Games in VB

**Motoxpro** · Sep 24th, 2001, 08:48 PM

well i was thinking and i thought i wonder if halflife could be make in vb. i was just thnkin how wuld u mak a game like that.... like at he front where it has the options how would some1 do stuff like that

**JSG** · Sep 24th, 2001, 09:10 PM

yeah you could.....don't know how fast it would go though.......

**Sastraxi** · Sep 24th, 2001, 10:37 PM

Direct3D

. You should have some good knowledge of 3D maths, especially if you're serious about this. You'll need to know collision detection, etc. It's hard work, but I would like to see the result in the end, if there is one

.

And it wouldn't go much slower than in C++, maybe 9/10ths the frame rate... not that noticable I wouldn't think, though.

**SapphireGreen** · Sep 25th, 2001, 05:10 AM

Yeah, most people seem to think that VB is really slow at games like Halflife, Diablo II, etc. It was virtually impossible to do it, before VB 6 and Direct X. Now it's comparable to C++.

I haven't looked at the .NET, but I wouldn't think it changes much, as it is more orientated (surprisingly) at the net. There are, however, some time saver tricks like so:

VB - VB 6

Dim K, L as Long
''' Only L would be Long, K would be Variant '''

VB NET

Dim K, L, Z, Y, X, Me, You, Us, AnythingElseYouCanThinkOf as Long
''' They're all Longs '''

Handy, no?

Zaei · Sep 25th, 2001, 06:39 AM

I am sorry, but VB IS slow. Sure, you can use a fast library written in C++, such as DirectX, or OGL, but you still have to put in logic, AI, and all of that other stuff. The rendering might be fast, but if your AI code still takes 400ms to execute, you arent going to get a very playable game. Classes are also slow, and they are required for any recursive structures (trees, skeletal systems, etc). VB doesnt support many forms of polymorphism, such as inheritance from a base class. It is possible, but you have to cut and paste a lot of code. The list goes on and on. Sure, you can make a fun, playable game in VB, but it will be a bit of time before VB becomes a true compeititor to C/C++ for creating games.

Z.

**Motoxpro** · Sep 25th, 2001, 11:18 AM

well im not really to much worried about speed because my game will be like a 2d scrolling game

**Ozki1976** · Sep 25th, 2001, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by Zaei
I am sorry, but VB IS slow. Sure, you can use a fast library written in C++, such as DirectX, or OGL, but you still have to put in logic, AI, and all of that other stuff. The rendering might be fast, but if your AI code still takes 400ms to execute, you arent going to get a very playable game. Classes are also slow, and they are required for any recursive structures (trees, skeletal systems, etc). VB doesnt support many forms of polymorphism, such as inheritance from a base class. It is possible, but you have to cut and paste a lot of code. The list goes on and on. Sure, you can make a fun, playable game in VB, but it will be a bit of time before VB becomes a true compeititor to C/C++ for creating games.

Z.

True VB is slow, but from what I've seen of VB.NET, it isn't. Class inheritance and threading are a few of the new features that help with its performance.

Zaei · Sep 25th, 2001, 09:03 PM

Threading only gives the appearance of performance, but in actuallity, slows the application down. Besides which, there are few uses of threading in games, in VB or C++. Inheritance also reduces speed, but you gain in development time, modularity, and code structure. If Microsoft spends some time on the VB compiler, that (and only that) will increase speed.

Z.

**Rob Burgess** · Sep 26th, 2001, 10:34 AM

VB.Net is leagues better than VB6.

I'm currently developing a project using it, but I'll be developing a game of some sort in my own time shortly.

VB.Net moves VB more closer to languages such as C & C++ more than any other version of VB ever has!

Long live VB!!!!

**Motoxpro** · Sep 26th, 2001, 03:59 PM

im makin a 2d game so im not worried about speed

**Rob Burgess** · Sep 27th, 2001, 04:00 AM

VB.Net use the new Common Runtime Language.

With the common language runtime, VB has more object-oriented features than before.

Also, the Common Runtime Language has to be used by any Language that wishes to use the .Net framework. So there should be no performance variations across different languages.

**plenderj** · Sep 27th, 2001, 07:08 AM

Originally posted by Motoxpro
im makin a 2d game so im not worried about speed

Goto www.coolground.com/plenderj
Scroll across to the right and you can take the source code to my unfinished-as-of-yet 2d scroller

Zaei · Sep 27th, 2001, 11:23 AM

Common Runtimes (gag). "Should not" is not "is not". If i were to create an ActiveX control in VB, and use it in C++, it would not be as fast as if i had created the control in C++. Just because a runtime can be used across languages doesnt mean that all languages are equal.

Runtimes are the biggest gripe that just about every programmer has against VB. So, Microsoft, in thier infinite wisdom, has, instead of removing those runtimes, created more, and decided that since VB is so popular, Runtimes should be shared across all .NET languages.

Again, I say, that, the one and only way that VB will be faster is if Microsoft inmproves the compiler.

Actually, the above statement is wrong. There are two ways to increase the speed of VB. Improve the compiler, and remove OLE Automation. I think the figure for 2D array access in VB is 6 times slower then C++, thanks to SAFEARRAY.

Z.

**Motoxpro** · Sep 27th, 2001, 11:41 AM

thx

**Motoxpro** · Sep 27th, 2001, 11:57 PM

Originally posted by plenderj

Goto www.coolground.com/plenderj
Scroll across to the right and you can take the source code to my unfinished-as-of-yet 2d scroller

whats it called

**plenderj** · Sep 28th, 2001, 02:21 AM

Well if you looked at the page you'd see its called Craft.

**Motoxpro** · Sep 28th, 2001, 10:31 AM

yes, i see it now. coo game.. ill play around withit and see if i can learn anything

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