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DarkGDK .NET
The ease of DarkBASIC Pro with the power of Visual Basic.NET and C#.NET

Now you can take full advantage of the game engine that powers DarkBASIC Professional from within any of the Visual Studio .NET Express or Visual Studio .NET Professional environments, with the DarkGDK.NET.

A whole new world of possibilities can be opened up by combining the features that both Visual Basic.NET and C# offers, and the power of the DarkGDK.NET. The GDK brings the flexibility of the DarkBASIC Professional engine to the world of .NET development while still retaining the ease of use that DarkBASIC Professional offers.

The DarkGDK.NET provides virtually* all of the command sets found within DarkBASIC Professional into an easy to use library format that is compatible with the following development environments:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2008
  • Microsoft Visual Basic.NET Express Editions
  • Microsoft Visual C#.NET Express Editions
  • Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 and above

Developing games with the DarkGDK offers many benefits:

  • Royalty Free License available
  • Near native execution speeds comparable with C++.
  • Amazingly small executables. EXE file sizes start from 3 to 5k, a typical starting size for .NET based executables.
  • Significantly faster compile times and easier debugging (dependant on compiler used)
  • Use virtually all of the commands and functions found in DarkBASIC Professional
  • Combine all of this with the features that .NET development offers such as the chance to use object oriented code, an industry standard syntax, well developed compilers and IDEs.
  • All game commands are covered: joystick handling, keyboard input, music, sound and animation as well as the 3D game engine.
  • All the benefits of a .NET compiler and language structure / syntax found with Visual Basic.NET and C#. All with the functions and features of DarkBASIC Professional
  • A great way to get into .NET development. And take advantage of using .NET GUI components such as WinForms.
Use industry standard .NET compilers

Once installed it only takes a few simple steps to be able to use the GDK within your compiler and you can then start developing a .NET application that utilises the features of the GDK. Full documentation and tutorials are available for getting you started up straight away.

Here's an example in Visual Basic.NET to show just how easy the GDK is to use:
Public Shared Sub GameLoop()
        Dim colonel As DarkGDK.Basic3D.Object3D

        DarkGDK.Core.Print("Please wait, Loading model...")
        DarkGDK.Core.Sync()
        DarkGDK.Core.Sync()

        DarkGDK.IO.File.SetCurrentDirectory("......Media")

        colonel = New DarkGDK.Basic3D.Object3D("Colonel-X.X")

        DarkGDK.Camera.DefaultCamera.PositionCurrent(0, 50, -80)

        colonel.LoopAnimation()
        colonel.AnimationSpeed = 40

        While DarkGDK.Engine.LoopGDK
            DarkGDK.Core.Sync()
        End While
    End Sub

This example loads a 3D model, positions the camera and starts the animation for the model, looping round until the escape key is pressed using a standard Visual Basic.NET While loop. Many of you will recognise the commands as they are named in a very similar manner to those in DarkBASIC Professional. You'll notice they are all categorised under their own function groups, with no spacing. Using the Intellisense feature of your preferred development environment, it is far easier to find a function just by typing in the first few characters of the function name. Your desired function will be highlighted in seconds. The commands themselves work in exactly the same way as the DarkBASIC Professional equivalents.

Examples and Help Files

A selection of example programs are provided with the DarkGDK.NET demonstrating how to take advantage of its many features. Several demos have been created and others converted from the original DarkBASIC Professional to demonstrate the benefits when using the DarkGDK.NET.

Also included with the DarkGDK.NET is a comprehensive help file detailing all of the functions available, easy to follow tutorials to get you up and running straight away, and a useful index & search facility.

* Some DarkBASIC Professional commands have been excluded, or have no GDK equivalent.

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Order Dark GDK .NET on-line now. The process is safe and secure. Please note - if you have purchased any previous versions of Dark GDK .NET then you are entitled to a free upgrade, this can be found in your Order History.

Dark GDK .NET

GDK for .Net Developers

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Dark GDK .NET is distributed electronically.
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