Is there a middleground between writing raw OpenGL versus using a full-blown game engine?

Question

I'm playing around with OpenGL and I'm finding myself writing code that I feel like I shouldn't have to write.

GLU and GLUT are nice but not really what I'm thinking of.

• Code to load .obj models (vertex and normal vectors) from Blender and render them.
• Code for collision detection.
• Code for navigation/camera stuff.
• Code for simple terrain generation.

But at the same time I feel like a full-blown game engine is more than I need.

Are there any good libraries built on top of OpenGL that I could take advantage of, perhaps to create relatively simple games? I don't necessarily need all of the items listed above. Those are just examples of what I'm thinking of.

Answer 1

Depending on how much you need, one of these toolkits / libraries might suit your purpose.

• GLUT - OpenGL Utility Toolkit
• Ogre3D - OGRE Object Oriented Graphics Library
• Open Inventor - OpenGL toolkit for scene management created by SGI
• Performer - OpenGL toolkit for real-time rendering created by SGI

Answer 2

Ogre
Irrlicht
openscenegraph (replaces performer)

Answer 3

I learnt my opengl stuff from GameTutorials and Gamedev. Unfortunately gametutorials are no longer a free selection of tutorial (there's some examples) but they were good. Coupled with SDL, you would have code to do everything you wanted - and you'd be able to understand what is going on under the covers, something I find is very useful later on (if, for example you wanted to write HTML5/WebGL code later).

A lot of the game engines aren't as well documented as I'd like (well, weren't a few years back when I was looking), but they might still do what you need. Sourceforge has many, including Ogre3d, Irrlicht, and CrystalSpace.

Answer 4

Yes.

I can't be more specific as I don't write my own game engines but I do have a list of libraries online at this location, most of which sit below being a full engine.

Answer 5

In general I agree with your sentiment. There is a school of thought that says that programming should consist of pluggable modules. Once youve written an OpenGL app, you should be able to grab a model loader, and/or a skeletal animation engine and plug them in.

The depressing thing is, most of the game engines on that list (that Ive looked at) are all or nothing propositions. They provide an entire framework and do not really take into account the more common real case scenario.

That said, all is not lost. A lot of those engines package up a number of other 'utility' libraries into their distribution. With a bit of patience it is possible to piece together the component libraries yourself: OpenAL for the sound, Freetype for font rendering, libpng, libjpeg etc for image codecs