Wiz Programming

[matt101]

For a long time i've been taking from the wiz community without giving anything back, and i would love to start creating programmes/ ports for the wiz, but i have no idea where to start. Could somone point me in the right direction or even make a small tutorial for me, just to get me going. I release that it takes about a year or more to get to grips with programming. But i am willing to start learning now, i just need to know where to start! A fast reply would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[iprice]

Games programming won't take a year to master - it'll take a life-time!

However, you can get to grips with any language in just a few hours and have something playable within a day - even for a noob.

You haven't stated a particular choice of language or if you have any experience at all, or whether the language you want should be free or commercial.

There are many choices of language, but I'll focus on the one I use, as I have most experience with it. I use GLBasic - it's not free, but it is cheap - the lite version is 25Euros which is about £22. This version does lack certain features, but none necessary for Wiz development. With the lite version you can create apps for pc, Linus, Mac OSX, Wiz, GP2X and pocket pc etc. You can't dev for iPhone with the LITE version.

GLBASIC uses a BASIC style syntax, with commands that make sense and all are well documented and there is a dedicated and friendly forum. There are hundreds of code examples and tutorials available - the app comes with a vast array to get you started. The GLBasic website is here - http://www.glbasic.com/
What's even better though is that GLBasic's developer is always available and updates regularly - fixing most bugs within days and new commands at user request if a there is a need for them.

Download the free demo version (it lasts forever, so you can evuluate it for as long as you need to), however you can only play an app created with the demo version for 5 minutes at a time. http://www.glbasic.c...n&site=download

I've created numerous games and apps in GLBasic, including -

B'lox! - GP2X and Wiz
Balloonacy - GP2X
Cat Trap - GP2X and Wiz
Dicey - Wiz
Drench - Wiz and GP2X
SantaMania - GP2X

as well as lots of R&D projects and super secret stuff to be seen later.

GLBasic is fast, easy to learn and one of the best supported commercial apps. I've ever used. I can't receommend it highly enough.

But each dev will have their own particular favourite package, including C, C++ SDL, Fenix, Python, Bennu etc. etc.

I suggest downloading a few different packages and giving them all a try - see which fits you and your abilities.

 

[glezmen]

now you know about the BASIC possibilities, but I'm on the C++ side
as a starting point I recommend to start with C or C++ and SDL (this is a very simple library for sound/graphics/input/etc)

you can find many SDL tutorials on the net, and your SDL code usually works on WIZ too, there are a few things to keep in mind (for example 16 bit color depth), and the keyboard handling is different (WIZ buttons instead of keyboard)

you should also examine open-source games for WIZ (i'd recommend my entry to the PACC to be egoist ): Cooldown

but first of all, if you have no coding experience, you should learn the basics before starting a game (everybody says this, but all beginner coder write a game as soon as possible )

after you mastered SDL, you can step forward to the OpenGL, but that's a little bit advanced stuff (especially for handhelds with OpenGL ES)

 

[matt101]

wow! Thanks for all the info and the fast replys, i think i'll start to try and have a go with both of those packages you reccomended and then choose my favourite one from there.

 

[Alex.]

Make sure you checkout this thread from a while back, there's a lot of helpful advice in there.

I agree you should start with a simple language on PC, like Basic or Python. C is the bomb, but not very encouraging when you're just getting started

 

[Hokutoy]

I recomend you Bennu.
It's simple and easy to learn yet very powerful.

Go to http://www.bennugd.org/ for more info.