SDL vs SFML (C++) in Off Topic

ID:181043
 
Oct 18 2011, 7:17 pm
SDL

or

SFML


This is not a religious warfare discussion; I want to know which is right for me. Basically, I do not want to create anything serious or professional, I just want to muck around and maybe create a small graphical roguelike. I want to know which uses OpenGL the most efficiently as to avoid bad GPU bogging. Which takes up the least physical memory, and is more "lightweight"?

I've done my own research and I've determined the following:

SDL is:
1) Possibly much more portable due to its C-oriented API.
2) Is not very object-oriented, and can be messy and inconsistent sometimes!
3) Has more users and is more universal than SFML.

SFML is:
1) Designed for C++; uses objective programming design.
2) Has far superior documentation.
3) Is larger / less lightweight than SDL.



Any suggestions, input, or other conclusions anyone else may have?
#1 Oct 18 2011, 7:50 pm
From my very brief dabblings with C++, I really liked SFML; it was pretty easy to figure out how to use, and the community offered fairly good support.

Also, if you're just making a small roguelike, you shouldn't have to worry too much about performance issues ;)
#2 Oct 19 2011, 1:57 am
I haven't used SDL or SFML. But I have other things to say.

If you wish to create game similar to BYOND, then either of those should be sufficient, even simple WINAPI would do it at decent speed. However if you'll want nice particles, like NNG attempted with smoke and fire if I'm not mistaken, or some other effects, I'd really suggest using hardware-based library such as OpenGL or DirectX.
Once you learn OpenGL or DirectX you'll be able to make 3D game quite easily.
#3 Oct 19 2011, 12:28 pm
In response to Zaoshi (#2)
SFML uses OpenGL by default, and SDL is capable of using it.