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Holistic Guidance - DarkBASIC 3D Games Creator
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List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $26.99
Your Save: $ 3.00 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Enteractive Inc.
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Batteries Included: 0
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Enteractive
EAN: 0708828199998
Feature: Learn how the DirectX tools available in this easy programming language can make 3D objects come to life immediately!
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Enteractive Inc.
Manufacturer: Enteractive Inc.
Number Of Items: 1
Platform: Windows 98
Publisher: Enteractive Inc.
Release Date: 2002-01-22
Studio: Enteractive Inc.
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Features
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Learn how the DirectX tools available in this easy programming language can make 3D objects come to life immediately!
Create full-display screen with full MP2 and MP3 support by using the power of DirectX and Direct3D
The simple, uncluttered workspace is user-friendly and features an integrated help system
Extensive examples and tutorials will have you programming your own games in minutes!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Easier to comprehend than some other game-programming packages out there, DarkBASIC offers both a fun tutorial and a powerful code editor. You can start programming right away in this offshoot of the BASIC language. First you will learn about the principles of programming, then advance onto media and 3-D topics with further study. The program makes it easy, and with a handful of impressive examples you can learn by doing on several short, fast programs. The main editor area of the program is attractive, although it does remind us a bit of the role-playing games of the late 1980s. Our favorite perk was the Command Line Interface (CLI) button in the page header: this feature allows you to test single or small groups of commands without constructing an entire program. The online help system is multifaceted: it offers a "fast track" option for those with programming experience (or who are just impatient) as well as a more structured lesson plan. The user manual is particularly friendly and witty in tone, and we appreciated the Further Tutorials pamphlet that accompanied the package. The initial tutorials cover basic program form, creating line objects, using color, and terraforming. The advanced tutorials examine everything from determining camera perspective to the use of fogs and backdrops, from explosions to bullets and monsters. We first took DarkBASIC out for a spin with a simple text program, and then moved on to creating a simple 3-D game (unfortunately without conclusion). The package comes with a number of textures for floor, wall, and ceiling, as well as other objects like monsters, weapons, and the like. You're not limited to using only these: DarkBASIC covers how to import your own images and assets for use in your program. This package handles five types of media files: images (as bitmap files), sound (as WAV files), music (as MIDI files), animation (as AVI files), and object models. For each of these, you may specify the correct editor, ensuring a strong connection and compatibility between DarkBASIC and your selected applications. We were very impressed with the media browser and accompanying contents: in this gallery-style view, you can check out the goblins, samurais, game sounds, streaming music, textures, and game screens (like the "game over" screen). Our only issue with DarkBASIC was that there wasn't a minimize option readily available, making it difficult to multitask with other projects we're working on (yet easy to get engrossed in our dreams of 3-D game generation). Overall, DarkBASIC ran very smoothly after install and left plenty of resources free for other applications to continue running. In the end, we recommend DarkBASIC to future (and present) game-programming gurus for ease of use, quality, and the overall fun factor. --Emilie Herbst
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disambiguity
Comment: The four stars are for what the product is. The one missing is for what the product isn't.
DarkBASIC is a BASIC dialect designed to facilitate video game making. The language is very English-like, which makes it easy to understand. From my experience, DarkBASIC is fast, powerful, and easy.
However, it is VERY important to note that, in this product, you are paying for an editor, not a compiler. This means that the programs you will write will be saved in .DBA format and will be useless outside the editor. You cannot save to executable files.
Also, current buyers might want to note that this program uses DirectX 8.1, a thoroughly outdated version of Microsoft's DirectX line. Thus, the graphics and sound quality you produce will not be as pristine as those from, say, DirectX 9.0 or 10.0.
One particular that nearly tricked me was the name that Amazon has given this product. For those of you who don't know, The Game Makers (the company which makes DarkBASIC) manufacture another software product called The 3D Gamemaker. This is a drag-and-drop game creation environment that requires little to no programming. However, this product is not The 3D Gamemaker and will make you write code.
Fundamentally, this is an educational tool. If you want a simple and fun way to learn to program, this product is an excellent choice. However, if you are interested in creating standalone games, you need to either pay a bit more for a compiler or find a different language.
Customer Rating:
Summary: May never know...
Comment: We may never know if we like this product as the Amazon box was empty when it arrived. We have had no help from amazon, compusa, nor the maker of this software after numerous emails and phone calls. This was my son's Christmas present and he's still waiting... at this rate we'll end up with the opinion that we shouldn't order software online...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just clearing something up.
Comment: First of all, this is great! I would reccomend it for anyone who wants to learn who to make 'real' games(not using generators). If you are wanting to go pro though, save your money for DarkBasic Pro version.
Anyways, I wanted to clear up about the thing someboby said that you have to mold levels in DarkBasic 'Classic'(not Professional) tile by tile. That is true if you do it strictly through programming, but if you download one of the matrix editors made with DarkBasic you can make levels much easier. Just go to the DarkBasic site(http://www.thegamecreators.com/), find the DarkBasic area, click on Showcase, on the left hand side of the screen, then click on Applications. Now, mixed with a few other things, you will see 5 or 6 level editors for you too download and use free of charge.
I will again say, DarkBasic is great! This is by far the easiest and cheapest(even DarkBasic Professional) 'real' game making language. Even if you have no idea how to program, the useful tutorials and online forum/codebase will explain everything to you, and in a few days you will have a good, but basic, game too enjoy!
Oh, and one more thing. If you are new to programming get the regular, or classic, version of DarkBasic before you get the Pro version, it has alot better tutorials and such for the beginner. See for yourself and download the 30 day trial versions at http://www.thegamecreators.com/
Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sweet software. Easy to use.
Comment: With this software you can create a 2-D or 3-D game.
Follow the tutorial you can download from www.thegamecreators.com (producers of the software) and you will create a real game in about 2 weeks of nights.
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This box is the FULL package [...] The software is not as fully supported as the professional version, but for a hobbiest, it is perfect.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Only Good For Complete Beginners
Comment: DarkBASIC is only good for people very new to programming and interested in games. To make a commercial-quality game in this language would be lunacy, BASIC just isn't quite flexible enough to do that with ease, and the DarkBASIC renderer looks very, very ugly. However, BASIC remains very easy to learn and DarkBASIC has some commands that are fun to toy with.
If you're trying to get into serious game development, learn C++ and either learn how to use libraries like OpenGL or DirectX, or start modding a popular engine like the Unreal engine or Source. And make sure you've learned a good deal of physics and math.
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