Is a simple free tool to help PlayBasic developers convert / compress pictures into PlayBasic Map and block data. So the user loads their large picture and the tool runs through and cuts it up into a set of unique blocks with an tile map. When it's done it saves that block data out as a bitmap and the tile map as PlayBasic level
Here's a short of video (of the WIP version) showing the entire image conversion process, as you can see, it's fairly simple, but effective.
PlayBasic V1.64N _Retail Upgrade_ is Now Available (20th, Nov, 2011)
This upgrade round off some of the open ends from the V1.64M upgrade in terms of bug fixes. It's not just about bugs though, it includes a wealth of new optimizations ranging from line draw modes, shape clipping, image progressing and more. There's too much to pick through now, so we highly recommend looking through the V1.64N WIP gallery for some more insight in what new additions are hidden away in this release.
Don't own the retail version yet ? - Why not download the FREE learning edition of PlayBasicand dive in.
PlayBasic V1.64M _Retail Upgrade_ is Now Available (1st, Dec, 2010)
This upgrade is perhaps one of the largest we've ever attempted, spanning some seven months of development time, and addressing virtually everything in the core command sets from DEBUGGER, FONTS, SHAPES, SPRITES through to MAPS. There's way too much to pick through now, so I highly recommend looking through the V1.64M WIP gallery for some insight in what new additions are hidden away in this release.
Don't own the retail version yet ? - Why not download the FREE learning edition of PlayBasicand dive in.
PlayPackager is a brand new FREE helper tool, that will further assist PlayBasic developers bundle their game or tools into a compressed self extracting executable, for single file distribution. The packaged application will then automatically decompress any media and execute upon being launched by the end user (the player). Allowing the end user to simply run the game without needing to install, or unzip/unrar it.
PlayPackager is not only exclusively designed for use with PlayBasic, it's designed with ease of use at the forefront. To build a packaged EXE requires nothing more than selecting your games project folder, selecting a save name for the output exe, then pressing build. Packagers build process will automatically scan your project folder for all media files, locate your applications exe file, apply any exclusions (removal of unwanted files such as your source code from your output archive) prior to building the compressed package. The whole process generally only takes takes a few seconds.
The build processes exclusion features are one of the most important parts of the tool. This feature allows the programmer to build their distribution package directly from their projects development folder. Without haven't to manually copy the files around, which can be very tedious and often error prone in bigger projects.
By default PlayPackager's exclusion rules are set to ignore a hand full of common file types, things like PlayBasic source code files, PlayBasic project files as well as windows thumb nails. However you can add (and delete) your own exclusions, which can be specific files within the folder, file types or entire sub folders if you wish.
I often use two media folders in my games. These are the same structure, except the one folder holds the original media files while the other contains distributable versions. So getting packager to ignore the original media is as easy as setting a folder exclusion. Allowing us greater freedom in the build process
This release updates any of the PlayBasic V1.63w2 to PB V1.64k2 retail versions up to the current retail release version of PlayBasic V1.64L . If your version is older than PB1.63W, then you'll need to install patch PB1.63w2 prior to this one ! (if you haven't already)
The PlayBasic V1.64L package includes updates of PB Compiler, Release / Debug Runtimes, SLIBS, DOCS & IDE V1.17b.
This upgrade features a number of minor and major changes to most of the core parts of the package. For the compiler/runtimes there's the regular minor bug fixes, but really major changes can be found in the documentation. Namely with the addition of sub-category support, plus a number of the default libraries have been added to the main documentation. Many of these libraries have also had some light touch up's also in process. The main one would be the FrameSheetAnims library, which is now a default library.
What's not in this package ? - Well, Threading Support isn't available in this version of the package..
This release upgrades (transforms) the existing PB1.63m to PB1.64c retail releases or the PBFX1.7x releases (the ones above) into the current WIP version of PlayBasicFX V1.76
This is this next step in the long migration of a PB project into the PBFX world. Ironically, while PBFX is the successor of PB, it's slowly got behind in terms of various compiler features added to V1.64 editions of PB. So this edition implements all of those features such as, optional parameters, passing UDT types in/outs of functions/spub, returning arrays from functions, loads of new math short operators such as (++, --, +=, -=, *=,/=, &=,~=, |=) , dynamic function calling (CallFunction) and various others tidbits..
