SciTech Releases MGL 4.0 OpenGL Source Code

On Wednesday, SciTech Software, based in Chico, Calif., released the source code for its professional strength, low-level graphics library for Win95/NT and DOS. SciTech was available previously as a full product for US$299-499 per developer.

SciTech might not be a company that many have readily heard of but it can talk big after having MGL used in WinQuake and Hexen II.

So why would SciTech give this away for free? Tom Ryan, director of marketing for SciTech, explains, "This donation represents a major asset of SciTech Software that is being given to the Internet development community. We envision hundreds of developers around the world working to make SciTech MGL the premier cross-platform graphics library, similar to what has happened with Linux."

MGL 4.0 features full-screen OpenGL API hardware and software support for 3D acceleration, a game framework for creating games, a new sprite library for hardware and software sprite management, transparent support for stereo glasses, hardware triple buffering, and Borland Delphi programming language support (which is far easier than using C).

SciTech is hoping that by giving its MGL library away, more and more people will buy its flagship product, Display Doctor. Although this product isn't needed to run any program built with MGL, it will increase the program's compatibility and performance.

Converting the MGL library to other platforms is also another wish that SciTech is hoping for. It sees a great deal of potential for: Macs, OS/2, UNIX, Rhapsody, Silicon Graphics, Java, and the PlayStation.

Although the full implications of this release are not really known by GameSpot, we do expect this to help change the overall climate for OpenGL. We have been watching as Zanshin's attempt at creating a full port of OpenGL was legally hampered and we've heard rumors of a group that has picked up where outspoken Web advocate Zanshin left off. Perhaps this will help change the way we all will play OpenGL games in the near future. If anything develops, we'll be watching.