Blitz Basic

BlitzBasic is a programming language (and now language family) by Mark Sibly. It is adept at creating high speed games quickly and easily (prototyping). Older versions were tied to DirectX, but this is no longer the case.

The website is located at http://www.blitzbasic.com/ with more details and support.

The original language is a sort of Basic/C hybrid compiled language with a large number of natively supported features. Categories from the command reference include (but are not limited to): Basic, maths, string, text, input, bank, file, stream, network, TCP, UDP, DirectPlay, DirectShow, sound/music, 2D and 3D graphics, graphics buffers, image, time, system, debug.

Blitz currently (March 2010) comes in three different flavors:

Blitz3D (http://www.blitzbasic.com/Products/blitz3d.php); Containing everything Blitz2D had plus a full-blown 3D engine (Featuring entities, brushes, meshes, terrains, sprites, cameras, lights, multitexturing and environment mapping). Builtin commands are limited to DirectX, but can also add DLL functions.
BlitzPlus? (http://www.blitzbasic.com/Products/blitzplus.php); Blitz2D's successor, containing Blitz2D's capabilities plus Windows GUI support and event-based commands.
BlitzMax? (http://www.blitzbasic.com/Products/blitzmax.php); a complete language reboot, with updated syntax, full support for object-oriented programming, and a brand new faster compiler available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Natively supports multithreading, garbage collection and other productivity features, plus both DirectX and OpenGL graphics (3D modules exist but are no longer packaged with it).

A fourth family member, with the working name "BMX2", was announced in May 2010. It promises to be a cut-down version of BlitzMax? that translates to other languages (C#, Java and ActionScript have been announced so far) rather than compiled directly. As of December 2010, the new language will be called "monkey" (no caps), and will be freely available under an open-source licence.

The original Blitz Basic itself is no longer available and will not run on modern operating systems.

Blitz3D, BlitzPlus? and BlitzMax? are continuously updated for which you can get free updates if you have registered on the official site (http://www.blitzbasic.com/).

Blitz has become popular with game programmers, especially newcomers to game development.

The original BlitzBasic (Blitz2D) dates back to the era of the 16-bit 8 MHz machines, in the times of STOS Basic and AMOS.

I've completed a game that is scheduled for commercial release later this year. Go to http://zenji3d.workerbee.com if you're interested in giving it a try. -- JeffPanici

To anyone who reads this: If you want to see a good example of BlitzMax?, google "Grid Wars" right now. It's an PC port of Geometry Wars for XBOX 360. Kinda like Robotron, but on lots of steroids. You move around a ship and must shoot everything that moves; you can use black holes to swallow your foes, but watch out for their gravity. That's all you need to know. Simple, but wait until you're seeing 300 enemies on the screen at once! (2012 addendum: Grid Wars is literally on par with Touhou Project in terms of fun. Coming from a die hard Touhou fan this means a lot).

--DaNuke?