Playing Sound Effects and Music Without SplashKit

This brief guide provides code to compare how to load and play music and sound effects with and without SplashKit (using SDL).
Written by: Simon Rhook and Olivia McKeon
Last updated: December 2024

Getting Started without SplashKit

Installing SDL2 and SDL2_mixer

If you have not already installed SplashKit, you will need to install SDL2 and SDL2_mixer to be able to compile the code shown in this guide.

You can use the following command, which is usually run during the SplashKit installation, which will ensure you have installed the required libraries/dependencies.

pacman -S --needed --disable-download-timeout mingw-w64-x86_64-clang mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-x86_64-gdb mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2 mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_gfx mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_mixer mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_image mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_ttf mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_net mingw-w64-x86_64-civetweb

brew install pkgconfig sdl2 sdl2_ttf sdl2_image sdl2_net sdl2_mixer sdl2_gfx libpng cmake

sudo apt-get install cmake libpng-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libsdl2-dev libsdl2-mixer-dev libsdl2-gfx-dev libsdl2-image-dev libsdl2-net-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libmikmod-dev libncurses5-dev libbz2-dev libflac-dev libvorbis-dev libwebp-dev libfreetype6-dev build-essential clang

Compiling Your Code

With C++ programs, you will need to adjust the compiling command to link to any libraries being used. Below you will see the different commands to compile with and without SplashKit.

Now, assuming the code filename is program.cpp.

With SplashKit
Without SplashKit

As usual, you will compile the SplashKit C++ code using the following command:

g++ program.cpp -o test -l SplashKit

You can use this command to compile the code below:

g++ program.cpp -o test -lSDL2_mixer -lmingw32 -mwindows -lSDL2main -lSDL2

Note: If you have issues, you can find out the compiling flags needed using these commands:

pkg-config --libs sdl2 sdl2_mixer
pkg-config --cflags sdl2

g++ program.cpp -o test -L/opt/homebrew/Cellar/sdl2_mixer/2.8.0/lib -lSDL2_mixer -L/opt/homebrew/lib -lSDL2 -I/opt/homebrew/include -I/opt/homebrew/include/SDL2 -D_THREAD_SAFE

Note: If you have issues, you can find out the compiling flags needed using these commands:

pkg-config --libs sdl2 sdl2_mixer
pkg-config --cflags sdl2

g++ program.cpp -o test -lSDL2_mixer -lSDL2 -I/usr/include/SDL2 -D_REENTRANT

Note: If you have issues, you can find out the compiling flags needed using these commands:

pkg-config --libs sdl2 SDL2_mixer
pkg-config --cflags sdl2

Example Code

The following code compares loading and playing music and sound effects with and without SplashKit (using SDL):

With SplashKit
Without SplashKit

#include "splashkit.h"

int main(int argv, char** args)
{
    // Print instructions in terminal
    write_line("\n1. Press Spacebar for \"jump\" sound");
    write_line("2. Click anywhere in the window for \"explosion\" sound\n");

    double volume = 0.5;
    // Open Window and load sound effects
    open_window("test", 600,600);
    load_sound_effect("jump","jump.wav");
    load_sound_effect("explosion","explosion.wav");
    load_music("adventure", "time_for_adventure.mp3");
    play_music("adventure",1000);

    // Hang window until quit
    while (!quit_requested())
    {
        process_events();

        if(key_down(SPACE_KEY))
            play_sound_effect("jump");
        if(mouse_clicked(LEFT_BUTTON))
            play_sound_effect("explosion",volume);
    }
    // Cleanup and free memory
    close_all_windows();
    free_all_sound_effects();
    free_all_music();

    return 0;
}

#include <iostream>
#ifdef __APPLE__
#include <SDL.h>
#include <SDL_mixer.h>
#else
#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
#include <SDL2/SDL_mixer.h>
#endif

SDL_Window *sdl_open_window()
{
    // Open window without SplashKit.

    // Declare Variables
    SDL_Window *window = nullptr;

    // Check for successful initialisation
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) < 0)
    {
        std::cout << "SDL could not be initialized: " << SDL_GetError();
        exit(1);
    }

    // Create Window
    window = SDL_CreateWindow(
        "No SK Window",
        SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED,
        SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED,
        800,
        600,
        SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL);
    // Error handling for window
    if (window == NULL)
    {
        SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_ERROR, "Could not create window: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
        exit(1);
    }

    return window;
}

int main(int argv, char **args)
{
    // Print instructions in terminal
    std::cout << "\n1. Press Spacebar for \"jump\" sound\n";
    std::cout << "2. Click anywhere in the window for \"explosion\" sound\n\n";

    // Open Window and load sound effects
    SDL_Window *window = sdl_open_window();

    // Check for successful initialisation
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) < 0 | SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_AUDIO) < 0)
    {
        std::cout << "SDL could not be initialized: " << SDL_GetError();
        exit(1);
    }
    if (Mix_OpenAudio(MIX_DEFAULT_FREQUENCY, MIX_DEFAULT_FORMAT, 2, 4096) < 0)
    {
        std::cout << "SDL Mixer could not be initialized: " << SDL_GetError();
        exit(1);
    }

    Mix_Chunk *jump = Mix_LoadWAV("Resources/sounds/jump.wav");
    Mix_Chunk *explosion = Mix_LoadWAV("Resources/sounds/explosion.wav");
    Mix_Music *music = Mix_LoadMUS("Resources/sounds/time_for_adventure.mp3");
    if (jump == NULL || explosion == NULL || music == NULL)
    {
        SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_ERROR, "Could not create audio: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
        exit(1);
    }
    Mix_PlayMusic(music, -1);

    // Hang window until quit
    SDL_Event event;
    while (event.type != SDL_QUIT)
    {

        if (event.type == SDL_MOUSEBUTTONDOWN)
        {
            Mix_PlayChannel(-1, explosion, 0);
        }
        if (event.type == SDL_KEYDOWN && event.key.keysym.sym == SDLK_SPACE)
        {
            Mix_PlayChannel(-1, jump, 0);
        }
        SDL_PollEvent(&event);
    }
    // Cleanup and free memory
    SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
    Mix_FreeMusic(music);
    Mix_FreeChunk(jump);
    Mix_FreeChunk(explosion);

    return 0;
}