> I really fail to see why anyone would WANT to be forced into using a > scripting language. Scripting languages are the equivalent of Visual Basic. > And the developers of Unreal Script created UnrealED with Visual Basic. > > I find that hilarious.
Anybody that has ever tried to modify/extend UnrealEd would find that comment hilarious. UnrealEd is NOT Visual Basic. UnrealEd has it's own bizarre confusing GUI API (in order to make it cross platform compatible (Windows/Linux/Mac/Playstation2/Xbox/Gamecube). I've seen the Unreal engine source code and it ain't pretty (but it is mighty damn efficient and VERY stable since it's been in use for years). Tim Sweeney is a pretty sharp guy. I'd rank him right up there with John Carmack on game engine programming skills. Unreal Script (created by Tim) is simple, yet powerful, minimal, yet extensible and one of the biggest advantages to Unreal Script is that it doesn't require you to buy any expensive compiler or development tools to create a MOD (or a simple mutator). Someone can create a mutator for a weapon in just 5 minutes following a good tutorial on the Internet. It takes me twice that long just to install Visual C++ (nevermind the time it takes to load a workspace, modify a source code file, recompile the DLL, fix any syntax errors, recompile again, then test out my changes). There are a variety of reasons for using a scripting language (in any environment). Ease of use (good for beginners), no expensive/complicated tools are required, they limit what the end user can do (which is actually a GOOD thing for beginners to help prevent them from shooting themselves in the foot), and they can be cross platform compatible (which reduces development time if you have to support many different platforms and makes your game available to a wider audience). There are many bad reasons for using a scripting language as well. They aren't as efficient as native code (compiled machine code). They aren't always easy to interface to 3rd party libraries. They are often more difficult to debug and/or profile. They require more time and effort by the game developer to create them up front than using a non-scripted language would. Ultimately it comes down to a question of how easy do you want it to be for your game customers to be able to extend your game. I think Valve made a good choice in using DLLs instead of QuakeC or something similar for Half-Life. I think Epic made a good choice in using Unreal Script for Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Unreal 2K3/Unreal Championship and Unreal 2,(notice Epic has put out 4 games in the time Valve has put out 1, makes you go "Hmmmmmm."). Each game has a specific type of MOD community and people develop MODs for those games partly because of the environment that's available for creating modifications. Each group has things they like and things they don't like. One is NOT exclusively better than the other. Jeffrey "botman" Broome _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
