Posted: 16th Aug 2011 11:45
Hi,

The TGC team has spent nearly a year working on AppGameKit and we'd love to hear your initial thoughts. Please post what you think into this thread.

Cheers,

Rick
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 12:01
I really liked your product.
It is surprising that a new product for you has turned almost smooth. Out of the box I can do almost everything.

Thank you.

But very upset IDE, I very much hope that you will finalize it, where he works F1
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 12:08
Hi Rick,

first of all I want to thank TGC for this wonderful new tool.

After working with AppGameKit for a few hours now I can say that this is
the best "first" version of a TGC product. Everything works as
expected from the start up. Currently I work with Tier 1 as I
don't want to use and setup C++.

Here's a small example I created since yesterday. Maybe I create
a small game out of it. The graphics are only place holders.

http://www.colorarts.de/agk/AGKTest.zip

Controls:
Player 1: A (left) S (right) C (fire)
Player 2: Leftkey Rightkey 0 on numeric field

or

Virtual buttons (touch for later )

Currently there is no goal in it but it's a nice little test for
all sorts of things (Subs, Arrays, Virtual stuff).

Keep up the good work! Now all we need are the players for real
testing

I'm looking forward to new updates ...

Thomas
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 12:24
Nice game Thomas! That was quick!!!
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 12:38
I've found a few bugs so far, but that's not surprising considering it has just released. But, all-in-all I'm loving it. The only thing is, it would be nice if IDE could tell me what parameters the function I'm currently typing uses.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 12:39
Just a quick feedback (and personal, of course)

- Great concept approach, I mean, is Basic, is easy and is powerful enough to develop 70% of the games you can find at AppStore. By the way, offer a Tier 2 in order to reach the advanced users is a pretty good idea. Who cares Classes, Methods, Abstraction and that kind of things? people with that knowledge and concerned by that can develop perfectly under Xcode and ObjC or something.

- IDE is a little painful still, some key options what are a must are missing, but you can work at least. F1 for help, copy/paste, predefined schemes and styles, etc.. It would be great to have a better IDE in the next stages of development.

- Commands set is powerful, as I told, great to develop most of the concepts you can see at appstores..

- Missing specific support as iOS Ad banners, a lot of people value this highly, for example, GameCenter, OpenFeint.... this stuff is KEY if you want products developed with AppGameKit can be take seriously.

- Connectivity with databases, what is KEY to me in the internet entertainment era, most important even that multiplayer support, for sure. Having database conectivity you're empower the product 1000%.

- Android, the sooner you bring it to users, the sooner your user database will grow, as iOS and Android as the key OS... bada, meego, blablabla is good as a feature but you know less than 2% are going to do something noticeable there.

- Particles, good as default feature but complicated in order to obtain pretty good effects.

- Physics, great, I don't miss anything here, is more than expected to me.

- Collisions, great.

- Use of "one-word-commands" is perfect, to use commands composed by various words ala DarkBasic was some kind of joke

- Documentation, good, but a little example of use in each command would be great.

I guess I forget a bunch of things

As sum up, pretty good language, next months will be key in order to consolidate it and its community in order to take it seriously or not.

Congratulations for the release.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 13:27
AGK is fantastic. The language is very easy and intuitive. The documentation is great. The included examples are very usefull and gave me a lot of inspiration for future games.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 13:57
Still waiting for my bank transfer purchase to be processed from yesterday.
I've had a good look at the commands and how things work and I'm really looking forward to writing games in AGK
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 14:09
I like very much AppGameKit but
I expected 3 things in first release:

1) debug command .
2) with cursor positioned on left of a command , pressing F1 (or other function key) call help for that command.
3) breakpoint management.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 15:07
Very nice. Thanks guys for delivering such a COOL product. I own almost all the other Indie tools (Unity, Monkey etc etc) and this definitely rates amongst the BEST.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 16:39
Kinda bummed that there's no Android support yet.. I've recently got a new Android phone and in looking at all the dev tools out there for it, AppGameKit looks to be the most promising for guys like me who enjoy using Basic to write quick and fun little 2D games. Any word on when Android support will be coming and if I buy now, will Android support be released as a free upgrade for existing users?

I will most likely be purchasing it in the next couple of weeks (gotta wait until payday, darn it) anyway so I can get a feel for the product and get some games ready to roll when Android comes out, but it's still worth asking when Android support is coming and also, most importantly for me, if that's included in the asking price or if I'll have to pay extra for it.

Thanks!
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 17:14
First a little background. I write embedded systems software for a profession. I have written an iOS program in Objective-C and published it about 18 months ago (check it out called "The Word Chase"). Didn't make much money but did it for the experience.

I purchased AppGameKit for the cross-platform capabilities (mostly iOS, Android, and WP7).

I'll most likely be doing Tier 2 publishing to the individual stores. So I'm looking at the C++ language support.

So far I'm going through the examples and testing out how things work. Comparing support for BASIC vs C++. Impressed so far.

