CHAPTER 10
USER INTERFACE PROGRAMMING

by Mike McShaffry

After exploring input devices in the previous chapter, we’re ready to move a little deeper and see what happens when the raw input messages are passed from the application layer to your game.

Games usually have a small set of user interface components, and they are almost always custom coded. Games don’t use the operating system’s native user interface API, like Windows GDI, to create their menus, dialogs, or radar screens. These special controls are almost always home grown. Sure, the number of controls you can attach to dialog boxes and screens is overwhelming, but most games don’t need rich text editors, grid controls, tree controls, property pages, and so on. Rather, the lack of control over position, animation, and sounds usually compels game programmers to roll their own simple user interface or perhaps layer on a Flash-based one.