Greetings Bard's Tale fans, one and all!
I hope that May finds you in good spirits! My wife and I just had a new
baby last week! Her name is Glorianna. You can check her out on my new
web page, ScottTown.com.
In other news, well, I haven't been updating this web page as much as I'd
like too. So, this may be a good time to ask. Is there anyone out there
who would be willing to write an Editorial? If so, contact me
(Webmaster@BardsTale.com)
and we'll talk. Otherwise, I'll probably make them quarterly instead of monthly.
News Flash - I just got word that you can now download the
Bard's Tale games from http://www.classic-trash.com. Do check it out!
I'm a gamer, but I'm an even bigger game developer. While no, I have
never ever finished a game, or made anything that looks even cool, the
desire is still there...
I found something TOTALLY cool the other day on the Internet called
DarkBASIC that I'd like take a minute to tell you about.
DarkBASIC ("The ULTIMATE 3D Game Creator") is a Windows programming language that let's someone easily
program DirectX. DirectX is a programming interface that gives a programmer
fast access to a video card, sound card, joystick, and anything else
important to a video game programmer.
To use DirectX, you need to program in C++, and to do that, you need to be
a genius. That's where DarkBASIC comes in to play!
DarkBASIC is a programming language that makes it SUPER EASY to do 2D and
3D game development. You can program it in the BASIC language.
Here's something I made in less than an hour! I loaded two Commodore
graphics from the starter dungeon, and made about 21 "planes", and textured
each plane with the graphic. These became my walls and doors. Then,
I moved the walls around to form this dungeon maze:
Once you get it set up, you can walk through it! Here's what it looks like
if you are standing in the maze:
Then, I was able to do something totally new in the Bard's Tale world - I
tipped the camera down, and backed up about three squares. I was then
above the maze, and I could look down on it!
Wouldn't this be handy when you got lost?
If I could make something like this in less than an hour, then DarkBASIC
truly is an amazing language! I am sure that it must have taken hours and
hours, and days and days for the original Bard's Tale programmers to create
their 3D engine. Technology sure has changed. Now, we can download tools
like this and make our own in no time. What a world!
I played with it a bit more, removed some walls, removed the ambient lighting,
added a light of my own and pointed it at a wall, to try to make it look
like there was really a torch being held by a party as they travelled.
As if that wasn't enough, you can download the full version for $55!
The boxed version costs about $80. Visit the
DarkBASIC webpage for more info.
That's where I'll be for the next month!
You can contact me at WebMaster@BardsTale.com.
Until next month, farewell fellow Bard's Tale fans!
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