Have you ever wanted to create your own computer games ? If yes DarkBasic is the place to start your experiments and learn the concepts in game making. DarkBasic is a programming language based on the old programming language BASIC, a lot of more functionalities added to provide extensive graphics and sound support. DarkBasic has got special commands to control 3D objects, terrains, sprites etc. The language has also got very good and easy to use networking support to create multiplayer games.In the old days game creaters had to write a lot of c or c++ code to directly communicate with the PCs sound and display devices to create good graphics and sound effects. This is a very tedious and time killing process. To solve this problem people created sound and video engines like directx and openGL which are frameworks which a programmer can use to create games or high end graphics programs. But still it required the programmer to understand the C++ code in which these frameworks were written to use them efficiently. More over langiages like C, C++ etc were not particularly designed to create games, so they required a lot of initializations and preparations on the programmers part to start with a game. But DarkBasic is specifically designed for this purpose and saves the programmer from a lot of hasseles like initialising the hardwares etc.

DarkBasic allows you to use third party tools to develop your own characters and terrains for your games. You can use softwares like maya, 3d studio etc to create terrains and 3d characters very easily. Then you can import them into your darkbasic game very easily by using a single line commad. You can then manipulate the terrain or the character by using very simple and easy to use commands to create your game. This approach to game creation allows different people with different skills to come together and create a game. The artist can create character models and terrains using easily available commercial softwares. Then the programmer can use these models to create the game.

The language syntax is very much similar to the old QBASIC. The variable declarations, program flow controls etc are like BASIC. The language can handle input devices very easily. To read the mouse cursor positions all you have to do is call

x=mousex()
y=mousey()

Joystick is also accessed in a similar fashion. Single line commands can be used to create and manipulate almost every geometrical shape you need. Another feature which makes this language so popular is the ability to load bitmaps, sounds and 3d objects from an external file. The language has even got support for surround sound. You can position sound anywhere you want if your machine has got surround sound speakers.

Load 3dsound “sound.wav”,1
position sound 1, 100, 0, -100

These two lines of code will make the sound.wav play at the rear right of your surround system. This feature can be used to give very realistic 3D sound effects to games.

The language also has got excellent text manipulation functions, 3d object control, camera motion, multiplayer support etc. If you are a gaming fan and you have got some programming skills darkbasic is going to be very easy for you. This is your opportunity to create your own NFS or Counter Strike. With just 2 days of learning I did the complete snake game, and that too in 130 lines. DarkBasic is that simple and powerful. So get started, download it from http://darkbasic.thegamecreators.com

The system requirements for darkbasic

300 MHz Pentium II Processor
Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / ME / XP (Home / Pro)
60 MB of hard disk space
64 MB of Ram
DirectX Version 8.1+
Fully DirectX compatible Graphics Card with 8 MB Memory or more
Direct X compatible Sound Card
4x Speed CD-Rom Drive

Some Sample screenshots follows

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