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DarkBASIC Discussion / General Help

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cdypoore
13
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Joined: 19th Jul 2010
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 01:02
I'm planning on buying DarkBasic, but I need to know some things first.
1.) Is it compatible with Windows 7 and Directx 11?
2.) How hard is it for a teenager to learn and how long could it take?
3.) What is reccomended for making cutscenes and player models?
4.) Am I able to program player choices throughout, like InFamous or GTA 4?
I'm planning on making an action-adventure open-world game. I want to make the game in HD with graphics as good as commercial games. I have a few people helping me along the way. My uncle is going to help with programming, my friends are going to help develop and write, some are helping program, and others are helping shape up the plot.
BN2 Productions
20
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Joined: 22nd Jan 2004
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 05:05
1) Yes (though I think it uses DirectX 9 but it should still work)
2) Depends. If you haven't programmed ever before, a long long time. If you have, a long time. It's just like learning any other language, you have to start small learning basic words, then you learn to put a few together to make rough sentences, then you learn how to conjugate things, make better sentences, etc etc. With enough time (lots and lots of time) and effort (lots of lots of effort) you will be giving speeches that motivate crowds to rally behind you. But it will take time. Is it hard? Not really (it's tricky, but I wouldn't say "hard", it's more in learning how to think correctly).
3) There are tons of 3d modelling programs out there. These will take a while to learn. One of the good free ones is Blender (so I've heard, I never actually tried it). I learned 3ds max back in high school but that's quite the expensive program.
4) You can do whatever you want. But don't and let me repeat this: DON'T expect to be able to do it right away.


I know where you are coming from, I was there myself when I first started. Learning the language is just the start. In my experience you get more results from knowing HOW TO USE the commands, than knowing what they do. That is something that can only come through practice and experience with the language.

Now that that's out of the way, I will add this: programming is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding. I taught myself DarkBASIC in middle school and have now been programming for nearly 8 years now. I still haven't made a full game (but to be fair, I get bored and move on to a new project a lot). I have made some mini games and arcade game clones for DarkNOOBS, but never anything truly awesome. Again, it's mostly because I lack the attention span to follow through on things.

If you haven't already, I would suggest reading through TDK's tutorials, as they are a great starting point for the language (they are stickied at the top). Then I would suggest sticking to 2D games until you get the hang of it. 3D has an easier learning curve at the beginning but you won't go too far with it. 2D is a little tougher at first, but once you get the hang of it you learn SO much and most of it is directly useable when you enter 3D.

Great Quote:
"Time...LINE??? Time isn't made out of lines...it is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round!" -Caboose
TheComet
16
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Joined: 18th Oct 2007
Location: I`m under ur bridge eating ur goatz.
Posted: 3rd Aug 2011 13:36
1) yes, but DarkBASIC Classic uses DirectX 7, and is pretty slow. I recommend getting DarkBASIC Pro, it uses DirectX 9.0c, and is a lot faster, supports better graphics, and all of the other good stuff.

2) The learning curve is pretty tough at the start, though after about 2 years, you are certainly able to make good quality, small games. I've been programming for 5 years, and I'm working on a Super Smash Bros. style game (click the image at the bottom of my post to check that out). It's been in developement for almost 2 years, and it's still far from finished. That just shows you how long it takes to make something.

3) Free programs : Blender, Wings 3D
Costly Programs : AC3D, 3DSmax, Milkshape3D

I use AC3D, though that costed 80$ (Well worth it BTW). For animations, you can use Blender, Milkshape 3D , or an external program like CharacterFX (free).

4) Yes, but it takes a lot of time, and as BN2 mentioned, DON'T expect to just magically be able to do it the first time. It's not an easy task to just make something like GTA4.

TheComet

Libervurto
17
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Joined: 30th Jun 2006
Location: On Toast
Posted: 4th Aug 2011 21:29
Quote: "I'm planning on making an action-adventure open-world game. I want to make the game in HD with graphics as good as commercial games. I have a few people helping me along the way. My uncle is going to help with programming, my friends are going to help develop and write, some are helping program, and others are helping shape up the plot. "

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS NOW!
It will be years before you are capable of even STARTING a project of that scale, and a good few years more to actually make it, no matter how quickly you learn. You'll just get bored and frustrated with it. Trust me, if you start this project now you will never finish it, ever!

Coming up with ideas is fun though, so keep working on your ideas and think about what would work well in a game and what wouldn't. Not every idea has to be made into a game, and most of them never are anyway. The more ideas you write out, expand on and tweak, the better you will become at having ideas for games. Hopefully this will coincide with you getting better at programming games too!

Learn the basics then maybe you can make a text-based version of your game.
There's a lot of stuff to learn but don't let that put you off, every new command you learn gives you more power!

Phaelax
DBPro Master
20
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Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 7th Aug 2011 00:09
Quote: "I want to make the game in HD "

There's an overused and often misunderstood term. Games have technically been in HD for over a decade.

cdypoore
13
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Joined: 19th Jul 2010
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2011 22:26
Quote: "Quote: "I want to make the game in HD "
There's an overused and often misunderstood term. Games have technically been in HD for over a decade.
"


Sorry if I wasn't clear. I mean graphics that look as good or better than PS3 or Xbox 360, which I guess would be 1080p (as good as) or 2560 x 1440 (better)
Fluffy Rabbit
User Banned
Posted: 23rd Sep 2011 00:01
Quote: "Sorry if I wasn't clear. I mean graphics that look as good or better than PS3 or Xbox 360, which I guess would be 1080p (as good as) or 2560 x 1440 (better)"


You can set it to any resolution you want. However, the graphics might not be up to par with what you're expecting.

This is for two reasons:

1) Mipmapped textures have a maximum resolution of 1024x512, so you can't have high-res textures.

2) There is no bone animation, so characters' limbs will be all jointed.

DarkBASIC Pro solves both of these problems, but it is harder to learn and the free version has tons of ads.

Speaking of which, you can just download the DarkBASIC 1.2 "upgrade" (you'd have to google it) and you don't have to pay The Game Creators a dime. However, this does not grant you a commercial license to sell your games.

If you want to sell games made with DarkBASIC Classic, you're going to have to cough up $10. It's well worth it.

However, the free version of DarkBASIC Pro does grant you a commercial license, and DarkGDK has a commercial license too, and it's free. However, with DarkGDK you'd have to learn C.

Alternatively, you could just use FreeBASIC, which is as easy as DarkBASIC Pro and completely free, but it lacks almost all of the features. In that case I would recommend using FreeGDK (you'd have to google it).

The only problem with FreeBASIC is that it's not a TGC product, so you wouldn't have the support of the community here. In that case, you could buy PureGDK, which is basically like DarkGDK for another form of BASIC.

However, why buy PureGDK when you could just buy DarkBASIC? Or DarkBASIC Pro? Either one is good.

So yes, high def is possible, but you can't just click-click-bam create a game. If you want that, you can buy The 3D Game Maker, but it costs $99.

Bottom line, either buy DarkBASIC or download DarkBASIC Pro.

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