C++ - would there be interest in a super portable/retro 2d games engine (simple video/audio io, later maybe some higher stuff like simple visual novel or simple rpg maker type of thing?).The gimmick is to reach platforms that are used mostly by crazy people (aka computer geeks).Raylib cover many but not all, Allegro fills in some, and some consoles still need help there (unles LLMs lied to me about the situation).>RaylibWindows 10Windows 8Windows 7LinuxFreeBSDOpenBSD (Mesa)macOSiPhone (Metal)AndroidRaspberryPi (GLES)Web (WebGL)>Allegro5HaikuOpenSolaris / IllumosAmiga‑like OS (AROS / MorphOS / AmigaOS4)Windows 10Windows 8Windows 7Windows XP (mostly works)>Allegro4DOSWindows XPWindows 2000 (if very bored)Windows ME (if very bored)Windows 98 (if very bored)Windows 95 (if very bored)>SDL2MiSTer (Linux side)OpenSolaris / Illumos (alternative)Amiga‑like OS (alternative)Windows 10Windows 8Windows 7Windows XP (older builds)>>More work:>Custom backends (we wrap the libs)PlayStation1DreamcastBare‑metal MCU / SoC (some)>(custom wrapper)ascii art / text mode / real text mode or terminals (limited io, no audio)
>>108109164so then - I would like to support these above-listed systems, (Open+)BSD, WinXP (and older/newer), DOS, Solaris (Illumos) - by wrapping RayLib and Allegro (version 4, perhaps 3 too).Baremetal with Raylib.The niche game consoles PS1 / DreamCast - need to wrap what ever libs they use.Other game consoles to cover?I give up on weaker game consoles that need tile-based rendering, they do not have C++ tools and are too weak to run any interesting game logic even.And modern Win/Lin/Mac (+iPhone and obviously Android) is easy (LibRay and more) just wrap that.
if you make an engine/framework that can make games to the ps1 I would absolutely use it
would just go with SDL like a normal human beingquestion is if you want some higher level drawing library.SDL2 has software SDL_Surface, SDL_Renderer with GPU support but idk how ported that is, and direct access to the platform API such as OpenGL and Vulkan. but there is barely any usable drawing helpers. You have to do any 2D vector graphics drawing yourself. Raylib is way better in this regard but still pretty limited.SDL3 has some GPU abstraction but it only covers modern OpenGL, Vulkan, Metal and Direct3D 12. Definitely not usable on WinXP.
