Hey, its been a while since ive posted. I came with a question. Where can I learn GDI graphics for my next game, I wanted to make a tile based game using GDI is it possible, and where can I learn such tile based game elements?

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"They don't make bugs like Bunny anymore." â€â€

GDI isn't very well-suited for games... is there any particular reason you can't/won't use XNA?

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

I would use XNA, but how would I get it to work with VB.NET. Its the only language I really know.

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"They don't make bugs like Bunny anymore." â€â€

Unless I'm mistaken, later versions of XNA do let you use VB.NET to write XNA games. If not, then I would suggest you start reading up on C#. You're likely to have more luck finding beginner C# articles than game articles on VB.NET and GDI game programming.

So, give another look at XNA to see if it works with VB.NET now. If not, you're much better off in the long run switching to C#.

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

I think XNA 4.0 is the newest version. Ill have to check it out.

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"They don't make bugs like Bunny anymore." â€â€

Yes, XNA works with VB.NET in the latest version.

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Is there a game template for vb.net. I had to create my own, and also my own content conpiler but once you get the nitty gritty sorted it works fine.

I have looked everywhere for VB.NET tutorials with the new XNA and Framework. Do you know where there is any?

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There are two recent books that address GDI+ programming, one covering VB and the other C#. I agree that GDI+ is not the *best* choice for all types of games due to it's speed, but for a turn-based or tile-based 2D game (i.e. not a fast-paced shoot-em-up), GDI+ does work. Some optimizations would even make it work in a faster-paced arcade game, it all depends on the skill of the coder.

Visual Basic Game Programming for Teens, 3rd Edition

Visual C# Game Programming for Teens

Both books build an RPG engine with editors and use GDI+ exclusively to render a tile-based game world with RPG characters, monsters, item pickups, quests, etc. The VB book covers a world-based RPG, while the C# book uses the same engine, ported to C#, with an underground dungeon crawler perspective.

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There are none. VB.NET is not supported by XNA. It supports C# exclusively. But, that's not a bad thing... C# is a more transferable language. If you know C#, you will be able to pick up Java and C++ a little easier than if you stick with just VB. I used to be there.. I was a huge VB coder years ago, that's all I used, professionally and personally. But, eventually you run into limitations.

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Not completely true. VB.NET is supported for Windows Phone 7 development.

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Silverlight is not XNA.

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These guys are totally right about XNA vs GDI. XNA is highly recommended as performance in GDI is abysmal!

That said, however ~

I too am a VB.NET developer and I've made a YouTube GDI tutorial series showing exactly what you're asking for, here. :-) http://www.youtube.com/user/Aardaerimus

I cover:
Part 1.) Constructing a game loop & creating a frame counter
Part 2.) Handling Mouse Input & Tracking Click Coordinates
Part 3.) Graphics & TileMapping
Part 4.) Key Input & Character Movement (KeyDown
Part 4. UPDATE) Enhanced Character Movement using GetAsyncKeyState()
Part 5.) Object Transparency with custom Brushes
Others:
Music & Sound with MciSendString (allows simultaneous sounds)


For XNA in VB.NET visit http://www.xnatutor.com. This fellow made a wonderful starter for getting up and going with XNA on VB 2010, and luckily for me, most all of my above GDI tutorials will work with it, so they are still of use.

If you want your eyeballs to pop out, check out my XNA update video demonstrating the difference in frame rate between GDI and XNA: http://youtu.be/gbKjEUq4-y4

Hope this is helpful!

No, but the line between the two has blurred with the Mango update.

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My pocket is still smoking from me putting in an order for one of those books. Looking forward to reading another of your (quite numerous) books, twobitcoder.

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Smoking!? Aren't they like $20 on Amazon?

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Well, I had to get other things too, so I guess your book isn't the lone culprit or anything.

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

LOL.

Well, I had good results with GDI with a smooth scrolling layer and sprites over the top. There were reports of it running slowly on some PCs, because the scrolling algorithm was never optimized (book code...). I have meant to update that code but never got around to it yet. The slowdown occurs when the scroll buffer is copied to the back buffer without any logic--just does a complete draw every frame regardless of whether the player has moved or not. Very wasteful, but it was about function not speed at the time. With an optimization flag halting the large buffer copy until movement occurs, it would run probably 4-8x faster, and I was already seeing 100+ fps on my system (an old Core2Quad with a Geforce 8600). Never had any speed issues whatsoever with animation even with lots of sprites and GUIs on the screen. I wonder if GDI has a bad rap without anyone actually writing benchmark code, just a lot of yapping without any proof?

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I imagine it's a case of fast hardware compensating for slow code.

If you run your program on an older machine -- a Pentium3 for example -- then compare framerate results with what you know Pentium3s are capable of with DirectX.

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