be mostly "What engine should I use for XXXX type game?"

I disagree. OpenGL and DirectX both have very active discussion groups (on OpenGL.org and the DirectX mailing list), and yet many people use our forums to ask about those topics as well.

We're a general purpose game development site. Although some of our visitors, like you, don't mind going to dedicated sites for the libraries they're using, I think most people would prefer to stay here.

Quote: Original post by Myopic Rhino
I disagree. OpenGL and DirectX both have very active discussion groups (on OpenGL.org and the DirectX mailing list), and yet many people use our forums to ask about those topics as well.

We're a general purpose game development site. Although some of our visitors, like you, don't mind going to dedicated sites for the libraries they're using, I think most people would prefer to stay here.

Hmm, yes that is a good point, maybe 'where' you find the information is just as important as what you are looking for.

Well, rest assured I will part my Crystal Space knowledge here ( CS actually uses an email list more so they don't have a good set of forums :) )

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Andrew

Hrm. I agree with some people, that this forum does not have enough scope yet...

Personally, I would call it 'Application Programming Interfaces'. And let the scope be how to use the alternative API's, as well as how to develop your own...?

There is definitely a large need for this forum. There's like a dozen threads a day on SDL alone, much more than, say, the Unix forum gets.

Quote: Original post by acraig
Well, rest assured I will part my Crystal Space knowledge here ( CS actually uses an email list more so they don't have a good set of forums :) )

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Andrew

Well, don't forget our IRC-channel :)
And there are more CS-coders lurking around these boards...

About this forum, i agree a bit with previous comments that i think its better to target it at middleware for games, may it be free or commercial, like CrystalSpace, OGRE, Nebula for gfx, Raknet for network or commercial stuff as different kinds of "game makers" or libraries (even though i know myself NDA/licenses can be a problem there..)

-Mårten