A couple of Monkey X questions.

Monkey Forums/Monkey Beginners/A couple of Monkey X questions.

mejon(Posted 2015) [#1]
I have a couple of questions to determine whether I’ll use Monkey X .

1. Can you use ads in the apps you create? e.g admob

2. Are there any royalties or is there a free trial version?

3. How long does it take to learn Monkey X for a beginner?

4. What language does Monkey X use, or how are games in Monkey X created?

5. How long does it take to make your first game?

6. To create games with Monkey X do you have the option of just coding it, or can you create visually without needing to enter lines of code?


Soap(Posted 2015) [#2]
1 yes
2 no royalties, there is a free version which you can even use for commercial releases for win/mac/linux/html5 but to use ios/android/etc. you must pay
3 depends on your previous programming experience - if you are completely new to programming it will take you longer
4 Monkey X is the language! It will translate to other target languages when you make platform builds, but for the features monkey supports you don't need to change any of that translated code - Monkey apps are created by translating Monkey language code into target language code and then compiling that code natively
5 depends on the scope of the game.. bigger games take longer - try to make small games first
6 you must enter lines of code, be brave and do some tutorials! the fear people have over coding is unfounded, and mostly based on lazy people who give up


ImmutableOctet(SKNG)(Posted 2015) [#3]
1. Yes, there's an official admob module. I'm not the best person to ask about this, though. If anyone else is reading mejon's post, feel free to go into detail.
2. You can find the free version here on the website, and it's free for any purpose. The downside to the free version is the lack of target-support. The free version allows you to target desktops (GLFW; Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), and HTML5 browsers. The full version(s) support all of Monkey's targets.

You can download it by clicking on your username (Top right), then clicking product updates. Newer experimental versions may not be available. If you'd like to use the newer functionality, you'll need to get the source from GitHub, and build it yourself. There's been a few threads in this section about that. If you plan to build the latest release, be sure to do it with the "C++ Tool" target.

3. It really depends on the user. There's some nice tutorials around the forums, so it shouldn't be too hard to grasp.
4. Monkey X, as a product, is the language (Monkey), and the modules that are built for/using this language. For details, view below.
5. Monkey X's primary framework, Mojo (And frameworks based on it) streamlines the process of loading resources, as well as handling the lower level aspects of 2D graphics. It also provides useful utilities like input. Anything that isn't directly game related is handled by other modules, many of which also come with Monkey X. You can get something running within about a minute, so it's not like you're doing everything from scratch.
6. Monkey X is a programming ecosystem first. It's not a game editor or engine. There are engines for Monkey, like Ignition/Pyro (Commercial), and Diddy (Open source), which make the process of building a game much easier. At the end of the day, you will need to program, however. Engines like Ignition have support for various editors which make the process simpler.

If you're interested in how Mojo works a bit more, this might help. Basically, by buying Monkey X, you're buying the commercial portions of the software (Native Mojo implementations), which allow you to target other platforms. Technically, the utilities are there to do everything yourself, but Mojo allows you to write portable games a lot easier.

So, what's this Mojo 2 I'm hearing about? Mojo 2 is an overhauled version of Mojo (Graphics, currently) which allows you to use less portable, but more advanced techniques on supported OpenGL capable targets. For an overview, click here. If you're just starting out, forget about Mojo 2 until later. Mojo 2 is only available to Pro users, and therefore requires you to purchase Monkey X.


mejon(Posted 2015) [#4]
thanks for the answers @ImmutableOctet(SKNG) and @Soap.