1. Another open source programming tool
- Posted by ChrisB (moderator) May 07, 2016
- 1922 views
Hi
Dark Basic Professional is now open source!
https://www.thegamecreators.com/product/dark-basic-pro-open-source
So many tools, so little time!
2. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by SDPringle May 08, 2016
- 1822 views
Do you develop games Chris?
3. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by ChrisB (moderator) May 08, 2016
- 1832 views
Hi
Just dabble, have had one or two half hearted attempts, which have just fizzled out as other stuff got in the way.
Played with DB, DBPro, and Blitz Basic, and of course all the eu game libraries. One day might even organise them into a coherent offering for the eu wiki. If the idea doesn't fizzle out first.
Why do you ask?
Cheers
Chris
4. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by Icy_Viking May 08, 2016
- 1817 views
This is good news. It seems that more and more tools are becoming open sourced.
5. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by petelomax May 09, 2016
- 1816 views
I had a quick gander. It is written in C++, is Windows-only, and was open sourced "to prevent it becoming abandonware". Hmmm.
One user writes (sept 2015): If you find some ways to decrease compile time let us know. It is very important improvement. Many people here have over 30k lines code and it is really headache to compile it ))))
What can I say, other than I can barely remember 30k lines being anything but a blink!
6. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by SDPringle May 09, 2016
- 1774 views
I just love great games. Great games typically involve hundreds of people. You can do one alone but it cannot compete.
Shawn
7. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by ChrisB (moderator) May 10, 2016
- 1774 views
I had a quick gander. It is written in C++, is Windows-only, and was open sourced "to prevent it becoming abandonware". Hmmm.
One user writes (sept 2015): If you find some ways to decrease compile time let us know. It is very important improvement. Many people here have over 30k lines code and it is really headache to compile it ))))
What can I say, other than I can barely remember 30k lines being anything but a blink!
Hi Pete
Most of my programming efforts aren't aimed at fancy graphics or gameplay physics, but wehn you look at the number of users / posts on the gamecreator forums, and when you look at the beauty of the games it produces ( http://www.starwraith.com/ ), then it must be doing something right. Also when DBP compiles, it adds in all the models and graphics at compile time, and this takes quite some time to do.
Clearly the ease with which DarkBasicPro produces quality good looking games is a major factor that drives users to it. Ie the end product justifies the cons.
DarkBasicPro produces great looking commercial quality games. What does Euphoria do - is it too general purpose? What need does it fulfil? (I know in my case what it does, but my case isn't the same as everyone elses).
I've just bought GameGuru, because I liked the look of it, wanted to dabble at creating adventure based first person shooters, and this program makes it a doddle to do. If I want it to look unique, I'll have to put a lot of effort into creating models / music / sound, or spend more money on other media. Can Euphoria ever get to the stage where it will inspire anything more than the 'give it a go because it's free' attitude, or where programmers require quick scripts and instead reach for Python / Lua / Ruby?
BTW, I love Euphoria, IMHO it is the easiest language to use (for what I do), those comments above are just discussion points.
Cheers
Chris
8. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by SDPringle May 10, 2016
- 1728 views
The more I learn about how bounds checking for c has gone wrong the more I appreciate Euphoria. Failed bounds checking in Stagefright due to not casting numbers to the right type, illistrates a problem with C. People are stuck with it because the cost of porting to a new language and becwuse C cannot be changed now in this regard. Code relies on being able to cast bits to a distinct meaning.
Have you ever done this in c?
(unsigned int) -1
That is okay but if we had to design a language with casting I would say this should throw an error and an error at compile time or an exception at runtime.
Shawn
9. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by petelomax May 11, 2016
- 1705 views
but when you look at the number of users / posts on the gamecreator forums, and when you look at the beauty of the games it produces ( http://www.starwraith.com/ ), then it must be doing something right.
Ah, well that certainly improved my opinion of DarkBasicPro!
Good luck with it, and keep us updated on your progress.
Pete
10. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by ChrisB (moderator) May 11, 2016
- 1683 views
Hi
Just in case there's any confusion, I didn't write the Starwraith / Evochron / Arvoch series!
Cheers
Chris
(Although my wife is the computer voice warning of missile locks, and entering planetary atmospheres - that was recorded 10 years ago!)
11. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by unsteady May 12, 2016
- 1685 views
.... when you look at the beauty of the games it produces ( http://www.starwraith.com/ ), then it must be doing something right. Also when DBP compiles, it adds in all the models and graphics at compile time, and this takes quite some time to do.
Clearly the ease with which DarkBasicPro produces quality good looking games is a major factor that drives users to it. Ie the end product justifies the cons.
DarkBasicPro produces great looking commercial quality games. What does Euphoria do - is it too general purpose?
Chris
I have not used Darkbasic. However, if it is very good for game programming, then it means it has very very good math library and very fast too. It also means it has ways of accessing and manipulating the screen which in Euphoria, you/we can only dream about
Somebody mentioned that the compilation in Darkbasic is too slow.
Well, computing requires that programmers spend time creating a program. Their time is of no great importance to the end user. In this instance, what I mean is that the end-user is the ordinary guy who is going to use the program you create in Darkbasic or Euphoria. So it really does not matter if Darkbasic or Euphoria was created after 10 years' effort, or that a particular game or program takes 50 days to develop 5 minutes to compile each time. The person who is going to use that game or program is the one who is going to do it hundreds of time and his/her time is the important consideration. And remember, most good programs are used by hundreds and thousands of users, so if your work saves their time than your 5 and 10 minute compilation time is not wasted.
12. Re: Another open source programming tool
- Posted by ghaberek (admin) May 12, 2016
- 1644 views
I used DarkBASIC briefly about 15 years ago, before I really started getting into Euphoria. IIRC that was when they still had a "free" version available. I was quite impressed that it was so easy to create 3D environment and move around with just a few lines of code. That sort of thing is still pretty hard nowadays with even the "best" 3D frameworks available, like Unity or Horde. I just found myself outgrowing the BASIC dialect pretty quickly.
-Greg