darkGDK, a good C++ API?

[DeFormat]

Would darkGDK be a place to start learning an additional API at? I know C and C++ already. Just not all the 3d graphics and game development yet and i would like to learn it. I need some suggestions on what API to use.

[Falco Girgis]

DarkGDK is not an API, it's a game development library. I have never used it, though.

[DeFormat]

>.< Thats me being a dumb ass. Anyways.. One of my friends used it on a school project for a 3d game and apparently it doesn't come with a collision detection so i would have to write one myself. Ill try it out and get back to you guys on how good it really is.


EDIT:: BTW, your Where to start videos on youtube, very useful :D

[Spikey]

See this thread
http://elysianshadows.com/phpBB3/viewto ... it=darkgdk

Also there's several free collision detection libraries for darkgdk, Spark'y Collision Library is a notable one.
I've made a few thing with darkgdk, check out my signature for link

[DeFormat]

Ok ill be sure to check it out. Do you suggest starting with darkGDK for game development? Or another library?

[DeFormat]

Its not that bad actually. Very simple. It can load BSP maps :D Compiled ones that is. Compiled into .pk3. You just have to get collision. Ill work on a simple walk around game in it and release it. Jsut as my first game.

[davidthefat]

Thats shit wont let you move your 2d sprite left or right... YOu got to rotate it 90 or 270 degrees to make it turn right... Just go to SDL or OpenGL...

[Spikey]

@davidthefat
You shouldn't be using 'Move Sprite' anyway, if that's what you were referring to. All transformations (translate, rotate, etc) should be done with matrices or at least vectors. So I don't see how your comment justifies moving onto more complex libraries. DeFormat asked for a place to start, and taking baby steps is better than trying to do a huge leap. I would recommend DarkGDK for novice enthusiasts for it`s simplicity and time saving, it`s much more encouraging to see results early on.

[DeFormat]

Im more into 3d stuff anyways. I made a cone that moves around and the camera follows it. The fast the cone goes, the farther away the camera gets, when you turn really fast it does that woosh thing like turning a car in GTA or somethin. Anyways, its pretty awesome.

[afaik]

In case you made the jump into darkGDK, try and dig up some reviews for this book:
Starting Out with Games and Graphics in C++ by Tony Gaddis. It's a fairly new book and there aren't any reviews for him yet on amazon. I'm learning c++ with his starting with C++ book and wish I found him years ago. If you look into his other books, people say great things about him. I might buy the book to make programming a little more interesting instead of just working with just the command prompt. Any who, good luck.

[Kros]

To expand further on Gyro's post, an API is an Application Programming Interface. It generally is a library or module that allows you to access other application's "guts".

An easy to understand example is add-on writing for a nameless MMOG. In order to better facilitate add-on writing, some MMOG developers expose an API to their playerbase for this purpose. As you script your add-on in lua or whatever scripting language the MMOG decided on, you use pre-defined functions outlined in the API to do certain tasks within the game.

I.E. you might do something like: writeToChatLog("Blah blah blah", 1)

Where the first arg would be your message and the second an identifier to which channel/log/etc. the message writes to. Then, when running your script, your "Blah blah blah" message would send out to log 1.

For more if you're interested: http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... leId=43487 (they write much better than I do. =] )

[ibly31]

I tried DarkGDK because of the flashy page where i got VC++, and It sucked... I decided to move on to SDL(thanks to ES team ;D) and thento irrlicht for 3D. Its good for beginner stuff but it seems to only have functions for stuff shown in the demos if you know what I mean. If you want to do anything beyond "dbMoveCameraWithArrowKeys()" I suggest moving to something with more control. Beware though; more control usually means more complex.