GLBasic Road Map

[Hark0]

I kind of agree with both ideas.

HTML is important and I think a must happen, even if it is a bit crude to begin with.
Android and Ios are important too, they are already here and needs some tailoring and updates.
Some changes and updates on the desktop support would also come in nice.

New platforms are also welcome, Rpi or platforms derived from the already existent linux support. They may not be that hard to create in comparison with a very new one.

If I have to choose one, that would be a hard question to answer. I can´t answer for my needs only (that would be easy) I would have to take in account the needs from my fellows around here.

Dreaming.... GLB for Vita

[hardyx]

I prefer to improve the main used platforms (Win, Mac, iOS, Android), instead adding new platforms and become a monster difficult to keep.

[Omadan]

I respect all that has been said.

However, I would really focus on Win/Mac and android, iOS. Get everything we need for iOS under the hood like inApp purchases etc.
Perfect what we have, adding more platforms sounds like a bit of heaven but impossible to support all of them by yours truly Gernot

Thanks and cya.

Regards

[Hark0]

I prefer to improve the main used platforms (Win, Mac, iOS, Android), instead adding new platforms and become a monster difficult to keep.

+1

[spacefractal]

Yes, Windowx, Mac OS, iOS and Android is the most important systems today.

On Android, the default SDK used is very outdated and need a upgrade to a newer SDK (which Im have done that), where all the fun is on (while of course trying doing backward compatible of course).

on iOS a few bugs got fixed, but breaks again in a later beta, which then never got fixed again (very annoying here).

Im thinks its could been a great help, if Gernot open sourced iOS and Android in such a way, so more people could work on tem to fix eventuelly bugs on those systems and eventuelly adding special commands (without fully open source of course, a pay license should of course been required).

Howover im do see with HTML5 support, new platforms could been supported, which have a great HTML5 support, like Windows RT and Mobile Linux distros example.

[BdR]

GLBasic in its current state is an awesome tool for creating games for OpenGL/c++ based platforms. But I think HTML5/Javascript is a different beast altogether because it requires a different development approach compared to native OpenGL stuff where you "just" write to the screenbuffer. You need more control over the separate canvases, and which ones you are drawing to, classes work differently (prototype-based) etc.

The way I look at it, a HTML5/Javascript tool or framework would be better off being its own separate project (which ofcourse is easier said than done). I've tried compiling my GLBasic games to HTML5 and it outputs a 10MB html file of about 300.000 lines which both Chrome and IE can't execute. I haven't looked into it but I *suspect* I would have to do some substantial re-writing before my game works as a HTML5 project.

I still have some ideas for new games (don't we all? ) but I don't know what to do next. GLBasic is lacking some crucial things for iOS and Android such as gamecenter support or in-app purchases or an easy way to include banners. On the other hand HTML5/JavaScript has the potential to run on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and also Chromestore (and possibly even as a Facebook app). So now I'm thinking about doing just a HTML5 game, but the problem with that is I don't know how I would eventually package that as an iOS or Android app.

[hardyx]

The way I look at it, a HTML5/Javascript tool or framework would be better off being its own separate project (which ofcourse is easier said than done).

I agree, it could be a different product or an addon to GLB oriented to a differente target. Maybe they want to include or modify javascript code instead the C code.

On the other hand HTML5/JavaScript has the potential to run on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and also Chromestore (and possibly even as a Facebook app). So now I'm thinking about doing just a HTML5 game, but the problem with that is I don't know how I would eventually package that as an iOS or Android app.

You can embed HTML/Javascript code in a native mobile app with PhoneGap. But, with a great language like GLBasic wich generate native code for iOS, Android ¿do you need another layer?

[Alex_R]

I only publish my games for iPhone/iPad and I love glBasic because it's easy to make great software for these devices. In my selfish opinion I prefer Gernot to focus only in this plattform. But I can understand that the goal of GLBasic is to be multiplatform. And if HTML5 brings to GLBasic more developers, the delay for other improvements is welcome. 

[monono]

Hi,
I am not that activ anymore here. But I am still a reader. I switched to corona a while ago. Not because it is better, just because glb is missing IOS stuff. I bought glb because of the possibilty to compile for IOS. Instead of adding the missing features glbasic has been added more and more platforms any non nerd has ever heard about. I was sure one man cannot go on like this forever. Updating this thing must be a monster.

For me desktop (win / mac ), mobile (android / iOS) + new IDE (sry still do not like it) + mac IDE must be the road map! And everything native not HTML5!

With glbasic I can develop fast faster games as with any other tool I tried. I would love to use glbasic again for serious projects if I would see this priorities.

