Which language should I go with?

[GR33B]

Hello, I'm GR33B, and I've gotten in to programming pretty seriously. I took the available courses at my highschool, which were really introductory courses to Visual Basic 6.0 and Java.

I finished those classes about a year ago, and since then I've been honing my skills with them, primarily Visual Basic 6. I created many simple games such as space invaders and snake, but I decided to try and make an RPG about a month ago, and have had great progress.

My goals for this game are:
-create my very own game/engine/editor from scratch
-make it fun and diverse
-give it a classic rpg feel
-implement Halo 3 forge-like capabilities for players
-online capabilities (chat, battle, trade)

I know I shouldn't be overly ambitious and I don't think the above list is. But I've run into some problems when developing this game in Visual Basic 6.

1. VB6 is Event-driven, not object oriented (though ive made it semi-object oriented with custom types)
2. Unsupported language (microsoft 'remade' visual basic .net and it's completely different than VB6)
3. Not a good choice for future programming endeavors (many people frown upon VB6 nowadays)

So I was wondering if I should "convert" all of my code to Java or C++, considering the only thing that would really change is the syntax, because of the way my current VB6 engine is set up. I don't know C++ yet, but I've heard it's pretty similar to Java, and that I could learn it relatively easlily.

Thoughts? Advice? All helpfull posts are appreciated.

[Falco Girgis]

I'm sorry to say, but if you are serious about that list, you are almost definitely going to have to "rewrite" it in C++.

Java also suffers in the same areas that VB6 does with regards to games: the languages aren't meant for that type of application.

On the bright side, C++ is very similar to Java. If you do have decent Java experience, it will seriously be easy to pick up.

edit: VB6 would be a great thing to write you level editor/tools in. It's like us using BlitzPlus for our level editor while the engine is written with C/++. It's still a great thing to know.

[GR33B]

Damn, I didn't expect a reply that fast!

Back on topic, I figured so. I am pretty good in Java, so the transition shouldn't be too painfull. I'll pick up a C++ book tomorow and give it a read.

I was actually thinking the same thing as far as an Editor goes.

I'll post something once I've gotten it rewritten and into a nice state.

Thanks again.

[trufun202]

Good luck man. Your list sounds like a pretty big undertaking, but if you approach it in chunks and write things in such a way that they can be rewritten / replaced without affecting other components - you'll be in good shape.

[GR33B]

thanks for the well wishes. The last two on the list are more like 'hopes' rather than goals. But I do intend to at least get the first three into the game.

[avansc]

revolution3d or something like that

[Slacker]

Seems a bit odd that they would teach VB 6.0 over .NET, though personally I liked 6.0 a lot better. I was pretty mad when I had just learned my first programming language (6.0) and after summer break I come back to school, and being told I had to now learn .NET. Eh, overall they're not too dissimilar.

[dandymcgee]

Hey GR33B I wish you the best of luck, and hope to hear from you periodically about your progress.

[programmerinprogress]

Seems a bit odd that they would teach VB 6.0 over .NET, though personally I liked 6.0 a lot better. I was pretty mad when I had just learned my first programming language (6.0) and after summer break I come back to school, and being told I had to now learn .NET. Eh, overall they're not too dissimilar.

my Sixth form still teaches the older form of VB.

we don't use VB6 per se, we use VBA for Excel 2003, so it's based around the older VB6.

I personally prefer (from my limited experience) the older type VB, .NET doesn't seem to like me at all

I think it's just one of my character traits, I don't really like the computer managing my code, i'd rather write something in C++,even if it takes longer, at least I feel like I know every aspect of the piece of code i've written, and how it works.

On Topic: Good luck with learning C++, I hope you have a simple transition from Java/vb to C++!

[M_D_K]

A couple years ago I was forced to use VB .NET even though I could have done the whole thing in C++ alot faster. I hated it, I just didn't like the syntax and the fact monkeys can make apps in VB.NET(I'm not joking there was a science article somewhere on it).

Although before I started C++ I used VB 6.0 for like a week, wasn't a fan of that either...I guess I just have a problem with it.

P.S C++ will give you more control over your code, which in the long run alot better.

[Slacker]

and the fact monkeys can make apps in VB.NET(I'm not joking there was a science article somewhere on it).

WTF!?

[M_D_K]

and the fact monkeys can make apps in VB.NET(I'm not joking there was a science article somewhere on it).

WTF!?

Thats what i was like when i read the article:lol:

[avansc]

and the fact monkeys can make apps in VB.NET(I'm not joking there was a science article somewhere on it).

WTF!?

Thats what i was like when i read the article:lol:

id like to see that article, sounds far fetched. im sure there were other parameters involved.
i will say this, i used to live in south africa at the coast. and we had monkey problems. they knew that the fridge held the gold.
and they knew how to open coke cans, they also knew that beer was a better find. and they knew the difference between normal and decaf coffee.

little fuckers.

[GR33B]

Well, it seems that Dev-C++, Visual C++ 2005 Express, and Visual C++ 2008 Express refuse to install or work on my system. So I guess I'll just do it in VB6.

[unholysavagery]

My old engine was in Visual Basic 6.0 and you can do anything with visual basic that you can do with C++ but it's just slower and it's a lot harder to find source code samples. I have rewrote the engine in C++, now it's faster and more flexible then it was in visual basic. But It's been 2 years just to learn how to do everything in C++ that I was doing before, it's also much harder to do things in C++ then it is in Visual Basic.

No matter how you look at it you have a long road ahead of you, the only way to do what you want is to get started learning C++ or you'll end up with an engine that gets 10 FPS and is useless for future projects, much like my old one.