i''m a newB here, and i was wondering how many people here use Allegro, with djgpp, or am i wasting my time in learning it???

i used it briefly. to be more precise, i used djgpp extensively when i was learning C, and then used it with Allegro briefly when i started programming games.. before going on the adventure that is Win/DX programming.. i made two simple games.. i''ll be careful describing them, to avoid being sued by hasbro.. the first was a game with falling blocks (each composed of four squares, tetra-blocks if you will).. the other consisted of a bouncing ball, a paddle, and blocks which were destroyed when the ball hit them.. hopefully hasbro won''t open a case against me..

but seriously, DJGPP and Allegro are great tools for learning, for the most part though games often aren''t taken seriously if they''re DOS.. i believe Allegro has WinAllegro, though i couldn''t tell you the status of that. and wasn''t Quake written using DJGPP?

pretty much, whether or not it''s a waste of your time is up to you.. if you want to get a job in the industry, you''ll almost certainly need to learn MSVC++.. but if DJGPP and Allegro suit your needs, then by all means use them..

Some people would advise you not to use Allegro, but I won't. It is very easy to learn and is not a waste of time.

If you want to program games but don't want to bother with all of the low-level details right now (i.e. sound, graphics, input), or if you want to be able to write multi-platform games easily, then Allegro is perfect. And yes it is multi-platform now: DOS, Windows, Unix/Linux, BeOS. So if you want to use MSVC++ in Windows, no prob. You're no longer resricted to DJGPP.

I believe if you've never programmed a game before Allegro is a great place to start.

Edited by - Aldacron on 3/11/00 10:08:15 PM

Hi EQual,

I spent a good deal of time (maybe too much) working with allegro. It''s a very good library, but from what I understand, you have to know DirectX/OpenGL, etc. in windows to be considered seriously. However, Allegro is great for starting out game programming, and I encourage you to try it out, but once you at least have a basic hold on what goes into the making of even a simple game, you should move to windows. Just my 2 cents.

Good luck!
Martin

Thanks alot guys...you''ve been a great help...
i started programming in allegro about a month ago, and djgpp about a month and a half ago, and i guess its ok, but i find it a bit hard to learn all this at once. i guess the main reason that i chose it was because it was free and i have about 5 bucks to spend between now and next month, so i couldt really buy anything. what programs / how mush do they cost to make games using windows / DX ??? i may purchase something later on...
and finally, winallegro? never hear of it, but it looks kinda interesting... i''ll have to look into it.
anyways, thats about all i have to say at the moment, thanks again, see ya around...

Allegro? Ha! I tried it a while back (when I was first learning how to program games) and I hated it. I found it kinda hard to understand. I think the main problem is that it''s more written in C than C++, which I know. If you want a library, let me suggest ClanLib. CL is not only multiplatform (Win32, Linux, BeOS), but it''s also more C++ than Allegro, and, I think, much easier to use. The only downside is that if you want to use it with Win32, you pretty much have to have VC++ (although you could do a little manipulating with the code and use it on, say, Borland).

Commander M
http://commanderm.8m.com
cmndrm@commanderm.8m.com

Don''t use WinAllegro. It is no longer supported or updated. If you want multi-platform the Allegro WIP (work-in-progress) version is very multi-platform. Current WIP is 3.9.3. You don''t need to know any windows programming at all to use it in Windows. Plus, it will work with MingWin32, RSXTNDJ, VC++, and soon, Borland.

The C/C++ thing is a matter of preference. And while Allegro is written in C, your games can be written in C++.

Keep in mind there''s a learning curve associated with using any lib. I found Allegro to be extremely easy to learn. Just study the example source if you get confused. And you can also download Vivace, by George Foot. It''s a tutorial you can find a link to from the Allegro homepage.