The Drunken Lizard Pub

I'm another 39 year old IT/programmer guy who may want to make his own isometric rpg someday What tools/languages were used to create eschalon, and where should one start?

The only thing I know is that those games where built using BlitzBasic.

Re other tools, I think only BW could help you.

There is a list of free and inexpensive programs somewhere here in which BW mentions the stuff he has used and uses.

stevedev wrote:I'm another 39 year old IT/programmer guy who may want to make his own isometric rpg someday What tools/languages were used to create eschalon, and where should one start?

You mean BlitzMax , which supports Linux, Mac and Windows...

Thx all for the replies. So my next question.. suggestions on where to look for indie teams doing RPGs in BlitzMax, -- where I could become involved to get my hands dirty and learn about the language, etc?

www.blitzbasic.com

However, if I had to do it over again, I'd go with C++. BlitzMax is very powerful and easy to learn for the most part, but C++ is universal. It's what everyone uses. Most of the best tools and engines are written in C++.

Hey BW. I can recall trying to look at c++ in the past and all I ended up with was a headache. Not sure I'm ready for it. Professionally, I've been a web app guy for the past decade+ and I think blitzmax would be a good start for me. I'm also really attracted to the idea that it has cross-platform compiling built into it. Are their other "tools" you use in tandem with it? Or is everything you use born out of Blitz?

stevedev wrote:Hey BW. I can recall trying to look at c++ in the past and all I ended up with was a headache. Not sure I'm ready for it. Professionally, I've been a web app guy for the past decade+ and I think blitzmax would be a good start for me. I'm also really attracted to the idea that it has cross-platform compiling built into it. Are their other "tools" you use in tandem with it? Or is everything you use born out of Blitz?

Pretty much everything is Blitz-made... the engine, the map editor, dialog editor, etc.

Steve: You and me and BuzzSaw . . . or, rather, you and me; and BuzzSaw and me: we'll create the two best RPG's ever made.

...sigh... .

Hey, where the hell is BuzzSaw, anyhow?

Here's what I'm going to do. At some point I'm going to write an RPG scenario and post it on my domain. I'll give you all the URL and you can all judge for yourself.

...Or, better idea: I'll just give it to specific people... like BuzzSaw, and Steve if he's interested.

...Since I think 98% of the people reading this post are rolling their eyes now.

"Yeah... okay, Evy. You wanna write an RPG script. You've said it, you've said it. Anything else?"

Sadly, it's easy to find programmers with ideas of their own - harder to find people with ideas who can program

silverkitty wrote:Sadly, it's easy to find programmers with ideas of their own - harder to find people with ideas who can program

Precisely!

We writers just don't have the patience! (Not to mention the time. Programming is horrifically time-consuming. Chasing down a bug takes a good deal longer than the actual programming.)

True, when I was a kid I did lots of programming, but that was long ago and I was a different person, plus I always used BASIC. (For the freedom - I hated the confining and extraordinarily frustrating structure of other languages... even when I thought the code was perfect, it wouldn't work! It wouldn't compile!)

These days it's enough for me to build on my web-coding skills . . . bit by bit.

All I want is to find a developer who wants a writing partner. That's all I want! But so many developers have their own ideas... .

However, if I had to do it over again, I'd go with C++. BlitzMax is very powerful and easy to learn for the most part, but C++ is universal. It's what everyone uses. Most of the best tools and engines are written in C++.

I don't understand your logic. I use C for my full time job, and I have used C++. BlitzMax is a much cleaner and quicker to develop language than either C or C++. The absence of header files alone is a massive bonus. The only situation where Blitz has any negatives is interfacing with external APIs, but if you're coding pure Blitz, I can't see anything but advantages.

BTW, there is a 'BlitMax2' under development that will spit out code in C, Java etc for compilation on a wide range of platforms.

Nomen luni wrote:

However, if I had to do it over again, I'd go with C++. BlitzMax is very powerful and easy to learn for the most part, but C++ is universal. It's what everyone uses. Most of the best tools and engines are written in C++.

I don't understand your logic. I use C for my full time job, and I have used C++. BlitzMax is a much cleaner and quicker to develop language than either C or C++. The absence of header files alone is a massive bonus. The only situation where Blitz has any negatives is interfacing with external APIs, but if you're coding pure Blitz, I can't see anything but advantages.

BTW, there is a 'BlitMax2' under development that will spit out code in C, Java etc for compilation on a wide range of platforms.

Yep, we are very excited for BlitzMax2. Looking forward to seeing what it can do!

You ae right, BlitzMax is an incredible language overall- it's just that all the best 3D engines, audio libraries, and other 3rd-party libraries are made for C++. It would be marvelous if BlitzMax could natively work with C++ libraries without all the headache of wrapping the C++ code first.

On another note, rumor has it that Leadwerks Engine 3 (3D engine with native BlitzMax interface) will support Mac and possible Linux. This could be the greatest thing ever!

Ah yes, Leadwerks looks to be shaping up very nicely... but all this talk of 3D engines... is there possibly a true 3D title in Basilisk games' future?

It would be marvelous if BlitzMax could natively work with C++ libraries without all the headache of wrapping the C++ code first.

I totally agree. BRL seems to drag their feet on even the most basic additional features to help calling external code. Myself and others have asked many times.

As an aside, I have just played Book 1 almost solidly to completion over the last few days, and I rarely bother with games these days. Congrats on such an engrossing and atmospheric title!

Glad to see my original post grabbed some attention. Thanks for all the replies everyone . So I snagged a copy of blitzmax, does the basilisk team generally stick with the maxide? or do you guys also use Blide? I didn't understand why Blide requires MinGW.

http://www.blide.org/?p=158

-Steve