Whoa, has been ages since I last posted here! Anyway, nerd questions coming up. I’d be interested to know if there are any plans to turn BGT loose on Mac OS. I believe the scripting language it uses is capable of running on Mac OS, so that’s a start, isn’t it?
Here is the background story, for those interested: I’ve been developing both “regular” applications and games, although to be fair I’ve spent very little time on games over the last few years. I use mostly Java, occasionally C++ as well. Recently I figured I’d start being serious about games again. The obvious thing to do would be to turn to Java (which is what I did), since I have to use that for more professional projects anyway so I might as well stick to something I know. Java is great for cross-platform work. Except for a few nitty gritty details you can basically cook one executable and run it on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Java’s performance is good too, and with the upcoming Java 8 and 9 it will become less painful to distribute the required JVM with your source code, removing the need for your users to install extra software. Not to mention that debugging code is a breeze. The single disadvantage is that it is super easy to decompile Java, to the point where the original source emerges, so encrypting user data is virtually useless. Things like TLS for secure Internet communication still work of course, but all security keys you store in your code are visible to anyone and everyone. .NET kind of suffers from the same thing, by the way. Had some good times messing about with Entombed back when. J So then, I could use C++ (and optionally one of those executable scramblers that the cool kids love to use). To the trained professional disassembling a program written in C++ to find a certain bit of logic can be as straight-forward as decompiling Java, but it definitely makes life harder for the average Joe who wants to hack some sounds he particularly likes. On the other hand, as a developer you have to take a few extra steps to produce the required executables for the platforms you want to support. Debugging might also be a bit more cumbersome. In comes BGT. It’s very secure (although no software is truly unbreakable), its syntax isn’t a problem if you know C++ already, and it creates very efficient executables. On the donw-side, I’m told it’s only available on Windows, and you don’t get to use standards directly (AKA OpenAL, Java runtime, standard C++ library). I really don’t mind about the standards, but I believe I’d upset a few people if I’d leave out support for Mac OS. Actually, knowing standard things can be fun, too. If you want to develop for Android, Java would be an excellent choice, so it helps if your products for PC and Mac are already using it. Similarly, knowing OpenAL is great for moving on to iOS games, since Apple natively supports OpenAL. But really, Java’s not good at running on the same machine where the encrypted data lives without applying security on the OS level. I’m not too concerned about people coming up with their own keygens. If you have a members-only area inside your game that requires authentication with a remote server you won’t get anywhere with just a serial number anyway. But not being able to securely encrypt sounds is a bit of a boring thing to live with. So, I thought I’d check out alternatives, since I’ve not paid much attention to recent developments and would like to know how things stand these days. (Oh, and no, I don’t want to use Python, sorry. At least, not just right now.) There, your daily dose of nerdy musings. Enjoy! Cheers, Davy --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
