Because I'm once again getting tired of Java's insipid need for everything to be declared over and over (and over and over and ...). I've started looking for a different library/language/toolset to continue building MGS. Currently, I'm looking into a Haxe + HaxeFlixel or HaxePunk combo as they seem particularly designed around portability and ease of use, plus it seems like it shouldn't be too hard to port what I have using either library.
Yes, I know. It's rather weird to switch programming languages in the middle of building a game. I just tend to learn new things easier that way, and maybe one day I'll find the "one", that special language that has everything I could ever want (which so far, Scala is the closest, but it's still not quite there).
@Nico Now all I'm thinking about is the pirate in Monkey Island with the "Ask me about Loom" button. :)
Don't get me wrong. I love Haxe and Haxeflixel. If you know Java, Haxe 80% of Haxe is easy. Just getting your head around some of the really cool and powerful stuff in Haxe (monomorphs, Dynamic typing, macros, etc) is hard and there isn't a great way to learn it. The best you can do is find an example that does what you want it to do and try to figure out how it works.
Good to know that I can come to you with all my random Haxe questions! I'll try not to abuse that privalege!
I highly recommend Haxe! I know Sebastien Benard posts most of his LD games' source code, and it's usually in Haxe.
I switched over to Haxe with Haxeflixel from Java and LibGDX for some of the exact same reasons. HaxeFlixel is great, but the documentation is slim. The best way to learn is to look at the demos and then the code that runs them.
The Haxe language documentation is weird too. It is very complete but written at a high level. So to understand the examples and explanations in the documentation you have to have a lot of experience with the language, in which case you probably don't need the documentation.
I guess I should say it has a weird learning curve. On one hand it is very similar to Java (sort of a Java/Actionscript hybrid) so that is easy. But on the other hand getting your head around the new features has a very steep learning curve that the documentation doesn't help.
I've been using it for about 6 months and I still hit something about once a project that takes an hour to figure out because I either have to Google something and troll through blogs to find the answer, or I have to review the code myself.
Not trying to scare you away from it, but its good to know going into it.
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@Bobbo @Kurushi @Deammer I love haxe, however flixel isn't my favourite, I think its very clunky and too hand-holdy, at least for me it kinda ruins the beauty of haxe, luxe is minimal yet has exactly what you need, the API just feels.....beautiful, its like writing a novel instead of a crappy short story (yes, I'm sticking with the salesman pitch).