Programming Language

[johnno56]

I am new to this forum and interested in making games, let's say, a little more involved than just Pong. My interests are in Space shooter; Platformers and text adventures...

Asking, "Which programme is the best for game development?", is a potential nightmare... So I won't... lol

I run with Linux Mint and would appreciate some suggestions. (No... going back to Windows is 'not' a valid option - lol)

I have used Basic since I could remember. SDLBasic, RCBasic and QB64 are my preferred mediums at the moment. When I said "used" I did not mean "mastered"... I'm not that clever... lol

J

[Matty]

Well....there's always browser languages (javascript) - which will run on Linux, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and pretty much everything out there and doesn't need compiling to run.....

[johnno56]

Well, I for one am impressed... A response with 5 minutes of posting... Thank you!

Javascript. Looks like I will be researching this one. Cool. Thank you for the suggestion.

J

[therevills]

If you go with JavaScript, use the super-set TypeScript instead and you may not lose your mind 

I still like Monkey2 for simple games, but my main games are still in BlitzMax (going over to BlitzMax NG real soon) - lots of people here really like AGK as well.

[TomToad]

If you wish to stay with a BASIC style syntax, I would suggest either BMX-NG, AGK, or B4J.

B4J is free.  It also compiles to Java byte code, so the binaries will run on any computer that supports Java.  It does not support mobile, but there is the paid versions of B4A (android) and B4I (iPhone).
https://www.b4x.com/

AGK costs money, but will compile for most any platform, including mobile and HTML5.  If it is too expensive for you, wait a bit as they often have good bundles on sale.
https://www.appgamekit.com/

BMX-NG is currently my programming language of choice.  It will compile for Mac, Windows, & Linux right out of the box.  Mobile requires some extra setup.
https://github.com/bmx-ng/bmx-ng/releases

If you wish to try something other than BASIC style syntax, there is Monkey2, MonkeyX, CerberusX, and Unity aimed at game programming.  For general programming, there is Java, Javascript, C++, C#, Python, etc... (too many to list)

[Derron]

BMX-NG is currently my programming language of choice.  It will compile for Mac, Windows, & Linux right out of the box.  Mobile requires some extra setup.
https://github.com/bmx-ng/bmx-ng/releases

For a better overview just use:
https://blitzmax.org


bye
Ron

[Naughty Alien]

..everything folks already mentioned..cant go wrong..

..as for me, my attitude towards C/C++ turned to be something like this .. 

[johnno56]

Derron. Downloaded from blitzmax.org and the program ran 'out of the box'. Tried some of the sample programs and the compiling failed.

In file included from /home/john/development/BlitzMax/mod/sdl.mod/sdl.mod/SDL/src/audio/nas/SDL_nasaudio.c:34:0:
/home/john/development/BlitzMax/mod/sdl.mod/sdl.mod/SDL/src/audio/nas/SDL_nasaudio.h:29:28: fatal error: audio/audiolib.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
Build Error: failed to compile (256) /home/john/development/BlitzMax/mod/sdl.mod/sdl.mod/SDL/src/audio/nas/SDL_nasaudio.c

As I have not used the Linux version BMX before I have no idea how to correct this. Seem to be missing audio libraries?

[Steve Elliott]

lmao @ that video.  Sound on to fully appreciate.   

[Amon]

@video Ahhh, aint laughed like that in a long time. 

[TomToad]

The github link I pointed to has instructions for installing on Linux.  Basically you need to execute the line shown in order to install all the necessary dependencies.

[Naughty Alien]

...hint...play it at double speed...LOL.. 

[johnno56]

All dependencies were already already installed...

J

[Brucey]

Hallo, you might also try installing libaudio-dev, or you could edit the header in sdl.mod/sdl.mod/include/linuxx64/SDL_config.h, and comment out the parts that refer to SDL_AUDIO_DRIVER_NAS. Then rebuild.

SDL generally requires more libraries available at compile time than at runtime - in order to better support the different libraries people will have on their systems. The libraries are loaded at runtime as required, so although you might compile in support for libaudio (for example), it may never actually be used by someone using your software.

In any case, I should add it to the list of requirements...

[DaiHard]

If you are a BASIC fan, you could look at BBC BASIC for SDL:

http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/

It's free, cross-platform, and uses SDL2 to provide graphics support which should be suitable for games.

Best wishes,

D