When new students embark on a vocational course likecomputer games development, they have a unique enthusiasmborn of the dream that one day, they will be able to earn moneyfrom doing something they really enjoy.

However, like many dreams, the reality can be a little differentand one of the most difficult tasks for any lecturer is to keepthe enthusiasm alive when the studying gets tough!

There’s nothing so encouraging as success, and an increasingnumber of lecturers have now found that the most effective wayto get students up and running and maintain that momentum iswith specialised game making tools from The Game Creators.

So just what are the educational benefits?

• It only takes a short time to learn the BASIC programminglanguage

• It’s a great way to produce quick prototypes of ideas• Beginners can be encouraged by how easy it is to create

something• More advanced students on a C++ course will benefit from ready

made routines in the Dark GDK • Students can experiment with ideas and algorithms without the

complexity of DirectX• Enables students to have created their own game within the first

year of the course• The software range we offer includes a huge collection of add-on

packs for total game making• Special prices and discounts are available for the education

market • Try before you buy. Visit The Game Creators website to download

10 free Dark Basic licences

DarkBASIC allows students to create their own games and demos using theeasy to understand BASIC programming language. Even if they’ve nevercoded before, they'll be generating great results in minutes!

DarkBASIC Professional is the most advanced games developmentpackage built on the BASIC language currently available. No other packageout there makes it as easy to incorporate all of the special features andeffects you see in today’s games and no other package natively offers the

benefits of Microsoft’s DirectX 9 technology.

DarkGDK is the ideal teaching aid if you’re running a C++ course. It enablesyou to take full advantage of the game engine that powers DarkBASIC

Professional within a C++ environment.

Also available from The Game Creators

FPS Creator sets a new benchmark in the game creation market by providing an easy to use yet highly flexible tool for creating action packed First Person

Shooter games.

3D Game Maker lets anyone build their ideal game in seconds, opening upa whole new concept in gaming and fun.

DarkPHYSICS adds world class physics commands to the DarkBASICProfessional engine. From tumbling rigid bodies to dynamically

flowing fluids. Based on the new Ageia PhysX technology this iscutting edge technology you'll want to offer your students.

DarkAI provides path finding technology to the core ofDarkBASIC Professional. A wide range of commands

allows students to give game entities their own enemyor ally behaviour.

As the name suggests, the principal focus of The Game Creators is todevelop and publish PC game creation software — a mission thathas earned the team a worldwide reputation as the

foremost experts in this genre.

Based in Cheshire, they are now the most recognisedproviders of game creation software on the Internet, witha comprehensive range of affordable, cutting edge gamecreation tools that make it easier for anyone to make their

own computer games.

And the company’s website (www.thegamecreators.com)has become the hub of a global game creation

community with a free monthly newsletter, hundreds oflines of free source code and other downloads and hugely

popular on-line discussion forums that, at a recent count, hadclocked up over 760,000 messages!

It was in 1999 that programmer Lee Bamber hit on the ideaof creating a more intuitive programming language which hecalled Dark Basic. He was soon joined by partner Rick Vannerwho took over sales and marketing. Dark Basic Sofware Ltdwas formed — later to become The Game Creators Ltd.

In addition to selling its own products, which have now beentranslated into many different languages, The Game Creatorsacts as a re-seller for a whole range of other products designedto satisfy the many and varied needs of game creators.

Its programming skills are also used for third partydevelopment – the most notable projects being the DrivingTest Success series which has achieved sales of over 1.7million units on CD-Rom for publisher Focus Multimedia.

If you don’t believe just howeffective Dark Basic Pro is, tap inthis piece of code and see theresults you get!

MAKE OBJECT CUBE 1,100DOYROTATE OBJECT 1,AINC A

LOOP

Results are so easy in Dark GDK, this code

block loads a movie, renders the video

directly onto a spinning cube and

simultaneously plays the audio!

#include "DarkGDK.h"

void DarkGDK ( void )

{dbLoadAnimation ( "movie.avi", 1 );

dbMakeObjectCube ( 1, 100 );

dbPlayAnimationToImage ( 1, 2, 0, 0, 512, 512 );

dbTextureObject ( 1, 2 );

while ( LoopGDK() )

{dbYRotateObject ( 1, dbObjectAngleY(1)+1.0f );

dbSync();

}}

To underline their commitment to the education

market, The Game Creators have announced a

special pricing band for educational purchasers

wishing to buy site licences for the Dark Basic

products and add-ons.

For educational users buying on-line, the saving

on administration costs is being passed right

back to customers with impressive discounts

ranging from 25 per cent for two to five units, up

to a huge 50 per cent if you buy 51 units or more.

And even customers wanting boxed product can benefit

with discounts ranging from 20 per cent to 45 p

er cent.

For full details of just how much your university

or college budgets can benefit from these offers

contact Rick Vanner at the address below.

Up to 50% discount for

educational purchasers

4 Nancy View • Bollington • CheshireSK10 5QG • United KingdomTel: +44 (0) 1625 574407Fax: +44 (0) 845 1275338

Mobile: +44 (0) 7908544111edu@thegamecreators.comwww.thegamecreators.com

I started using DarkBasic in our Logic and Program Design class two years ago.This is the first programming class most of these students will take so I knew weneeded to move the curriculum to something more exciting. I needed somethingthat would hold the interest of the young student and not intimidate the non-traditional student. DarkBasic allows me to teach basic computer programmingconcepts in a much more interesting arena.

Tim McFerron, Associate Professor CIS/CSC, Aims Community College, Greeley, Colorado

We chose Dark GDK to support our new Games Technology degree programme.Dark Basic is a good introduction to a game API (middleware) and it providesstudents with an early opportunity to develop a game scenario in their first year.As Dark GDK uses C/C++ it provides a useful introduction to a game API whilealso complementing modules in C/C++ for students’ future work. The software isalso favourably priced.Barry Dean, Senior Lecturer in Multimedia Technology, University of West of England

Dark Basic Pro is comparatively easy to use so it is a good way to give studentsconfidence and get them started. With the enhancement packs, you have got acomplete suite of aids for creating your own game.

Hashim Hashim, Innovation Manager, Bradford College

I chose Dark Basic Pro as a teaching tool primarily because it’s inBasic and our course has no prerequisites for students to be ableto program. It has functions/methods that enable you tostructure your programs almost as well as in newer CASE-tools; it

is based on DirectX – an environment that the students probablywill meet later on; it is capable of handling a lot of different formats

from other third party software products like 3D’s MAX, and theengine supports most of the latest 3D engine features.

Steve Dahlskog, Associate Lecturer in Computer Science, Malmö University, Sweden

…First Person Shooter…Multi-player

…Simulation

…Space

…Role Playing

…Educational…Puzzle

…Arcade

…Retro

…Pinball…Driving

…Sports …Family

…Adventure

…Shoot ‘em up