I would have liked the function parameters that are settings (like in SetErrorMode(int)) to be enum's instead of int but understand that is not supported in BASIC.

Will comment some more later.

Can't wait for Android and WP7 support but there is plenty here to keep me busy!!
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 17:20
It is very awesome it is do fast and I love the IDE,the only thing that is missing is the dot,box,line commands.

I did some searching and found This:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=99092&b=6

and decided to convert it to work with the agk to see how it ran:

+ Code Snippet
rem This is all Lower Logics Code,i only converted it

SetVirtualResolution(960,640)

global li
global dim ls[1000]
global onls
li=loadimage("dot.png")
for x=1 to 1000
ls[x]=createsprite(li)
next x
type vec3
x as float
y as float
z as float
endtype
type vecvec3
x as vec3
y as vec3
z as vec3
endtype
type camera_type
angle as vec3
axis as vecvec3
position as vec3
fov as float
aspect_ratio as float
endtype

global camera as camera_type
camera.fov=80
camera.aspect_ratio=(1.0*getvirtualwidth())/getvirtualheight()

addvirtualjoystick (1,890,590,100)
addvirtualjoystick (2,50,590,100)
do
    onls=1
    for x=1 to 1000
    setspritevisible(ls[onls],0)
    next x


  print("FPS:"+str(screenfps()))
cy#=cy#+getvirtualjoystickx(1)
cx#=cx#+getvirtualjoysticky(1)
camera.angle.y=cy#
   camera.angle.x=cx#
update_camera()
zmove#=-getvirtualjoysticky(2)*0.1
xmove#=getvirtualjoystickx(2)*0.1
camera.position.x=camera.position.x+camera.axis.z.x*zmove#
   camera.position.y=camera.position.y+camera.axis.z.y*zmove#
   camera.position.z=camera.position.z+camera.axis.z.z*zmove#
   camera.position.x=camera.position.x+camera.axis.x.x*xmove#
   camera.position.y=camera.position.y+camera.axis.x.y*xmove#
   camera.position.z=camera.position.z+camera.axis.x.z*xmove#
 if camera.position.x<-30 then camera.position.x=-30
   if camera.position.y<-30 then camera.position.y=-30
   if camera.position.z<-30 then camera.position.z=-30
   if camera.position.x>30 then camera.position.x=30
   if camera.position.y>30 then camera.position.y=30
   if camera.position.z>30 then camera.position.z=30

 for x=-6 to 6 step 6
      for y=-6 to 6 step 6
         for z=-6 to 6 step 6

            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,1+z,1+x,0+y,1+z,2,)
            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,3+z,1+x,0+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,2+y,1+z,1+x,2+y,1+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,2+y,3+z,1+x,2+y,3+z,2)

            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,1+z,-1+x,2+y,1+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,3+z,-1+x,2+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,1+z,-1+x,2+y,1+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,3+z,-1+x,2+y,3+z,2)

            draw_line(1+x,0+y,1+z,1+x,2+y,1+z,2)
            draw_line(1+x,0+y,3+z,1+x,2+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(1+x,0+y,1+z,1+x,2+y,1+z,2)
            draw_line(1+x,0+y,3+z,1+x,2+y,3+z,2)

            draw_line(-1+x,0+y,1+z,-1+x,0+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(1+x,0+y,1+z,1+x,0+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(-1+x,2+y,1+z,-1+x,2+y,3+z,2)
            draw_line(1+x,2+y,1+z,1+x,2+y,3+z,2)
         next z
      next y
   next x

 Sync()
loop

function update_camera()
   xx0#=1 : xy0#=0 : xz1#=0 : yx0#=0 : yy0#=1 : yz1#=0 : zx2#=0 : zy1#=0 : zz1#=1
   xx2#=xx0#*cos(camera.angle.z):xy1#=xx0#*sin(camera.angle.z)
   yx2#=-yy0#*sin(camera.angle.z):yy1#=yy0#*cos(camera.angle.z)
   xy2#=xy1#*cos(camera.angle.x)-xz1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   xz2#=xz1#*cos(camera.angle.x)+xy1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   yy2#=yy1#*cos(camera.angle.x)-yz1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   yz2#=yz1#*cos(camera.angle.x)+yy1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   zy2#=zy1#*cos(camera.angle.x)-zz1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   zz2#=zz1#*cos(camera.angle.x)+zy1#*sin(camera.angle.x)
   camera.axis.x.x=xx2#*cos(camera.angle.y)+xz2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
   camera.axis.x.y=xy2#
   camera.axis.x.z=xz2#*cos(camera.angle.y)-xx2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
   camera.axis.y.x=yx2#*cos(camera.angle.y)+yz2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
   camera.axis.y.y=yy2#
   camera.axis.y.z=yz2#*cos(camera.angle.y)-yx2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
   camera.axis.z.x=zx2#*cos(camera.angle.y)+zz2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
   camera.axis.z.y=zy2#
   camera.axis.z.z=zz2#*cos(camera.angle.y)-zx2#*sin(camera.angle.y)
endfunction

