Upgrading to BlitzMax Am I missing something?

First of all, this isn't a 'troll' attempt, I am genuinly asking myself this question, and as I can't answer it, I need to ask you guys.

I am struggling to see what is the point of upgrading to BlitzMax if you currently use Blitz3D.

I own Blitz+ and Blitz3D, and mainly code in Blitz3D.

I use Blitz3D because I can't frankly be bothered with dealing with the 'mess' of low level DirectX primitives. I love the entities, the camera classes etc.

I understand that I will be able to cross compile to 3 platforms. I also understand that I can OO classes. Well if I am going to have to learn OpenGL for doing my 3D and lose the ease of use of the Entities, Camera, etc, quite frankly I may as well go back to C++ and code in OpenGL, and get some skills that would be useful on my CV.

Or am I missing something?

BTW: before I get flamed (as I am sure I will, as somebody will not read my post properly), I think creating a new OO language which can compile on 3 platforms is a great achievement, well done Mark!

Mark is working on a 3D module for BMax as well which hopefully will have more user friendly stuff than raw OpenGL.

> Or am I missing something?

What Pertubatio said. In addition a gui module is coming (free I think too). So although it currently is not 3D it will be, also don't forget that it is still in beta for windows - and if you have a MAC Blitz3D was not an option anyway.

Having to go back to old blitz code, after playing with bmax for this short period of time, is like having to use 56k after broadband. Blitzmax just gives you more options, with a more powerfull language.

Having to wait a time until an official 3d module is built, is just something impatient people will have to do. I can't wait for it, but I don't feel like using b3d just for the sake that it has the 3d stuff already. I'll wait for bmax :)

Same here, I'm waiting for the 3D module too.

And because I created some programs already with Visual Basic 6, I can grasp the OOP stuff better, because the syntax is roughly the same, if you're talking about methods, field, ... in custom types.

But before the 3D module is ready, I can already create the rough layout for my game, as the loading of data, creating the type-instances (and checking if the data is loaded correctly), creating the functions that are required for my spacestations, ships, commodities, ...

I can also start to create the 3D objects with 3DS Max, so when the 3D-module is ready, I just have to implement the 3D stuff, as the 2D stuff and data-processing can be ready by then.

And using OOP, I can really separate specific functions and methods that are specific to a specific type (i.e. special funcs for stations, some for ships, ...).

This is something that can't be done using B3D.
Of course you could do this in B3D:

For i = 0 to MaxStations
ProduceFinalProduct(ArrayStations(i))
Next

Where I can do this in BMax:

For i = 0 to MaxStations
ArrayStations[i].ProduceFinalProduct()
Next

This will do the same, but in B3D, the function has to refer to that specific station (i) for each operation you do on the station, while in BMax it processes the type-instance itself directly, so the code will be much shorter (and maybe a bit faster).

As for the entities, camera classes and such, I think BMax will support them too in much the same way.

Im about 66.666% through writing multiplayer Elite client in Blitz3D (c# server backend), and was wondering whether to hold-fire and move the client to BlitzMax.

But based on what you guys are saying, I am probably just as well to finish off the game in Blitz3D and hopefully by that time, the 3D module for BlitzMax will be available and I can start a whole new project migrating over!

No. If you wanted though you could "hold-fire" and port the server instead tho'.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

As with Daza, I'm mostly using Blitz3D for 2D and 3D games, BlitzPlus I use occasionally but I feel I shouldn't have spent the extra money considering the things I like to program.

As for BlitzMax (which I also bought) the cross-platform capabilities are just plain awesome and it's a much more powerful language (albeit harder, and I've yet to really get a nack for it) that I could benefit from. My only concern (which is only temporary) is learning what makes OpenGL different from DirectX in Blitz coding, since it obviously changes the way I program entirely. I still use Blitz3D most of the time, because it has features I like, a lot of libraries and source code is widely available, and I'm just plain comfortable with the language and the program flow.

BlitzMax will take a bit of practice considering the major differences from the previous Blitz iterations, such as the expanded Types and learning which module this command or that command is located in. Lots of calls have to be made in the beginning of the source code when compared to Blitz3D source. Ahg, I'm rambling on when I should really be working at actually learning to use it properly.

I'm in a similar boat. I don't have a huge amount of Blitz3D experience, but nevertheless my project is underway and 3D support is crucial. I'm currently working on my game solely in Blitz3D, which I aim to release towards the end of the year. Hopefully by then there will be a 3D module in MAX and it won't be tooooo terrible trying to port my code.

Does Blitz3D code translate (through a converter) very well, or is it particularly problematic?

I'm leaving bmax until it matures.
I haven't seen any suggestion of an official GUI or how the 3D module is either to be coded or markteted.

Likewise I do not see BlitzMax going anywheres very soon. Thats why I am working on something else until it does mature maybe by the end of the year.

Hard to say since niether the converter or 3D module for BlitzMAX actually exsists yet. There is one for Blitz2D/Plus code, and I imagine that the success rate for automagically porting 3D projects to Max will have a slightly larger success rate than that one.

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