July 23, 2026
Shader? I hardly know her
Vulkan Tutorial
The famous graphics guide just got called old news by its own fans
TLDR: The big news is that this once-popular Vulkan tutorial now warns it’s outdated and tells readers to use newer official guides instead. In the comments, people turned that into a mini-drama about beginner pain, old resources, and whether anyone should learn the hard way anymore.
A beloved how-to for learning Vulkan—the powerful but notoriously fussy system developers use to talk to graphics cards—has basically opened with a plot twist: don’t use this old version. The tutorial now warns readers it was written back in 2016 and no longer shows the best modern approach, instead pointing people toward newer official learning materials at vulkan.org/learn. That alone was enough to send the comment section into full-on “this belongs in a museum” mode.
The strongest reaction? A mix of public service announcement energy and gentle roasting. One commenter practically rushed in waving the warning label, quoting the site’s own “read before following” notice like they were exposing a dramatic receipt. Another didn’t just accept that Vulkan is hard—they basically said, if you’re trying to actually make a game and not suffer for sport, maybe use a friendlier layer on top. The funniest bit is that the suggested alternative they praised hasn’t been updated in eight years, which feels very on-brand for a discussion about old tutorials. Meanwhile, another user skipped the doom and dropped a cooler, newer tutorial link like a hero entering in the third act.
So the vibe is clear: Vulkan is powerful, but wow, people really want a survival guide for the survival guide. The community isn’t fighting over whether it matters—they’re fighting over how much pain a beginner should have to endure first.
Key Points
- •The tutorial includes a warning that it was written around Vulkan’s 2016 release and no longer reflects current best practices.
- •The article recommends newer official Vulkan learning materials at vulkan.org/learn instead of relying on this older tutorial.
- •Vulkan is presented as a low-level graphics and compute API from the Khronos Group that offers explicit control, cross-platform support, and potential performance benefits over older APIs.
- •The article emphasizes that Vulkan requires more manual setup and resource management than APIs such as OpenGL or Direct3D.
- •Prerequisites listed include Vulkan-compatible hardware, C++ experience, C++17-capable compilers, and familiarity with graphics concepts, with tooling including the Vulkan SDK, GLM, and GLFW.