Is it worth to invest in MonkeyX at this time?

Community Forums/Monkey Talk/Is it worth to invest in MonkeyX at this time?

juankprada

(Posted 2016) [#1]

Hi all.

As the topic title says, I am wondering if its worth to buy the Monkey X license (maybe Pyro) and start a new project with it. The question is because I have seen that Mark is currently working in Monkey 2 but I am not sure how long will it take for it to be finished in a "production ready" way.

Also, If y buy Pyro, will it be supported for Monkey2 or is it specific to monkey x?

Thanks

dw817

(Posted 2016) [#2]

Juankprada. Understand that Monkey is really designed for ONLINE games. If your games don't save data like high-score or anything, then yes, Monkey-X is likely worth it being the easiest way to enter the multi-platform gamer world.

But if you plan to save files, such as people's names, accounts, their individual progress in the game, and so forth, then you will be expected to provide an internet server for this. So there is that added cost for hardcore programmers of Monkey-X.

Something to consider.

skidracer

(Posted 2016) [#3]

No and no.

1. Monkey's primary strength is it's ability to target Desktop, Mobile AND Web.

2. The SaveState command provides platform independent way to store persistent matter.

skidracer

(Posted 2016) [#4]

Topic continued here.

Blitzplotter

(Posted 2016) [#5]

@simonarmstrong - looking forward to trying the saveState cmd this weekend.

dw817

(Posted 2016) [#6]

I see, Simon ... SaveState saves a single string of information. Good job guys. Question. Can OTHER players read other player SaveStates or is the data just saved locally on the end user's platform for private access ?

skidracer

(Posted 2016) [#7]

I have no idea with web, flash is typically private to the user account of the machine being used.

Matty

(Posted 2016) [#8]

SaveState saves locally only. HTML5 uses a thing called local storage that stores on the local user's machine. Android uses a 'sharedpreferences' object don't know about the other objects.

Personally my opinion is that if you find Monkey easy to code with and it looks like it should do the job at what you wish to create then use it to code your game(s). Even when Monkey 2 comes out - the original Monkey will still function, the target platforms that it can build for will still be relevant.

Basically two questions:

Does Monkey target the platforms you want to target?
Is Monkey capable of building what you want to create?

If the answer is yes to both then sounds like a good purchase.
If the answer is no to one of them then it is a maybe.
If the answer is no to both then not a purchase.

I'd imagine it is more than sufficient though without even knowing what your new project is (but hazarding a guess at a 2d game of some sorts)

Blitzplotter

(Posted 2016) [#9]

I'd say yes, have managed to achieve what I wanted to do with so far, relatively little hurdles that weren't knoceked down in next to no time via the support on the Monkey-X community. ;)

dw817

(Posted 2016) [#10]

Brucey's not very fond of Monkey-X - I deem him to be the Alpha Dog in the pack of Blitz. I'm pretty sure there is a long list of suggestions for Monkey-X and future Monkey-X. I'll just add my bit - needs to be able to load and save data that ANYONE with the same program can access Online. Can be different platform too.

If this requires Blitz to open a custom server just for such data, perhaps to yield 16k (or more if available) of data space per registered customer that all users of the same program can access, I would say go for it.

There's quite a bit that could be done to enhance and increase user interaction in that minute 16k or even larger space and it would free the programmer from the obligation of providing their own paid server yet still allow them to release quality commercial software that reaches all users at all Online levels.

Matty

(Posted 2016) [#11]

Monkey already can load and save data for people to access online - it requires you to program it yourself however - something that can make a http request to a php server will do it easily enough....been a while since I've coded in monkey but i've done it before (sometime in 2011).

dw817

(Posted 2016) [#12]

Matty, for the sake and benefit of Monkey-X programmers, can you post some example code that reads and writes values, say a single string, to and from the Internet directly ?

skidracer

(Posted 2016) [#13]

There is example code with the monkey HttpRequest command documentation.

Instead of http requests and managing an internet server, you could start with multiple copies of monkey running on the same machine and check out the mak echoservers in the monkey bananas folder for an introduction to using sockets at the lowest level.

It would be pretty cool if someone modified mserver (the http server that monkey uses internally to serve html targets) to provide app services such as a highschool tables etc.