So Hayden, is there any more differents beside the functions and main being void that I should know about? What I would like to know is rather or not class in BGT is different then C++. From what I seen in the docs, they are, but I may be missing something. A newbie guide may be useful, but I can see why it would be hard to write. I wish I read Hayden's post before I tried to write a "hellow world" program. LOL. When I get back to it, I'm playing around with the audio stuff. I can see how easy it would bbe to create an audiogame with this bgt. What I can say is that it is easyer calling an audio function then having to write an audio function. I can also see how hard it could be for a complete newbie. Could some one do a little audio demo of BGT or is that out of the question?

Ah, i honestly didn't know that as i've only just reinstalled the thing and never really gave it much of a look before.  i'll have a read and see if i can get any idea on how and where to start out something simple.

Actually, it depends on how you use the sounds.
BGT has sound objects that can load or stream from sound files. If loaded, the sound can be replayed as many times as you want until the sound object is destroyed. So it only has to be loaded once.

Though I've definitely found myself using the sound_pool object more often than sounds by themselves, and the sound_pool object loads a new copy every time you ask it to play, unless you've saved the index where the sound was loaded. bgt1.1 has allowed you to tell the sound pool whether or not to clean up a sound when it's done playing, only further increasing how much memory efficiency you can squeeze out of it.

When I started using sound in java, one of hte first things I did was create a SoundBuffer object, because it's much easier to type sb.play("mysound.wav") than it is to type SoundPlayer mySound=new SoundPlayer("mysound.wav"); mySound.play();.
My java SoundBuffer actually checks for files, so a sound is reused once it's loaded. However, it's not particularly speed-efficient, and since sounds can build up, it has to be cleared every now and then... and rather than trying to find an efficient way of doing that, I just have the whole thing be cleaned up at once, which can actually take several seconds that I would otherwise be using to slaughter Imps.
So how it works in bgt is better, is I think what I'm saying.

hello.
what can I do to get started making game with BGT?

Those first two steps seem to be where people get hung up most often.

At the absolute minimum, you need to understand variables, conditionals, loops and functions. Conceivably you could write something without defining more functions than void main, but you'd have to use functions to interact with the user, variables to keep track of those interactions, and conditionals and/or loops to evaluate them (unless your game is something like Madlibs...).

So, to further elaborate on CW's steps (which I definitely like!):
- Study the language tutorial. You need to understand things like int number = random(1, 99); and while(input!=number). Test your understanding of it by doing something like a guess the number game. Then enhance it so it's the shiniest guess the number game in the universe, to be sure you know how to use things like sounds. Maybe try as many input methods as you can come up with (reading from an input box, using get_characters, or even handling keyboard input directly). If you can get this far, you should have enough understanding of BGT to make just about anything it can handle.
- When you design a game, figure out how it needs to be for the user, then think about what the computer needs to do to make that happen. Remember, there are many ways to do similar things. I lost count of how many map systems I've used long ago...
- I don't recommend writing everything before you compile it. I recommend starting with the important background elements, such as any classes and auxiliary functions you need. If you have over a thousand lines of code before you compile for the first time, it's likely that you'll spend the next  long while hunting numerous tiny errors. It's ok to get the "your script does not define 'void main'!" message; that means there are no errors, but the game isn't finished. I don't save void main for last, but I don't do it first, either.

HMMM. if I had to guess, maybe the first level... then again, the game macanics would be a really good place to start. Of corce I don't know k... LOL.

When I'm making a game, I almost always begin with a level editor so that I can produce the actual files I intend to load.  With a backup map editor set aside, I then proceed to convert my level editor in to the actual game.  I don't remember how long ago it was when I started doing this, but I've been so happy with it that I've never turned back.

Hi,

I usually save the menu for the very last. I have my strategic reasons for that.
I'm not saying it's wrong, due to the fact that it isn't. Each one of us has different experiences and reasons to code the way they do.
I'd probably do the same as Aprone, if I were making an FPS. However for 1D side scrollers, making the walking functions first probably isn't that much of a bad idea.

In the past, I've started with main and the menus and such... I can show you quite a few game projects where I didn't get any farther than that.
Of course, when I switched to doing the engine first, the same problem happens; I don't get much farther than actually making the underlying classes.

I like to be able to test my progress, but I need to have something suitable for testing. The tougher part of this is the characters, but I usually start with the maps so that the characters have an environment to be tested in.
The exception being my FiniteStateFighter engine in java, since I added the sidescroller elements to that much later.

Most of my projects involve a pretty wide range of characters, so actually creating them is one of the things that really slows me down. It's much worse if the maps are harder to work with.
For example, I made all of the JFIM Adventure and Mario maps with the aid of a braille display. I've started up several projects where the maps are based more around building from objects rather than being able to "draw" something, and the only one that's really gotten to the internet is Sonic (and that's kind of stalled for the same reason that others haven't gotten releasable).

I doubt anyone's gotten far enough in the JFIM Adventure to notice where my Character creation issues create issues (though it's mostly with weapons, code-wise character and weapon creation are about the same). Also, for the JFIM Adventure, I wrote a program to convert Characters I made with the FSF engine into 3d so I wouldn't have to do it by hand. The results can be buggy at times, but none of the playable characters are converted.

... I will also say that I've been making maps for games in braille pretty much ever since I had both a braillewriter and a gaming console in the same house. Not that most of the maps I made in the nineties would work very well if I dug them up and tried to make games out of them.... but yeah, when I realized I could do that for my actual games, it helped tremendously.

I'm sorry for dubble posting, but here is the answer to my question:
http://gridinsoft.com/chm.php
I now have the manual in a nice html file.

Hi,
overloaded functions can in fact be helpful at times and there's definitely no need to avoid them. :-)
You do want to avoid a function recursively calling itself too many times but that's a different matter.
An overloaded function is two different functions with the same name and possibly similar behavior. They just need to have a different return type or parameters to take, and the compiler is then able to determine which one you are calling based on that return type and the parameters you pass to it. The example provided in the chapter should be a good one, as far as I can remember.
At this moment, I would recommend you to read the chapter about conditional statements and also possibly loops, and then you might want to have a look at the foundation layer reference and/or some of the example games, like Guess the Number, that should be a good start. This might help clear some of the confusion or it might create even more of it. LOL
I just feel it might be worth trying, so if you decide to do so, feel free to ask any further questions afterwards. :-)
Good luck,
Lukas

Hi,

And don't worry if you're not able to create a game quickly. I'm sure that if you asked many of the developers, at the very start they were probably confused as hell, just like you.