DarkBASIC

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

DarkBASIC is a commercial game creation programming language released by the United Kingdom based company The Game Creators. The language is a structured form of BASIC and is similar to AMOS on the Amiga. The purpose of the language is game creation using Microsoft's DirectX from a BASIC programming language.

Contents

[edit] DarkBASIC

Darkbasic is a programming language that specializes in the creation of games. It can create both 2D and 3D games using a lot less code than the equivalent program would take by using more powerful languages such as C++ due to the included libraries. It is often referred to as DarkBASIC Classic to avoid confusion with DarkBASIC Professional. It consists of an IDE, Debugger and Compiler, and an engine built on DirectX 7. The compiler emitted Bytecode that is appended to an interpreter to create a stand alone executable. The current version is 1.2.0, released October 2007. Since the introduction of Darkbasic Professional, The Game Creators have stated that there will be no further updates to the language, although it will still be sold.

Picture of Dark Basic version 1.14
Picture of Dark Basic version 1.14


[edit] Features of DarkBASIC

Audio/Video Extension Save
Wave WAV Yes
Windows Media WMA
Mpeg Layer 2 MP2
Mpeg Layer 3 MP3
MIDI Playback MIDI
RMI RMI
Scream tracker S3M
Fast Tracker XT
Impule Tracker IT
SoundTracker MOD
CD Audio CDA
2D Extension Save
Bitmap BMP Yes
Run Length Encoded BMP RLE
Device Independent Bitmap DIB
Portable Network Graphics PNG
JPEG JPG Yes
DirectDraw Surface DDS
Targa TGA
PCX PCX
PhotoShop PSD
Tagged Interchange Format TIFF
3D Extension
3D Studio 3DS
DirectX X Yes
Dark Basic Object DBO

DarkBASIC is a wide language which covers all areas of game development typical of its time, hence it also includes a wide range of file formats typically used in games. Extra features such as multiplayer and EAX support became available in an expansion pack.

[edit] Display

[edit] Input/Output

  • Mouse, Keyboard and Gaming controller input.
  • Force-Feedback Control
  • System Handling
  • File Handling

[edit] Video and Audio

  • Video Animation Control
  • Audio Control

[edit] 2D

  • Super-Fast 2D blitting
  • Mirror, Stretch, Blur and Fade
  • Screen-Sized and animated sprites
  • Transparency
  • Fast pixel perfect Collision
  • 2D Drawing Functions

[edit] 3D

[edit] DarkBASIC Professional

Main article: DarkBASIC Professional

Developed as a replacement for DarkBASIC. As with DarkBASIC it consisted of an IDE, debugger and compiler. Unlike DarkBASIC, the DarkBASIC Professional compiler outputs Machine Code. The engine originally used DirectX 8.1 but has been updated to use DirectX, 9.0c. The language is essentially the same as DarkBASIC with a few additions. Notably types which allow combining simple data types into a composite data type similar to Structs in C. Other features include the use of shaders, 3D maths commands and vertex editing commands. The current version is 6.5 released 1. March 2007.

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.


[edit] Plugin architecture

Plugins allow extra commands to be added to the language. Plugins are DLLs with an embedded string resource detailing the routines implemented in the dll[1]. At compile time the compiler bundles the relevant plugin dlls into the executable[2].

Interestingly built-in commands are also implemented in the same way. This allows third party plugins access to built-in commands by calling the correct function in the relevant dll.

Currently available plugins provide a wide range of addition commands from language extensions and utility functions[3]. to integration with physics engines[4] or accessing a Database.

[edit] Dark Game SDK

The DarkBASIC Professional engine packaged up for use with Visual C++ or Microsoft .NET. It has been publiscised as released with Visual C++ 2008, and is specially designed with intellisense for this edition. The DarkGDK can be used with Visual C++ and is available as a free download, and the DarkGDK.Net product is available for purchase and allows access to the DarkBASIC engine from C# and VB.NET.

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.


[edit] Sample code

[edit] Hello world[5]

 
REM print on screen Hello world
PRINT "Hello world."
REM wait for a key to be pressed
WAIT KEY
REM end the program
END

[edit] Simple Rotating Cube[6]

 
REM 3D rotating cube demo

SYNC RATE 60

MAKE OBJECT CUBE 1,100

DO
    XROTATE OBJECT 1,OBJECT ANGLE X(1)+0.3
    YROTATE OBJECT 1,OBJECT ANGLE Y(1)+0.5
    SYNC
LOOP

[edit] Dark Game SDK[7]

 
#include "DarkGDK.h"

void DarkGDK ( void )
{
        // set sync on and sync rate to 60 frames per second
        dbSyncOn   ( );
        dbSyncRate ( 60 );

        // make a cube
        dbMakeObjectCube ( 1, 10 );

        // loop until the escape key is pressed
        while ( !dbEscapeKey ( ) )
        {
                // update screen
                dbSync ( );
        }
}

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Third Party Commands SDK
  2. ^ Darkbasic pro and classic exe format information.
  3. ^ Matrix1Utils plugins collection.
  4. ^ NewtonDBPro - Newton Game Dynamics plugin.
  5. ^ Darkbasic Professional user manual
  6. ^ TheGameCreators.com darkBASIC codebase
  7. ^ Dark Game SDK user manual

[edit] External links