GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

User contributed sources that have become inactive, deprecated, or generally unusable. But ... we don't really want to throw them away either.
vdecampo
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GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

GameX is a library of functions to help people make games (or other programs) in FreeBASIC.

What is in this library you ask? The library is broken out into classes of specific game relevance.

1. Sound Class - Uses SDL to provide simple wave playback, looping, and volume control up to 255 sounds.
2. Sprite Class - Gives simple functions for loading individual sprites or sheets and displaying them.
3. Collision Class - Provides pixel-perfect collision detection
3. RotoZoom Class - As the name implies, it gives the familiar zooming and rotating of sprites.
4. Input Class - Gives simple calls for keyboard and mouse states.
5. Vector Font Class - Provides simple vector drawn fonts in several styles
6. Bitmap Font Class - Currently provides 4 different fonts (Bauhaus, Stencil, OCR-A, and Tahoma)
7. SDL Screen Class - Lets SDL handle screen, mouse, and keyboard processing
8. Animator Class - Automates processing frames at a specific rate for sprite sheets.


The library is designed so you only have to link to what you want. I am still working out some details before I provide it to the community (LGPL).

I am debating adding a screen effects class to provide screen wipes and fades. I would also be interested in any other ideas.

Here is an early beta with an example program.
Download Version 0.1

-Vince
Last edited by vdecampo on May 20, 2012 2:25, edited 2 times in total.
TESLACOIL
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by TESLACOIL »

can you give me a quick code example of what you mean by linking etc

something tangible so i can to get my head around it all and my thinking cap on straight as it were
Imortis
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by Imortis »

TESLACOIL wrote:can you give me a quick code example of what you mean by linking etc

something tangible so i can to get my head around it all and my thinking cap on straight as it were
Linking is what happens when you use a library in code. The library's code is "linked" or joined to the code you have written.

What he means by linking only what is used, is this: The parts of the library that you don't use will not be included in your final exe. This makes the final program smaller. If all you use is the vector fonts, then that is all that will be included in the final exe.

I hope that helps.
TESLACOIL
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by TESLACOIL »

I sorta gathered that much, was after an code snippet so i could examine the actual format and code context he was intending to use

other wise im commenting on something i haven't actually seen, working blind if you get me ....a good sculptor needs to get a feel of the clay

thx 4 the clarification anyrate
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

Here is a sample to play a sound loop...

Code: Select all

#Include "gamex.bi"

Dim As clsSOUND Sound

If Sound.IsInitialized = 0 Then
   Print "Sound did not initialize!"
EndIf
 
Var music1 = Sound.LoadSound("test2.wav")

Sound.PlaySound(music1,10) '<- 10 loops
-Vince
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

Ang here is an example of using the input and bitmap fonts classes...

Code: Select all

#Include "gamex.bi"

ScreenRes 640,480,32 'Set Gfx mode before any Gfx classes

Dim As clsBMPFONT Font
Dim As clsINPUT inpt
      
   Font.SetFont(clsBMPFONT.OCRA)
   Font.SetAlignment(clsBMPFONT.ALIGN_RIGHT)
   Font.DrawString(0,"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",320,20,&hFF0000)

Do    
   Sleep 10,1   
Loop Until inpt.GetChar()
-Vince
TESLACOIL
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by TESLACOIL »

ta


no biggie but its kind of hard not to read cls as CLS in as in clear screen

prolly down to years of scanning basic code for bugs...i can see this causing endless doh ! to the n' moments


gamex.bi = is good ( its kind of a WYSIWYG word that doesn't dump me in the basement )

Code: Select all

 ' perhaps

Dim As GX_SOUND Sound

' rather than

Dim As clsSOUND Sound


' its one less case change as well
' and more importantly  the underscore greatlyaidsreadability :-p





minor details i know , but it all adds up especially when it comes to inevitable debug time

when humans read they tend to grab the end features of a word and guess the middle, that's why uppercase GX_ feels much more natural than using a lowercase cls shunted up tight to its bedfellow keyword

there is an entire class of visual deceptions & illusions based upon this premise. I remember staring at one particular trick sentence for 10 minutes and still couldn't spot the deliberate mistake even after manually fingering each & every letter....the compulsion to 'guess the middle' that powerful...no doubt 'de bugging blindness' is strongly related to this phenomenon



...imagines

-Vince wincing as he hastily codes up a macro to let loose on his HDD to hunt down every instance of cls***
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

TESLACOIL wrote: ...imagines

-Vince wincing as he hastily codes up a macro to let loose on his HDD to hunt down every instance of cls***
Don't hold your breath. :)
TESLACOIL
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by TESLACOIL »

lol....there's always the one isn't there Vince

looks like you are brewing up some good stuff there any rate.



Sounds

I gather you know whats required soundswise for arcade games etc. By solving this you also mostly solve artificial speech and artificial singing. ( vocaloid )

I use a bank of wav sounds for speech, SAPI etc is ok but its kind of clunky and limiting.

For robo speech / robo singing you need to have phonetics effectively mixed and blended to smooth out the hiss pop and stutter. Playing up to half a dozen wavs at once does at a stroke do away with many audio issues. However new issues arise such as getting the timing synchronized and perhaps the volumes compensated.

I take it your GX Sound is an effort to handle synchronization aspect of things ?

This would be a great asset to coders.


SDL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_DirectMedia_Layer

Simple DirectMedia Layer
http://www.libsdl.org/


Ill certainly be up for testing your sound code ( win xp sp 3 ) I have a dozen or so pcs so i can test it on multiple hw configurations. I have to solve the sound issue for my AI project anyway so i dont mind putting in some graft on the beta testing.
Last edited by TESLACOIL on May 16, 2012 15:36, edited 2 times in total.
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

TESLACOIL wrote:I take it your GX Sound is an effort to handle synchronization aspect of things ?
The focus of GameX is simplicity. It is designed as a starting point for those who want to start making games.

-Vince
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by TESLACOIL »

Q how many sounds can you play at once ?
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

TESLACOIL wrote:Q how many sounds can you play at once ?
From the first post...
1. Sound Class - Uses SDL to provide simple wave playback, looping, and volume control up to 255 sounds.

-Vince
Kot
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by Kot »

You mentioned SDL - is it multithread-proof?
vdecampo
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

Kot wrote:You mentioned SDL - is it multithread-proof?
Do you mean can you call the sound class from different threads? That is not advisable. You would want to use a mutex. But it is fine running on its own thread. The graphics classes suffer from the same threading issues as the FB Gfx lib. All Gfx classes should be used from the main thread.

Again, this is a simple set of tools for beginner to intermediate programmers to put all of the resources for game development in one easy to access library.

-Vince
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Re: GameX - Game Library for FreeBASIC

Post by vdecampo »

Early Beta version now available for download. See first post.

-Vince
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