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Hello,

I want to buy either DarkBASIC, or Dark GDK, but I cannot figure out which one would be best for me. I used to know a little bit of both Basic and C++ so neither one is in any way foreign to me. But I have several questions I want to ask:

1) Could you go into the main differences between the two a little? (I looked on the website but i'd like to know a little more)

2) Can Dark GDK do absolutely everything that DarkBASIC can?

3) I've seen that there are two books written for DarkBASIC. Is there significant support for Dark GDK, such as tutorials, instruction, books, etc.?

4) Is either "better" than the other?

5) Does either have any features and/or capabilities that the other does not have?

6) Do I need to know C++ in order to use Dark GDK?

7) DarkBASIC had a series of expansions that I saw, how many are there? and, are there expansions for Dark GDK? If not will Dark GDK lack the abilities that DarkBASIC gains from those expansions?

That should be all of my questions about my purchase. If there is anything else you think I should know that may sway me one way or the other please feel free to tell me. My apologies for the long list of questions. Thank you very much for your time.

Ross

If you don't already know how to program in c++, buy DarkBasic. That's all you need to know

[edit] Looks like you do know c++. Darkbasic is still a lot easier.

If you want to code in OOP, using the IDE of your choice then go for either the DGDK (C++ libs) or the DGDK.NET (C#, VB.NET). If you want to use an older style procedural basic, then go for DB Pro.

And remember that DarkBASIC is a different product to DarkBASIC Professional. Given your background, you should discard the classic version and base your comparison on Pro.

DB Pro has more plugins available than the GDK. For example, Dark PHYSICS can't be used with the GDK.

Hey everyone,

First of all thank you very much for your answers.

As far as my programming experience, I didn't really "know" C++, but several years ago I knew a good bit of it. But my memory of it now is not anything exponential. Nor is my knowledge of basic. Whenever I was using game maker, I had a horrible time trying to find good information on how to use the more advanced features, and that is my worry with this as well. I want to have sufficient resources (tutorials, etc.) to learn what I need to know. With DarkBASIC two books are written, with Dark GDK I didn't see anything like that. But no I don't already know C++, i'm slightly familiar with it, but I couldn't do anything like program a game with it. I'd love any further input you guys could give me, thanks a lot.

- Ross

Im thinking you should then start in DB Pro, which you can learn and have pretty much everything you need to make full games, then later if you crave a more powerful platform both coding-wise, and debugging-wise, you can switch to one of the dgk based flavors. Forget db classic, I am not sure why they still even sell it, sorry to say.