[$2,000] #150 | Metal Renderer | Requires #146

[Eric.B]

Price: $2,000

Description: Apple plans on eventually getting rid of OpenGL support on their platform at some point in time. When that happens, GearCity will no longer work on Mac products.

This bounty adds a Metal Renderer to the game.

The Ogre3D marks its Metal renderer as experimental. There might be performance and stability issues with it. 

Requirements: #146

Required By: #278

Concerns: The Metal Renderer will likely be unstable for a few years. Then again, OpenGL on macOS isn't in good shape either. Why are you using macOS again?

Bugs bugs bugs. At least we'll have OpenGL renderer as a backup for a while.

Eric's Opinion: Apple will require this bounty at some point in the future to keep macOS support. When? I have no idea. We'll also need it if there is any chance of a macOS ARM port.

Links: It doesn't happen unless you contribute!

[Eric.B]

I've been working with Ogre's (the third-party rendering engine we use) RTSS for Milestone #2 textures. It has come to my attention that Ogre's Metal RTSS does not have Fixed Function Shaders working. This means that the GUI is unlikely to work in the game when using a Metal renderer.

When the community funds the requirements for this bounty, I will contact Ogre's maintainer and see if I can get a price quote to fix this issue. Depending on his answer, the price of this bounty may increase to offset that expense.

https://www.ogre3d.org/2020/05/04/metal-...-ogre-1-12