This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(December 2009) |
Original author(s) | Randy Ridge |
---|---|
Stable release | 2.1 / May 1, 2008 |
Repository | |
Written in | C# |
Type | Software library |
License | MIT License |
Website | sourceforge |
For 3D computer graphics, the Tao Framework is a C# library giving .NET and Mono developers access to popular graphics and gaming libraries like OpenGL and SDL. It was originally developed by the C# OpenGL programmer Randy Ridge, and since its start many developers have contributed to the project. The latest version of Tao is version 2.1 released on May 1, 2008.
Tao Framework has been superseded by OpenTK. [1]
In 2012, in parallel with the development of OpenTK, a new project called TaoClassic has been introduced on SourceForge, as a direct continuation of Tao Framework, with the same licensing conditions and design disciplines, but with new authors and cutting-edge features, like support for OpenGL 4.3, 64-bit operating systems, etc. [2]
Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) is a cross-platform software development library designed to provide a hardware abstraction layer for computer multimedia hardware components. Software developers can use it to write high-performance computer games and other multimedia applications that can run on many operating systems such as Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows.
SmallBASIC is a BASIC programming language dialect with interpreters released as free software under the GNU General Public License version 3.
Crystal Space is a framework for developing 3D applications written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein and others. The first public release was on August 26, 1997. It is typically used as a game engine but the framework is more general and can be used for any kind of 3D visualization. It is very portable and runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X. It is also free and open-source software, licensed under the GNU LGPL-2.0-or-later, and was SourceForge.net's Project of the Month for February 2003.
Irrlicht is an open-source game engine written in C++. It is cross-platform, officially running on Windows, macOS, Linux and Windows CE and due to its open nature ports to other systems are available, including FreeBSD, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Symbian, iPhone, AmigaOS 4, Sailfish OS via a QT/Qml wrapper, and Google Native Client.
Dev-C++ is a free full-featured integrated development environment (IDE) distributed under the GNU General Public License for programming in C and C++. It was originally developed by Colin Laplace and first released in 1998. It is written in Delphi.
SuperTux is a free and open-source two-dimensional platform video game published under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The game was inspired by Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. series; instead of Mario, the hero in the game is Tux, the official mascot of the Linux kernel.
Cairo is an open source graphics library that provides a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It provides primitives for two-dimensional drawing across a number of different back ends. Cairo uses hardware acceleration when available.
Pygame is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.
Lazarus is a free cross-platform visual integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development (RAD) using the Free Pascal compiler. Its goal is to provide an easy-to-use development environment for programmers developing with the Object Pascal language, which is as close as possible to Delphi.
The Blender Game Engine is a discontinued component of Blender, a free and open-source 3D production suite, used for making real-time interactive content. The game engine was written from scratch in C++ as a mostly independent component, and includes support for features such as Python scripting and OpenAL 3D sound.
Developer's Image Library or DevIL, started by Denton Woods, is a cross-platform image library which aims to provide a common API for different image file formats. It consists of three parts: the main library (IL), the utility library (ILU) and the utility toolkit (ILUT), mirroring the corresponding parts of OpenGL.
Basic4GL is an interpreted, open source version of the BASIC programming language which features support for 3D computer graphics using OpenGL. While being interpreted, it is also able to compile programs on top of the virtual machine to produce standalone executable programs.
SuperTuxKart (STK) is a free and open-source kart racing game, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3. It features mascots of various open-source projects. SuperTuxKart is cross-platform, running on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS (beta), Android systems and Nintendo Switch (homebrew).
OpenCity is a free and open-source software 3D city-building game started in 2003 by France-based Vietnamese programmer Duong-Khang Nguyen. The game mechanics are similar to Simcity, while the game developers don't strive to make it a direct Simcity clone.
FreeCAD is a general-purpose parametric 3D computer-aided design (CAD) modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software application with finite element method (FEM) support. It is intended for mechanical engineering product design but also expands to a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or electrical engineering. FreeCAD is free and open-source, under the LGPL-2.0-or-later license, and available for Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems. Users can extend the functionality of the software using the Python programming language.
Mono is a free and open-source .NET Framework-compatible software framework. Originally by Ximian, it was later acquired by Novell, and is now being led by Xamarin, a subsidiary of Microsoft and the .NET Foundation. Mono can be run on many software systems.
Simple and Fast Multimedia Library (SFML) is a cross-platform software development library designed to provide a simple application programming interface (API) to various multimedia components in computers. It is written in C++ with bindings available for Ada, C, Crystal, D, Euphoria, Go, Java, Julia, .NET, Nim, OCaml, Python, Ruby, and Rust. Experimental mobile ports were made available for Android and iOS with the release of SFML 2.2.
GLFW is a lightweight utility library for use with OpenGL. GLFW stands for Graphics Library Framework. It provides programmers with the ability to create and manage windows and OpenGL contexts, as well as handle joystick, keyboard and mouse input.
MonoGame is a free and open source C# framework used by game developers to make games for multiple platforms and other systems. It is also used to make Windows and Windows Phone games run on other systems. It supports iOS, Android, macOS, tvOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It implements the Microsoft XNA 4 application programming interface (API). It has been used for several games, including Bastion and Fez.
OpenTK, also known as The Open Toolkit library, is a C# graphics library superseding the Tao Framework. It provides access to graphics tools contained in OpenGL, OpenCL, and OpenAL to a variety of CLR-based languages. Particularly, it is usable with any language utilizing either of the .NET Framework or Mono frameworks for versions prior to 4.0 and .NET Core 3.1 and up, continuing with .NET 5, for major version 4.