function draw_line(x0#,y0#,z0#,x1#,y1#,z1#,width)
   x0#=x0#-camera.position.x:y0#=y0#-camera.position.y:z0#=z0#-camera.position.z
   x1#=x1#-camera.position.x:y1#=y1#-camera.position.y:z1#=z1#-camera.position.z

   x00#=x0#*camera.axis.x.x+y0#*camera.axis.x.y+z0#*camera.axis.x.z
   y00#=x0#*camera.axis.y.x+y0#*camera.axis.y.y+z0#*camera.axis.y.z
   z00#=x0#*camera.axis.z.x+y0#*camera.axis.z.y+z0#*camera.axis.z.z
   if z00#<=0 then exitfunction
   x0=(x00#/z00#)/tan(camera.fov*0.5)*getvirtualwidth()*0.5+getvirtualwidth()*0.5
   y0=(0-y00#/z00#)/tan(camera.fov*0.5)*camera.aspect_ratio*getvirtualheight()*0.5+getvirtualheight()*0.5

   x10#=x1#*camera.axis.x.x+y1#*camera.axis.x.y+z1#*camera.axis.x.z
   y10#=x1#*camera.axis.y.x+y1#*camera.axis.y.y+z1#*camera.axis.y.z
   z10#=x1#*camera.axis.z.x+y1#*camera.axis.z.y+z1#*camera.axis.z.z
   if z10#<=0 then exitfunction
   x1=(x10#/z10#)/tan(camera.fov*0.5)*getvirtualwidth()*0.5+getvirtualwidth()*0.5
   y1=(0-y10#/z10#)/tan(camera.fov*0.5)*camera.aspect_ratio*getvirtualheight()*0.5+getvirtualheight()*0.5
   line(x0,y0,x1,y1,width)
endfunction

Rem added my on line function

function line(x,y,x2,y2,width)

dx#=(x +x2 )/2.0
dy#=(y + y2)/2.0
dist#=sqrt((x2-x)*(x2-x)+(y2-y)*(y2-y) )
ang#= acos( (y2-y)/dist# )
if (x2-x )>0 then ang#=-ang#
setspritesize(ls[onls],dist#,width)
setspriteoffset(ls[onls],dist#/2,width/2)
setspritepositionbyoffset(ls[onls],dx#,dy#)
setspriteangle(ls[onls],ang#+90)
    setspritevisible(ls[onls],1)
onls=onls+1
endfunction
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 17:32
I had to wrestle a little bit with the Mac version but got it working. Besides the template issue I mentioned in http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=188148&b=41 I'd had to CHOWN the folders and contents from my admin account to my user account. Once I got that done it seems to work.

I'll keep tinkering with it. If it's as good as the documentation indicates, I'm going to have fun with this one. It looks about as complete as SDL 1.3 or SFML 2.0 but with more hand-held portability.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 18:13
Well, not had that much chance to test it yet, but a few things annoy me a little.
1. The lack of seeing command parameters along the bottom of the ide when you move you mouse over the command. Invaluable, especially when learning a new language. Some of the commands have a fair few optional parameters, and it's easy to forget exactly what order is needed for them at the min.
2. No F1 key to take you direct to the command help screen. Manually searching through documentation on a browser sucks imo. It is one of my major gripes with most DB plugins as well.

I am fairly happy otherwise at the minute. I'm sure the points I raise above will be addressed at some point soon. I can only test the wifi transfer of games with my netbook (I have no other devices on the list), but it worked straight away, which was nice.

One question while I'm here, why does Agk keep telling me the default aspect has changed and asking me to save when I exit? I keep saying no at the minute. Isn't that project specific?
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 18:14
DVader, when you get asked this question select the checkbox and the IDE will not mention this again.
Posted: 16th Aug 2011 22:12
I'm liking it so far, but I think I'll have the most fun once the AppGameKit player is released on the App Store

I do agree with others though - some sort of intellisense support is almost a must. The only other problem I really have so far is that error messages often seem unhelpful (mainly from the compiler), but I think that will improve considerably once we get proper debugger support.

I'd also like the IDE to feature some sort of autocorrect that allowed you to keep casing consistent, but that's not a huge priority.
Posted: 17th Aug 2011 6:50
I am absolutely impressed by how well AppGameKit was thought out. Look forward to updates and seeing how this product will evolve.
Posted: 17th Aug 2011 7:20
I think one of the best things about AppGameKit for me so far is how it makes working in Tier 2 Xcode extremely easy. Examples are fully commented and easy to follow. Never before i had i bother to use Xcode but now i'm definitely working in it . Great work guys!
Posted: 17th Aug 2011 9:40
IDE needs features like showing what parameters are used for what ect.
Having real trouble compiling in VS2010. As all the files are in V9 format.
Maybe having a tutorial on how to set up a C++ development environment would suffice.
Other than that; its the most stable TGC product I have ever used at release. And the only one.

I applaud you TGC.