Bálint's DOS Game Library

NOTICE: This library is in pre-release state. The API is being experimented on and is subject to constant changes during this phase that could break the code compatibility of client applications using the library. Do not rely on the stability of API until first version is released.

Introduction

A work-in-progress C library for DOS game programming, currently containing DOS graphics-related functions and has an API reminiscent of SDL. 16-bit programs compiled with a Open Watcom and linked with this library work under DOSBox. The currently supported DOS compiler is Open Watcom 1.9 and Open Watcom V2 on Windows and Linux.

For more resources on game programming for DOS, check out the awesome-dos list.

Features

Current features

• 256 color 320x240 VGA mode with optional VSync and Double Buffering
• Drawing of primitives, like points, lines and rectangles
• BMP image support
• Palette manipulation
• Buffered keyboard input handling
• Mouse input handling

Planned features

• Joystick handling
• Other video modes like CGA, TGA, EGA and SVGA
• Circle drawing
• PCX image support
• 2D sprite framework
• State management framework
• PC speaker sound
• Sound Blaster 16 sound
• 3D math library and rendering

Building

The recommended compiler to use is the recent Open Watcom V2 compiler, although Open Watcom 1.9 is also supported. You can download the binary release from https://github.com/open-watcom/open-watcom-v2/releases/download/Current-build/ow-snapshot.tar.gz and extract it somewhere, but better yet, you can use the bundled install_deps.py script under the scripts folder to download and extract inside a deps folder in the project.

1. Clone this repository with Git and enter the project folder.

   git clone https://github.com/balintkissdev/bdgl
   cd bdgl

2. Execute scripts/install_deps.py script with Python 3 to download the Open Watcom V2 compiler suite and other dependencies.

   python3 scripts/install_deps.py

3. Set the Watcom build environment according to the operating system and shell you use.

   # Linux/Unix/MSYS/Cygwin
   source scripts/set_watcom.sh

   # Windows command line (CMD)
   scripts\set_watcom.bat

   # Powershell
   Unblock-File -Path scripts\set_watcom.ps1; scripts\set_watcom.ps1

4. Build the library using wmake. This will build the linkable static libraries for 16- and 32-bit architectures under the lib folder and the examples in examples/bin folder.

   wmake
   

You are done and ready to use the library.

Usage

Until there's avaible documentation here, see the examples in the examples directory for usage of the API. To compile your program with the library using Watcom, issue the command

wcl -ml -I<directory of BDGL header files> yourprogram.c BDGL.lib

Then you'll be able to run your executable in DOSBox.

dosbox yourprogram.exe

Note about 32-bit DOS builds: Running 32-bit DOS programs requires the use of a DOS Extender. One such as DOS/32A can be downloaded from http://dos32a.narechk.net. However, executing programs compiled with 32-bit BDGL is currently not supported.