Comment by lynndotpy

1 month ago

I would bet SDL; it's a C library that a ton of other libraries are influenced by or based on. It's not usually thought of as an engine on its own nowadays

5 comments

lynndotpy

Reply
skrebbel  1 month ago

Nah, like you said, SDL is just window creation and a bit of audio etc. If that counts as a "game engine" then so does every web browser.

EDIT: Sorry if I seem grumpy, I'm not actually grumpy at you, I'm grumpy at PyGame for calling itself a game engine when really it's just SDL + the ability to blend images.

  • lynndotpy  25 days ago

    I wasn't alive or making games at the time, as I was a baby, but I believe SDL would have been understood as an engine when it released.

    I wouldn't call it one nowadays, except in so far that someone looking for an engine might find themselves happy with SDL (or PyGame, etc)

    • dismalaf  22 days ago

      > SDL would have been understood as an engine

      SDL is funny in that it kind of is an engine, à la Raylib, with SDL_Renderer (2D only), but most people use it just as a platform abstraction layer.

      1 reply →

  • krapp  25 days ago

    > SDL is just window creation and a bit of audio etc.

    It's a bit more than that, especially the current version. You're right that it isn't an engine in and of itself but you could probably build a decent engine on top of it. SDL3 + WASM + Lua would be chef's kiss.