Palm Games Development with HB++
VBBR	Suppose I'm creating a game with Handheld Basic++ ([url]http://www.handheld-basic.com/[/url]), would that be considered VB Game Programming? I mean, would it be eligible for news and such on this website?
Eric Coleman	What do the other moderators think? (or anyone for that matter!) I personally have no problem with different flavors of BASIC.
cbx	Sure! Sounds like a good idea. But the number of people who are familiar with it may be slim...
hotrodx	Well, there are large communities of various flavors of BASIC out there, like DarkBasic. We could be swamped with all other versions if we tried to accomodate them all. I've no problem with BASIC variants here in the forums, though. I'd like to hear from others too. As the saying goes, "Be careful of what you wish..." ...you know the rest.
Almar Joling	I tink it's fine, as long as there isn't a real other community, like DarkBasic, or name something else. It's been silent lately anyway:)
VBBR	Well, as the primary purpose of HB++ isn't creating games (and I haven't seen a game anywhere, in the samples, nor in the website), I guess we won't be flooded with HB++ game programmers at all. [:D] If by any chance any of you have a PalmOS PDA, you should try it; it's very easy to learn if you know VB and reasonably fast for gaming (faster than I ever thought it would be). I'm currently programming Pong (yeah, my first on PalmOS) and I can get something like 15-20 FPS running on a palmOne Tungsten|E (which by the way it the worst PDA in the PalmOS 5 family). I have 4 sprites: Background, two paddles and a ball, in Hi-Res (320x320 screen) 256 colors mode. Not to mention the entire thing is a lot messy and completely unoptimized. By the way, is there some open-source VB tile engine I could (try to) port to PalmOS (more of an exercise anyway)? And yeah, I've thought of DaBooda already. I'll take a look at it. [:D]
AutoAim	I like to hear news about it :-D even though i don't have a Palm, i'm downloading the trail just to check it out :-) to bad it is not free..
Eric Coleman	I added a poll on the main page so people can vote on it. I've been thinking about this, and these are my current thoughts. Most of the people that visit this website are game developers, so they're probably more interested in game development news instead of software releases on devices they probably don't even own. I don't own a Palm, so I can't look at your game, so it's not really of interest to me. However, something that I think would be of more interest to the people that visit this website would be tutorials and information on creating games for the Palm. If programming information and examples are available, then people would be more interested in the device in terms of programming games for it and also seeing with other prople are programming. So, this is a two part problem. This is about BASIC variants and also devices other than a computer (or other than windows if you consider WinCE.) So far, it seems people are interested in other BASIC flavors, but more discussion is needed. However, what does everyone think about other devices besides computers? Everyone that visits this website has a computer, so BASIC variants for computer's is a natural progression. However, I don't think there have been any users to visit this website with a Palm or other devices like cell phones, so is news regarding game programming on those devices not really targeted to the correct audience? Ideas and thoughts on that?
hotrodx	The website name says it all: VBGamer. Not BGamer. Not BASICGamer. What I would like to see in the front page are commercial and shareware games made in VB. I *think* one way to legitimize VB as a gaming platform language is to show that there are indeed commercial (and successful) VB games out there. Java has been making progress with this (on cellphones) so people are giving Java game programming a try. What is needed is to "pass the torch" to new generation of VB programmers. Prolly the reason for lack of news is the slow migration of VB6 to VB.Net environments. Like I said, I've got no problem with other variants here in the forums. For example, I've discovered a BASIC variant that compiles for the Sega Megadrive, and it will run using emulators. Pretty cool stuff. But I wouldn't place it in the front page because, after all, we're VBGamer.
PointOfLight	I'd love to see successful commercial and shareware games listed on the front page. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to really happen all that often. To be honest, I can't recall all that many successful shareware / commercial VB games at all. Don't get me wrong: I'm a VB programmer, so I'm not trying to knock the language. I just don't see it being used in this avenue very much. I think discussing other BASIC variants (especially on other platforms) in the forum is a good thing. While PC games will never go away, I think the market has become stagnant, while the mobile market is steadily growing. I was glad he posted the information on Handheld Basic, because I'm looking into Palm programming, and it appears to be a good tool. And while there hasn't been much in the way of game activity with the product yet, if you look in the Annoucements section of the forum (I think that's what it's called), you can find at least two or three games listed, one of which is an RPG with an editor all on the Palm! That's actually pretty neat, if you ask me. Anyway, I'm not suggesting you start splashing non-VB advertisements all over the front page, but I think it's fine to discuss them in the forums.