What Feature Are You Most Excited For In Bb3

Discussion in 'Buildbox General Discussion' started by thatguyminib, Feb 13, 2018.

  1. thatguyminib

    thatguyminib Serious Boxer

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    Hey everyone!

    I wanted to kind of get everyone hyped up about BB3 again and wanted to know what features everyone else is looking forward to?

    For me personally, I am looking forward to expanding on the game with the node system and javascript. I love how Buildbox is great for prototyping ideas with all of the premade templates and I am excited to take the quickness of creating/generating an idea with prototyping and using templates and then being able to expand on it greatly through javascript and the node system. :D
     
  2. TreySmith

    TreySmith Moderator

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    Just a little tidbit of fun info here.

    The first Alpha was NIK's alpha. That was his first version of Buildbox with all the things he felt necessary. Then, the next step is for me to jump in. That's where we are now. I immediately jump in and found some stuff confusing, and each day I give Nik a list of changes/additions/arguments. I make a PDF of these changes/additions (usually about 10 in each PDF... one per day) and we get on the phone, or meet at the office, and fight over it.

    Sometimes what works in a devs head is confusing to me in the final software. So this is where Nik and I are the perfect Yin and Yang for Buildbox. We fight it out until we get the final solution, which we'll start seeing in Alpha 2 soon.

    I mention this, because I want to answer your question. I'm most excited about sitting down and building stuff out of thin air with nodes. Having nodes that make sense to me, the non-developer, as well as more advanced nodes for people are more skilled than me with development (like Nik wants). Because right now, while BB3 is amazing to me, it's a little too hard. So I'm really excited about adding more nodes to make it more and more accessible.

    I'm also excited about node presets. This will be a button at the top right of the node mind map, where you will be able to produce a group of nodes that do a specific thing. For example, if you need an 8 way moving character, then you'll be able to choose a preset for that and it will build out the node structure. If you want to create multiple death sequences for a character depending on what object they hit, their will be a preset for that, etc.
     
  3. thatguyminib

    thatguyminib Serious Boxer

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    @TreySmith That sounds amazing! I love that you guys pop in here and engage with us and I also love this update about the progress of BB3! It is like a mini devlog lol.

    I also think to have nodes titles that are in non-programmer language will be a great feature to have for everyone! Will people still be able to create their own node presets and share with others? I think that would be a great way for programmers to help expand the nodes non-programmers can use and expand BB3 itself.

    Either way, I am excited about beta access and I am always checking for new news on BB3 XD.
     
  4. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    Yeah thats something that concerned me. Difficulty. I got into this because BB1 was so damned easy to pickup and run with. It all made sense. At last. As a non-programmer after battling for a few weeks with GameSalad, Buildbox was a breath of fresh air. BB2 ran with that but also added a wee bit of complexity. Some things had moved or some new stuff wasn't quite intuitive but I got there especially with the help of the youtube channel. BB3, as excited as I am, also has me concerned that the jump from 1 to 2 will be vastly greater going from 2 to 3 and therefore the whole concept of easy game-making will be suffocated.
     
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  5. brakewind723

    brakewind723 Serious Boxer

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    Good to hear. I myself found bb3 to be a bit difficult :rolleyes:
     
  6. VectologyGames

    VectologyGames Serious Boxer

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    Make Buildbox Easy Again!
     
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  7. wesam_badr

    wesam_badr Miniboss Boxer

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    we hope to get an easy and bugless software with features that make us build a full progressive game that helps to get good retention at the level of monetization and game progression in general like ketchapp and voodoo games.
     
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  8. everchangeapps

    everchangeapps Boxer

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    What i would love to see, would be something similar to gamesalads approach on scripting. i love the way buildbox doesnt have to have that, but i have found some things easier in gamesalad to create. For example. I have a trivia app for minecraft. "QUIZ CRAFT" it had 3 different quizzes "drops,word,crafting" each of those categories has over 100 questions in it with 400 possible answers. All of these is very easily organized in a table/excel sheet and im able to use a simple line of code that populates that text into each questions possible answer. Basically just referenced Table{questions,row1,column1)

    Thats something that technically doesnt even need bb3 but i would love to see it come to life in BB. (then i could port my game over and make huggeee improvements).

    Im not a coder by any means, however i understand language based functions. IF(X=Y) Then(Spawn bad guy) etc. Even just implementing that simple style of coding would be awesome, idk if its possible with BB internal structure but that would be cool to see.



    BB3. Im excited to be able to make games like rolly vortex/splashy etc.


    AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, Can we pleasseeeee get the ability to use multiple backgrounds on one game screen. i would love you guys, for ever.

    As for the rest, im sold on BB especially over GS. Ive made 5 games before my 1st month has been up, and one in testing with a publisher. Far better outlook for my future as an independent dev.

