Whats new.

First of all I dont want to offend anyone, cos what I am about to say may be taken the wrong way.

Due to work, uni, and life, I stopped coding about 9-12 months before the launch of BMax, I paid for and bought Bmax on launch and have been checking the site for updates cos I will start coding full time again at some point.

But, is it me..... or has the community come to a stand still since its launch, I dont mean in any way to belittle anyones hard work, but from my weekly checks, I havnt seen anything thats really eye catching.

Nothing thats really got, "OMFG look at me " stampped all over it. sure we have a few Ver 2's floating about , but nothing super.

Have I been missing all the really good stuff ? or are my memories playing tricks on me, cos I recall before I put an end to my coding that each week there would be something new and cool, some new cool bit of code or art work worth looking at.

Anyway, like I said, I dont in anyway wanna piss anyone off, I am just asking, whats happened, where has all the creative liquid's gone ?

I trust you've looked in the showcase forums - there's some pretty neat stuff in there. Can you give an 'OMFG' example from the past that we're not seeing an equal of these days?

Most people are waiting for the next generation of languages (ie BMax3D)
But yeah I agree, most people are just time wasting or not doing much these days. Things are quiet around here these days.

I've got an OMFG for you, but you'll have to wait for the christmas season.

Yeah Enay I kinda thought it would be something like that, TBH its what I am holding out for as well.

I hope they do the free upgrade the same as they did for blitz plus users.

My Blitz Oblivion is the king of all in Blitzland - it oozes with AAA professional graphics.





EDIT: I have just noticed I have a wrong texture on the top of the gate posts in this picture - I've since fixed it:

Yavin, you'll have to give your definition of cool or a few examples.
Are you talking about Bmax in particular?
I think this is cool and this and GridWars .
Not sure who's doing what on B3D at the moment though and, obviously, Bmax3D is not available.
I like the fact Bmax is 2D (OK 2d-in-3D) as there's more focus on 2D again... for a while.
<edit> P.S. Apologies to other people with stuff out I think is cool.
<edit2> Ahhh!!! Of course, "Puki" is doing Oblivion.

I'd like to take this opportunity to be the 1000th person since Max3D was announced to go out on a very sturdy and reinforced limb and say that this will not happen unless it is accompanied by an announcement that BRL are going out of business and all support for all of their products ceases as of that moment.

Hey, we're still learning :P
Give it time.

Right now, I'm being amazed by the number of modules coming about.
I previously decided to use the Newton module, and have been sifting through 3d engines lately to find one to use.
Since the project's visual end is pretty simple, I'm winding down to a choice between learning some OpenGL stuff and modifying MiniB3d to suit my wishes, or using gg.IrrB3d.
My thoughts may curb towards SOW, but I think I'm pretty decided on using MiniB3d as a base for a really messy engine with extra features since it's meant to be a nice, lightweight engine and I don't need any fancy occlusion stuff. (At least, if I did do fancy occlusion stuff it would have be done by hand because of the nature of the thing!)


They're all stellar 3d engines, by the way.

Gridwars is really cool, and that realtime 2d shadow module did catch my eye. It's a reminder that we can do all those neat effects in 2d, too (and a lot more easily!), and it proves that it's a good thing to have Max3d taking a while.
(That, and the many other handy 3d engine modules being written which wouldn't happen if we already had Max3d).

I'd show you my something new, but then I'd have to kill you. And I'm running out of space in the back garden to hide the bodies.

Puki's doesn't count since all he did was steal other people's work..

@ Gabriel: Why not just make something with your TV3D module already, and show some screenshots? I want to see it to believe it before I buy it :D

I am making something with my TV3D module. I'm just not showing screenshots of anything ( apart from the GUI ) until I'm ready. It's a huge, long-term project and I have to manage the release of any related material very carefully to avoid bankrupting myself ;)

If you mean big, impressive games then perhaps not - but then it's just a fact of life that very few big indie games make it to fruition.

No stamina, you see...

Then just make a simple demo that's unrelated to your game ;)

The thing about coolness is that it grows exponentially as time increases linearly. Thus it's entirely natural that the amount if cool stuff you see will be fewer and further between.

But when cool stuff does come around, it will blow your mind.

Why waste time doing that, over making a game that makes him money?

the rpg that tonyg linked above, bow thats something nice.

The light mapper has been done to death, sure it might actually work better than the others but its the same old stuff over and over again.

Again i really dont wana offend anyone . just asking.

@ Flameduck you could be right m8, just because its indie does not mean the development time isnt long for a good project.

Just cant wait to see what the best max has to offer i guess, cos it sure looks like nothing much is being done with B3d any more. other than the same old thing again and again.

Well my BlitzMax Game Framework might not make you go OMFG, but it's pretty darn useful and very popular. What will be insteresting is to see what people make with it, myself included.

This was done in B3D:

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=58713

This was done in BlitzMax,

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=58781

(It was a recode of an older game, Using an engine now known as Aten3D.)


