Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
better performance. PhysX is written using yet another shader language called
CUDA, but CUDA is a little different. It is a language that is less concerned about
pixels and vertices and more concerned with general purpose parallel program-
ming. If in your game you were simulating a city and came up with a novel
parallel algorithm to update all the residents of the city, then this could be per-
formed much faster on the GPU, and free the CPU for other tasks. CUDA is
often used for scientific research projects as it is a cheap way to harness massive
computing power. Some of the applications using CUDA include quantum
chemistry calculations, simulating heart muscles, and modeling black holes.
The Tao Framework
The Tao Framework is a way for C# to use the OpenGL library. Tao wraps up a
number of C libraries (shown in Table 2.1) and makes them easy to use from C#.
Tao has bindings to Mono, so there's support for Linux and Macs too.
Tao gives C# access not only to OpenGL but a selection of other useful libraries.
OpenAL is short for Open Audio Library, and is a powerful open source library.
It was the sound library used in BioShock, Quake 4, Doom III, and the recent
Table 2.1 The Libraries in the Tao Framework
Library
Use
Tao.OpenAl
OpenAL is a powerful sound library.
Tao.OpenGl
OpenGL is the graphics library we'll be using.
Tao.Sdl
SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer), a 2D library built on OpenGL.
Tao.Platform.Windows
Support for using OpenGL with Windows.Forms.
Tao.PhysFs
A wrapper for I/O, supports archives like .zips for game assets.
Tao.FreeGlut
OpenGL Utility Toolkit is a set of wrappers for setting up an OpenGL program as
well as some draw routines.
Tao.Ode
Open Dynamics Engine is a real-time physics engine for games.
Tao.Glfw
OpenGL Framework is a lightweight multiplatform wrapper class.
Tao.DevIl
DevIL is an excellent package for loading various image types into OpenGL (bmp,
tif, gif, png, etc.).
Tao.Cg
Cg is a high-level shading language.
Tao.Lua
Lua is one of the most common scripting languages used in the game industry.
Tao.FreeType
A font package.
Tao.FFmpeg
Mainly used for playing video.
 
 
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