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Firstly, I am ordering DBP today. Second, I like how Play basic works and how powerful it is for 2d games. Does DBP or DBC have the same capability to make the same 2d games? I mean it does I guess, not sure for fact, but with Play Basic would I need to learn a whole new language? Not sure, but is it worth buying Playbasic and still owning DBP. Hope I was explicate.

How is this not locked? Normally anything with the title "___ vs. ___" get locked in seconds...

The following is a re-post, but since it's basically the same question. It pretty much covers the main areas.


...

Your question really depends upon what type of programs (games) your interested in creating ?

If your solely interested in making 3D games, then the choice at this point is limited to either DB classic or DBpro from TGC. The latter is the better (more future friendly) of those two options.

For purely 2D games, it's a little more complicated decision to make. You have to take into account what type of features your game will require to which direction you should take.


*Dbpro

The only real benefits DBpro has over PlayBasic today, is it's Dx9 based sprite engine (hardware accelerated ) and that it produces machine code exe's.

In terms of Sprites, this means effects like rotation and alpha blending in particular are handled by your computers video hardware. So these effects are faster in DBpro.

Also, since it compiles down to machine code, DBpro's raw processing power is higher (about 9->10 times faster) than PBV1.089. But that's very difficult accurately measure in real world situations, since PB has many fundamental features (that a dbpro programmer has to write themselves) built right into the command set. So it's not that uncommon for PB programs to match an even surpass Dbpro in some cases. That does require some previous experience though.

However having said that, PBV1.09 dramatically closes the raw performance gap and if our initial tests of PBFX are anything to go by, PBFX should at least match and probably outperform Dbpro. (PBFX also has a DX9 based engine!..but that's not out till later in 2006)



*PlayBasic

Since PB at this point purely focuses upon 2D development, it's been built to include support for various generic problems of 2D development (from mapping, collision (sliding, vector, circle, rotated etc etc), intersections, worlds, etc etc). This means there are lot of command sets and a lot of key features are built right into PB from the get go.

However, You can look at this two ways, having 900 plus commands to sift through, could make it rather daunting for new programmers , or that this basis gives new programmers a substantial leg up over other development tools for 2D. The latter is how we see it. We believe that every inch we can jam into the PB foundations, will help somebody turn their concept, their curiosity, into a working example.

Having said that, PB is not a point and click game maker, it's a real language, while it shares certain similarities to Dbpro linguistic style and various others. You still have to be willing to learn some programming fundamentals to really make anything happen with either. You just have to learn less with PB



Feature comparison.
http://www.underwaredesign.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=410


Home Page.
http://www.PlayBasic.Underwaredesign.com


PBFX FAQ
http://www.underwaredesign.com/forums/index.php?showforum=30

@ uwdesign

Okay, now I purely understand. I am interested in making games like tetris for starting in Play Basic, but I can do the same in DBPRO. Would it take longer to make puzzle games in DBPRO than PB, or would be around the same amount of time. I know DBPRO is innovative and expansive that PB, since it is purely based on 3d creation, but is it that I can do everything PB can do in DBPRO. Let me see, is all PB commands in DBPRO, or would most be different. What I am looking at between both, is whether I should buy PB, or should I not, since I have the power to do what PB can do, with DBPRO. I am confusing myself in a way.

In a nutshell, should I buy PB to make 2d games, or not, since I could do the same in DBPRO. Thanks UW

Ok, I get it now. Is Play basic more powerful for making 2d games than dbp?

I would imagine, other wise there would be no point to market it if DBPro was better. Keep in mind any DP title is ment more for 3D.

@ The Real 87

Well I definately know that DBP is majorly better than PB, but just wondering if PB was better for 2d creation, and that it beat DBP for 2d game making. Not sure if I am explicate enough.

@Drew - Why don't you just download the PB demo and figure it out for yourself??

With experience I've found PB is faster with 2D programs, but I didn't do any real benchmarking.

The main point that Kevin mentioned in his post, is that PlayBasic provides a large amount of commands and functions that make 2D game creation easier. Be it sprite handling, collisions, maps etc. In languages like DBP you would need to code a lot of those things yourself, so PlayBasic can help you to save developing time.

As Jeku said, try the demo and see whether it fits your needs.

While really you could write virtually the same basic code and port it into between either fairly easily (I.e TwinTris was made like that. It was Developed by VanB for DCclassic and ported to PB1.06 inside an hour.).

But even for simple puzzlers like Tetris games, if you built it in PB from scratch, taking full advantage of the built in mapping features for example. Then you'll most certainly reduce the amount of code and time it takes to create the game.

Another factor here you should consider is what Direct X level do you want your program(s) to run at ?. (Pb= dx3, Dbpro=dx9.1 (assuming latest update V5.9))

As If your just making puzzlers, then its hard to justify Dbpro's dx9.1 base requirement. Since it's going to reduce the availability of your program to those who are keeping their systems up to date. Not everybody does.




While I understand your point. It's worth noting that PB is also expansion friendly and becoming even more so in not too distant future..




No, that's something of a common misconception. Since PB includes hundreds of commands that Dbpro simply doesn't have (and will never have! ).

While you could manually write similar code libraries in Dbpro to simulate PB features (in some cases). You'd have to weight up the time (from writing them, and compilation overhead of Dbpro) against the effort, for the gained result.

The point is in those situations you've be playing catch up all the time. And with every PB update, the distance keeps getting bigger!

What you should do is grab the PB1.089 (demo) which we'll be releasing next week (which includes another 50 or more commands over PB1.088 demo) and experiment with the examples etc.

We have compo coming up very soon also, so if your lucky might even a win a copy.

@ Kevin

Okay thank you, I now understand, but since indi noob slapped me I doubt you read my earlier post. Now I know your last post explains this, not sure though, but is PB better for making 2d games than DBPRO. Hope that is detailed enough. I probably will sign up for that compo, not sure if I am as good as other developers out there, but I will definately give it a try. Thank you for the notice.

vs debates are not allowed just as blitz vs dbp is not allowed. Since your question has been answered it can be locked.