Hi Ken,
I've got a few thoughts comments about converting this project to
Visual Basic .NET which we could discuss.
The first is a general design issue. As you may or may not know the
old com library DX8VB.dll is now deprecated and does not ship with
Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 so you would have to look at an
alternative API for audio, input, and networking support. Managed
DirectX is no longer being produced so I wouldn't recommend that
either. This leaves you with something like SlimDX, SDL, or XNA
Framework.
SlimDX is a decent replacement for Managed DirectX, but is not well
documented. While it supports Microsoft's DirectSound 8 that library
is also technically deprecated which means for newer PCs, particularly
if you want 3d audio, you will want to use XAudio2. Unfortunately,
XAudio2 is a fairly complex audio API, and I'm not sure if you want to
delve into something like that when starting out with VB .NET.
SDL .NET IMO is a much simpler solution for a new .NET developer, but
of course its not quite in the same class as DirectX. Its audio mixer
SDL Mixer is pretty simplistic in comparison and its joystick,
keyboard, and mouse support is very basic. Great for writing simple
games but you may want something like SlimDX for more complex types of
games.
Of course, those are only two options available for a .NET developer.
You could use the FMOD Ex API, which is free for free projects, which
is a very good audio API for games. Better yet it is relatively
straight forward and simple to use. For input you can just use
standard keyboard and mouse events provided you don't want anything
too fancy.
The other issue is documentation. Now, I know you said you don't
learn well from books, tutorials, and other forms of documentation
which is perfectly understandable. However, in my experience a lot of
the amateur game developers that once wrote software in Visual Basic 6
have switched to C# .NET rather than Visual Basic .NET, and there is a
lot more free documentation to be had on game programming in C# .NET
than VB .NET. This might be something you want to consider carefully.
One reason for the migration to C# .NET is in 2007 when Microsoft
released its XNA Framework they combined that with their Visual C#
Express IDE to create the XNA Studio which is used for developing
games in C# .NET for Windows and XBox 360. As a result of XNA using C#
.NET there are a lot of game developers out there using it for games
than you will find using Visual Basic .NET. So from a help and support
aspect it might be a better choice.
However, in the end it largely comes down to preference. Both use the
same libraries, same framework, and concepts easily carry over from
one to another. Any differences between C# .NET and VB .NET are syntax
related. C# .NET looks a lot like Java or C++ where VB .NET looks like
VB 6 and earlier. Here is a case in point.
// This is a simple Hello World program
// written in C# .NET
using system;
public class Hello
{
public int main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello world!");
return 0;
}
}
' Here is a Hello World Program
' written in VB .NET
import System
Public Class Hello
Public Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("Hello world!")
End Sub
End Class
OK, I haven't tested either one of these with Visual Studio .NET but
these two simple examples should get the basic idea across that C#
.NET and VB .NET are identical in many ways. Its just one uses a more
C++ Style approach and the other a Basic approach but both will get
you where you want to go.
Cheers!
---
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