Completely agree with you on all of this, but I do think Apple are making moves to change this by working with developers on the Metal API. However that’s only forward facing rather than looking at “legacy” support for games. My problem is their focus on mobile first gaming rather than any of their other hardware.
As much as I like Apple products, I’m please Linux is finding its place in gaming. Something had to start giving Microsoft some competition somewhere.
I don’t think forcing already over-worked game developers into supporting yet another rendering API is going to win them any bonus points though. Apple’s insistence on Metal is very strange and a total reinvention of the wheel on both sides.
another rendering API
A assuming you mean Vulkan, but did you know Metal is older than Vulkan by 2 years? It’s hardly a reinvention of the wheel from Apple here. Plus it allows them to give complete low level support of their own silicon and hardware that you’re likely to not yet with other APIs. A lot of developers also use MolktonVK to get around that support.
did you know Metal is older than Vulkan by 2 years?
Did you know that Vulkan started out as Mantle which predated Metal by half a year? Anyways, the time of release doesn’t really matter. What matters is whether its a graphics standard. Instead of adopting standards and creating a better developer experience for everybody, Apple chooses to go their own way…again. That’s the reinvention I am referring to and it causes a trickle down effect that affects everybody else. It’s extra work on Apple developers and game devs alike.
Plus it allows them to give complete low level support of their own silicon and hardware that you’re likely to not yet with other APIs.
No reason why they can’t be done via Vulkan extensions IMHO. Also, I am okay with them having Metal for such purposes…as long as they also support Vulkan and other standards. The problem is that they don’t.
A lot of developers also use MolktonVK to get around that support.
MoltenVK is just another example of the extra work that everybody else has to do to support Apple’s platform.
