Blitzmax Game Framework - alternatives

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I've been reading about the above and it sounds great. I note from the Grey Alien web site that it's no longer available to buy.

Does anyone do something similar or is there anywhere else to get a copy from ?

Thanks in advance.

Hello!
Try this one: http://code.google.com/p/retroremakes-framework/

Downloads empty?
http://code.google.com/p/retroremakes-framework/downloads/list

Just checkout the source code with your favorite SVN client. Should work fine ;-)

 # Non-members may check out a read-only working copy anonymously over HTTP.
svn checkout <a href="http://retroremakes-framework.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/" target="_blank">http://retroremakes-framework.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/</a> retroremakes-framework-read-only


Cheers,
Tommy

ZIP releases will be made once we reach 1.0, or something close to it.
(When I say we I really mean Muttley, he's the guy who wrote 99.9% of it. I'm mostly writing docs and trying to find time to sit down and code. I wrote a lot of the earlier version, but it's been scrapped and pieces of it got ripped out since this one is so much nicer in every way)

I took a look at it (well the feature list) a few weeks back and it sounded cool.

btw some part of me balks at all the lost sale opportunities! But I got a good deal so it's fair enough. Wish I could sell it to help people out but alas it's not to be. Hopefully people won't pirate it as that would be unwise.

Yep, the rrf looks nice. I have it on my HD and often take a look at
it to be inspirated. I decided to use it not before it is official released.
But if it does what it looks like, it will a bit more make Blitzmax
a 'gaming language'.
hint->muttley: TSprite is already used by minib3d ;-)

Thanks for these comments everyone - just curious as to why I can't buy Grey Aliens original product - what happened ?

Big Fish Games bought it off him to use internally, so he can't sell it any more.

Hopefully people won't pirate it as that would be unwise


BFG is teaming up with Hollywood?

This retro framework looks great - but it seems like a lot to add if you're only planning on using some functionality of it. Great reference for source anyhow.

Yes, it can be a bit much, and I would understand if some people would be a bit frightened by it, as it is a lot of OO stuff in there. :)

But the beautiful part is that you really only have to make an instance of your own Type that extends TGameState.
type MyGame extends TGameState
  field xpos:int

  method Render()
    drawtext "RRFW for teh win!", xpos,50
  endmethod

  method Update()
    xpos :+ 1
    if xpos > 640 then xpos = 0
  endmethod
endtype


Put the graphics code in the Render() method and check for user input and update the game login inside Update(). The framework will take care of the rest. There is some small examples included, and some tutorials is being written.

Once you have your extended Type, it's as simple as doing this:
Global game:MyGame = New MyGame 
rrAddGameState(game) 
rrEngineRun()


Some of you might wonder why you need to have a "state". Well, it will make things a bit easier for you down the road.
For example, once you have the game you might want to create a main menu. Put the logic and drawing commands for it in a different state, and start the game by adding it instead. Then in the Update function you can tell the framework to switch to your game state. Once the gamestate exits, the main menu will pick up and continue from where it left. Highscore table? Another state. Options? Could be yet another state if you doesn't want to mix it with the menu code.
And so on... They're there to help you out, and you are free to abuse them in any way you can imagine.

The framework will take care of the actual updating of the screen, and to make things smooth at all times, so you don't have to worry about it. And the framework let's you use a 1024x768 resolution on a 800x600 screen (if you would like that) or a 160x120 on a 2048xwhathaveyou for a more retro feel. There really is no limits to it and your game will look (mostly) the same no matter what resolution the user wants to run it in.

This is of course just a small example. There's more goodies inside. Send messages between objects in the game (zombieA tells zombieB that a player is in sight, or the player fired a gun and everyone that still has ears and can hear the shot will know where the player is) or maybe you want to use the virtual gamepad? It will let you bind keys, mouse movements, youstick buttons or whatever and things will be a lot easier in the future if you decide that you might want to steer the car by moving the mouse and fire the torpedoes using a joystick button.
and much more.

Well, end of the rant. I hope I made people a bit more interested in it. It's open source so feel free to rip things out of it if you want, as long as you follow the license. (you can find it in the docs folder on the SVN)

I looked, but can't find any way to download it without signing up for google or the club/group.

If you use the command line client:
svn checkout http://retroremakes-framework.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ retroremakes-framework-read-only

Gotcha. Will have to do without. Since Mark ditched it, I removed my SVN client. BMax was the only thing I used it for.

Like others, I do agree it is a shame there is not an alternative to Grey's framework. There is definitely a market for it if it were to be actively developed. Somebody was working on one in an old thread, but it seems they have gone silent about it.

MGE has some kind of sprite thing in the pipeline and SSwift (now banned) had a working one that was popular which also had a physics component (also Oddball has PhysLite).

The RRFW has support for Chipmunk Physics.

I think the retro remakes framework looks excellent. It makes me want to start working on a game. Well done guys.