Summary

[ LiB ]

Whew, that was a long chapter. Hopefully, you now understand the basics of input. Mouse, keyboard, and joystick input are used in all games , and it is of the utmost importance that you have a firm grasp of these concepts. In this chapter, we went over these concepts:

• Receiving keyboard input with KeyDown() and KeyHit()

• Displaying a mouse cursor

• Handling mouse keypresses with MouseDown() and MouseHit()

• Using the middle mouse wheel

• Handling joystick input

Even though Blitz Basic provides you with a large number of functions (I didn't even go over them all), only a few are absolutely necessary. You will almost definitely be using either KeyDown() or MouseDown() in your programs. Other functions, such as FlushKeys() , will only have to be used occasionally.

Anyway, get ready for the next lesson. We are moving on to something really fun: sound. You will learn how to use sound in your games to give the effect of action!

[ LiB ]