However the best thing to come to max for me has been

1) SOW. This project is run by Chris C, a reliable coder who has added what I've needed to SOW, within minutes sometimes, of me asking. This has meant we have finally been able to make a start on a project which was struggling because of B3D's limits. This project isn't a game, and isn't somewhere where I could post a screenie, however this is because of the projects early build and not because of SOW. Get SOW Here: http://www.chris-camacho.com/

2)Grey Aliens framework. Although i've not really done anything spectacular with it due to my 3D-projects, Grey's framework shines if you're new to MAX and need to get started pretty quickly. It does all the hard bits for you so you can dive right in there and start on the actual game code :) Take a look here: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=60957

3) JV-ODE for BlitzMax. OK, so you said not new, but this brings a full-on physics engine to Max which can be used with 2D and 3D engines. We incorporated it into Aten3D, so all you needed to do was buy JV-ODE and Aten3D would immediately support it :) get JV-ODE for B3D/BMX from here: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=59001


Things are on the move, but B3D is starting to wade- Like me, even though Max is 2D, once you get used to it it makes B3D feel obsolete.

I'm not the only person to feel that a B3D2 is *still* a good idea. Max isn't so beginner-level, B3D is very very powerful yet so easy a 5 year old could learn it...


You wan't OMFG? I Must ask... Do you want Doom 4 or something? :-) (Not even that would make me go err. "OMFG".. though.)

It's possible, but not certain that when Max3D comes out I might do some 3D stuff woo. But due to the magnitude higher amount of resources required for a proper 3D game I might just end up using 3D effects in 2D games (unless I'm in command of a huge team of modellers, artists and level designers by then of course ;-))

More importantly how many of these supposed stunning games are FINISHED.

hey there Yavin... you have been MIA for a while now, haven't you (smart, get that degree outta the way)...



as for your question... well, take a look at THIS!!!!




now doesn't that qualify as "OMFG look at me " work...


oh, wait a minute!!!

you were asking about something that was done in Blitz3D, or BlitzMax... right...

my bad...

ok, you can use that screenshot... but as an example of the "OMFG look at me " stuff we could be looking at as done by Blitzers now, if...

1- Blitz3D was being even minimally updated to keep up with the times...

2- the BMax 3D Module was available...

3- i had some real graphics production talent...


well... there you have it...

while there has been some really nice looking stuff coming from a talent group here, one can only wonder what we would be seeing if we had just a lil more help from the tools.

--Mike

That picture surely doesn't count if mine don't.

hahahahahahaaaaa... puk, without a doubt, you will be the last man standing, for sure...

--Mike

Nice picture, sea is great.

Nice sea but if i remember right there are already better ones around. I like the sky and the overall colouring! :O)

Puki, your game is looking nice indeed.

@ Cygn, Aurora or what ever its called now has actually been around for ages, I did when it was first announced think WOW nice. but since then iv seen nothing new from it, appart from some box's.

That car game, I am prity sure iv seen for a while as well, although in demo form, Its sad that the car handliing is still something that blitz just doesnt seem to be able to do very well. power slides are a killer, I know I spent a long time working on it and never seemed to be able to come up with anything that felt right.

Still nothing new. as for the framework by gray, I'm not sure its worth paying money for. it would have been nice free. but I guess he needs to make money like all of us.

I guess I was just expecting to see some really nice things come of blitz, be it 3D or MAX by this time. but im not.

Yavin lol, thought you meant in the last 12 months?

Auroa was writen from scratch about 2-3 months ago. I know that for a fact :)

And yeah, the racer itself was quite old. You saw a video of it last year, it came on tons since then and there's now a playable demo of it which was also released about 2 months back. I remember your post :D

Auroa 3 months ago ? I have to erm not agree...

Its goto be a lot longer than that, I think in its original form it was written in blitz3D, it was then ported or Im sure i heared it god ported to c, and now Max, so it cant be only 2 months old.

Nope.

We started writing Aurora from scratch just about 3 months ago. (Ok, well, I was supposed to, but Antony took control of the C stuff pretty quickly.)

Other Engines (c) Antony: Trinity, VividGL, etc were not part of Aurora.

Aurora was effectively an Ogre wrapper with a ton of helper functions to make it's use much easier.

SOW is now past where Aurora got to, I'd reccomend that now. however, I think Aten3D has source so if you're looking for a base to start on that gives you full access to everything you need in the wrapper, Aten3D might be good to look at.

Personally I'm using Sow and it's great :)

Oh BTW, Grey's framework is *well* worth the money, just by the amount of time you'd spend making that code alone :)

BTW2, I'm not arguing with you and you havent offended me. Just cleaning facts up :D

Red is this you on the ship:

Nope, that's former Notts Forest striker, Jason Lee. And fans of Baddiel and Skinner will know why.

nope... that guy looks a lot better than me...

and he carries a bigger gun...

--Mike

Argh! It looks like some many-legged beastie is sucking his brains out with a pipe!

I mean, that's what seems to be happening in the picture; the guy's hairstyle, his vacant expression. Obviously I don't mean it seems to be happening right here in front of me. This isn't a panic-tinged cry for help on my part. That would be silly. No, I'd be running away, screaming hysterically if it was really happening - not calmly typing about it on messageboards. To do otherwise would be plain crazy.

So the lesson is, err, don't stay and watch while people have their brain sucked out by many-legged beasties, and pay attention to the hairstyles and expressions of any characters you model. I think we've all learned an important lesson here today.

@Red/maximo
From which game are these screenshots?

something about modern day Pirates a team is doing with OSG

http://www.openscenegraph.org

you gotta look for the project and screenshots...

--Mike

Okay thanks! :O)