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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Pre-newbie question - should I buy DB?

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Buddy Bradley
21
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Joined: 14th Apr 2003
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Apr 2003 14:18
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Been thinking about purchasing DBPro for a while now, as my attempts at game-design in VB have been rather pitiful (mainly as I can't be bothered to learn the language properly). The only thing that's stopping me at the moment is that I have absolutely zero artistic talent, so I'm thinking that although I can handle the programming anything I write is going to look a little bit, um, shite...

So my question is: are there resources (either online libraries or designer peeps who can't program ) to fill this gap in my skillset? I don't really want to spend more money on stuff like DarkMatter, though.

Cheers!
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GCEclipse
21
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Joined: 23rd Sep 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Apr 2003 14:40
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Yeh there are plenty of resources out there for newcomers - try www.3dcafe.com or look under resources on the DBPro page, or theres plenty of artists just waiting for a team to join as an alternative option.

You're sure to get better results in DBPro than in VB quickly. Obviously VB is superior if you're prepared to devote the time to learning DirectX but for quick and good results DBP is a winner!

GC
http://www.eclipsedevelopment.co.uk/
Succession: The Betrayal developer
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funboy
21
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Joined: 13th Apr 2003
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Posted: 14th Apr 2003 15:46
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BUY DARKBASICPRO, ITS KEWL!!!!!!! YOU CAN USE YOUR L33T MAD CODING SKILLZ TO MAKE CRAZY GAMES LIKE PACMAN AND TETRIS THEN SELL FOR $$$$!
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Superbeest
21
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Joined: 9th Mar 2003
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 14th Apr 2003 15:56
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Please dont write in caps. That is bugging! But I do second your opinion. You can create everuthing with DB, if you put enough time and effort in a project. Games like Pacman and Tetris are possible, but als o games like HalfLife or Unreal. You are only limited to your imagination and your modeling skills. But as said before, you can find enough modellers to do the work for you.
And besides that, DB isn't expensive for a programming language, so why don't you give it a try. Or at least download the DEMO.

By steel will thy flesh divide
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BoB Vila
21
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Joined: 27th Feb 2003
Location: United States
Posted: 15th Apr 2003 03:21
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I'm note quite sure how VB could be superior to DBP. Its so freaking slow, and requires runtimes. i've seen a couple 3D games written in VB and they stunk. Maybe I'm wrong... I'd like to see some examples of quality games written in VB..

Bobvila.com made me take off my avatar! (dunno how they found out)
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CloseToPerfect
21
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Joined: 20th Dec 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 15th Apr 2003 08:07
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i'd like to see quality games written in dark basic pro, I hope some come out in the retro comp.

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Danmatsuma
21
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Joined: 2nd Mar 2003
Location: Australia
Posted: 15th Apr 2003 08:38
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Well you can just program your games with primative objects like cubes and spheres and sprites with numbers instead of images, then get some help for artwork from the team requests forum *giggle* ,but seriously, if you have a program ready to go, there are people here only too willing to help with graphics, sounds, modelling etc, 'cos to some of us that's the fun part

ZX Spectrum 48k Issue 3, Radio shack Tape drive, Rank arena 12" T.V. set.
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Guillermo
22
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Joined: 15th Sep 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 16th Apr 2003 16:21
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Dark Basic Pro is definitelly a good program. But it's help files aren't so well developed. Learning Dark Basic has ended up being very difficult because of insuffitient literature. I also have Blitz Basic, and it is much easier to learn. Its command help has short and clear examples that are lacking in DB command help. Still, Dark Basic seems to have more commands and to be more complete than Blitz Basic. I would say that if the Dark Basic team worked over the Docummentation, it would be the best. There are also other problems that have never been solved. I use three computers and like to test every thing on all of them. But One of my computers does not compile DB. It simply gives a message that 24 bit is not supported on line 0. This problem has never been solved. If that was my only computer, I would be furious.
The way I look at it, if you really want to write programs, you should try the demos of Blitz and Dark Basic until you are sure as to which is the best. I wouldn't bother with VB unless I was going to look for employment in the programming field. If you are seeking employment, then figure out what program is used in your favorite companies, and then learn that one.

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Dave J
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
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Joined: 11th Feb 2003
Location: Secret Military Pub, Down Under
Posted: 16th Apr 2003 16:43
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Visual Basic still conquers the most number of amature games programmers and yes, it is superior. Dark Basic may be faster and easier with 3D but it is by no means better then VB because VB can simply do anything by referencing OCX's and DLL's, it has direct (no pun) access to DirectX and Direct3D so it's functions are limited by it's speed alone. Within Dark Basic we can only use the functions given to us and often we'll be wanting to do something that's simply not possible at the moment.

VB's harder to learn but it is 'superior'. Oh and runtimes don't mean much at all, all you have to do is include any OCX's you used which is only ever 2 or 3 and you can easily use an install program to automatically do this without the user knowing.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
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John H
Retired Moderator
21
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Joined: 14th Oct 2002
Location: Burlington, VT
Posted: 17th Apr 2003 00:39
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Dark Basic Pro and Classic both come with a full manual describing each command, and the program comes with an example on how to use each command so Guillermos comment is rather wrong.

Whenever I run into a problem I read through my manual, and check each command and think about how it may help me, so lack of doccumentation is no reason to not learn DB. The doccumentation is actually what helped me learn DB best.

I suggest DB over most programming languages, as it is powerful, and Pro is still being developed as we speak.

Go for it

RPGamer

Current Project: Eternal Destiny
Tech Demo - Colan Island: Currently 716 Lines
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