Here''s a newbie Q for all of ya. To what extent can I build a game with Visual Basic? Doom? Quake...?

This coming from a VB programmer (me). Here is the breakdown. VB is an extreamly powerful language and I'm sure you know that. With the introduction of .NET. It's definetly possible to create a game that rivals the current games, including Quake and UT. But, this is of course with heavy optimization. Where a person can write semi clean code in C++ and still have a speed advantage, us VB programmers have to write the cleanest code around to match. With VB engines such as Truevision and Rev3D, you can write some pretty cool games. VB is a great language, stick with it. I relieze that I am going to get major flames with this post. But, I don't care I love VB and VB loves me. Suck the power out of it. Do your best, get it done. So in summary Yes! it is possible to create awesome games with VB.

Horny Farmer (Jolly Rancher)

[edited by - VisualB4BigD on May 13, 2002 9:29:21 PM]

People will tend to disagree on this but I think you can definately make a good game in VB. Obviously 2d games and such will run fast enough in VB, but you can make good 3d games too. You can use Direct3D (and OpenGL I think) in VB (http://www.vbexplorer.com/directx4vb/ is a good site to get you started) You probably could make something on the scale of DOOM or Quake or even better.

You''ll find, when using external API''s such as DirectX, that VB has little speed difference vs. other languages. You can create whatever you can in C++ or Delphi (though you''re implementation may vary). If you''re comfortable with VB there''s no need to switch to another language for "power" reasons at the moment, the only time you''ll need to switch is if you go pro, where most dev companies are using C/C++, though VB is still a favoriate for making tools.

I like the replies I''ve seen to this thread, and just to keep it that way I''d like to remind everyone this is the Beginners forum, if you don''t have something positive to say on this topic (such as if you want to flame people for using vb, or throw insults in defence of your language), then take it elsewhere.

A word of caution, in the (positive) spirit of this thread: The main advantage of VB is its simplicity of use. I.e., VB will "screen" a lot of details, unloading the programmer and thus shortening the developement cycle. The main pitfall of VB (or one of them) is that it often "seduces" the programmer to leave certain things for VB to handle, which, in some cases, result in drastical performance penalties. As a conclusion, when using VB to program games, trying to "master the language" and understanding what happens under the hood is very important.

Another aspect worth mentioning is that optimization (for speed) takes place on different levels. A very important level is that of concept and algorithm. Having a robust concept, smart data structures and good algorithms will ususally gain you much more performance than optimizations you do on implementation level (wich includes the choice of the programming language).

Last, but not least, with the current technologies, you can mix programming languages fairly freely (ok, maybe not so freely ). So when you implement a game in VB, you will always have the last resort of including a C DLL into your project, if you see that you have reached the limit of VB.

Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters - Metallica


[edited by - Gabriel Fleseriu on May 14, 2002 11:17:25 AM]

Just another quickie: I am somewhat adept with VB now; however, I want to know if anyone has ever started programming with VB (or others) and switched later on to another language (C++, blah). If so, was the transition difficult? I''ve never touced VC++ yet.

quote:

---

Original post by Icebreaker
Just another quickie: I am somewhat adept with VB now; however, I want to know if anyone has ever started programming with VB (or others) and switched later on to another language (C++, blah). If so, was the transition difficult? I''ve never touced VC++ yet.

---

Actually, i am doing that right now. I learned VB at work having been extremly bored several years ago. Now i am trying to learn c++, and it is differnt, to say the least . For example, trying to remember to put a "do nothing" operator at the end of eevryline fucked me in the begining. Also, i still use Select Case instead of switch. Then when i am debugging i look at it and say "WTF? Select Case?!!" But, if you understand the LOGIC behind programming, then rest is just syntax

The more i learn about c++ however, the more i REALLY like it. It gives you SO MUCH CONTROL it rocks. Of course this control comes at the expense of ease, but, having seen what it can do, i try every night to learn something new. Right now i am working on trees, and the logic behind them. I am trying to make games with it, but i think i would be better off learning theory FIRST, then dive in.



_____________________________
Beer.
Rocks.

I did *not* start with VB and then switched to C/C++, so I am just guessing here. But since I know both of them, I think following points *could* be hard when switching to C/C++:

1. Many things that work "out of the box" in VB, need a certain amount of setup code in C/C++.
2. C/C++ knows of a number of constructs that have no counterpart in VB. A good example are pointers.
3. C/C++ will have no mercy on ambiguities, forcing the progeammer to code things to the bitter end. For the VB programmer, the effort needed to achieve something can appear unjustified at a first glance.
4. The entire COM related stuff is a pain in C++ compared to VB.
5. C/C++ have a preprocessor. When coming from VB, it probably will take some time to get used to its effects, because the code can seam pretty "unreadable". (e.g. "what was "STDAPI again?")

As a bottom line, C/C++ need a longer time to "get a grip on". But I am confident that knowing VB and switching to C/C++ is easyer than starting w/ C/C++ from zero, despite the VB programmer needing to "get rid" of some "habits".

Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters - Metallica