The most used BASIC dialect on Itch: AppGameKit

[luwal]

The most used BASIC dialect on Itch should be "AppGameKit" because 271 game projects can be found!

https://itch.io/games/made-with-appgamekit


The 2nd most used BASIC dialect should be "GFA Basic" because 162 game projects use the tag “gfabasic”!

https://itch.io/games/tag-gfabasic

[johnno56]

AppGameKit... Looks interesting... Two small problems... It's not free (aware of trial version) and 2. There is no Linux port...

GFA Basic (according to its Homepage) is designed for the Atari 400/800, XL/XE, ST/TT, amiga, ms-dos, windows16, windows32 and OS/2. But the Home site only supports Atari ST. No Linux port.

Apps and Engines that can assist in rapid development of games is a much needed tool in any developers toolbox...

[luwal]

AppGameKit... Looks interesting... Two small problems... It's not free (aware of trial version) and 2. There is no Linux port...

GFA Basic (according to its Homepage) is designed for the Atari 400/800, XL/XE, ST/TT, amiga, ms-dos, windows16, windows32 and OS/2. But the Home site only supports Atari ST. No Linux port.

Apps and Engines that can assist in rapid development of games is a much needed tool in any developers toolbox...

The other tags:

QB64 (11 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-qb64

FreeBASIC (5 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-freebasic

RCBasic (8 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-rcbasic

Blitzmax (3 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-blitzmax

Blitz3D (8 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-blitz3d

BlitzBasic (5 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-blitzbasic

Qbasic(16 game projects)
https://itch.io/games/tag-qbasic

[johnno56]

QB64: I still use that one... forum member.
FreeBasic: Have not used that for many years.
RCBasic: My "goto" basic. Forum moderator.
Blitz...: Have not use for a long time.
QBasic: Probably my "first" Basic...

Pretty much all of these would be used as "old school" when it come to game development... Old school, in the sense that, everything is coded... No engine... More work involved, but in my opinion, more satisfying when the game is completed. Knowing that everything was coded from the ground up...

[Marcus]

I used Blitz Basic 2 on Amiga a lot. Last weekend I downloaded the manual from somewhere and read it from start to end, was a blast from the past I've never looked at the pc versions of Blitz, I wonder if the syntax is the same, because it looked kind of "weird" (\ to access udt fields, () for array indices but not if the array is part of an udt - then it's [] ...).

Regarding GFA Basic, I belive all games are made by a single dude, the one who won that basic jam where i participated with neon breath. Impressive

[luwal]

QB64: I still use that one... forum member.
FreeBasic: Have not used that for many years.
RCBasic: My "goto" basic. Forum moderator.
Blitz...: Have not use for a long time.
QBasic: Probably my "first" Basic...

You love BASIC a lot.

---

I used Blitz Basic 2 on Amiga a lot. Last weekend I downloaded the manual from somewhere and read it from start to end, was a blast from the past   I've never looked at the pc versions of Blitz, I wonder if the syntax is the same, because it looked kind of "weird" (\ to access udt fields, () for array indices but not if the array is part of an udt - then it's [] ...).

Regarding GFA Basic, I belive all games are made by a single dude, the one who won that basic jam where i participated with neon breath. Impressive

The document greatly helps people to understand the pc version of Blitz. 
www.github.com/Blitz-Community/Publications/blob/main/Krylar/learn2programbb-final.pdf

I look forward to new game jams which are for BASIC dialects because interesting entries could usually be found in those jams.

[ On the other hand, I could not find any game project on Itch which is with the tag "naalaa". ]

[johnno56]

"on the other hand..." As Spock would say, "Logically there are two conclusions as to why games created using Naalaa do not appear. 1. The ability of the one searching may be at fault or 2. No games have yet been submitted to 'itch'."

In the 14th century, friar William of Ockham that says that, "If you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one." This theory is known as "Ockham's Razor". Based on this theory, the simplest choice is "2".

That being said, I am of the opinion that, the promotion of Naalaa on "itch" would increase the public awareness of Naalaa ... but ... and do not quote me on this ... I think the possible reason would be Naalaa's lack of ability to port to different systems or to create a stand-alone executable? *Marcus, rap on the knuckles is expected if wrong.. lol

Of course, promoting Naalaa and providing a download link and screen shots or animated gifs would also work.

[luwal]

"on the other hand..."  As Spock would say, "Logically there are two conclusions as to why games created using Naalaa do not appear. 1. The ability of the one searching may be at fault or 2. No games have yet been submitted to 'itch'."
In the 14th century, friar William of Ockham that says that, "If you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one." This theory is known as "Ockham's Razor". Based on this theory, the simplest choice is "2".

Thanks for explaining. 

That being said, I am of the opinion that, the promotion of Naalaa on "itch" would increase the public awareness of Naalaa ...

Maybe Marcus have a plan to introduce NaaLaa on Itch in the future. 

I think the possible reason would be Naalaa's lack of ability to port to different systems or to create a stand-alone executable? *Marcus, rap on the knuckles is expected if wrong.. lol

Thanks for explaining again!

Of course, promoting Naalaa and providing a download link and screen shots or animated gifs would also work.

Okay. I see. 


However, suddenly, I also found one main point:

"No current NaaLaa user has a habit to upload game project to Itch."

[johnno56]

aha! Habit or not... that would confirm my theory of why there are no Naalaa apps on itch... Moo Ha Ha Ha...

But, the question begs to be asked, why the 'habit' does not exist?

If you look at the engines available on itch, the majority of them, have a sizeable community. That would increase the odds of having a decent number of programmers to produce the games that are on itch... Perhaps the main reason that there are no Naalaa games boils down to simple mathematics? If our community was larger we would attract or grow programmers to produce enough games to post on itch. One of the methods of growing a community is to promote Naalaa on itch... hmm... make for a bit of an endless loop, does it not? lol

The solution is simple. We need more programmers/developers or the people that we have would need to increase their efforts. Well, maybe not 'simple' as in easy, but you get my point... To build a community, so as to get to the level of consistently producing games, will take time. For the few programmers that we have, the extra work-load in producing more games, will eat into whatever spare time that they may or may not have. That too will take time.

(My opinion)... In the meantime: Promote / Advertise. Documentation (including snippets of code explaining each command etc). Copious amounts of tutorials and examples. Perhaps a dedicated website (or a sub forum to this one) for beginners, intermediate and advanced coders questions and answers.

Can we do this? Do we have the resources and personnel to no this? If so... Will we? If so... When?

Sorry... a bit carried away... I have seen too many "small sized" sites just fade away into obscurity... Naalaa has a lot more untapped potential and is undeserving of such a fate...

I need more coffee...

[aurel]

ahh me tooo...to much to read ...