What is BlitzMax?
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/What is BlitzMax?
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| BlitzMax is marketed as if it were BlitzBasic; it's a 2D game-programming language. It seems to me that the language is so powerful, it should be considered an all-purpose programming language, no more specific to writing games than it is to writing, say, office applications. I think the product has outgrown the "game-making" niche, and it could reach a much wider audience if it were sold to universities and promoted as a flexible and concise OOP programming language. I've been to conferences where even old DX7 Blitz3D would have been a big hit. The quality of BR's work is very good, but no one has every heard of their products. I mean, if I can get my own programs used by universities, I'm sure they would be interested in using BlitzMax. BR might want to fill out an application to become a vendor here. By targetting the channel, you can sell to many schools immediately, rather than approaching each school individually: http://www.academicsuperstore.com/vendor_application Another good resource is www.buy.com. Of course, the more BlitzMax users there are, the more resources and libraries I have access to, so that's why I want it to become more standard. |
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| Absolutely! |
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| I'm sure it will be considered a very good all-purpose programming language, it is just a matter of time. Everything is getting better and better all the time. |
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| Saying a generic language is a Game-language is oldfashioned anyway. A game has databases, event handling, complex stuff, algorithms etc. All these things could very well be available in ordinary apps. Which means that the only difference between a game and an app is the way it looks and interacts. Real game languages are like 'click+drag+drop = game'. It's about time Blitz is marketed as a full-range language indeed. |
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| The gumpf on the products page doesn't mention games at all. tbh that's about the only marketing spiel I'm aware of. |
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| . |
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| I definately think its being under sold. Perhaps there just waiting till its stable and feature rich enough and then they will go nuts. It still says on the home page that Blitz3D is the flagship product; Is this realy still true? |
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| I wouldnt agree it should be aimed at apps as well; the GUI system is pretty poor compared to Delphi etc. |
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| Not all apps use GUIs. None of the ones I build for work do anyway. |
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| Not all apps use GUIs. What company do you work for? A game making company? :) None of the ones I build for work do anyway. |
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| No such luck, I write data handling/transaction processing services for a "financial" company. |
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| In BlitzMax? |
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| Why not? I'm using it for a CD-ROM project that involves no multimedia (well we launch a Firefox browser that uses Flash). BlitzMax is a good language, the libraries that come with it are somewhat peripheral -- it's as powerful as C++ or Delphi's core language. That said, as a product it does suffer from a somewhat weak GUI module. |
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| BlitzMax is an all purpose language, just the modules haven't fully developed yet for everything. Still, it would be great if BlitzMax was taken more seriously and be used in schools! Very powerful, but just a bit tougher to use than other blitzes (imo) |
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| Tho, more events (like an event when a variable's value has changed), and full control over widgets (and a lot more of them!) would make it a bit more professional. |
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| Why not? I'm using it for a CD-ROM project that involves no multimedia (well we launch a Firefox browser that uses Flash). If you're thinking I was doubting BlitzMax's capabilities, your wrong, I was just curious if he was using this language for work, cause I don't see that a lot.. |
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| I have used Blitz (Plus) in the past for business purposes, but not at this job. Although there are a few things we are doing that I think would be better developed in BlitzMax than .Net or C++. .Net has more overhead and C++ tends to take more time. Max is close to C++ in performance and can be made to take up small amounts of resources. We have several smaller tasks that require no database connectivity, etc. that could've easily been done in BlitzMax and would probably make more efficient use of resources. I think BlitzMax is still too unknown to be "allowed" in most business environments, because most companies will look for something they know they can find other hires to work on, and also most managers like to stick with big names. As much as the GUI needs enhancement, BlitzMax needs a standard database API to be accepted by most companies, and that means ODBC or similar. At that point it'd be a pretty impressive app, cross-platform, good GUI, SQL support, you'd be able to pull in some smaller shops and go from there. For what I do, BlitzMax as is now plus a good DB module would be able to cover most of the work I need to do, at which point it'd just be the work of convincing the company to shell out for a licence or ten. Another way to get BlitzMax wider coverage would be to get it into some of the emerging markets, such as the mobile apps arena. Developers in emerging markets are more open to using less well known products. |
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| "halo" raises a good point and it is a good reason for people like me to squeak on about future development of Blitz3D as an entry-level, game programming, orientated package. BMax and B3D (to me) are completely different (not just because B3D has the 3D). |
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| said, as a product it does suffer from a somewhat weak GUI module. At least you have a GUI to work with. I would like to fire off threads to do some processing in the background without holding the app up. At the very least have support for worker threads. |
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| BRL is too small a company with too few members. It's hurting their success. I've always thought they could do much better if they had more than 2? 3? ... 1? official contributors. Someone to do marketting, someone to help bugfix existing products, someone to help Mark finish Max3D, someone to write an "official" Blitz manual. About the OP though, I fully support BMax in our schools. (Any of you who saw my presentation of it here at the University of Lethbridge know this!). Whenever I learn that someone's a programmer, I can't help but mention Blitz to them and how in the future, they may see it in schools. |
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| For one I am truly surprised BRL hasn't extended themselves to schools and that such, they really could be doing a TON more then they are imho. Second, it might just be me, but the only person I know of that has really worked on BlitzMax is Mark. |
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| it could reach a much wider audience if it were sold to universities and promoted as a flexible and concise OOP programming language. Except it isn't. It's not particularly flexible (you can't make Windows Services with it for instance, and there is no support for multi-threading) nor is it particularly object oriented (no access modifiers, no method overloading). I mean, if I can get my own programs used by universities, I'm sure they would be interested in using BlitzMax. At my University, BlitzMAX was discarded as a tool for the game development courses for several reasons:a) It wasn't as entry level as Game Maker (it doesn't have the same support tools). b) It wasn't as advanced as Torque (No 3D etc.) BlitzMAX is a ingenious feat of engineering without a practical home. It is not a "whole product" (there are no support companies around it, providing tools, books and other supplementals) and thus is not very interesting to anyone but hobbyists and early adopters. Also, when a Universitity approaches to enquiry about bulk licenses it's probably not a good idea to tell them they aren't ordering enough copies to qualify - if you want to get your foot in the door. |
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| Also, when a Universitity approaches to enquiry about bulk licenses it's probably not a good idea to tell them they aren't ordering enough copies to qualify Heh, that sounds like there's a good story behind it. What happened? |
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| Hello. @Warren: I'd guess that the university approached enquiring about bulk licenses and were told they weren't ordering enough copies to qualify. :o) Goodbye. |
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