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cmultithreadinggame-loopallegro5

Allegro 5 game: game loop that runs at constant speed?

What is the best way to code a game loop in Allegro 5 that always runs at the same speed, and that properly separates drawing logic from update logic? Should I use threads or not? Should I make use of the new Allegro event system?

Solution

  • Taken from the allegro wiki:

    al_install_timer(1.0 / FPS);

...

while (1) {
        al_wait_for_event(queue, &event);

        /* handle input events */

        if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER) {
                handle_game_tick();
                need_redraw = true;
        }

        if (need_redraw && al_event_queue_is_empty(queue)) {
                render_last_frame();
                need_redraw = false;
        }
}

    If you want frame skipping, skip the render_last_frame() command whenever you detect that you are lagging behind in frames (e.g. by using the al_current_time() function).