Game on MaxGUI canvas

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Game on MaxGUI canvas

Jake L.(Posted 2007) [#1]
Hi,

I'm thinking about the pro's and con's to run my game on a maxgui-canvas when in windowed mode. A big pro would be window-centering, at the moment I can't see any real big cons instead of larger filesize.
Did anyone used this method for an existing game and would like to share his experiences? Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2007) [#2]
I'm starting out with this method. MaxGUI is pretty nice. I am using it to basically create an empty window, no gadgets of any kind, to put a canvas on, to have just OpenGL output. I plan to make and manage my own gadgets for resizing and moving. I don't think there are any cons to it, not sure if it's any slower.


H&K(Posted 2007) [#3]
I have a half finished game in windowed mode, and like Angel I have no gadgets or even border, so it sits ontop of the main windows screen in the same way that the Amiga did.

The main problem I have found so far, is stupid windows popups for , (for example), internet reconection or ZoneAlarm. Its sort of a side project so I havent gotten as far as needing to find a solution.


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2007) [#4]
The solution is to go fullscreen and make your own gui system.

If you are choosing to use the o/s supported gui system you have to play by its rules which means running on the desktop and sharing it with all other apps. That's a given. If you don't want to share, don't use the desktop.

What I'm actually going to do is allow the game to run in a window or fullscreen, with its own internal OpenGL gui, and then give the option to `externalize` the gui to turn it into a maxgui environment as an option.


H&K(Posted 2007) [#5]
The solution is to go fullscreen and make your own gui system.
;)
The actual game was to be an entry into a competiton that demanded that is wasnt fullscreen. I was going to miss the entry date, so I abbandoned it.
I probably wouldnt have done it the way I did, but the rule requirements forced it apon me


ImaginaryHuman(Posted 2007) [#6]
Hmm. Oh well. Can't win em all.