Hi, I'm a complete newbie to GL Basic but not a newbie to Basic - I used to write in Amos on the AMiga some years ago ;)
I have a few questions, forgive me if they are obvious.
1) Can you compile to HTML5 and Xbox Live Indie Games, as you can with Monkey? If not, is this planned? (For the record, I tried Monkey but it made absolutely no sense to me and the help files were not much better - the syntax for GL seems much better)
2) Compiling for several platforms - does GL Basic handle different screen resolutions? Is there any kind of built-in facility to handle different platforms, like can I write one game and GL Basic does all the re-sizing for different screen sizes?
3) Are future upgrades to GL Basic included in the purchase price, or do you pay for upgrades?
Thanks very much!
Welcome to GLBasic!
- HTML5 / Javascript port is currently being worked on, here's a thread detailing the progress:
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=4524.90 (http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=4524.90)
XBox live isn't supported. Generally, devices that support OpenGL are supported, but Gernot (Kitty Hello) is always open to suggestions for new platforms. The supported platform list is already very large.
- For non-portable games, you can generally set the resolution either by changing the project settings, or in code (using SETSCREEN). This command is ignored by most (all?) portable platforms, and only uses the project settings. If you want to set your game to the largest supported resolution of the device, set the resolution to '9998,9998' (or something, I'm not sure if those numbers are special or just 'at least as large as you should ever expect'). Then you have to handle scaling the graphics yourself, and placement of sprites to handle the different resolutions, if you want to support more than one. There is a library (or two?) on these forums that may make this easier for you.
- To date, Gernot has never charged for any updates. I've owned GLBasic since v7, now it's at v11, and I haven't paid anything extra. There was a recent thread about possibly starting to charge for updates, but no consensus has been reached (Gernot really values our opinion). Most people support the idea of a simple 'donation' concept, and would be optional. I personally feel it is time for me to 'donate' to the GLBasic cause, as I've used it for a couple of years at no extra charge.