To anyone who has completed a game in BMax

I remember asking this question quite some time ago but I would like to ask it again for a more up to date view.

To everyone who has completed a game in BMax what do you honestly think of it? Is it more of a viable option now then it was before?

I haven`t looked at it in quite some time and would just like to know how it`s developing. Are the docs in a better state now? The IDE more stable? How would a beginner to the language cope and is it worth investing my time in learning over using B3D with something like Sprite Candy.

I really want to start learning BMax but something holds me back and I cannot quite put my finger on it.

Jason.

I'm not sure how to answer that, because I never thought it wasn't viable. Are the docs perfect? No, but there's more than enough information around to fill in the gaps. Is the IDE good? No, but neither was the IDE with B3D or BPlus. The BMax IDE has never ( in my experience ) been any less stable than those ones, and Blide kicks ass anyway. I also never thought that BMax wasn't very beginner friendly. Actually, that's not true, I remember complaining loudly that people were going to moan about how complicated it was, but that was a complaint of perception, and it proved to be spot on. I never thought it was going to give me any problems because I knew I'd give it a chance and not rush to judgement.

So since I never thought it wasn't viable, I'm not sure if I'm the best one to comment on it being more so now.

Is the BMax wiki regularly updated? Last time I looked it wasn`t working. Is this a good place for extra info?

Jason.

No, I think it was taken down to prevent spam. The best place for info is these forums. Most subjects have been discussed and the forum search works well now. The BMax tutorials forum cover a lot of things you'll want to know as well.

I am also considering investing in BlitzMax, but really only for Mac/Linux compatibility reasons.

In the case of 3D games, would it be better to stick with Blitz3D or to learn (and purchase) BlitzMax and then use MiniB3D?

> I really want to start learning BMax but something
> holds me back and I cannot quite put my finger on it.

Lack of focus?

I was torn between Blitzmax and Blitz3D for Bizzy's Spelling Bee.

I went with Blitzmax because it seemed more straightforward to make a 2D game with that, than to go down the Blitz3D + NSprite route or whatever. Plus Blitzmax has a better future than Blitz3D does.

Admittedly it hasn't been without its headaches, but its worth it in the end.

When I first got Bmax you could have finished a game in it but maybe not a Pro game as there were a few bugs that needed fixing. I helped to get them fixed and now I'd say Bmax is better for sure. It's definitely good enough for a top level portal hit now.

Ye, im also confused about whots better for 3D games. Blitz3D or BlitzMax.

If I was to make a 3D game now, I'd get BMax and one of the 3D mods for it - hopefully the best one.

I`m hesitant because I see little things like not being able to change something simple like the title of a window in windowed mode and wonder how many other little workarounds I`m going to need to implement.

Am I blowing things out of proportion or are there a few loose ends still? For example, if I want to set an image not to blur when scaled up I would use the Filtered False flag when loading the graphic but what if I have one hundred images, do I have to do this for all of them? I see no alternative to B3Ds simple TFormFilter False command that only needs to be used once.

Like I said it`s little issues like this that are putting me off. Maybe though they have been left out for a reason I`m just not sure as the docs are still pretty lacking.

I really want to like BMax but I still have my concerns. I, like many others bought it straight away and have yet to use it.

Jason.

Another question I have is how easy is it to port your game to Linux and Mac after finishing the PC version?

Is it just a case of compiling it on the other system\os or is there more involved?

This to me is the major plus of using BMax after all.

Jason.

@Quicksilva: All the GUI releated issues like setting the tittle of a window, etc. can be adressed using MaxGUI. Most of this posts were posted before MaxGUI was released. Now, with MaxGUI, you can create windows, buttons, tabs, html views, etc without any problem and being cross platform.

Porting your game to Mac Os or Linux is a trivial task with BlitzMax. Most of the cases your code will compile without any change in MacOs. In Linux take in mind that the filesystem is case sensitive, so any 'import' or 'incbin' or whatever involving file-access could fail if your applicaion is not taking into account the case correction of files.

Abviously you can create platform speciffic code (using the system API, or accesing system files that are platform speciffic). In this case, your code will not be very platform independent...

At the end, I would just say that BlitzMax is a very powerful language, with a very complete API, and in its current state, can be used for making pro 2D games, and applications.

BMAX has always been capable of delivering - the issues lie with programmer skill and not with the launguage. What I like about BMAX is that you can get right under the hood and tinker to your hearts content.

The truth of using Blitz Max is that you will, at some point, search for or ask stupid basic questions because there are stupid basic ommissions in the documentation, unless you know how to read the Blitz source.

Things like myInt=myString.toInt()

I cant tell you how long that took me to find.

It's cumbersome, it's not user friendly, and if you want the multi-platform feature then you have to support yourself.

Having said that Blitz Max does actually work (after installing X11, fixing disk permissions, syncronising, rebuilding all modules, fixing disk permissions, rebooting to single user mode and fsck'ing, reinstalling x11, fixing permissions again and then finaly rebuilding all modules again, oh, and fixing permissions again).

This is precisely why the IDE should have had intellisense since day 1. You would have figured it out immediately.

Yeah, there's no Val command.

There's lots of things like that though, the above is just an example.

One of the things I love about Blitz3D, and why out of choice I still use B3D for PC projects even if i'm not doing 3D, is that the online help is brilliant. Maybe B3D spoiled me/us, but I just dont know why the IDE changed the behaviour of the help for BMax.

"myInt=mystring.toInt()" - Have to be honest this one got me as well.

The documentation for BMax is not great, you will waste a lot of time "experimenting". Also, as you probably already know, the developer does NOT offer much communication on these boards, so you will have to rely on other programmers for help when the documentation does not have the answers.

I have nearly finished my first game in Max. It's no WoW beater, but I'm proud of it. I say once you've got used to Max, you will never want to go back to the older Blitz products, and I have heard a fair few others saying the same.

I've got 3 games completed in BMX and forth coming soon. I hear all time how BMX is weird, but don't know what those people are talking about. Docs are good enough for me - most of the time all I need is just a syntax or simple example. Though I am experienced programmer - I did code on ATARI, AMIGA and PC in many languages.

best
Roman