Did I dream Blitz3D won't compile soon on windows last night?

[Steve Elliott]

Good luck with whatever your coding tool of choice is.

Quite right.  But it's never a bad thing to suggest alternatives.   

[RemiD]

I am not blind, my short term goal (programming related) is to finish a game which is "good enough" for the competition, what would be the advantage to use a language/engine that i don't know well and have to learn ? None.

Also, since what i said was apparently not clear enough : my next goal (programming related) is to create a game similar to those on saturn/ps1/n64/pc (1996->2002), not to play with new languages/engines/systems and achieve nothing... (like i did in the past)

[3DzForMe]

@remiD, sorry, I was speaking (typing) figuratively - I will confess to have a 'love' for Blitz 3D myself. I see creating things in 3D as a mixture of art and engineering, it is great to be able to express yourself not simply in the flat old 2Dimensions - but to be able to do it in 3D is really something to behold.

I really didn't mean to cause any offence, and I still hope to be the last one compiling in B3D, I (think) I've still got the capability to compile in BBasic 2.1, however my attic might have rendered my Amiga less than useful.....

I admire your sense of purpose and direction, which is more than I can say for moi. As for your point about not achieving stuff, for one, you've been an inspiration and source of resolutions over the years for one or two coding head aches I've had. So, you achieved stuff for me, yep, I'm rambling, but that'll be the festive spirits casting their spells again.

Happy Coding

[RonTek]

@RemiD @RickNasher

Hey guys, don't count out Monkey-X or even Cerberus-X yet, it's actually closer to BlitzBasic and B3D (with MiniB3D). I was also intimated at first, but after a few ports of some demos here and there and other archive codes, it is really a great cross-platform transition.

I also got some 3rd party android SDKs ported (basic API stuff to see if it's working) in just a couple of days and might plan to do a fork soon or eventually as I have originally planned when I first joined here (see my earlier posts).

For latest 3D stuff, Vortex2 is coming along nicely (not yet 1:1 with B3D commands, but getting there) now with textured shadows, assimp support and pretty soon writing custom shaders.

As for BlitzMax/NG, I think this is a different route and will be more like Monkey2 with Brucey's plans of emscripten web target. For staying with Blitz3D, yes there's already BRL's latest Visual Studio 2017, which seems you are all already aware of (This is also Blitz3D 1.108 binary release btw is on BRL's itch.io product page)

I still dabble with B3D and Max stuff as it is still an interesting and quick platform for desktop builds. I have tried AGK (trial) and even DarkBasic Pro for a good amount of time, but for me it does not scale up when you now do complex or even object oriented stuff. I'm not a fan of the different syntax or command set as well.

I must admit this is not a very convincing post (not really intended), but I think you're really missing out and overlooking Monkey-X as Blitz3D's successor, at least in my opinion and now that is free and opensource.

@3DzForMe

Good to see you got some MX web going on there, it is also my goto target for trying out new and web stuff.

[3DzForMe]

@RonTek, yeah, MonkeyX is very capable and it is astounding what can be achieved within the HTML5 target. I've been unable to try out Cerberus as I'm still stuck in 32-bit land. Interesting about the Visual studio release of B3D.

[RemiD]

@3Dzforme>>don't worry, i am not offended easily, i just like when things are clear, why i do what i do...

( oh, and i will be the last one standing (using Blitz3d)  , so start using AGK now, for your own good, i see that you are becoming weak, starting to kneel down under the oppression ( i am joking  ) )

[3DzForMe]

No retreat, no surrender, just when you think you're the last one standing and B3D fails to compile for you - I'll stumble out of the woodwork with my creaky compiler pumping out 3D wonders. Oh, and yeah, I'll be having another peek at AGK today, maybe after walking the dog. 

[RemiD]

About lighting/shading, i just want to clarify something, i am not saying to not spend time/energy on that, a nice lighting/shading is always appreciated, however i suggest to not become obsessed by that and spend too much time/energy on that (so that it looks "realistic"), because if you play many games which can be made by an independent developer, (saturn, ps1, n64, pc(1996->2002)) and maybe if you are really skilled and motivated (dreamcast, ps2, xbox, gamecube), you will realize how imperfect, unrealistic the lighting/shading/shadows are in most games... But if the gameplay is fun enough, if the controls are "instinctive enough", if the graphics style is nice enough and consistent, if the sounds are immersive enough, you (and the users of your game) will appreciate to play anyway.

Shadows (realtime or precalculated) are different because it takes a lot of time to setup and often you have to optimize things in the game world just so that there is no graphics artifact and so that it runs fast enough.

So yes, but no, or maybe, each his own tastes/priorities, i suppose

[RonTek]

I've been unable to try out Cerberus as I'm still stuck in 32-bit land.

I'm not sure if CX defaults to 64 only, but you can always try the Pro87version which works on both 32/64bit and is now available at BRL Itch.io page.

[Yue]

Blitz3D


Agk


They're just tools, they won't do anything on their own, but behind them there may be great artists. Something personal is that you can make games with both, and I think the graphics are in the background when it comes to gameplay.

[Steve Elliott]

True.  But Blitz3D has been abandoned by it's creator, so possibly an unreliable tool (no I'm not talking about Mark, honest) 

Where as AGK is updated regularly.

[Rick Nasher]

Plus it's not that big a switch from Blitz3D to AGK. It even supports the B3D file format.

[RemiD]

You can use any language/engine that you want, what really matters, apart from the compatibility / stability / runningspeed, are the gameplay + the art (shapes/colors/animations/sounds)...
However if you have to think a lot to convert your thoughts (what you want to achieve) into code, maybe the language that you use is not the best ? (=it slows you down!)
That's why i like Blitz3d, you have an idea, you code as you would think/speak, done ! ( but some others languages are good too in this aspect, fortunately !)

[GaborD]

You can use any language/engine that you want, what really matters, apart from the compatibility / stability / runningspeed, are the gameplay + the art (shapes/colors/animations/sounds)...
However if you have to think a lot to convert your thoughts (what you want to achieve) into code, maybe the language that you use is not the best ? (=it slows you down!)
That's why i like Blitz3d, you have an idea, you code as you would think/speak, done ! ( but some others languages are good too in this aspect, fortunately !)

That's how I judge engines. How quickly/easily does it let me do what I want to do.
All the coolest tech is somewhat pointless if it's a huge hassle to use. Time is too short to waste it.
That said, the engine has to be able to actually do what I need it to do in the first place.

[RemiD]

That said, the engine has to be able to actually do what I need it to do in the first place.

Of course. I should have said : that's why i like the blitzbasic language/syntax. But Blitzmax+Minib3d/Openb3d is similar, and there are probably others (there was Xors3d at a time)
What happened to the "nuclearglory" basic/engine ?