SDL Alternatives

SDL is described as 'Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D hardware via OpenGL, and 2D video framebuffer. It is used by MPEG playback software, emulators, and many popular games, including the' and is an app in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to SDL for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and Web-based apps. The best SDL alternative is Godot Engine, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like SDL are Vulkan, Redot Engine, Bevy Game Engine and microStudio.

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Alternatives list

  1. Macroquad icon
     2 likes

    Macroquad is a simple and easy to use game library for Rust programming language, heavily inspired by raylib. Macroquad has a simple, small API that's quick to get started with. Target multiple platforms Windows, Mac, Linux, HTML5, Android and iOS with the same codebase.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • iPhone
    • Android
    • WebAssembly
     
  2. Crystal Space is a mature, full-featured Software Development Kit (SDK) providing real-time 3D graphics for applications such as games and virtual reality. It is free (LGPL) and cross-platform (Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  3. NasNas icon
     1 like

    NasNas is a lightweight modular 2D game framework with a focus on pixel art style games. It is entirely written in modern C++17, and doesn't have any dependency other than SFML2. It provides a clean and easy to use API.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  4. Build 3D apps with near-native 3D performance that run on mobile, desktop and XR.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
  5. Drag[en]gine icon
     1 like

    A free software game engine focusing on developing games faster, more modular and stable with true -1 day portability support.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Windows
    • Haiku
     
  6. LunarEngine icon
     1 like

    LunarEngine (formerly Librebox) is an open-source game engine powered by Luau. It delivers a sandbox-style API and development model inspired by popular sandbox engines, so existing Luau code runs with minimal changes.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  7. WADE icon
     Like

    A unique combination of a powerful JS framework + an amazing set of authoring tools, WADE doesn't force you to do things one way or another - you are in charge!

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Google Chrome
     
  8. GDI icon
     3 likes

    GDI++.dll is a replacement for the Windows default font rasterizer, which gives you a better font-smoothing capability, just like Mac OS X.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  9. FlyStrings icon
     2 likes

    FlyStrings is a powerful software localization solution. Translate apps, games, websites or other software in the easiest way.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    1
    Comments about FlyStrings as an Alternative to SDL
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    This is an alternative to "SDL FreeTranslation", not the SDL graphics framework.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    FlyStrings icon
    FlyStrings icon
    • FlyStrings is Freemium and ProprietarySDL is Free and Open Source
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