Lightweight Java Game Library
| Developer(s) | LWJGL team |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 2.9.3 / January 18, 2015 |
| Written in | Java, C |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Java software library |
| License | BSD license |
| Website | www.lwjgl.org |
The Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) is an open source Java software library for computer game developers.
LWJGL exposes high performance cross-platform libraries commonly used in developing software games and multimedia titles. It exposes OpenGL (Open Graphics Library), OpenAL (Open Audio Library), OpenCL (Open Computing Language) and allows access to controllers such as gamepads, steering wheels and joysticks in a platform-neutral way.
The primary goal of the project is to provide a technology which allows Java developers to get access to resources that are otherwise unavailable or poorly implemented on the existing Java platform. The main philosophy is to expose underlying technology as a thin wrapper, thus creating a simple API. It is also the basis of many Java game engines and libraries.
LWJGL is available under a BSD license.[1]
On 13 November 2014 version 3 was announced, which is going to be a complete rewrite of LWJGL.[2][3] Two of the main changes are going to be the use of GLFW as the windowing system and the implementation of OpenGL ES bindings. Alpha and beta versions are planned to be released, respectively, after these features have been fully implemented.[3]
See also
- Java OpenGL, another wrapper library that allows OpenGL to be used in the Java programming language
- JMonkeyEngine, game engine using LWJGL
- Minecraft, popular game using LWJGL
- LibGDX, game-development application framework using LWJGL[4]