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129 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
129 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
Welcome to Mangle v0.1
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----------------------
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Written by: Nicolay Korslund (korslund@gmail.com)
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License: zlib/png (see LICENSE.txt)
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WWW: http://asm-soft.com/mangle/
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Documentation: http://asm-soft.com/mangle/docs
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Mangle is the project name for a small set of generic interfaces for
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various game middleware libraries, such as sound, input, graphics, and
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so on. You can imagine that it stands for "Minimal Abstraction Game
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Layer", if you like. It will consist of several more or less
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independent modules, one for each of these areas. These may be used
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together to build an entire game engine, or they can be used
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individually as separate libraries.
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However, Mangle does NOT actually implement a game engine, or any new
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fundamental functionality. More on that below.
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Currently there's modules for sound and streams / archives (virtual
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file systems.) More will come in the future (including input, 2D/3D
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graphics, GUI, physics, and more.)
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Main idea
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---------
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The idea behind Mangle is to provide a uniform, consistent interface
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to other game libraries. The library does not provide ANY
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functionality on its own. Instead it connects to a backend
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implementation of your choice (or of your making.)
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The Sound module, for example, currently has backends for OpenAL
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(output only), FFmpeg (input only) and for Audiere. Hopefully we'll
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add IrrKlang, FMod, DirectSound, Miles and more in the future. It can
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combine libraries to get more complete functionality (like using
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OpenAL for output and FFmpeg to decode sound files), and it's also
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easy to write your own backend if you're using a different (or
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home-brewed) sound system.
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Regardless of what backend you use, the front-end interfaces (found
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eg. in sound/output.h) is identical, and as a library user you
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shouldn't notice much difference at all if you swap one backend for
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another at a later point. It should Just Work.
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The interfaces themselves are also quite simple. Setting up a sound
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stream from FFmpeg or other decoder into OpenAL can be quite hairy -
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but with Mangle the hairy parts have already been written for you. You
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just plug the parts together.
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The goal in the long run is to support a wide variety of game-related
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libraries, and as many backend libraries (free and commercial) as
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possible, so that you the user will have to write as little code as
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possible.
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What is it good for
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-------------------
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The main point of Mangle, as we said above, is that it connects to any
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library of your choice "behind the scenes" but provides the same,
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super-simple interface front-end for all of them. There can benefit
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you in many ways:
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- If you want to use a new library that Mangle support. You don't have
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to scour the net for tutorials and usage examples, since much of the
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common usage code is already included in the implementation classes.
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- If you don't want to pollute your code with library-specific code.
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The Mangle interfaces can help you keep your code clean, and its
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user interface is often simpler than the exteral library one.
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- If you want to quickly connect different libraries together, it
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really helps if they speak a common language. The Mangle interfaces
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are exactly that - a common language between libraries. Do you need
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Audiere to load sounds from a weird archive format only implemented
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for PhysFS, all channeled through the OGRE resource system? No
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problem!
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- If you are creating a library that depends on a specific feature
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(such as sound), but you don't want to lock your users into any
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specific sound library. Mangle works as an abstraction that lets
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your users select their own implementation.
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- If you want to support multiple backends for your game/app, or want
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to make it possible to easily switch backends later. You can select
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backends at compile time or even at runtime. For example you might
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want to switch to to a commercial sound library at a later stage in
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development, or you may want to use a different input library on
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console platforms than on PC.
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The Mangle implementations are extremely light-weight - often just one
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or two cpp/h pairs per module. You can plug them directly into your
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program, there's no separate library building step required.
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Since the library aims to be very modularly put together, you can
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also, in many cases, just copy-and-paste the parts you need and ignore
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the rest. Or modify stuff without fearing that the whole 'system' will
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come crashing down, because there is no big 'system' to speak of.
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Past and future
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---------------
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Mangle started out as (and still is) a spin-off from OpenMW, another
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project I am personally working on ( http://openmw.com/ ). OpenMW is
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an attempt to recreate the engine behind the commercial game
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Morrowind, using only open source software.
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The projects are still tightly interlinked, and they will continue to
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be until OpenMW is finished. Most near-future work on Mangle will be
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focused chiefly on OpenMW at the moment. However I will gladly include
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external contributions and suggestions that are not OpenMW-related if
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someone sends them to me.
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Conclusion
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----------
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As you might have guessed, Mangle is more a concept in development
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than a finished library right now.
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All feedback, ideas, concepts, questions and code are very
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welcome. Send them to: korslund@gmail.com
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I will put up a forum later as well if there's enough interest.
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