Killer Game Programming in Java

Alternatives to Java 3D

There are a large number of ways of programming in 3D with Java without employing Java 3D. I've divided them into three categories: Java bindings to OpenGL, scene graph APIs, and game engine bindings.

Java Bindings to OpenGL

Several Java OpenGL bindings have been released over the years, but they tend to be incomplete, contain bugs, lack support and documentation, and often disappear suddenly. A (slightly out of date) list of Java bindings is maintained at the OpenGL site, http://www.opengl.org/resources/java/. It includes links to JOGL, LWJGL , Java 3D, GL4Java , and a few older projects. I'll describe only the active ones here.

GL4Java

GL4Java (http://gl4java.sourceforge.net/), known as "OpenGL for Java Technology," was one of the most popular OpenGL bindings until the arrival of JOGL. It can be used with AWT and Swing and has links to OpenGL 1.3 and vendor extensions.

Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL)

LWJGL (http://www.lwjgl.org/) utilizes OpenGL 1.5 with vendor extensions. It works with the latest versions of Java, so it can use the NIO and full-screen capabilities of J2SE 1.4. However, it doesn't support AWT or Swing. LWJGL is quite small, as the name suggests, so it is suitable for devices with limited resources.

The documentation for LWJGL is a little scanty though ports of the Nehe OpenGL tutorials have started to appear; they're at the end of the original Nehe tutorials (http://nehe.gamedev.net).

JOGL

JOGL (https://jogl.dev.java.net/) is the most recent ...