I''ve been doing some thinking lately. I know this topic has been discussed and debated over and over again but this is a bit different, at least I hope its a bit of a turn. There have been many discussions on how Visual Basic compares in speed, power, etc, to C++ but something has been on my mind. Maybe we can have a discussion about it. First the bold prediction. I predict that within the next year we are going to start seeing major, commercial games having been developed in Visual Basic w/ DirectX. The reason I think this is, since DirectX was released, I''ve been working on a full game engine (3D, Sound, etc) using Direct3D Immediate Mode and DirectSound/DirectMusic, and so on. This was only a project I undertook for fun, but as time has gone on, to my suprise, the language hasn''t seemed to crack under the pressure yet. Far from it. I use to be one to believe that the language was under some heavy limitations (which compared to C/C++ there obviously are some still) but I have to say, this thing is performing just as well as anything I''ve seen written in C/++ and is showing no sign of slowing down. I don''t want to get into a discussion/flame war on which is the better choice, I think thats a hopeless debate and is better left to the individual programmer, but I''m curious as to what you think. Do you think we will start seeing some top games being developed/in development utilizing Visual Basic/DirectX? -Miraj

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do think we might get to that point.

Not necessarily Visual Basic/DirectX, but a simple scripting language combined with powerful components. COM/DCOM/COM+ supports this idea - you could write your OpenGL engine entirely in Dual Interface COM objects, and make them calleable from VB. That way, the really critical parts are fast ( originally C ), and the rest is scripted together.

As a pointer, have a look at DarkBasic, I''m not sure where to find it, but a project by that name has developed a scripting system for OpenGL>


#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
**I use Software Mode**

I seriously doubt the industry will move to Visual Basic. Why? Because I see more games being developed for more than just Windows.

Also, OOP is becoming more popular among game developers, and Visual Basic is not an OO language. I don''t know about the next version which supposedly supports some OO options, but I wouldn''t get my hopes up.

IMO, Visual Basic is a toy language, and a sloppy one at that. It''s good for making quick and dirty interfaces, but beyond that, there''s not much more it should be used for - especially not games.

Even if the execution of a VB program can compare with the same program in C++ or other langauges, it is still difficult to design and maintain large programs in VB and the fact that is is Windows only makes it undesirable for use in the future of game development.


Josh
http://www.jh-software.com

I agree with Josh on only one point. The industry will not move, as a whole, to developing with visual basic for the same reason he gave: it limits your market.

However, I could easily see visual basic being used to crank out windows only games tho. The biggest obstacle would probably be the average game programmers aversion to anything with the word "basic" in it.

I would be curious to know how many commercial games out there have used VB or if any are in the works. Anyone have any figures?



Z

I just got my first COM component working, with a Visual c++/MFC client. I could use a VB client, or a java client, and it would still work. That just amazes me.

I agree that it won''t be VB that makes the revolution happen, but just the whole set of reasonably simply scripting languages together with high-level, high-performance components.


#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
**I use Software Mode**

Well i''d have to say that i do agree, in the windows realm we will see alot more point and click programmers and compilers to help kill the Artform, over time the skill required to make games have declined. But that is in the main stream, ie, Windows. Hey I have been dabulling in beos and there is a place where You can find a wealth of excitement(from a coderz point of view). The api is so much cleaner and neater than windows. Im getting of subject. VB is getting better and it will someday be able to produce very optimized code.

JmarsKoder: Founder of "The Minds of Kosign" http://www.kosign.cjb.net/

A group for the most passionate coders. "The Art of Code"

I think VB will keep gainig popularity, but I''m not sure wether it will usurp C++ in the near future. Although Microsoft might try to really push VB since they own it, while they don''t own C++, they have to compete with other companies like Borland etc.

Speaking of which, DDCK: MOC (http://ddck.cjb.net) is being developed in VB by us with a small team of 3 people and it is looking very spiffy so far Can''t wait until we can start the public beta testing and really show it off =)

Peter

I''m not sure, but I''ve heard that UnrealEd (the level editor for the Unreal engine, for those who don''t know) was, at least partially, written in VB.


P h a n t a s m
"Through dreams I control mankind."
--Legend

Has anyone played the shooter game that comes with the direct x 7 sdk ? Pretty cool ha ? N-Way I have no doubt that a lot of newbies would be using vb to make smallish to medium games . As soon as I complete my contest game , I will try to make a full blown game using vb and see how I like it . Presently I do not have enough data to substantiate the implied capabilities of a high level language/com interface