Language List

[MrTAToad]

I've created an interesting comparison list of the the three main multi-platform BASIC languages (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25216439/language%20table.html), using only the information available on the products website...

[mentalthink]

Nice comparison... I only think the only soft can be a really hard competence and not it´s basic it´s Shiva, only for the 3D it´s better and have a lot of devices too, but make a 3d complete game it´s absolutely impossible for only a one person, and well, Shiva I think not it´s a one men programming a language, they I supposed are a medium or big team... Unity, well, if you are rich it´s a nice soft, and after you will win 10$ for 10 months of works...

I take a look to the dark basic(mobile) make some time, but I remember when I try to use (i have 2 books here), and I don´t learn nothing, and all people comment always DBasic it´s really bad... not it´s thinked too much smart.

I´m thinking very seriously buy Shiva but I think GLbasic it´s the better for learn, this it´s the most important, and can do very exciting things... only from my point of view like 3D  artist (or something like this), have to be a bit more powerfully in 3D, but I understand 120% only it´s Gernnot do the language , and for me it´s more than enough all the efforts he do.

And of course , this community it´s very kindly, another forums, the people only need a Knife for kill someone...

Nice comparison... 

[MrTAToad]

Those sort of SDK's are a real pain to use...

The use of an interpreter for the AGK is quite unusual, and it means you need the player in order to run the program.  (although apparently it should be able to handle lots of objects).

It should be noted that until recently GLBasic was the only system to provide 3D for all platforms (and even now the AGK only does it for Windows and Mac)...

If the HTML 5 code can run 3D as well, it will be great!

Glad you like the list!

[mentalthink]

Yes if 3D runs fine in Html can be very interesting... really the beahviour of GLbasic not it´s very poor, and the good thing it´s you can have the both layers running at the same time, the 2D and 3D... my game uses textures of 2048x2048 and a lot of sprites and runs a 45FPS constantly...

Sometime ago I do test whit 3000 polys and complex objects and run fine, but the trouble it´s basically the lighting , the default light command don´t make good thing, but using a simple port of OPengGLES 1.0 (it´s very easy to do), you can have a good step forward in 3D, I think Kanonet make a port, more easy to use than me... I think make a port of OpenGLES 3.0 can´t be very difficult, but alwaus the same... the time...

It´s true I don´t look this point, but it´s the only add 3D, curious DarkBasic a 3D "engine" and in this product don´t apply... uhmmm , I think when they do... open they buckets for more money...

[MrTAToad]

I somehow doubt they will do 3D for the mobile platforms - I suspect they will just keep it to Windows and Mac...

[Wampus]

Very interesting comparison with GLBasic. Surprised at no 3D capability for Blitz Monkey and App Game Kit yet. That's a big deal. I wonder what benchmarking AGK's sprites against GLB's polyvectors would show. By the look of AGK's sprite handling commands my initial guess is it may be slower because it looks higher level. Using something like Spriter engine support with GLBasic is very do-able because polyvectors are so fast.

Its curious how many features and commands of GLB and AGK are so similar, e.g. music, sound and multiplayer networking. Same underlying libraries are being used maybe? Many of the same concepts apply too, like the use of a Media folder for cross compatibility. The ability of GLB to compile directly to mobile devices like Android seems to not be present in AGK though (<- I was wrong about this.). Creating and submitting an Android APK requires quite a bit of tinkering with the Android SDK too. Adding iOS support is a messy thing too. GLB is simpler and I'm not just saying that because its more familiar.

BTW MrTAToad I couldn't find anything pertaining to Social Media support in the AGK commands. Are you sure that's a feature? Also the cost of AGK if you want full Indie licensing like GLB has is more like 70 british pounds, so the pricing is roughly similar to GLB and BM.

[MrTAToad]

Yes, the social media stuff is in V1.08 (listed in the platform and features page).  As far as I can see, there is only one price for the AGK (its currently on off - no surprise ) of $43.99 (usually $59)

Monkey is supposed to be the worse to setup for Android and what-not.  As I dont have it, I dont know whether that is true or not though.

One thing to may have noticed is that GLBasic is priced very competitively compared to Monkey, especially as GLBasic supports more platforms.

[Wampus]

Ahh I see. I was looking at the documentation for the current release. 1.08 is development.

The pricing thing I got from the FAQ here: http://www.appgamekit.com/faq.php#q48 Whatever that means. I think it might be old information.

I haven't used Monkey beyond a glance and probably won't bother in the future either. However, I have been playing with AGK today. Its the closest thing I've seen to GLB that isn't GLB. I was interested in the particle engine in particular to begin with. Uh, its underwhelming. You'd be better off writing your own simple engine (which I believe you have) when it comes to particles. Really. Test it out and see. The physics engine has a very familiar feel since its Box2D. Will try to create some basic 2D benchmarking tool tomorrow. I'm curious about performance comparison.

[MrTAToad]

I had a quick go with both Monkey and AGK, but the limited platform support for these doesn't make them attractive...

[Wampus]

I agree. Also, when it comes to writing anything more substantial than very simple derivative games its always going to be hard work whatever tools you're using.

Hey, so check this out. I ran that very rudimentary benchmarking test. I tried to make sure the code was as honestly equivalent on GLBasic (using my own polyvector sprite routine) and App Game Kit as I could, although they have somewhat different ways of handling sprites. Anyway, I drew 10,000 rotating sprites of 64x64 at various randomised RGB colors and alphamode setting of -0.5. The result was AGK managing ≈235 FPS with GLBasic at ≈272 FPS. Using my own Polyvector sprite routine in GLBasic was ≈16% faster than AGK. Not a bad result for AGK. I expected worse.

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[MrTAToad]

Yes, the interpreted system isn't bad - it's possible that it could be "compiled" when loading too...  However, it does show that there is a drawback to it

Could you make the GLBasic code available, and I'll see if I can get the Monkey HTML 5 version running, then I could add it to my list.  If you could also make your executables available too, that would be handy

[Wampus]

The AGK executable won't run on a windows PC without the trial version of AGK installed. However, I'll attached the code for AGK and GLB so you can compile the proggies yourself from the folders included.

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[MrTAToad]

Thanks for that

[MrTAToad]

I've updated the list to put in the two speed comparisons and a few extra bits : https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25216439/language%20table.html