The Game Creators are pleased to announce that their flagship C++ game development package, Dark GDK is now included free of charge with Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express, part of the Microsoft Visual Studio Express range.

Dark GDK offers you the power of DarkBASIC Professional, with complete integration into Visual C++ 2008 Express's development environment.

Harness the power and performance of C++

Royalty-free license (for personal use)

Full IntelliSense support in Visual C++ 2008 Express

Beginner and Advanced tutorials including:

Shaders - Beginner and Advanced Tutorials on adding Shaders to your games

Game Level - Walkthru for the process of loading and moving around a game level

3D Objects - learn how to load and animate 3D objects within a game

Dark Invaders - Advanced and comprehensive game tutorial

and more ...

Here's an example to show just how easy Dark GDK is:

// whenever using Dark GDK you must ensure you include the header file
#include "DarkGDK.h"

// the main entry point for the application is this function
void DarkGDK ( void )
{
    // turn on sync rate and set maximum rate to 60 fps
    dbSyncOn   ( );
    dbSyncRate ( 60 );

    // switch to the media directory, load our world
    // and turn lighting off
    SetCurrentDirectory ( "media" );
    dbLoadObject        ( "universe.dbo", 1 );
    dbSetObjectLight    ( 1, 0 );

    // load a model for our sky
    dbLoadObject        ( "skybox2.x", 2 );
    dbSetObjectLight    ( 2, 0 );
    dbSetObjectTexture    ( 2, 3, 2 );
    dbScaleObject        ( 2, 5000, 5000, 5000 );

    // position the camera
    dbPositionCamera    ( 434, 42, -517 );

    // camera variables
    float fCameraAngleX = 0.0f;
    float fCameraAngleY = 0.0f;

    // our main loop
    while ( LoopGDK ( ) )
    {
        // move the camera using the arrow keys
        dbControlCameraUsingArrowKeys ( 0, 5.0f, 0.3f );

        // create a rotation axis based on mouse movement
        fCameraAngleX = dbWrapValue ( fCameraAngleX + dbMouseMoveY ( ) * 0.4f );
        fCameraAngleY = dbWrapValue ( fCameraAngleY + dbMouseMoveX ( ) * 0.4f );

        // rotate camera
        dbXRotateCamera ( fCameraAngleX );
        dbYRotateCamera ( fCameraAngleY );
        
        // update the screen
        dbSync ( );
    }

    // return back to windows
    return;
}

The code above will load a 3D level (exported from FPS Creator), complete with skybox, and allow the player to walk around it using the arrow keys. Many of the commands used are similar to those found in our flagship development package DarkBASIC Professional.

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

Also included is a collection of fully animated and professionally produced 3D objects:

25+ People and Monsters

20+ Vehicles

10+ Weapons

Plus Much More!

Extra game assets included are:

Videos, Bitmaps and Models

35 MIDI music files

120+ Audio Files

200+ WAV sound effect files

4 MP3 game soundtracks

Add extra assets to your games with our DarkMATTER 2 and DarkMATTER 3 collections.

Dark GDK is also available for the .NET platform. For more details go here - Dark GDK .NET