Yes, DirectX is the preferred development game platform for working with Windows, but it has its pitfalls. A great many prefer OpenGL, because it is platform independent, ie not just Windows, but most UNIXs as well. For the uninformed, DirectX is an attempt to create a generic software interface library (for Windows only) to a number of hardware accelerated video cards. While it does work, it is highly dependent on how well your video OEM implimented the DirectX API. Some video OEMs like Diamond Multimedia, for example, only update the drivers for the newest cards in their production lines. DirectX can have serious problems with any OEM cards as old as 1-3 years, especially with DirectX 7-8. If you are going to use DirectX, I suggest that you support OpenGL as well, in the event that DirectX isn't completely supported by the video driver... Linux and other UNIX's use Mesa (an OpenGL library) quite often. If you are going to do 3D and 2D work on UNIX, I suggest either Mesa or CrystalSpace (an LGPL'd high performance 3D rendering engine). If you are going after Windows specifically, your best opportunity for information would be MS's developer network, rather than the TCLUG list, I should think. 3D rotation can be done using trig. The preferred method, ie matices, requires a knowledge of trig and some finite math, I believe. I don't work with them myself, as I am able to do mathematics, but I'm no Newton. I myself, would just use software someone else has written who is better than me at such things. Oh, an Octane is a Silicon Graphics workstation, running IRIX (their version of UNIX). Good luck, T.J. > Today's Topics: > > 1. RE: Game Development (Mike Bresnahan) > > --__--__-- > > Message: 1 > From: "Mike Bresnahan" <mbresnah at visi.com> > To: "Tclug-Devel at Mn-Linux.Org" <tclug-devel at mn-linux.org> > Subject: RE: [TCLUG-DEVEL] Game Development > Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 17:09:45 -0700 > > I broke down the other day, bought some books on DirectX, and started on > crusade to learn as much as possible about modern game development with the > end product being a game of some sort. I'm finding it to be both a very > difficult and a very facinating subject. By posting to TCLUG I was hoping > to find other people interested in the subject to trade thoughts and ideas > with. > > "Brush up" on your quaternions? You must have encountered them before. > They are brand new to me. Not only had I never heard the word before, but > neither is the subject covered in any of the mathematics books I have. The > only thing I've found is a historical note in a vector calculus text. I'm > guessing the subject may have been covered in the abstract algebra class I > did not take in my physics major. I'm also finding that my linear algrebra > knowlege is a bit lacking. I nevered studied 3D rotation, translation, and > scale transformations using 4D homogenous matrices. > > What is Octane? > > Mike