RPGDX > Forums > General Discussion > A coupl'a questions from a new/old member

barbaari · Lowly Slime Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

Hello!

I've been away from the programming / rpg scene for many, many years. I guess back in 2003 I was even registered on this very website, but I have long since forgotten my account info.

I used to program RPGs and other games using the good old QuickBasic 4.5. Now I've been getting back to the business after a break of over five years, and I've re-taught myself the secrets of QB by browsing my old source codes and creating new stuff. However, it seems that no one is (for obvious reasons?) using QB45 anymore. :D

So, I have a few questions:

1) Am I right about QB45? If not, does anyone know what could be the most lively quickbasic online community right now? Or is there even one?

2) If I am right, as I expect, what programming language/system would you people suggest me to move on to? QB is the only language I know quite well, and frankly, I don't have the endless amounts of free time it would take for me to start learning a completely new language. What would be the best and easiest, and at least a bit up-to-date programming language to move on to from QB?

I've always found VisualBasic annoying, but would this be a logic step? The answerers should keep in mind, that I mostly wish to program games, mainly RPGs, so any language you might suggest should be good for this purpose. I'm mainly interested in programming SNES style RPGs (Final Fantasies, the occasional Chrono Trigger, Earthbound...), so graphic-wise not much is required.

Until that, I'll keep on using QB. :D I would be quite happy with it, weren't it for a lack of an online community, and of course all the problems that these old DOS based languages are starting to cause. Of course I'd like my games to run on modern machines without Dosbox.

Thanks in advance for any answers, all will be appreciated!

js71 · Wandering DJ Joined: 22 Nov 2002 Posts: 815

Freebasic really took off as the next step for the QB community some years ago. I'm not actually a programmer so I can't tell you how similar it may or may not be anymore, but that'd be my strongest recommendation. Lynn's Legacy was programmed in FB.

RampantCoyote · Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:53 pm Post subject:

You may also want to look at something like the "Blitz Basic" family of engines:

Official Blitz Website

I haven't used it, but I have heard from several people that it's pretty easy to use. I guess the loss of flexibility is made up for by the ease-of-use in a cross-platform language based on BASIC.

Might be worth checking out.
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

tcaudilllg · Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:42 pm Post subject:

You want QB64. It is fully QB compatible (or aims to be such) and includes common-sense extensions which do not in any way infringe on your code. It also uses an IDE that is a near-perfect copy of QB's.

One thing about it: it translates to C++ and compiles/links the code with gcc, instead of using a true basic compiler; but that shouldn't be a concern of yours because the end result is exactly the same.

barbaari · Lowly Slime Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

BadMrBox · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:39 am Post subject:

If you know QB then Freebasic is a really good choice.

http://freebasic.net
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Jinroh · Scholar Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 173 Location: U.S.A.

barbaari · Lowly Slime Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

Thanks y'all. I've been checking out your suggestions, and a couple of them seem quite promising. FB might of course prove the easiest to move on to.