I have learned quite a bit of html, and some visual basic, but i mainly want to make rpg's, so does anyone know what would be the best language to use if i wanted to start making an rpg?
Thanks

You could use VB, but it's very very slow! Like with most of the games, C or C++ is the best to use. Making a RPG in HTML don't sound very attractive and VB is way to slow to make games. Buy a good book about C++ and download a C++ compiler(The Borland is very good, but the Microsoft compiler is better with DirectX(Hate to say it.) You can download a free Borland C++ 5.5 compiler from the Borland site, or if you go illegal you could download Visual Studio 6.0 wich includes Visual C, VB, Visual FoxPro, Visual SourceSafe and some other development tools. You could also buy a book wich includes a compiler.

Good Luck,

Sand Hawk
Member of the Stupid Coders


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: I have learned quite a bit of html, and some visual basic, but i mainly want to make rpg's, so does anyone know what would be the best language to use if i wanted to start making an rpg?
: Thanks
:
I would go for anything except Visual Basic. Generally the language doesn't directly determine what the final product will look like, but VB does too much for you (and is also slow). Assembly (if you dare) and Pascal could both give you very good results. Maybe Java - I don't know. Delphi might be an idea if learning C++ seems too daunting. If you actually want someone to hire you one day then you need to know C or C++. All in all, C++ seems the best bet, but nearly any language could work.

I know a fair bit about Java, and I'll tell you that before you can even start with graphics, you would have to spend a large amount of time just getting used to the language. Compared to VB, Java is much harder, though some of the principles are the same.

However, if you want to learn Java, the book I would strongly recommend are:

"An introduction to Object Oriented Programming with JAVA" by Thomas C. Wu
ISBN "0-07-239684-9"

or

"Computing Concepts with JAVA 2 Essentials" by Cay Horstmann
ISBN "0-471-34609-8"

I've read other books by Horstmann on programming, and they were pretty good, so you might want to try his books on C++:

"Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials, 2/E"
"Mastering C++"
"Practical Object Oriented Programming in C++ and Java"
"Mastering Object Oriented Design"
"Core Java"

I haven't read all of these, so I can't tell you if they are any good, but I've heard that the "Mastering OO Design" is pretty good. (Core Java wasn't too bad, but not as good as the other book I mentioned above.)

My best recommendation for Java, though, is "An Introduction to OOP with Java" by Thomas C. Wu, like I mentioned above. It's one of the best books on programming I've read.




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Hey, thanks you guy's, i now know that i should deffinitely look into c++ and java, so thanks for your help, i hope to speak with you again, (hopefully not about needing help!)
James / Paladin Blue

: Hey, thanks you guy's, i now know that i should deffinitely look into c++ and java, so thanks for your help, i hope to speak with you again, (hopefully not about needing help!)
: James / Paladin Blue
:
Hey James,
I know this post is a little late, but I've seen a few on the subject of "what language is best for...". Yours is the latest, so I thought I'd respond to it (and all of them).
The answer to "which language is best for an RPG" is...whichever one results in a finished product. There is no "silver bullet" language for *any* project. Choose something that suits your needs.
So ask yourself:
-- What kind of graphics will this game have--2D, 3D, text-only?
-- How involved is the GUI?
-- How much time do I have to spend on this project?
-- What languages do I know well?
-- How experienced am I at writing this kind of program?

Unless you're extraordinarily dedicated, chances are you'll burn out quickly if you try to learn a new language *and* write a piece of software you've never coded before.

One random point: C++ is faster than VB and Java, but you can still write *high quality* sprite-based games all three. Don't abandon VB/Java without researching their abilities.

You'll learn an enormous amount no matter which route you go, but you'll have more fun if, in the end, you create a game. Once you have your RPG (in VB, Java, whatever), you can always port it to a *new* language for version 2.0...
Have fun with the game, and good luck.

Kreitler