[VB5] Shoot The Aliens

[TBeck]

This is my first real game (apart from pong and tic tac toe) that I have made
The title is very origional :ehh:
I'm still in the process of learning how to use bitblt so its not used in this game but its still a fun little game. Any feedback would be appreciated :)

[d3gerald]

the game is goin too fast with just the arrow keys to point to the target and shoot. you should have allowed the shooter to move left and right to give more sense to the player.

anyway, nice game, just not addictive

[Jacob Roman]

There are a few problems I've noticed already. Codewise, you failed to use Option Explicit on top of your general declarations, which should always be done to avoid nondeclared variables, which I found after putting it in. You also have a mixture of code indention and non-indention. Datatypes in games should be Longs for nondecimal numbers and Singles for decimals because they run faster then the other data types. Mainly cause they are 32 bit. And you also should avoid using Timers in games. One timer is bad enough, but running more than one timer makes things even worse. Timers are inaccurate, inconsistant, and very limited. Managed loops locked at a certain framerate are the way to go. I can show you how sometime if you like. ;)

Also, gamewise, your controls are a little sluggish. To help improve your controls, you should take a look at my control project I wrote a few years ago:

Control.zip (http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=32472)

Only problem with that project is the fact that I used the Sleep API which should also be avoided cause it halts the whole program for a certain duration.

[TBeck]

Thanks Roman, I will definatly check out the controls stuff.
I would love to learn how to use managed loops instead of timers :)

[Jacob Roman]

You oughta look into using DirectX as well. Makes your games faster, look better, 2D as well as 3D, etc. It practically eliminates the needs for Pictureboxes, labels, and other objects cause you don't need them. Even got a massive 2D DirectX tutorial in my signature. ;)

[TBeck]

Yea i think i saw something about your direct X tutorial in some other thread casue ive already downloaded it and am trying to learn how to use it. good tutorial :)