[Discussion] Which programming language is best for fangame development?

[pikavolt321]

I've been thinking and I wanted to know what other people at PC think about programming languages for Pokemon fangame development FROM SCRATCH. (no engines to begin from, just writing the raw code by yourself, except ones provided with the language - for example Windows Forms/WPF for Visual Basic/C# and Tkinter/Turtle for Python). Also please share your opinions below and why.

Options:
- Visual Basic 6 (Classic)
- Visual Basic .NET
- VBScript
- JavaScript
- C#
- C++
- C
- Python
- GameMonkeyScript
- Lua

Suggest more if you want.

 

[khkramer]

What I'm wondering is why Visual Basic 6 is even still in the list of options, it should never be used in any new projects.

From the list I'd probably pick C# since it's a well supported language not too low-level but still very good performance ( also Unity 3D and other game engines use C#) , 2th option would be C++ with a scripting engine for the gameplay scripting, so Lua for example.

 

[The Silver Fox]

It all depends. One programming language has it's own fair share of advantages and disadvantages. If still I'd to choose one, i would go for C++

 

[gl4cieR]

C++ to program the engines subsystems and LUA for Game Event Handling.

 

[Sersch7]

C# is my favorite programming language. But i wonder why would you program it really completely from scratch? Maybe if you are into programming an engine or low level - yeah you can do it (it will consume a lot of time) else i would always use some Engine or Framework for game development and actually focus on programming the game.

 

[Silversea]

Do not underestimate Game Maker as well. They use a manufactured custom code with some JS components. It is fairly intuitive and I've used it for all my custom games (Pokemon, even non-game apps).

 

[pkmn.master]

In general, there is no universal language for any software project. Some questions you should ask yourself:
What syntactic and semantic structures am I already familiar with or I feel most comfortable learning?
Do I want the flexibility of an interpreted language, or the speed of a compiled one?
What paradigm should I lean toward to best solve my problems? Functional? Procedural? Object-oriented?
What existing libraries/packages exists for this language that help in significantly reducing the amount of code I have to write? (think physics engines, GUI packages, AI, etc)
What level of support does this language have?
Do I need it to run on the web?

There are many other things, but these are the some of the high points I think of when writing any piece of software. Best to choose a language that conforms to what you want to build to avoid shooting yourself in the foot.
Best of luck!

 

[Yotes]

I started teaching myself Java and C++ to learn how to code in high school. Eventually I made a couple iOS apps and discovered the Unity Engine and have been using C# ever since.

I like C# because it's just super straightforward and there's TONS of tutorials and forums dedicated to helping Unity devs figure out any problem. Like really, just google anything you ever get stuck on and you'll find the solution right away.

And now with the Unity Asset store being better than ever, you can download tons of useful tools (both free and paid) that make the creation process even smoother. That's what I've been up to for years now. Trying to make a Pokemon-inspired game from scratch in Unity. Just coding everything I can and using Patreon as a fundraiser to get my hands on those super helpful tools on the asset store to save me years of development struggles.