Resting, #11

I’ve been thinking about the projects I want to work on at the end of the thirty days and I want to make a new version of Spray Paint with more features. I would update the Gamemaker version, but I’ve hit something of a ceiling in Gamemaker. The “surface_getpixel” function is slow and I need to use it extensively for the new features, so I’m looking at other tools I could use.

Here’s some of the options I’m considering:

• Gamemaker Studio 2
  • Pros: Has everything I like about Gamemaker 8.1 and more.
  • Cons: Has the same surface_getpixel problem.
• Godot
  • Pros: Has lots of GUI tools, good documentation/tutorials, and exports to everything.
  • Cons: Drawing to textures is complicated, impossible, or I just can’t find the right way to do it.
• Processing
  • Pros: Lots of built-in drawing commands, good documentation/tutorials, and supports drawing to textures.
  • Cons: Doesn’t have GUI tools, have to choose between desktop and web export (regular Processing or p5.js).
• C+SDL2
  • Pros: Say it with me, “speeeeed!”
  • Cons: Scattered documentation/tutorials, no GUI tools, no web export, I’d have to write everything from scratch, and I don’t really know how to use C. So maybe no speeeeed.

Because the tools I use will influence the end product, let’s rate them based on how they vibe:

• Gamemaker Studio 2: too modern
• Godot: too modern
• Processing: too modern
• C+SDL2: yes

With all that in mind, let’s use C+SDL2! This isn’t final. I may use some other framework I haven’t found yet or think better of writing everything from scratch. I won’t be coding anything for another 19 days, so I have plenty of time to think it over.