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Hey. I checked out the Play Basic site, and I really could not get a good grasp on what the basic idea of the laguage is. Most BASIC languages have a "point" if you will. Like DarkBASIC and BlitzBASIC are for games. Play Basic seems for games as well, but how does it differ from DB and BB? Is it more simple than either of these? When I look at the site, most seem to be puzzle games. Is it geared towards puzzle games? Is it well documented with lots of tutorials? I am learning DB right now, but I may check out another language later.

Let's see ...

- Feature list
- Downloadable trial
- Example code
- Forums

Hey, maybe you can ask them on their forums?

lol he has a point, maybe the forums are empty

OK, sorry but:

1. I'm new at programming, so that is Egyptian to me

2. Should have noted that I am having probs with Downloads, not to mention the fact that since I am new to programming, I am not likely to figure out what makes PB different from DB in a short amoutn of time

3. They are all Puzzle games that I saw. I want to know if it is geared towards puzzle games

4. There forum is not exactly poppin'. That is why I asked it in the Off Topic Forum.

I know the programmer who's creating PB, and he hangs around here every so often. (He's made lots of great contributions to the DB community as well.)

Posting at the PB forum or e-mailing them will be the best way to contact them.


I believe at this point it's a 2D game/app making language.

Ancient egyptian?

That's one COOOOL sphinx.

OK. That's what I wanted to know. Thanks!

PB is 2D only, and bollockingly fast 2D at that. The interface is quite nice (although the last version I used needed some serious work done on it). The language itself is sort of a half-way house, i.e. it's very powerful, but not fantastically easy either. I dare say the final EXEs are probably significantly faster than DB and BB, the sample games seemed to imply that at least. Major advantage - low system spec. Write games for older PCs easily. It's an interpretated language, so will not create tiny EXEs (like say PureBasic does), but I believe there may be a set of run-time files or something that might be created.

Overall it looks really quite promising, it'll appeal more to the 20-something age coders who remember hacking games out on the 8/16 bits I reckon.

Cheers,

Rich

True, but it's not exactly ghost town either; I'm sure all your PlayBasic questions will be answered.



Indeed, but I dare say it's getting there.

It has some really groovy 2D stuff, like Z sorted sprites, so really - it will turn into the kind of language you'd consider for a 2D RPG, or any 2D game really, but the Z-Sorted sprites are a freakin godsend and plenty fast too. From what I've seen of the language, it's quite straightforward if you just accept it as a fresh take on BASIC. Put this way, UW converted my 2D puzzle game into PlayBASIC in no time at all.

The tech demos I've seen impressed the hell outta me, so check them out. When I have more time on my hands I plan to continue a retro RPG project in PlayBASIC.


Van-B

Yes PB's 'point' / command sets are focused upon 2D Gaming (puzzlers/platformers/shooters whatever). The key objective is keep the DX requirement minimal so your creations have a broader appeal.

PB is currently an Interpreted Procedural Basic language for Windows. But ALL of that is subject to change !, well apart from it being a Basic dialect





Is it more simple.. Well yes and no. It should be fairly easy for anybody with a little Basic experience to pick up and mess around with. The fundamentals are much the same as DB / DBpro. Since at it's core, it is a procedural basic.

Some key _language_ differences would be that PB is a little more strict and does offer some more advanced controls over data. Two invaluable features (that come to mind) are passable data structures and inheritable typed data structures. These two features alone can make designing reusable code/function sets a lot easier and thus your programs shorter and cleaner.

Command set wise, PB has commands that deal with Worlds, Cameras, Scenes, Mapping, Sprites, Images, Collision, Shapes, fonts, Http, Banks, Colours etc etc ... all built in.

What we've tried to do is take on 2D from a slightly different angle. By including a lot of cumbersome functionality deep inside PB, but this can take a little getting used to...




No. Just that one the key beta testers likes making puzzlers.. and lots of them... PLus he's good at it !

The main thing stopping Map based game creation at this point, is that we haven't release the final of PlayMapper (the mapping tool). Which is now done, but is just waiting on ME to address a few issues with PB so we can release the next edition of the package. Once mapping is made easier, i'm sure see more Map games example being produced.



Not really. There are plenty of snippets and test codes included that show various things in action. But.. the HELP files are still in their absolute infancy. While there's 175 (or so) commands documented, PB has over 720 available. So getting the most of the package at the moment, would no doubt require a lot of tinkering on the users part. The package is a preview though and not the final.




If you can write code for one, you can write for the other.

Moreover, here is really not the place for PB threads. So If you need help getting started, have feature requests/improvements ideas or run into some problems with it.. Sign up on the forums and post away..

http://www.underwaredesign.com/forums

OK, sorry to ask this here, but I knew you frequented this forum, and the main reason I asked here was to get an idea of how this program works in comparison to DB, since it is what I am working on right now. Now that you gave me my DB vs. PB answer, I will ask all PB ?s there. Thanks!