Re: current landscape of audiogame creation tools
Regarding PureBasic.
I have been using PureBasic since about 2003 or late in the v3.x series and find it to be a very capable language that's easy to pick up. Sure it isn't free, but once you have it, all future updates including major version upgrades are free. On top of that, your license gives you access to PureBasic in 32 and 64 bits on the three platforms it's available on, Windows, Linux, and OSX. Unless who I'm working for makes specific language requirements, like C/C++ for the DRM system I maintained in my last job, I'll always choose to write in PureBasic. And while PureBasic doesn't have objects, I really don't miss them. It's a trade off really, for the nicety of objects, you get bloated executables and complex language syntax that can make the language difficult to learn as well as difficult to read. And finally, PureBasic is not dead, it is still actively maintained. Its last release was only two months ago and it is up t o beta 3 of its next release.
One language I haven't seen anyone mention is Power Basic. It's another BASIC language that, like PureBasic,generates small and fast executables. Unlike PureBasic though, The syntax of Power Basic is more like a MS-DOS basic in that most of its built in commands are procedures rather than functions so a program tends to become rather wordy. For example I once converted a 10 line Power Basic routine into a single line PureBasic function.
I could list a whole bunch of reasons why PureBasic is better than Power Basic. But I only really need to list one reason. The developers of Power Basic won't tolerate criticism. When I was a Power Basic user, I posted a number of criticisms about the lack of native Windows commands and functions forcing everyone to learn and use the Windows API. I wasn't trying to trash the language, I posted the criticisms as feedback hoping to see the developers take steps to modernize the language and make it a better product. Their response was to ban me from their forums. I know of several other Power Basic users who were treated the same way who are now using PureBasic.
But even with that, Power Basic is still a powerful language, so I mention it as a possible option.
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