Who are we?

Here at ADG we are all indie developers, mostly working from bedrooms, studies or (in my own case) from damp, cold utility rooms on ordinary desktops,laptops even netbooks. One thing we all have in common is that we are all striving to make the kind of games we would like to play ourselves!

Another thing we have in common here at ADG is that for the most part we are all using tools that most gamers (with a little bit of practice) could learn to use themselves! I didn't start out as a programmer, but I've been playing games for around 30 years now and only really picked up programming about three or four years ago. Now I have eight published games on AppUp and a passion for games I never thought possible.

So what 'tools' do we use?

Personally I have been using a programming language called Dark Basic Professional which can be used to create 2D and 3D games and has a huge number of free and paid for 'plugins' available ranging from terrain systems to the latest physics simulation systems such as Nvidia's PhysX!

Games built using DBPro can run on desktops, laptops and netbooks on multiple operating systems and are so "basic" to write literally anyone could do it!

Here is how to load a model into DBPro and texture it:

Load object "Marine.X", 1
Load image "MarineTexture.PNG", 1
Texture object 1, 1

Sound complicated? Most of the code is written like that so it is really easy to see what is happening.

DarkGDK is similar to programming in DBPro but using the more widely identified game programming language C++. The commands available in DarkGDK are based on DBPro and are therefore similarly named which makes the crossover to C++ easier for those of us hoping to get a job in the games industry.

The AGK (App Game Kit) is a new tool which becomes available from 15th August 2011 which will allow developers to write in BASIC or native languages such as C++ and deploy their game to multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Windows, Bada, Meego and Samsung. The BASIC language itself is based on DBPro coding and should be just as simple to create games with!

Currently it only supports 2D but there are plans for 3D too in the future.

In summary

What do all these programming tools have in common? Well they are all produced by The Game Creators and they are all easily accessible by you! Better still most of these tools are free until you start selling your games and there are some fantastic deals if you decide to purchase. Personally I would recommend the Dark Game Studio Bonanza pack for $49.99 which gives you DBPro and a host of really great plugins. I personally bought it just for some of the plugins!

So if you want to learn more go and take a look, but if you just want a little insight into how games like ours are produced then keep checking here and we'll be adding more detailed information and in depth articles like this one just for you!

Steven Holding

ADG Games & Applications