I recently went to a site (http://www.redrival.com/voodoovb/) that had VB tutorials for DX 7, and I compared my equivelant C++ code with the VB code and said: "Why doesn''t everyone use VB?!" In VB, all you do is like "Dim DX As DirectX" and thats it, i think, but anyway it looked so much easier!! But then i realized how much more control i have in c++ and how much more im used to C++..... Any suggestions?

Hi there

I am a VB programmer and I seriously like VB, you CAN program games in VB !!!! However I am learning C++ game programming parallel to VB. Another reason why I am learning C++ is that there might be a possibility that I would want to program games for Linux and BeOS.

If you need help with VB games programming, feel free to drop me a line.

groveric@mweb.co.za

First of all, I use VB everyday, all day. And then at night I revert to being a real programmer and use C/C++

?? How is this, simple reason. C/C++ is majorly portable first off. Windows will not be around forever. Number two, pointers. You can get into the nitty gritty of data structures in c/c++, ever try making a quadtree in VB?

And lastly, speed. I know there will be ppl who argue up and down that VB is only a few percent slower, and their new game is made in VB and it rocks. Well, suprise, they lie. Most of these engines for VB that are starting to pop out of the wood work are in VB, with all the heavy routines in C/C++, just becuase of the speed issue.

I have two legs to stand on here. I made an 75% complete DX engine in straight VB code. It sucks. Not because it doesn't do anything good, because it is slower than hell and it is optimized to all heck. I then recoded the nasty bits in C++, and slap me silly, I got a 25% increase. Just from converting some camera and drawing routines.

My sugestion.... Use VB to make nice DB interfaces, program for the web and make quick and dirty windows apps. Use C/C++ for ever and anything game related.

And honestly, if you want to program in C++ with something easy, go OpenGL. It is soooo much cleaner and easier to read for the 2D/3D novice.

BTW, the engine, as it was in an alpha, is still posted at www.bworks.com/ogre/

it is free, keeping with the spirit of the internet.

Bworks.Com

Edited by - joviex on 3/31/00 5:05:46 AM

Use VisualBasic for pong (the regular picboxes will do ) and C/C++ for real games. That''s merely my humble opinion, of course.

"Paranoia is the belief in a hidden order behind the visible." - Anonymous

Well I''m currently making a full game in VB, and I guess I just want to know first hand that VB sucks. I''ll tell you when it''s done.

-------------------------
-Now Working on Pokemon like Engine!

Visual C++ is much better!

Charlie McSow /Paradigm Game Design
www.rarebyte.de.st

GODDAMNIT!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL PPL THIS:

" I recently went to a site (http://www.redrival.com/voodoovb/) that had VB tutorials for DX 7, and I compared my equivelant C++ code with the VB code and said:
"Why doesn''t everyone use VB?!"
In VB, all you do is like "Dim DX As DirectX" and thats it, i think, but anyway it looked so much easier!!
But then i realized how much more control i have in c++ and how much more im used to C++.....
Any suggestions? "

This dude is 100% correct. As a matter-of-fact, this guy is a pimp (if he takes it as a complement(?)), for comming to realize this by his-self. You have 200,000,000% more power/speed/control in C++ than you have in VB, but you can make (some/a lot of) games 200,000,000% more faster in VB than you can in C++. So what do you do?!?! YOU DO ALL THE DIRTY WORK IN C++ THAT VB CANT HANDLE(?) AND ONCE YOU HAVE A DLL (LIB) WITH ALL OF YOUR FUNCTIONS IN IT, MAKE YOUR GAME IN VB IN TWO DAYS USING THE C++ DLL.

I shall call this idea, ''cVB Technology'' since I have suggested it a million and one times. And besides thats how I do my games. I have a DLL callen cVB for rasterizing polygons, and it has all my hardcoded c++/asm functions in it which I call from VB. Here is a list of them, taken from my .def file, (and if your interested in the source, email me..):

LIBRARY cVB

EXPORTS
FillBuffer @1
CopyBuffer @2
SetMode @3
DrawPixel @4
GetBuffer @5
DrawLine @6
PutBuffer @7
AddPixel @8
Blend @9
Blend4 @10
Blend8 @11
Blend16 @12
DrawTriangleFlat @13
GlenzePixel @14
ShiftLeft @15
ShiftRight @16
HLine @17
DrawTriangleGouraud @18
DrawTriangleWire @19
BlurShift4 @20
clss @21
fatan22 @22
BuildTables @23
s_texture_triangle8 @24
s_texture_hline8 @25
texture_triangle8 @26
texture_hline8 @27
GSLine @28
GLine @29
TLine @30
Draw_Triangle_Glenze @31
Draw_Triangle_Texture @32
Draw_Triangle_Gouraud @33
HLineS @34
GLineVert @35
Bline @36
BLineShade @37
TextureLine @38
ShadedLine @39
ShadedLineGlenze @40
ShadedLineTextureAffine @41
Draw_Triangle @42
PerlinNoise_2D @43
SmoothBuffer2D @44
Noise1 @45
clss2 @50

This all depends on your programming skills and needs. After programming in QBasic and VB for a while, I got board. I found it way too easy. So I went on to C++. I find C++ a lot better for making games. It''s faster, and, Do you know of any professional market games made on VB? I don''t. So to answer your question, I''ll just say that it''s your decision. But I would recommend C++.

"Remember, I'm the monkey, and you're the cheese grater. So no messing around."
-Grand Theft Auto, London

"It's not whether I win or lose, as long as I piss you off"
-Morrigan, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Actually, there''s this game called FLUX, and it was made in Visual Basic.

If you are making a simple game, Visual Basic might be a good choice. If you are making a complex game, C++ is the way to go. Also, if you are using VB, you might want to make DLLs in VC++ or MASM to call in your VB program. Right now, I''m making a tile-scrolling RPG in VB, and I can make it go at 150 FPS so far, but I force it to go at 30 FPS.

Another thing to remember is that computers are getting powerful enough so that it will not matter. Also, if you have a HAL device such as a VooDoo 2 or 3, or an Ndivia based card, the language doesn''t matter as much. I''ve seen Direct3D samples using the HAL that can easily go over 100 FPS, and that''s with transform, textures, and lighting. If you have a TnL device (not many have that yet), then since the card will do virtually a of the graphics functions, it won''t matter.

To sum it up, for more simple games, Visual Basic can do it. For the complex games, C++ can do it.

Shinryuu64
Solenoid Software Interactive
http://solenoid.50megs.com
shinryu64@kiss-my.as