Blitz3D + Sprite Candy > BlitzMax? (and other q's)

I've purchased Blitz Max quite a while ago but I've recently checked out the Blitz3D + Sprite Candy demo and it's absolutely amazing!

Is Blitz3D + Sprite Candy really a better solution for 2D games?

Also, can BlitzMax be used in other languages like Delphi or C#? I know that may seem like a strange question, but I'd love to use all the libraries created with BlitzMax but have the power of Delphi/C# for my actual game code, etc.

Finally, does BlitzMax support render targets at all or the stencil buffer? XNA makes it incredibly easy to use the stencil buffer and/or create render targets but this doesn't seem possible in BlitzMax?

Yes, you probably could wrap Max2d in a module, and compile it as a dll, but that would violate the license you agreed to when you bought BlitzMax (IIRC).

Basically.

Long story short, I've coded my own Blitzmax Sprite Candy like module(s) that have some of the features of Sprite Candy, and then alot of features Sprite Candy doesn't. ;) However....I didn't find out about Sprite Candy/B3D until I was well into accepting Bmax as my language of choice for the next couple of years. If I would have found out about B3D/Sprite Candy before I purchased Blitzmax, I would have purchased B3D/Sprite Candy instead.

My official recommendation is, if you must have mac/linux builds, go with Blitzmax. Any decent coder can whip up a 2d engine fairly quickly using Blitzmax. If you're just looking for Windows builds, B3D/Sprite Candy is the solution I would go for.

"Finally, does BlitzMax support render targets at all or the stencil buffer?"

Blitzmax supports anything DirectX 7 or OpenGL is capable of, if you're willing to learn the low level api's and code it yourself. ;)

Yep, it is.


Depends. I don't need X-platform but prefer Bmax language to B3D. On the other hand Bmax is missing some pretty basic 2D stuff that I think should be native and is included in B3D.

One of the things Bmax is missing and I can't believe it hasn't been added in the last x years (5?) A few people have tried to add it but it's not easy and never seems to work OK for everybody.

I have Blitz3D+SpriteCandy, and its a great addition and definately an easy way to get great looking games up and running in a short time.

But I am so used to how Bmax is working now, and I wouldn't want to go back, os I ended up doing what JGOware did, and that is I made my own SpriteCandy like module for Bmax. This way I am able to use the more advanced features of Bmax, while still having the 2D sprite effects I want, that is 3D hardware driven.

Its the best of the two worlds, but if you aren't sure you would want to take on the task of making your own sprite system for Bmax, then there are a couple still available for sale you might want to take a look at, or you might want to go the Blitz3D+SpriteCandy way. Its definately a high quality product.

I am not sure why you would want to package some of Bmax up to be used with Delpi/C#, and I am not sure why you think that that combo would offer anything better than just sticking with Bmax. If its games in the casual 2D genre, then Bmax is more than capable already, and its crossplatform, so it would allow for taking advantage of the Apple market which according to some people is fairly large in the casual game genre.