Instead of picking individual libraries, I’ll have a go at a quick overview at all of them, as listed in the Graphics section on Hackage.
Basic frameworks:
OpenGL
- Part of the Haskell Platform
- Used for many small 2 and 3D games.
- Examples: lambdacube-engine, roguestar-gl, hpong, monadius, raincat, frag
GTK
cabal install cairo
- Used for high quality two-d graphics/vector graphics.
- On Hackage
- Examples: diagrams, 4blocks, gameclock
QTHaskell
- Relatively little use, but when it is used, it is used notably.
- Not on Hackage, found here, due to C++ issues
- Notable users: Nikki and the Robots, a commercial game.
SDL
cabal install sdl
- On Hackage, quite widely used for game-like, interactive apps with 2D graphics.
- Examples: haskgame, Eternal10Seconds, HTicTacToe, RainCat, starrover
X11
cabal install X11
Venerable Unix user interfaces.
Examples: xmonad.
GD
cabal install gd
The GD graphics system. Package on hackage.
Examples: wordcloud, sparklines.
HOgre
cabal install hogre
Bindings to the Ogre game graphics system.
Now, besides these game layers, there are many higher level frameworks and tools:
Diagrams
cabal install diagrams
2D vector diagrams (e.g. for math), built on cairo.
- Examples: fractals.
Gloss
cabal install gloss
2D graphics, very easy interface, relatively new. See TomMD’s comment.
- Examples: functional flocking
Cal3D
cabal install cal3d
Bindings to the Cal3D animation package.
Chalkboard
cabal install chalkboard
- URL
- Read the tutorial
OpenGL-based combinators for generating images, used in teaching.
TeaHS
cabal install TeaHS
- URL
A simple library for use creating 2D games, inspired by the Ruby library Tea.