If we talk about video games within Windows, the first thing that comes to mind is DirectX from Microsoft, however, not the only option available when creating them, seeing Vulkan, OpenGL and Metal (Apple) the best known and used alternatives. If we talk about Vulkan, we have to talk about one of the best alternatives to the almighty Microsoft, an alternative that in recent years has been gaining a large number of followers.
Vulkan is an API that allows you to create all kinds of 3D applications and videogames, since it offers all the necessary tools to be able to carry out any idea that comes to mind. Microsoft’s DirectX is exactly the same as Vulkan, a platform for creating all kinds of 3D applications, however, there are two very important differences between the two.
The first and main difference between Vulkan and DirectX is that the former is of Open Source unlike DirectX, since it is a closed tool whose code is only available to Microsoft. Another important difference that is allowing this API to become the preferred option for creating video games is that, unlike the Microsoft solution, this is multi platform.
Being multiplatform, application and video game developers who use Vulkan in their development, allow applications to run on other operating systems such as Linux, Android or macOS, although in recent years, Apple is forcing the developer community to use Metal and is ceasing to offer support for both Vulkan and OpenGL.
Applications created with DirectX, being Microsoft’s proprietary software, can only be run on Windows, severely limiting the number of devices where they can be run, although, if we take into account Linux’s market share and the fact that Apple is ceasing to support Apart from the support for Vulkan in macOS, Android is the only redoubt that developers can have to continue using it.
Vulcan vs. DirectX
Despite the benefits of Vulkan, due to the market share of Windows as an operating system, DirectX continues to be the most widely used platform in the world for the creation and design of video games. One of the main reasons that developers use is that it is a native Windows tool, so we will always get the best possible performance than through third-party software, although the theory says that Vulkan offers better performance. both CPU and GPU.
More or less the same thing that happens with any third-party antivirus compared to Microsoft Defender, the native Windows antivirus. In addition, behind DirectX is Microsoft, which ensures the best possible support for the developer community, well above Vulkan despite being open source. The end user really cares little if a video game is developed with Vulkan, DirectX, OpenGL or Metal, what interests him is that the game runs as smoothly as possible and with the greatest number of details possible, within the limitations hardware.
