Pencil.Gaming is a gaming library for C#, providing support for OpenGL, GLFW, OpenAL and Lua. It's a stable, cross-platform, open-source (some prefer the term "free") alternative to libraries like XNA, which has pretty much died now, OpenTK, which hasn't been updated for about a year, and SharpDX, which is not cross-platform. A feature that Pencil.Gaming has over most other C# gaming libraries, is that users do not need to install any redistributables besides Mono/.NET!
The OpenGL implementation is based on the OpenTK source code.
| Platform | OpenGL core | OpenGL extensions | GLFW | OpenAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux 64-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Linux 32-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Windows 64-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Windows 32-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Mac OS X | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Platform | OpenGL core | OpenGL extensions | GLFW | OpenAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux 64-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Linux 32-bit | Stable | Stable | Broken | Stable |
| Windows 64-bit | Stable | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Windows 32-bit | Stable | Stable | Presumed Stable | Stable |
| Mac OS X | Stable | Stable | Stable* | Stable |
*Both 32 and 64-bit versions provided for Mac OS X, but mono is realistically only available for 32-bit, so those are recommended.
Some don't like monodevelop/visual studio, for those a GNU Makefile has been made available. To generate this makefile, run the script in the main directory:
./genmakefile.shAfter that, a makefile is made, and you can choose from four different profiles:
- Compatibility/GLFW 2 (profile:
compat_glfw2) - Compatibility/GLFW 3 (profile:
compat_glfw3) - Core/GLFW 2 (profile:
core_glfw2) - Core/GLFW 3 (profile:
core_glfw3) Compatibility means that legacy OpenGL will be included in the binaries, core means that only core (non-legacy, "modern") OpenGL will be included in the binary.
So an example might be:
antonijn@antonijn-desktop ~/Programming/C Sharp/Pencil.Gaming $ ./genmakefile.sh
Makefile generated successfully.
antonijn@antonijn-desktop ~/Programming/C Sharp/Pencil.Gaming $ make core_glfw3
mkdir "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3" -p
cp -r "Pencil.Gaming/natives32-glfw3" "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3"
cp -r "Pencil.Gaming/natives64-glfw3" "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3/natives64"
mv "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3/natives32-glfw3" "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3/natives32"
cp "Pencil.Gaming/Pencil.Gaming.dll.config" "Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3/Pencil.Gaming.dll.config"
gmcs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/AL32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/AlcManager.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/AL.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/ALUtils.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/ALEnums.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/ALDelegates.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/Alc32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/Alc64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/Sound.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/Listener.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Audio/AL64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GL.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GLCore.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GLUtils.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GlEnums.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GLDelegates.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/AssetLoadException.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GLLoadException.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/GLHelper.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Graphics/Color4.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/AssemblyInfo.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3DelegateTypes.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3Structs.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3MouseState.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2KeyboardState.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3_64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2Delegates.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2_64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3KeyboardState.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3Delegates.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3_32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2DelegateTypes.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2Enum.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2MouseState.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw3Enum.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2Structs.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Glfw/Glfw2_32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector4.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector2.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Quaternion.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/MathHelper.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Rectanglei.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Matrix.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector3.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector2i.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Rectangle.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector3i.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Math/Vector4i.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Applets/AppletRequest.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Applets/Browsers.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Applets/PApplet.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Applets/SupportedBrowsersAttribute.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/AutoGeneratedAttribute.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/Lua32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaDelegates.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/Lua64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaL64.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaLMacroFunctions.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaL32.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/Lua.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaEnums.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaStructs.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaMacroFunctions.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaL.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaDelegateTypes.cs ./Pencil.Gaming/Scripting/LuaLDelegates.cs -out:"Pencil.Gaming/bin/Core - GLFW3/Pencil.Gaming.exe" -define:USE_GL_CORE\;USE_GLFW3 -r:System.Drawing -r:System.Core -r:Pencil.Gaming/NVorbis.dll -optimize+ -debug- -target:library -platform:anycpu -unsafe+The binaries will be in the Pencil.Gaming/bin/<Profile> directory.
int image = GL.Utils.LoadImage("myfile.png"); // Works with multiple file formats
GL.BindTexture(TextureTarget.Texture2D, image);
GL.Begin(BeginMode.TriangleStrip);
GL.TexCoord2(0f, 1f);
GL.Vertex2(0.1f, 0.9f);
GL.TexCoord2(0f, 0f);
GL.Vertex2(0.1f, 0.1f);
GL.TexCoord2(1f, 1f);
GL.Vertex2(0.9f, 0.9f);
GL.TexCoord2(1f, 0f);
GL.Vertex2(0.9f, 0.1f);
GL.End();
GL.DeleteTextures(1, ref image);int modelVbo;
int indexVbo;
int numberOfIndices;GL.Enable(EnapleCap.DepthTest);
Vector4[] vertices;
Vector3[] normals;
Vector2[] texCoords;
int[] indices;
GL.Utils.LoadModel("model.obj", out vertices, out normals, out texCoords, out indices, false);
numberOfIndices = indices.Length;
GL.GenBuffers(1, out modelVbo);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ArrayBuffer, modelVbo);
GL.BufferData(BufferTarget.ArrayBuffer, new IntPtr(vertices.Length * 4 * sizeof(float)), vertices, BufferUsageHint.StaticDraw);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ArrayBuffer, 0);
GL.GenBuffers(1, out indexVbo);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ElementArrayBuffer, indexVbo);
GL.BufferData(BufferTarget.ElementArrayBuffer, new IntPtr(indices.Length * sizeof(int)), indices, BufferUsageHint.StaticDraw);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ElementArrayBuffer, 0);// NOTE: This uses legacy OpenGL, just to fit in the readme...
GL.EnableClientState(ArrayCap.VertexArray);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ArrayBuffer, modelVbo);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ElementArrayBuffer, indexVbo);
GL.VertexPointer(4, VertexPointerType.Float, 4 * sizeof(float), 0);
GL.DrawElements(BeginMode.Triangles, numberOfIndices, DrawElementsType.UnsignedInt, 0);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ArrayBuffer, 0);
GL.BindBuffer(BufferTarget.ElementArrayBuffer, 0);
GL.DisableClientState(ArrayCap.VertexArray);GL.DeleteBuffers(1, ref modelVbo);
GL.DeleteBuffers(1, ref indexVbo);Lua is a light-weight scripting language, perfectly suitable for use in game development.
Pencil.Gaming provides support for Lua, using the default C# PascalCased identifiers, making it integrate seamlessly with other C# code.
Whereas a C-api function call might be lua_pcall(L, 0, LUA_MULTRET, 0), the Pencil.Gaming C# API call would be Lua.PCall(L, 0, Lua.MultRet, 0).
For more information on using these lua bindings, see the Lua C api docs.
Another utility is the AL.Utils.BufferFromWav utility, which is able to load wave files into an OpenAL buffer. Similarly, there's the AL.Utils.BufferFromOgg utility, allowing Ogg/Vorbis file loading.
uint buffer = AL.Utils.BufferFromWav("MyWaveFile.wav");
uint source;
AL.GenSources(1, out source);
AL.Source(source, ALSourcei.Buffer, (int) buffer);
AL.Source(source, ALSourceb.Looping, true);
AL.SourcePlay(source);
// ...
// ...
// When cleaning up:
AL.DeleteSources(1, ref source);
AL.DeleteBuffers(1, ref buffer);