    :)
     
  9. thatguyminib

    thatguyminib Serious Boxer

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    I think having the ability to create custom nodes and share with others will really help BB3 out a lot. That way if a programmer creates an awesome node preset they can share with everyone else! :D
     
  10. Rebel Studios

    Rebel Studios Avid Boxer

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    Agree with you on this Mike... it's getting too complicated dammit... LOL
     
  11. TreySmith

    TreySmith Moderator

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    Honestly, this first version was more complicated than I would have liked, but I felt it was important to get it out there with speed so you guys could see what we've been working on. The software will get easier and easier with each release, and this was something I was gravely aware of with since the beginning.

    It's funny, we have a team of 17 people now and I don't manage every release. During the BB3 alpha release, I was primarily focused on 2.3.3, hiring new people, new testing systems, and other upcoming changes to 2.X during Q1. As I mentioned, Apha 1 was Nik's version of BB3 and his team was behind it.

    When I sat down to finally check it out in detail (after it was released), I was immediately like "this is to hard". After watching the video Zack made and playing around with the BBDOC I specifically told Nik "This is amazing, but I would have NEVER figured that out on my own. We have to make this so I can sit down, PLAY with the software, and figure out how to create something amazing... I have some ideas on how we're going to do this".

    PLAY is a big word here.

    This was the foundation that Buildbox was built on since the beginning. I wanted software that was almost like a game itself. To PLAY with it and "accidentally" create cool stuff. And that is my most important role here. It's always been. Nik and the dev team make something really amazing that I don't completely understand at first, and then I dumb it down for the rest of us normal people :p

    So don't worry, we're on the same page and this is the big reason we're in alpha.

    Yes, we ALL do. That's exactly what EVERYONE wants, including us. It's the holy grail that no one has figured out, but I think with the final release we will be very close. Also, as you guys have seen, we've made huge changes and strides in how we're handing bugs (including hiring more testers and staff). We'll be using these same changes for 3.0, but make no mistake there will be issues to iron out. We'll surely have growing pains, but I expect it to be less than 2.3. Mainly because the primary 2.3 issues were the new framework we created as the foundation of Buildbox in preparation of 3.0 :)

    To be upfront, that will not happen. We didn't like how anyone else was doing this, so we'll be doing a totally unique approach with nodes. You COULD make a node though for "trivia games" that does exactly that, so it would be possible.

    This is a big one for me also. I don't personally code, but this is what will make BB3 completely limitless. You will be able to double click 90% of the nodes and see the javascript code underneath. You can easily edit/create new nodes from this and save them, or export them for others to use.

    For example, people are fighting with integrating SDK's right now. The truth is, this stuff is dead easy for a coder. We could easily make a node that handles this (as well as any user) and share it, then include it in the software if it's popular. You could do this for anything... Some new turn-based RPG style of gameplay comes out? Then someone could create some nodes to make it and share with the community.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2018
  12. Coldwilson

    Coldwilson Avid Boxer

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    Great update Trey!

    I think the nodes idea and the concept of PLAY are genius. Next steps are to turn software development into some sort of MMO.
     
  13. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    This is all very good news and glad to hear @TreySmith is in the "keep it simple stupid" camp for us mere mortals :)
     
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  14. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    The 3D aspect is what i look forward to. But really my MOST favorite thing to do in BB2 [and eventually will do in 3] is figuring out NEW game types. Figuring out how to achieve a function that's not natively supported yet. A work around...a hack. Being creative and NOT making games using the templates lol Coming up with some new way to use BB. Thats what i do everyday and love about BB. It isn't perfect. I think if it did become perfect i would get bored lol. Outside of BB software but still related....i look forward to stalking trey and running from the cops after he calls them. YOLO.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2018
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  15. thatguyminib

    thatguyminib Serious Boxer

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    First off @TreySmith I just want to thank you and all of the BB crew for all your hard work and jumping in these forums and giving updates and being upfront with us.

    Secondly, I feel like the custom node system would be a huge help and benefit for not only us the customers but for you guys as well. If a big group of people is having a problem that could be figured out and fixed with a node the whole community could come together and work on a solution and you guys can keep the focus on the bigger issues and updates. It would be a WIN WIN!
     
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  16. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    Would be neat to see something like how DreamWeaver does, A split view option where you can see BB interface AND code. Make advanced changes to our games. If THAT where to happen, a TON of people from other game dev software would venture over to BB.
     
  17. VectologyGames

    VectologyGames Serious Boxer

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    @TreySmith We cannot judge software that we have not experienced for ourselves, but, the community is just weary of the changes due to the ease of use of Buildbox 2.0. I cannot stress enough the need for CLEAR documentation (PDF and Video) and a responsive support team to bridge the learning gap (the support team is great by the way).

    The advanced move components were a great step in the right direction, and I feel the node system will expound on this concept, but my only question is will 3.0 destroy my current game that relies on the advanced move components?
     
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  18. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    From what ive gathered they say BB 2D and BB 3D will be 2 separate softwares.
     
  19. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    No. BB3 is the upgrade to BB2. BB3 will contain the ability to make both 2D and 3D games. But the software stack incorporated into BB3 is effectively BB2.
     
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  20. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    Hmmm, ive seen them say something about when BB3 is released, they will keep working on BB2 for those purchasers. I dunno. Sure they will correct me if i am wrong.
     

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