Code does not need to be run every frame. You can decide when the gui state gets refreshed, for example only redraw the interface framebuffer on interaction. Th

Code does not need to be run every frame. You can decide when the gui state gets refreshed, for example only redraw the interface framebuffer on interaction. The linked ocornut imgui is pretty fast however, even without framebuffering. I found the overhead to be negligible (i am so confused by the arrangement of chars in this word), atleast on 5 years old low end x86 hd4000 hardware with gl3. i did not check on arm gles2 hardware though, but on every cheap modern labtop / desktop this will fly. The only drawback i see is that the linked ocornut imgui is pretty minimalist in design and layout, not easily bendable and not well suited for an elaborate pixelised artistic game interface. But since it got textured buttons already in, it might not so much work at all to wrap something up. In the current state it's super easy painless and quick to implement for small tools, and to get values on screen updated in realtime.