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Dark GDK / DarkGDK vs DBP

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Doctorwhobbc
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 10:37
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I know a little DBP and i'm also learning c++ right now. Im thinking of getting the darkgamestudio because it comes with all sorts of DARK products.
Since i dont have much experience i could go either way (GDK or just straight up DBP) but other than the language what are the differences? is GDK more powerful or what? Simple examples and maybe even pro's vs con's would help.

Thanks guys
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Hawkblood
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 17:49
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GDK gives you more options when writing complex games. The most important thing to me is the "classes". If you don't know what that is, it's like making a custom storeage class.

"int" is the integer storeage class.
"float" is the floating point storeage class.
.... and so on.
When you declare a class:
class MYSTOREAGECLASS{
public:
int Age;
char *Name;
int NumberOfChildren;
char *Address;
..... whatever.....
};

Now you have a custom storeage class whith anything you want in it.

The fastest code is the code never written.
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Mr Bigglesworth
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 19:53
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Also, GDK is somewhat faster than dbPro in most situations.
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Hassan
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 20:30
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GDK is much better, aside from the advantages mentioned above, you will be learning the most, or at least, one of the most popular languages, which will be very useful for you in the future, especially if you want to be a programmer (if you are not one already )

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TechLord
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 23:09 Edited at: 2nd Aug 2011 23:13
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Truth be told, I've seen more games produced with DBPro than DGDK here on TGC. I recommend purchasing DarkGameStudio because it comes with all sorts of DARK products.

Super 3D Game Platform...For Indies By Indies
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Mulderman
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 23:40
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DarkGDK for sure.
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WLGfx
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 23:43
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I prefer C++ GDK than DBPro for lots of reasons as others will probably mention.

Dark Basic Pro does have the advantage of the many plugins available, lots of them free too which makes things easier to program with. I've recently come across something that DBPro has for free but not available in GDK and that's the Matrix1 Utils.

Apart from that C++ is definitely it but with a bigger learning curve.

Warning! May contain Nuts!
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TechLord
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 00:09 Edited at: 3rd Aug 2011 00:14
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I've work with all TGC Languages: DB Classic, DBPro, and DGDK. Each has it own level of convenience and difficulty. Considering DGDK/C++ is freely available, and the multitudes of C++ online resources, there really isn't a comparison. Just download it and start using it.

However, with DarkGameStudio, you're paying for more convenience and ease-of-use to get your game up and running quickly, if you can work within its capabilities. That's what its design to do and it does that very well. If you want more low-level control and more challenge then take on DGDK/C++. DGDK is a wolf is sheep's clothing, once you get a taste of C++/OOP you will find yourself abandoning its innocent procedural implementation.

It really depends on what you want to do and how much time and money your willing to put into it. I've been going at the DGDK Open Source Project (DOSP) for 2 years and I'm barely starting to understand what I'm doing. I've refactored over a 100 times in the last 2 years, and I still don't have a basic FPS game running. Today, DOSP doesn't even include DGDK anymore!

Super 3D Game Platform...For Indies By Indies
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Hawkblood
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 00:30
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I think Doctorwhobbc would benefit more if he/she concentrated on learning C++ before getting a bunch of plugins. There are plenty of examples/help everywhere on the internet.

The fastest code is the code never written.
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Dodga
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 05:28
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Probqably the nicest thing about c++ is classes. I know hawkblood touched on it, but classes give your game the ultimate organization, and make it WAY easier to program. Instead of having a billion variables decalred throughout the program and having to constantly remember the name, you can just store all your relevant variables in a class, and functions as well. So programming becomes as easy as this:

class CLevelObject
{
public:
int Objects[512];
float ObjectX[512];
float ObjectY[512];
float ObjectZ[512];
float AngleX[512];
float AngleY[512];
float AngleZ[512];
int IsRoom[512];
int IsAi[512];
int AIMode[512];
int LinkedPath[512];
bool CastShadow[512];
char * ModelsInLevel[100];
bool IsItem[512];
bool ItemID[512];
bool Transparency[512];
int TransMode[512];
bool Ghost[512];
int GhostMode[512];
int RotatingX[512];
int RotatingY[512];
int RotatingZ[512];


} levelobjects;

then you can go:

levelobjects.RotatingX(1)=20;

Visual c++ automatically will pull up all of the members of that class for you after you type the period, so you dont have to remember what you called each function, you just scroll through a list.

It allows you to visualize everything better too, you can do things like:
bool damage = Enemy.Attack(PLAYER, 20);
if(damage)
{
Player.RecieveDamage(amount);
}
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wickedly kick it
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Posted: 5th Aug 2011 17:46
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Dark Basic Pro will teach you some C++ concepts (Types are structs). But i'd have to say that C++ is alot easier to make engines with, while DBP is great for writing unique games you dont plan to make an engine out of. Classes are way too valuable to pass up as well. Classes can have methods (functions) in them, so you can do something like



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