Is playniax ignition framework a good idea?
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Is playniax ignition framework a good idea?
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| I'm fairly new to blitzmax, I bought it a couple of years ago but never used it much until now. I've gone through a few tutorials and know just the basic stuff, drawing graphics to the screen, keyboard and mouse input, basic types and methods. All the usual newbie stuff. I have coded before but only a few simple utilities in Purebasic and a couple of small games in GLBasic. Is the playniax ignition framework a good thing for me to get? From what I understand it will allow me to skip learning and coding a hell of a lot of stuff and get straight in there and make games. Anyone here have it or an opinion on it? All advice is welcomed, thanks! |
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| Don't skip learning. BAD idea. |
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| Do you want to learn coding or just create games? If its the latter, maybe use GameMaker... I've bought Playniax, but I didn't like the work flow and you would still have to learn its API. You wont be able to skip learning ;) |
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| Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy coding and want to learn as much as I can but I'm pretty sure I'm being realistic in thinking that I'm no genius when it comes to this stuff. Things that worry me are things like physics, video issues (resolutions and scaling, alt-tab and minimise games etc), AI and all the really complicated stuff. I suppose I will have to see how well I do when the time comes. Thanks for the opinions, I think I will skip on the framework after all. |
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| Normally when I learn a new language I recreate the classic games, such as Space Invaders, PacMan, Asteroids etc These simple games helps you to learn the language in small bits and pieces, maybe give it a go :) |
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| I agree with therevills and make own Framework as it will be fun learning by making own :) |
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| Isn't there a trial version of Ignition for you to try? This way you don't have to spend any money before you can make a more educated decision. Anyway, there're also a couple of free frameworks that might suit you: http://code.google.com/p/dwlab/ - by Matt Merkulov (he's added a lot of stuff to it, it's looking quite nice.) If you need help downloading\installing\linking these modules, please evince. |
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| If you're a relative beginner, you shouldn't even be thinking about complex games with physics at this stage. The surest way to fail is to try to jump straight in to something too complex. |
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| I say go ahead and use Playniax's framework. There's still going to be stuff that it does not do that will require you to code, and it will save you lots of time needlessly reinventing the wheel. One of the death traps of programming is spending time making your own engine, thinking it's going to be the best thing ever and ending up taking tonnes of time and being generally pretty bad in comparison. Learn to use another existing established engine first and brush up on your skills in the areas you still need to program, and then if you really think you can `do better` then look at making your own. One way or another you're still going to learn stuff. |
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| One of the death traps of programming is spending time making your own engine, thinking it's going to be the best thing ever and ending up taking tonnes of time and being generally pretty bad in comparison. I'd just like to repeat this for emphasis. Realistically, the only reason a beginner should be writing engines or frameworks is to learn more about writing engines and frameworks, in the hope of one day contributing something new; otherwise, it's the biggest way for a beginner to waste time. (On the other hand John Galt is also right: got to consider whether it's appropriate to start with a project that even needs a complex framework to get up and running. But if it does, save time and take a completed one.) Last edited 2013 |
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| Even for non-beginner seasoned programmers, making engines is a huge waste of time. I say that totally from personal experience spending many many years making engines. Unless you're going to make something that's so good and meaningful that you will actually sell it and support it and its has a really good likelihood of developing a large community around it, then it's really time spent spinning wheels in intellectual masturbation. |
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| Well, I'm at the stage where I've made a few of the simplest games from the tutorials on the web and so far so good, I've got sprites shooting enemies and balls bouncing off bats. I will have a go at remaking a few classics next, which is a good suggestion. I almost finished a shooter in GLBasic (had sfx, music, title screen, high scores, levels, weapon upgrades) which I really would like to complete in BlitzMax. I've got a few ideas for it that I have no idea how to implement so that will be fun. Ignition framework might be nice for this so in the end I caved in and bought it. Time will tell if I learn how to make good use of it. I expect I will be asking a lot of stupid questions in the near future. |
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| Heck, I'm in the same boat. I'm just trying to figure out how to zoom a jpg, and having a devil of a time doing it. A searchable PDF, of the documentation, would likely have made this a ton easier. |
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| Try scaling the image with SetScale. |
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