Mark Sibly news...

Coder Apprentice · August 15, 2018, 12:35:56

Not too long ago Mark posted this on his Patreon page. I hope it all works out for him.

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Next up, some Mark Sibly news:

I have finally managed to talk my way into a full time c++ programming job!

I plan to continue monkey2 development (it's still fun, and I'll need something to do in the evenings/weekends) but I have decided to put the Patreon on a 'holiday' for at least a month (you can do that now) so I can concentrate solely on getting to grips with my new 'life'! I do hope to get some monkey2 work done, but no promises for the next month. The plan is definitely to get back into monkey2 once I've found my feet a bit and have some vague idea of what the hell a c++ programmer does all day!

I honestly have no idea what to expect and am just trying to remain as open minded about everything as possible. But to be honest, it's all kind of exciting...

Peace out!
Mark

Naughty Alien · August 15, 2018, 14:23:30

I hope all work out well for him..talented fella, all best..but for Monkey probably is the end of the road..

Steve Elliott · August 15, 2018, 15:18:07

Quote
I hope all work out well for him..talented fella, all best..but for Monkey probably is the end of the road..

Yes a talented guy, but you can't help thinking he was stringing people along for some time and taking their money for an ego trip called Monkey.

Blitz3D was his finest hour I think, a simple language that didn't change every 10 minutes with a lot of potential for producing games.

Qube · August 15, 2018, 16:56:41

I'm glad he's got a job to bring in money rather than relying on $400 a month via donations, which is a pittance to live on. Don't know if he was working part time as well but even so, it's not great.

I still think that if Mark did Blitz3D 2 ( even just for the main 3 OS's ), keeping the same neat language structure it would of been a hell of a lot more popular and financially better for him than Monkey 1 & 2 ever were. The big problem with Monkey 1 & 2 for me was that the language structure just sucked the fun out of coding and Blitz3D and Max were a hell of a lot more fun to use.

Personally if I were as talented as him I would of done Blitz3D 2, charged £80 for it and have the forums set at £10 per year subscription which would easily pay for hosting on a decent server and have money left over.

MikeHart · August 15, 2018, 18:49:01

Even for just Windows, I would buy a Blitz3D 2.0 ;-)

Qube · August 16, 2018, 00:12:50

Quote from: MikeHart on August 15, 2018, 18:49:01
Even for just Windows, I would buy a Blitz3D 2.0 ;-)

Me too and I'm a staunch Mac user

Blitz3D has a beauty about it thats not been rivalled. Sure I love AGK and have great fun using it but the way Blitz3D was all put together language wise was pretty spot on for hobby coders to dive in, whip stuff up and even create commercial games. It was powerful and simple without having to jump through language gymnastic hoops. There is nothing wrong with keeping things simple for the coder.

Naughty Alien · August 16, 2018, 05:39:39

..by the way, where is the link for this info?? I couldn't see anything on monkey web site..

Derron · August 16, 2018, 07:25:22

Quote from: Naughty Alien on August 16, 2018, 05:39:39
..by the way, where is the link for this info?? I couldn't see anything on monkey web site..

Quote from: Kris on August 15, 2018, 12:35:56
Not too long ago Mark posted this on his Patreon page.

(emphasizing by me)

So where?
https://www.patreon.com/monkey2

Second part of the posting.

bye
Ron

Kryzon · August 16, 2018, 21:04:54

I'd never go back. Python has got me by the balls now.
Duck-typing is too cool.

meems · August 18, 2018, 15:46:11

Quote from: Kryzon on August 16, 2018, 21:04:54
I'd never go back. Python has got me by the balls now.
Duck-typing is too cool.

I'm doing Java. It's programming hell from which blitzMax offers relief. The upside of Java is it pays very well, albeit only slightly better than Python.

fairgood · August 19, 2018, 11:26:02

QuoteBlitz3D has a beauty about it thats not been rivalled. Sure I love AGK and have great fun using it but the way Blitz3D was all put together language wise was pretty spot on for hobby coders to dive in, whip stuff up and even create commercial games. It was powerful and simple without having to jump through language gymnastic hoops. There is nothing wrong with keeping things simple for the coder.

Yeah, I think Mark overlooked the fact that the reason it was so popular was because it was so simple.
I think if he'd have stuck with the simplicity and just made a Blitz2 for Win.mac and Linux he could have
made a decent living from it.
Even doing a license model like the B4A guy, buy a license for 2 years, get updates within that 2 years, when it
expires you can still use the software but have to pay again for another 2 years to receive updates
The once off payment for a lifetime use does noone any favours

Steve Elliott · August 19, 2018, 11:35:28

Quote
Yeah I think Mark overlooked the fact that the reason it was so popular was because it was so simple.

Actually I think he deliberately ignored that fact completely in search of a more sophisticated language - even if a lot of his customers didn't want it.

fairgood · August 19, 2018, 11:43:20

Yeah, he has an obsession with writing the perfect language, unfortunately it's cost him dearly.

Naughty Alien · August 20, 2018, 00:20:26

Quote from: fairgood on August 19, 2018, 11:43:20
Yeah, he has an obsession with writing the perfect language, unfortunately it's cost him dearly.

..thats exactly irony of whole thing..B3D was perfect as game programming language for one platform, that can be..

therevills · August 20, 2018, 01:46:39

I was never that keen on B3D and really like(d) Blitz Max.

Can't please everyone!