Blitz Basic and Blitz Research

Hey, for some time now I've wanted to know who developed Blitz Basic, I don't know why though, maybe out of respect. I've used BB for a pretty long time before I found out about Max, two or three years. Loving Blitz Basic so much, as soon as I found Max I got ~$100.00 together and, in the next day or two, bought Blitz Max and the Max GUI library.

BB got me started on all those languages C++, Java... And it's really hard to say goodbye :,( Does anyone know if it was Blitz Research who developed Blitz Basic, or was it a different company?

Thanks

It was BRL.

I think a "Company History" link on the home page would make for a nice read.

yeah it would.

To answer your actual question: It was Mark Sibly who developed Blitz Basic 2d and 3D and alos Blitz Max. He also wrote the original version on the Amiga computer several eons ago, which sporned such hits as Worms and Gloom (god I loved gloom).

Worth pointing out that the released version of Worms wasn't written in Blitz Basic 2. The concept was snapped up by Team 17 after famously *not* winning a programming competition run by Amiga Doormat.

Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely convinced that Gloom was actually written in Blitz, either...?

Skidmarks was, though.

okay, so I was possibly wrong. Zombie apocolypse was definitly written in blitz, so was skidmarks

What do BRL get up to on a day-to-day basis? We're not really seeing any major developments Blitz-wise, so have Mark and co all got separate full-time jobs or something?

I believe that Mark actually developed Gloom... I'm not 100% sure though, but I seem to recall something along those lines..

Anyways.. I think BRL is Mark's "full time" job.
Currently working on Max3D, if I'm not mistaking and he hasn't given up on it.. ;)

I'm pretty sure they (Mark and Simon) is doing some freelance coding on other projects too.. to get some more income..

A few links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz_Basic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz_Research

and concerning gloom:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloom_(game)

Unless you're talking about the PC version I'm not sure where you getting your facts from, I'm pretty sure I remember sending them updates to the CD32 userlib that both SuperSkid and Worms CD32 used and that Team17 gave us a nice quote and permission to market the fact the original published version of Ami Worms was developed in Blitz. The fact Andy made more money that year than anyone under 20 should be legally allowed is more to the point.

Dunno, I always thought it *was* written in Blitz but I've been pulled up several times for saying it in recent years - a few people have told me I'm wrong. If you get told you're wrong often enough, you start to believe it.

Guess everybody just pwned themselves then, eh?

I wouldn't be suprised if MB denied the fact if asked in the press if Team17 games were programmed in BASIC, not exactly a good look. And the PC PS1 C ports were the real success anyhows.

Hi

Assuming MB is Martyn Brown, I'd probably agree.
Maybe, but would they ever have happened if the original Worms never came to be? I doubt it.

Amy Worms was definately Blitz. You can look at the exe and see Blitz specific tags embedded in there... I wasn't sure about the Directors Cut though - but if they used a CD32 lib then, well, probably eh.

Or alternatively, you can just read the credits.

When PC Blitz first came out and I was doing the crappy web sites, Martyn Brown gave me permission to mention that the original Worms was written in Amiga Blitz, and wished us well. Pretty sure Mark's 'Gloom' was a Blitz job too.

If that's true then Mark would have to be the worst marketing man on the planet for everyone not to already know. Hey, hang on... ;)

Gloom, though. I'll have another one of those when Max3D is done, ta.

I don't know, Gloom was good on the Amy, with what competition it had... but I think the FPS market may be a little saturated on the PC =]


Oh right, cuz they couldn't possibly be not telling the truth ;]

Sure. But Team 17 wouldn't lie in favour of Acid Software.

I remember never knowing what to do with the new commands back then with bum updates. Docs haven't improved since ;)

IIRC Gloom was Devpac 2 and not Blitz, I could be wrong tho :)

Ask Mark, he made it.. ;)

I remember watching the interview with Andy Davidson on Bad Influence when they were talking about it being made in Blitz. They also had a competition on the programme where the question was which language it was written in.

Wasn't Guardian for the Amiga written in Blitz?

The only games I remember Mark writing in Blitz were called defender, the rest were all straight assembler.

Blitz had inline assembler on the Amiga so you couldn't say many of the games published in Blitz back then were written in pure BASIC anyway.

i spose Gloom would have had to be written in assembly

Gloom was definately assembler, as was Guardian.

As Skid commented, mark wrote a few Defenders, one in Blitz 1, the popular one in Blitz ][. and updated one (sort of Stargate++) called Oblivion was in ASM, There was also one short lived ASM version of Defender written in the zero pass assembler that was written in Blitz (ZASM?? The name escapes me).

I always thought Gloom was Blitz with assembly for the actual rendering stuff. I stand corrected!

amiga defender was excellent.

Well, there's truths and then there's thruths. You could open a screen mode and then write the rest in asm and say you used Blitz.