Purchase Max?

So I finally got a great idea for a doable game, coded a basic engine in Blitz3D, and am really getting excited about. It's a 2D game.

My question is: should I take the plunge and finally buy BlitzMax? Really the selling point for me is the cross-compatability, but OOP and enhanced 2D commands would also be nice. Or should I wait for Max3D to come out? Or simply stay with Blitz3D?

Buy Max... But dont ask for anything other than what it's got!!!

Dabz

+1 for BlitzMax. You'll definitely benefit no-end from all of its modules, especially the third-party ones, and so will your code. The only downside is the docs aren't fantastic for beginners, but these forums are a great place to ask questions.

Once you go Max, you'll never look back... ;-)

Edit: Unless you're puki or one of the other die-hard "Blitz3D 'til the bitter end" crew members... :P

Your game is 2D, so there's no question- get Max. Max3D will be an add-on for Max anyways.

lol, I set out in my current project to be Max only... GUI knocked my tits in and I had to use SendMesageA, then I had to literally knock out an entire class using WinSock

Contrary to popular belief, BlitzMax is only as portable as much as the fanny on you are willing to provide it!!!

Me... as portable as a shite in BodyShop!!!

Dabz

Well, if you are talking using only the stuff that comes with BlitzMax then obviously you aren't going to succeed in all cases.

It's not like Python, which has everything but the kitchen sink included with the base distro.
I suppose it's a bit more like Perl, where you need to plug in extra functionality (perl mods) to do more stuff.
Not a big deal in the real world.


With MaxGUI? I'm not at all surprised. For anything other than a basic window with some buttons, it is poorly lacking.


Well, it's not terribly expensive, and it's always fun learning something new, so why not? :-)

"and enhanced 2D commands would also be nice."

Huh? Does Blitzmax have better 2D support than B3D?

Max is a nice language, i've used it on Windows and OSX and it does what it says on the tin. However it is much lower level than B3D, I have been a Max user for a long time but i'm still a faster developer in B3D than I am in Max where I have to stop and look things up constantly and often when I do the docs are not forthcoming.

If you 'get it' then it's a good tool, but if you're not prepared to change your coding ways and make use of the methodologies that Max has opened up then you'll find it doesnt really offer anything that B3D doesnt offer - B3D still pretty much has more features.

That said, when I start a project now I like having the option of chosing between the two platforms, and I find myself going with Max more and more even though it does my head in and leaves me begging for mercy more often than Max Mosley.

'max graphics are 2d in 3d, so you get blend effects etc "for free". These are doable by hand in b3d (but not the original b2d), so while not impossible in b3d, they are probably easier in max2d.

Blitzmax is very good because it got OOP , 2D in 3D and more but it would be nice if someone could update the Doc!!

Go Max. It's Maxtastic. Your coding skills will be Maxified. Maxtricular, Maximillion. Max Max Max.

Just be prepared to spend some time learning the new language and don't be afraid to ask tonnes of questions.

+1 for max. Its a great language and works on all of them if you ever decide to migrate to another platform.

The 2D engine built in has both advantages and dissadvantages but i would say the positives outweigh the negatives.

+1 for max, I started a project in B3D, for primary schools, looked great, but... primary schools 2/3 years ago struggled with my lack of optimised B3d stuff - so I jumped ship to BMax and with Grey Alien's framework I conquered the world... Well, I at least finsihed my product (;-)

BlitzMax.

I changed from B3D to BMax and I haven't looked back since.

IMHO MaxGUI is indeed poor for anything complex - I managed to create GUI functions in BMax that worked a lot better than a version in MaxGUI. Admittedly I was a beginner in MaxGUI, but I quickly realised that what I wanted just wasn't possible to do quickly or easily with it.

Here is a WIP ANSI style graphics package that was created using only standard BlitzMaz functions - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/MA.rar

I'm also working on a map editor that is based on the above code - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/MaxMapper.rar

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just have a quick question on BlitzMax functionality. Is it possible in BlitzMax to capture the screen? What about capturing the screen without the BlitzMax window open yet? And without the mouse caught in the screen capture?

I'm pretty sure the Robot class in Java can do this, but it seems my computer doesn't work with the Robot class, so I'm once again looking at Max as a possible alternative.

For some reason, switching from B3D/B+ to BlitzMax killed my enthusiasm for developing games. I just found I didn't enjoy using BlitzMax, and I can't put my finger on why. It's not the OO stuff - I use C# in my day job (and I love it). I just didn't enjoy developing with BlitzMax.

Blitz max is slower in development time I agree with you on that

One good thing about blitz3d is if you figure out how to write dlls you can make an equally powerful 2d engine to what bmax has but it may take some time. :)

Get BMax it's cool and used for commercial 2D games, and ... drumroll ... get my framework too! :-)

I do not agree, B3D to Max just takes a bit of learnin.

BlitzMax is more then worth it. Basic has always been basic, with or without OOP.

...and no one answered my question about BlitzMax functionality, while in two hours I managed to do what I was wondering if BlitzMax could do... in Java. Still, there are many things I don't like about Java, so I'm really now wondering if Max has the capabilities to do these things (screen captures, etc. - see previous post) without writing complex platform-specific dlls. Anyone?

To answer your question - yes you can do a screen capture and without the mouse.

Not sure exactly what you mean/or are trying to do about capturing the screen without the blitz window being open though.

Here's a quick example of grabbing the screen

Graphics 640,480

' Draw randomblocks on screen
For n=0 To 255

 SetColor Rnd(0,255),Rnd(0,255),Rnd(0,255)

 DrawRect Rnd(0,640),Rnd(0,480),Rnd(0,32),Rnd(0,32)

Next

Flip

' Grab screen image
image=GrabPixmap(0,0,640,480)

' Save screen image as .PNG
SavePixmapPNG(image,"Image.png")

WaitKey

You probably wont have to write a dll, and if you cant do it in blitzmax code you could always import C++/C code to get it done.

I don't know about Linux or Mac, but I'm almost certain Windows screen capturing has been discussed before.

That was a shameless plug.

But he's right, it's worth it if you can afford it. It really does away with all the tedious parts of writing a game and lets you get right into the meat of it.