[Hark0]

Hi,
I am not that activ anymore here. But I am still a reader. I switched to corona a while ago. Not because it is better, just because glb is missing IOS stuff. I bought glb because of the possibilty to compile for IOS. Instead of adding the missing features glbasic has been added more and more platforms any non nerd has ever heard about. I was sure one man cannot go on like this forever. Updating this thing must be a monster.

For me desktop (win / mac ), mobile (android / iOS) + new IDE (sry still do not like it) + mac IDE must be the road map! And everything native not HTML5!

With glbasic I can develop fast faster games as with any other tool I tried. I would love to use glbasic again for serious projects if I would see this priorities.

Hmmm, very interesting comment... hmmmm

[Omadan]

Monono the corona sdk sounds sweet but those monthly fees are totally rip off IMO.

But the features and adding like in app purchases are vital. Therefore I personally think these should be glbasics focus and maybe gernot should charge a one time payment for this upgrade we need. I'd pay with no hesitation.

Plus let's face it Glbasic is cheap so we cannot complain about an upgrade payment, and I think this will motivate kitty too.

Thanks for reading

[fuzzy70]

Plus let's face it Glbasic is cheap so we cannot complain about an upgrade payment

If the upgrade payment is for around the board features that I can make use of then I have no problem with that. If the upgrade payment is for mainly Android/iOS features then I cannot go for that for the reason of why should I pay for something I have no use of.

If GLB was sold in a modular way like for example a core package with other platforms available at a small cost then that would be ideal for everyone as they could just purchase what they needed or an "Ultimate" version which came with all. Implementing such a system would probably be more hassle than it is maintaining GLB at the moment 

While I do not do any mobile development I can fully understand the need to bring them both up to date from the various posts I have read on the forum as people are leaving or have left GLB purely because there are other options about which provide what they need. And judging by most of the posts they prefer GLB over the system they moved to.

If users are leaving then surely the focus should be on fixing or implementing the features that are making people go elsewhere.

With regards to the range of platforms GLB supports, the smaller ones like Cannoo/WIZ etc are pretty much solid & have been for a while so maintaining them should not waste much of kittys time (unless GLB has a major core overhaul then that might change). HTML5 I cannot comment on as it's not something that has grabbed my attention from the point of view of "Ohh I really must learn or read up on that", but I am aware it exists & plays better in some browsers than others.

I agree that a MAC ide should be done due to the amount of iOS people out there as it can only help with the development cycle on that platform, although I have not experienced the process something native has to be an improvement.

Features I would like to see are direct pixel access to the buffers & more or better sound control, both of which would more than likely cause problems on other platforms than the one I cater for which is Windows  .

Lee

[kanonet]

Charging something for an update would be against the contract that we made with him when we brought our licence, free lifetime updates were part of the deal.
If he want to charge something (which i would understand and think it would be totally fine), then he needs to do more then just an update. It should be a major reboot, rewriting big parts of the code, kicking depreciated code and old platforms and ignoring backwards compatibility that keeps us from getting better solutions. Maybe a completely new code base. But since he does have a real life besides GLB (i mean a family and a full paid job) I think he does not have the time to do this.
With inline C++ we can extend GLB in several ways (same for java on android, but i dont know much about this), but glbasic limits us in several places so we cant do everything that would be possible, those barriers should be removed where possible. For example iI want to be able to use shaders on mobile devices.
In general i like the idea that we only get commands that work on all platforms and user can write library that work on specific platforms - but im not sure if this is possible for inapp payment/ads etc. btw are there no library out there that offer this and can get easily integrated into your GLB project? I dont know, dont code for mobile platforms atm.

Regrading the IDE: even if GLB stays closed source and Gernots project, i would like the idea, that tool like the IDE or the .DDD-exporter become open source, maybe some users would improve it and he would not have to spend time into this and could concentrate on the compiler. Since V11 wants to give us native GUI, it would be even better if the IDE would get rewritten in GLB so its even easier to modify it and it could easily get compiled for Linux and Mac too.

Fuzzy GLB had a modular licence in the past, but Gernot changed this to the current all-in-one-lincnce for some reason.

[fuzzy70]

Fuzzy GLB had a modular licence in the past, but Gernot changed this to the current all-in-one-lincnce for some reason.

Thanks Kanonet, I was unaware of that due to only being here 2-3 years 

Opensource IDE written in GLB using the Native GUI sounds pretty awesome if you ask me. Then people can add/remove what they like & additions could be shared on the forum 

Lee

[kanonet]

If I remember correct there were these packages:
Free demo; paid: 2D GLB, 3D addon, Net addon, Premium (2d+all addons).
Everything for all platforms, no special platform x addon. I think around the time when V8 was released licence got changed to:
Free 2D on desktop systems; paid Premium (2D on mobiles, 3D, Net, Inline...).

// yes i know that was a bit offtopic, sorry...