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Hey people.

I want to expand my horizons somewhat and move on from php etc. I have been looking a little into c++ and the dark gdk library.

I have had an idea buzzing about my head for the last week since I got my new lappy which came with a nice little game called FATE. Whether any of you are familiar with the the game or not. IMO it is a very basic but nice little game.

I got into this hobby with the hope that one day I might be able to make a nice little mmorpg, and now I understand a little more about the concept of programming, I want to try and produce something fun and enjoyable for myself programming it and players to play and get hooked on that I php jsut isn't fit for :p

what I want to know. Is has anyone used the said tools above, and how easy it would be to learn and use.

Love y'all xx

I haven't used DarkGDK, but I have used DarkBasicPro which is very similar. DarkGDK will do a lot of what you want to do reasonably well and easily, but due to it's higher level nature you may end up working against it. Also since DarkGDK uses C++ that can make things a bit more difficult, especially if you don't know C++ well (Classes, pointers, templates, linked lists, etc.)

If you know C++, this will be a great way to get you started with making games in it.
If you don't, then pick up a book or two and learn that first. C++ is a big, complex language and is one that would be hard to learn as you go along.

Sakar wrote:C++ is a big, complex, ugly language and is one that would be hard to learn as you go along.

Fixed

I personally think that C++ is one of the ugliest of the C-style languages out there, but that is just me. If I were wanting to move from PHP to a 3D game-making language, I would go with XNA and C#. If I am not mistaken, Dark GDK uses managed C++/CLI, so the same overhead is there for both C# and C++. If I am wrong, I still think it would be worth it for the productivity increases of using a modern, elegant language.

only other experience other than php etc, is a little c# when i was playing with asp.net

I have had a quick llook at XNA & C#. i think that is where i am oing to head to tbh. Thanks Jack <3 xx

if anyone knows of any decent tutorial sites etc, be kind and point me to them :p

I have used Dark GDk and I do not recommend it. There are many other libraries out there that are twice as good.

You could check out this site and this site. These sites are typically where the experienced users on the MSDN XNA forums point new users.

Just remember that XNA is actually a low-level platform masquerading as a high-level platform, so don't get discouraged when it takes some time to make things that have "wow factor". It is a very rewarding platform to use, particularly since there is a direct pipeline to sell your creations on Windows, XBox 360, Zune and Windows Phone 7 mobile devices with only a few lines of code changed for each one. With almost everything else, you are completely on your own for marketing.

Thanks jack

started playing with it last night... seems my lappy dont wanna compile the games for some reason summit to do wimme gfx lol. so untill i can get direct x installed i cnt do naff all unles i work on my desktop -.-

when i get the hang oof things i might form a little group

untill then. i have to make my way to work :(

You need to change your game's profile to "Reach". Right-click the name of your project in the Solution Explorer, click "Properties", and then under the XNA Game Studio tab, change the game profile from HiDef to Reach.

What the error means is that the GPU on your laptop does not support the required specs to run HiDef Profile games, so you can't develop them on it. I had to do the same thing on my laptop. It really is no big deal since very few XNA games are created that would use Pixel Shader 3.0 and the other HiDef Profile specs, as that is mostly the realm of commercial development.

Ahhh cool lol.

Shame really. I wanted my 2D iso sprites to be in full hidef. Lol.

Odd though really. My gfx card on my lappy is a hidef one :s

Its actually kind of a dumb name, because "HiDef Profile" doesn't mean hi-definition. Even Reach Profile makes hi-def games. Instead, the difference is in graphical effects, the largest being whether or not Pixel Shader 3.0 is supported.