I know there are a lot of things MMF can do so I was wondering :
What stuff isn't MMF able to do?
Look at other software and programming languages and point out the differences. What can that software do MMF can't?
Look at popular games and point out something in those you won't be able to pull off in MMF.
It appears to me that pretty much everything is possible in MMF besides 3d stuff of course.
One think you can't do easily is rotate your frame like they do at the very beginning in Super Metroid when everything is about to explode and you jump up that tunnel that rotates from the left to the right.
I do think everything is possible in MMF (even 3D, or at least soon it will be) but for some things it might not be the best choice as you have to come up with tacky and time consuming workarounds.
It's unfinished, I was going to add multitouch but I forgot.
Oh yeah and:
A - to Zoom
Z - to Shrink
X - Rotate Left
C - Rotate Right
Edited by UrbanMonk
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DaVince This fool just HAD to have a custom rating
Registered 04/09/2004
Points 7998
17th August, 2011 at 15:59:06 -
It's a pretty tough one. A lot IS possible, but as said, can be very difficult to pull off. Stuff emulated from programming and scripting languages sometimes also has an alternative kind of implementation that might make it more difficult, for example, loops, arrays and functions. This is mostly because of the conditional system that MMF uses.
I am also interested in seeing things that MMF isn't able to do. That is, in 2D. And 2D is still pretty limited, so it's not unimaginable close to everything should be possible, especially with the wide array of extensions out there.
Edit: things that are computationally intensive won't be fast or easy in MMF. Think advanced algorithms like A* path finding - they do exist, but it's not feasible to have an RTS game where every single character has that kind of computationally intensive algorithm without the game running incredibly slowly. There are always workaround, though, like using the dodgy default movement systems to force an object around another one.
DaVince This fool just HAD to have a custom rating
Registered 04/09/2004
Points 7998
17th August, 2011 at 16:35:41 -
It'll have to have fast interpretation speed. And at that point, it might be better to code the entire thing in Lua instead of the event manager, which would actually make MMF2 like a lot of other scripting-based game engines (unless xLua can't access lot of MMF's event functions, or unless it can't handle the way MMF2 handles stuff step by step?).
Like I said, it *is* tough coming up with something that's impossible in MMF in 2D. But it's interesting to think about, at least. All I can think of so far are the weaknesses that require workarounds, but the workarounds are almost always possible (if sometimes complicated).
Also, as I haven't used MMF anymore in quite a while, I have no clue what advanced there have been in extension development.
Wait, is resizing the frame possible? I remember having to make incredibly huge frames if I wanted to apply GUI resizing tricks in non-game apps.
Edit: how about looping module music? Do they use the loop point now? I know it's nitpicky, but it used to be an impossibility.
Well, xLua is pretty nifty and interfaces perfectly with the MMF2 event functions- it can work on the stack, or queued, or whatever.
While Lua is nice for the critical core functions because its just about the fastest scripting language language out there, not far after C/C++ and other machine-level languages, it would be a right pain in the arse to develop your own animation system and graphics engine in lua- MMF2 makes development that much faster.
Theres lots of ways to resize, rotate, etc with the frame, or loop music- you have direct control over the sequencer after all (just set its position, frequency, etc).
I've switched to using C# and looking at different engines including XNA and Unity3D because after looking into how a real programming language works, it seems a lot more efficient to do a lot more stuff much easier and you're not spending half your time trying to figure out work-arounds to issues that aren't entirely your fault. In a real programming language, if something messes up, it's your fault. You're not forced into situations where "Well... I guess there's nothing I can do, it's C#'s fault. Guess I gotta figure out a way around it."
Theres also far more flexibility with things such as pixel shaders and using different frameworks to accomplish different things. There's the added efficiency of your game when you work on it from a lower level language. When you compile an MMF2 game, it's immediately already much bigger than it actually should be. It also uses a lot more resources than it should, no matter how efficient you are.
So if you're asking if MMF2 is great and can handle anything? It's great, absolutely... can it handle anything? Probably, but it's defiantly... defiantly not the best choice for everything. Would I recommend it to someone evading a programming language? Absolutely. Kicks the hell out of anything else.
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Edited by UrbanMonk
