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[Devlin]

I ported a lib I wrote for BlitzMax into Game Maker - it fits in one script, and only needs one sprite(containing 256 frames, one for every piece of the ASCII charset) and it works really well.

If anyone wants it, i'll be putting it on my webpage soonish.

[cpets]

I've finally found a reason to use boost::variants.  A spurious reason, but, a reason nonetheless.  Hurrah!

After noticing your post in the "post your main function" thread, and noticing the entire game in (literate!) haskell, I can guess that after living in a language with pattern matching and algebraic types, you're suffering from the same infection I am. I can't look at C++ without feeling a little sad that there isn't syntactical support for boost::variant.

[increpare]

literate

if only nominally  :D

I can guess that after living in a language with pattern matching and algebraic types, you're suffering from the same infection I am. I can't look at C++ without feeling a little sad that there isn't syntactical support for boost::variant.

Oh; I actually hadn't consciously thought about using boost variant for pattern-matching.  Good idea, though!  Though quite likely the reason I've ended up finding a need for it was owing to my experience with Haskell (actually, almost certainly).

Are there any particular such languages that you have a fondness for?

EDIT: Ah! I see you mention ML on the introduction thread.  Warm hugs to you!

[cpets]

Are there any particular such languages that you have a fondness for?

ML, mostly ocaml, but also some of the more experimental ocaml derivatives. Writing game code with ocaml and gl bindings has made me very happy, in the spirit of the thread. But I also think about and mess around with dependent typing as it relates to my school life. Relating back to games, I will be the happiest programmer ever when I can write declarative statements about my game logic and have them proved and checked by my compiler. Of course, I'll probably also be dead by this time.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep searching for a way to query my game entities for their capabilities that doesn't involve gratuitous upcasting or giant visitor classes. Until I get frustrated, of course, and go back to ml or haskell for day-to-day hacking...

[increpare]

Writing game code with ocaml and gl bindings has made me very happy, in the spirit of the thread.

Anything to show for it? (link, for instance?)

I will be the happiest programmer ever when I can write declarative statements about my game logic and have them proved and checked by my compiler. Of course, I'll probably also be dead by this time.

Yeah; I get that in haskell as well sometimes; I'd settle for a robust language that would let me prove them myself though  :D

[Ivan]

I discovered Lua today. I mean, I've always known about it, but was always hesitant to use it. Then I read a paper describing its implementation and understood just how small and fast and beautiful it was and now I'm completely in love.

[increpare]

I discovered Lua today. I mean, I've always known about it, but was always hesitant to use it. Then I read a paper describing its implementation and understood just how small and fast and beautiful it was and now I'm completely in love.

I wrote my first lua script just yesterday; it was...also a breakthrough moment for me! (I'm not quite in love yet though.  Care to linky to the paper of which you speak?)

[Ivan]

I discovered Lua today. I mean, I've always known about it, but was always hesitant to use it. Then I read a paper describing its implementation and understood just how small and fast and beautiful it was and now I'm completely in love.

I wrote my first lua script just yesterday; it was...also a breakthrough moment for me! (I'm not quite in love yet though.  Care to linky to the paper of which you speak?)

http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/~lhf/ftp/doc/jucs05.pdf

[Will Vale]

If you're using Lua it may be worth giving it its own heap - there have been a few mentions on sweng-gamedev that it tends to allocate and free lots of small, odd sized memory chunks leading to fragmentation over time.

[BorisTheBrave]

Just discovered Bulk Loader for AS3. You can easily load wanted content straight away while preloading other stuff on lower priority. It's sometimes the simple things that please you.

[Chris Whitman]

With Lua and tolua++ I implemented pretty basic scripting of game objects in about two days. It was pretty magical.

[Ivan]

How is tolua++?

I'm using SWIG for my bindings because it doesn't require any dependencies and seems to wrap things quite nicely.

[Chris Whitman]

I've on occasion run across syntax it doesn't like, but by and large no complaints. From never having used Lua before, I was actually amazed at how quickly and painlessly I got up and running with it.

[increpare]

Fuck, I just tried out the Iup gui library in lua...It's fantastically easy to use/concise.  Took me but a second to embed an opengl context in my windows, with buttons festooned all about it(though I've yet to master the layout settings, so I might end up migrating back to wxlua...).

Yes, I think I'm going to write a game in lua proper.  Will be good fun, I think.

[TeaAndBiscuits]

I love LUA. This weeks work has been made SO much easier cos I went for LUA not C++. Got so much done.

Happy. Fact.

-T&B

[increpare]

Got so much done.

Care to share?

[Ivan]

increpare, you want to test my Lua framework editor?

[increpare]

increpare, you want to test my Lua framework editor?

Yes, it would be an honour and a delight.

[Kaelan]

Yes, I think I'm going to write a game in lua proper.  Will be good fun, I think.

Doing that is a great idea. I spiked a small game in pure lua (with the exception of a really primitive C++ library for opening a win32 window and drawing to an OpenGL context - and when I say primitive, I mean *primitive*) and it was really a mind-opening experience. I was consistently impressed by how much I could express in short lua code snippets, and the performance was suprisingly good (in some cases, I could implement algorithms in Lua that actually ran faster than the equivalent C++, due to the fact that the C++ had to marshal types and interact with lua bindings - this was a real surprise to me).

The lack of integer types, along with a lack of good libraries for some of the things I wanted in Lua made me decide not to use it for my current project, but it's still an excellent platform. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Lua 6 can bring in this area.

Do pay attention to the lua GC, though. It can absolutely murder your performance if you don't pay attention to how it works, though it's thankfully quite flexible and easy to work with once you understand it.

In the event that you might find it useful, the lua source is here:
http://code.google.com/p/fracture/source/browse/?r=33#svn/trunk/bin/lua
and the C++ source is here:
http://code.google.com/p/fracture/source/browse/?r=33#svn/trunk/src

(on that note, if you do find yourself having to write some C to get your game finished, I don't recommend using luabind. )

[TeaAndBiscuits]

Got so much done.

Care to share?

Well simply got through 3 separate game-play proto-types running. Each one very unique (rhythm game, movement interaction and started work on item interaction). Got each one setup with sounds, particles, animations the works! Even had a stab at some funky AI. Was so fast not having to wait for C++ to compile and link. Instead making run-time changes. BRILLIANT!

The thing I love about LUA is its power to create complex relationships in data very simply. Indexing a table using number, string, another table, a function!?!?!? CRAZY!

Love it!!!
-T&B