Moving from Blitz basic to Blitz Max

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Moving from Blitz basic to Blitz Max

Dicon(Posted 2008) [#1]
I have used Blitz basic for many years and was wondering how difficult it is to "upgrade" to Blizmax. Can I really upgrade from Blitz basic or do I need to buy it?
I have been looking at Leadworks engine which exports to Blitzmax. Or can I get the same results in Blitzmax?
Is there a Blitzmax level creator? That would be very useful.
Dicon
Thanks


GfK(Posted 2008) [#2]
You can't upgrade, completely different product* so you need to buy it.

As for Leadworks engine - no idea. What sort of 'results' are you expecting?



* Completely different product, but if you're familiar with Blitzbasic code then it won't be entirely alien to you.


Yahfree(Posted 2008) [#3]
Blitzmax is similar to BB, but has some EXTREMELY useful things like OOP, which will seem a bit alien to you at first. But many languages have OOP, so if your serious about programming, there's no better time to learn it


>Can I really upgrade from Blitz basic or do I need to buy it?

Its a seperate product, so you need to buy it seperate.

>I have been looking at Leadworks engine which exports to Blitzmax. Or can I get the same results in Blitzmax?

Leadworks engine was made mostly in Blitzmax, and as such is a libary that can be used in Blitzmax.

>Is there a Blitzmax level creator?

What kind of level? there's not end all, be all level creator. There's games that have tiles, games that place bricks in patterns, games that have landscapes, games with whatever. Most developers make their own tile/map/level editors.


AD(Posted 2008) [#4]
I found the transition from Blitz Basic to Max pretty hard, but if you spend time getting to know it - who knows you might like it just as much.


H&K(Posted 2008) [#5]
There is (somewhere) a code snippet that converts BB to BMax. However, when Bmax is used in the way the converter does it, you loose all the extra programing paridines that Bmax has.

If you have LOTS AND LOTS of code then this might be ok. However I disagree with AD, the transition for using BB to using Bmax is simplisity. The transition from BB to GOOd use of Bmax is however more difficult


xlsior(Posted 2008) [#6]
I found the transition from Blitz Basic to Max pretty hard, but if you spend time getting to know it - who knows you might like it just as much.


I found it pretty easy as far as the procedural programming is concerned... But it does take time to wrap your brain around the (entirely optional) Object Oriented approach.

All in all, just the 2D-in-3D which gives you fast real-time rotating, scaling and transparancy is well worth it. I'd hate to go back to BB and give up those features now. :-?

Anyway: Even though there is an option in the BlitzMax IDE to import old BB code, it isn't of much use. Very few sources would work out-of-the-box after conversion, and for the most part it seems to take less time to re-write your old code from scratch than it is to try to automatically convert it and then have to tweak it to get it to work.


Dicon(Posted 2008) [#7]
Thanks everyone for the advice.Will start saving up the pennies.


Dreamora(Posted 2008) [#8]
Forget the converter. If you use it, it will be at 10% and less of the real BM performance.


Who was John Galt?(Posted 2008) [#9]
I agree the converter is more hassle than it is worth. I'm surprised the Max naysayers haven't invaded the thread yet.


Czar Flavius(Posted 2008) [#10]
Becken them, and they will come, O Ye Faithful John Galt :)


plash(Posted 2008) [#11]
Type it manually, you should find bugs along the way too! The converter especially has problems if you turn it SuperStrict.