Not familiar with PlayBasicFX ?, well in short, it's the next generation edition of PlayBasic, that we've been developing in parallel with the existing editions. The main changes in the product are the move from the DirectDraw engine (found in PlayBasic V1.64 and bellow editions) to the Direct3D engine. Moreover, previous releases of PBFX package, we're running upon virtually the same runtime (VM1) as standard PlayBasic. So they had much the same calculation performance and the same linguistic limitations. With release V1.76, this is no longer the case. PBFX editions are now exclusively using the new VM2 runtime technology. Confused ? - PlayBasicFX is the big brother of PlayBasic.
So what can PBFX's VM2 do for me ? - Well VM2 brings a world a new possibilities to your PlayBasicFX applications, from the users perspective it's primarily all about speed at this point. Even though, the edition in V1.76 isn't the final, conservatively speaking VM2 is anywhere from 2 to 5 times the real time performance of the Vm1 runtime. To put this in perspective, this means VM2 yields very similar & better (in some cases) performance than even some natively compiled basics. Which means you can write more complex programs and know that PlayBasicFX will keep up with you!
Other differences found in PlayBasicFX come in the form of Direct 3D support. What does mean ? - Well, it means that PlayBasicFX can now take advantage of the 3D hardware acceleration found in your computers video card. Which can be used for not only 2D effects, but creating 3D scenes as well. The new graphics engine includes things like a sprite meshes (2d/3d) rotation, particle engine, perspective projection (view scenes as 2D or 3D), new map engine, more collision methods etc etc. It should noted though, that while FX can do 3D, it isn't the focus of FX. But it's there for you get your hands dirty. Here's a few screen shots to show what it's capable of.
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Have fun !
For more information about PlayBasic, please visit the PlayBasic home page and download the FREE (TIME UNLIMITED) LEARNING EDITION and dive in.
Registered PlayBasic owner ? - Want to upgrade to PlayBasicFX for FREE? All PlayBasicFX upgrades are only available through the PlayBasic maintenance forum. To access these, and all manner of the other PlayBasic related goodies, you'll need to sign up and log into the UnderwareDesign Forums.
This release updates any of the PlayBasic V1.63w2 through to PB V1.64j2 retail upgrades, to the current retail release version of PlayBasic V1.64k. If your version is older than PB1.63W, then you'll need to install patch PB1.63w2 prior to this one ! (if you haven't already)
The PB1.64k package includes updates of PB Compiler, Release / Debug Runtimes, SLIBS, DOCS & IDE V1.17.
This upgrade is mainly to correct some issues detected in previous release of V1.64k after release. These issues mostly concern internal and user defined function parameters. Correcting issues with optional parameters and with long hand declarations.
The only new functionality (that comes to mind) would be VSYNC support in windowed modes. It's important to understand that you can't control the ends users displays refresh rate. So therefore you shouldn't assume that everybody playing your game has their windows desktop refresh set to the same as yours. So if your system has a refresh rate of 60 say, and your friends system has a refresh of 75. Then your game will run faster on your friends system than yours. Mind you, the same applies in full screen exclusives modes also ! So Vsync should be used to smooth out display refresh, not as a speed limiter!
To learn more about new compiler features added in PlayBasic V1.64K, check out the V1.64 WIP thread, which includes some examples and some theory stuff about the new features found in this upgrade.
This release updates any of the PlayBasic V1.63w2 through to PB V1.64j2 retail upgrades, to the current retail release version of PlayBasic V1.64k. If your version is older than PB1.63W, then you'll need to install patch PB1.63w2 prior to this one ! (if you haven't already)
The PB1.64k package includes updates of PB Compiler, Release / Debug Runtimes, SLIBS, DOCS & IDE V1.17. This upgrade focuses upon adding a number of new flexibilities to the core language, ranging from expansions to User Defined Types, Seven new Math operators, Optional Parameters Support in not only built in functions but users defined functions, Dynamic Function Calling (Call a function by name at runtime), Limited Array operators, Dynamic Array Creation (return arrays from functions) as well as Passing/Returning Individual Types from Functions/Psubs. All in All, there's a lot of new toys for you play with !
To learn more about the titty gritty of these changes check out the V1.64 WIP thread, which includes some examples and some theory stuff about this upgrade.
PlayBasic V1.64N _Retail Upgrade_ is Now Available (20th, Nov, 2011)
