Hi Rachel, O.K. I'll try and answer all your questions as best I can. First, Autoit is, well, a tool kit which you can script and design simple type games. I suppose it would be alright for amature game design, and if your goals are not very advanced. However, it is extremely limited in what it can do, and so I don't recommend it on the grounds it isn't a programming language and it is very limiting. Second, the only major difference between a audio game written by a blind developer and a vidio game written by sighted game companies is the lack of graphics. A Audio game developer such as myself writes games more-or-less exactly like Pro game developers do however I don't include any graphics in my games, and don't have to worry about any programming that is involved in rendering graphics to the screen, and making them look realistic. All I care about is rendering the audio instead. Third, Professional game companies such as Activision, Microsoft Game Studios, etc largely write games in C++. It is a great language, but most blind developers stay away from it do to the learning curve involved with it. So allot of blind developers use VB, C#.NET, and VB.NET. If we were interested in getting every ounce of hardware performence out of our computer to render 3D generated graphics C++ is by and large the language to use as it is good about not having breakup etc. With the .NET languages like C#.NET and VB.NET they run just a bit slower, and are not good for heavy vidio rendering However, since we are mainly using audio performence is less an issue for use, and in my own use of C#.NET and VB.NET they perform quite well for games that use only audio and no vidio. Forth, you asked about the differences between languages. Here is a quick run down of the common ones with pros and cons.
1. C++. It is a professional and industrial programming language used by every major game developer in the world.Good points: is portable across several different operating systems, good system performence, well documented, can be object oriented, well supported, etc. Negative points: is harder to learn, and takes allot of skill to use effectively. 2. VB, (Visual Basic 6.) Is widely used by blind developers. Good points: many find it easy to learn, the language is easy to understand, and many accessible games such as Jim Kichen's games were written in Visual Basic 6. Bad points: Microsoft is dropping support for Visual Basic 6 for VB.NET, the language is 8 years old, VB 6 compilers are harder to find, and is not fully object oriented. 3. C#.NET, (C-Sharp.) Is a brand new language from Microsoft. Good points: the language is much simplar than C++ to learn at the same time sharing many of the good qualities of C++, it is 100% object oriented which teaches you to think and code in that style of programming, it uses the .NET framework which is a great resource for doing many complex tasks, and do to it's object oriented design many tasks have been simplified by using the .NET framework. In fact, unlike many older languages C#.NET actually only has about 80 or 90 reserved key words to remember which makes the language quite small, and in fact it is really a higher language for interacting soully with the framework. Cause, C#.NET looks like C++ or Java once learned the skills from learning it will help you in learning other C-style languages like C++ or Java if you wished to go in to them. Finally, C#.NET apps in many cases can be compiled and run using the Linux and Mac OS .NET framework called mono. Leaving open a possability of making your program work on other operating systems besides Windows. Bad points: there are a few things bad about the language. The first is it is totally dependant on the version of the framework you are using to program with. If you want to redistribute your games, programs, you also must redistribute the framework as well in case they do not have it installed. If they have installed it via Windows update that end-user is probably alright, but most of the questions sent to U.S.A. Games have delt with people who didn't have the .NET framework or correct versions of the framework to properly install and play the games. Also if you plan to sell games you will need to purchase an obfuscation tool which encrypts your game binary files to keep hackers from cracking your games. 4. VB.NET, (Visual Basic .NET.) I don't know how many game developers are using it, but it certainly can be used to write games. It in some ways is a bit easier to learn and understand than C#.NET, and has a bit of a VB look and feel to it. However, most of it's features are allot like C#.NET. It is largely based on the use of the .NET framework, is 100% object oriented, and really has most of the same features listed for C#.NET. Bad points: there isn't allot of game documentation associated for VB.NET and Microsoft DirectX 9 while DirectX 9 will work with VB.NET offers no sample code, documentation, leaving one to learn on or his own. Also the same issues with the .NET framework holds true. You again need an obfuscation program if you wish to sell games. Final, reason I think against VB.NET is mono seams to work with C#.NET best and VB.NET is not well supported on non-Windows operating systems. 5. Java: I don't know of any game developers writing games in Java, but one certainly could if he/she wanted to. Good points: Java is portible across operating systems, is well documented, and is object oriented. Bad points: at present Java can not support input devices such as game pads and joysticks, handling sound effects is not as advanced, and to get reasonable performence out of your game you need to employ an advanced programming technique called threading. Threading is a technique programmers use to get a program to run several parts of the program at the same time independantly of each other. It is trickier than it sounds, and one reason I recommend against Java at this point. Hth. _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
