Background Information

• Algorithms
• Stepwise Refinement
• Structured English
• Desk Checking
• Boolean expressions

Starting DarkBASIC Pro

• Creating a DarkBASIC Pro Project
• Executing a Program
• Understanding Screen Output
• Text colour, size and font
• Adding Comments

Data

• Variables and Constants
• The Assignment Statement
• Arithmetic Calculations
• Keyboard Input/li>
• READ and DATA
• Strings
• Creating Random Numbers

Selection

• AND, OR and NOT Operators
• The IF Statement
• The SELECT Statement
• Nested IF Statements

Iteration

• The DO..LOOP Construct
• The EXIT Statement
• The FOR..NEXT Construct
• The SLEEP Statement
• The REPEAT..UNTIL Construct
• The WHILE..ENDWHILE Construct
• Testing Iteration Constructs

Drawing Statements

• Drawing Basic Shapes
• Erasing Shapes
• A First Attempt at Animation

Modular Programming

• Creating Functions
• Global and Local Variables
• Mini-Specs
• Parameter Passing
• Pre and Post Conditions
• Returning a Result

String Functions

• Standard String Functions
• Creating a Function Library

The Game of Hangman

• Black Box Testing
• Designing a Game
• Equivalence Classes
• White Box Testing

Arrays

• Defining Arrays
• Accessing Array Elements
• Multi-dimensional Arrays
• Programming Techniques Using Arrays
• Searching and Sorting an Array

The Game of Bull and Touch

Advanced Data Types and Operators

• INC and DEC Operators
• Record Structures
• Arrays of Records
• Dynamic Lists
• Declaring Variables
• Queues and Stacks
• Shift Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Binary, Hexadecimal and Octal Values

Bitmaps

• Basic Ideas
• Loading a Bitmap
• Displaying a Bitmap
• Resizing a Bitmap
• Positioning a Bitmap

Video Cards and the Screen

• Creating a List of Available Display Modes
• Creating a List of Installed Video Cards

File Handling

• Navigating the Backing Store Structure
• Accessing Files
• Writing a File
• Reading from a File
• Random File Access

Handling Music Files

• Playing MIDI and MP3 Files
• Playing CD Tracks

Displaying Video Files

Accessing the Keyboard

• Scan Codes
• Detecting Multiple Simultaneous Key Presses

Mathematical Functions

Images

Sprites

• Loading and Positioning Sprites
• Setting the Sprite Origin
• Moving Sprites
• Detecting Sprite Collisions
• Rebounding Sprites
• Animated Sprites

Sound

• Playing WAV Files
• Creating 3D Sound Effects

2D Vectors

Two Player Space Duel Game

Using the Mouse

• Creating Buttons and Rollover Effects

Using a Joystick

• Controlling Movement
• Using Feedback

3D Concepts and Terminology

• 3D Coordinate system
• World Units
• Vertices, Edges, and Polygons
• Vertex and Surface Normals
• 3D Primitives
• Textures, Cameras, and Lights
• Alpha Channels

3D Primitives

• Creating 3D Primitives
• Positioning 3D Objects
• Rotating 3D Objects
• Scaling 3D Objects
• Cloning 3D Objects
• Culling
• Merging 3D Objects

Texturing

• Adding Texture to a 3D Surface
• Mipmaps
• Tiling
• Creating Seamless Tiles
• Video Texturing
• Texture Effects
• Multiple Texturing
• Colouring 3D Objects
• Sky Spheres

Cameras

• Positioning Cameras
• Creating new Cameras
• Setting the Camera Viewport
• Setting the Aspect Ratio
• Setting the Aspect Ratio
• Zooming
• Camera Range
• Tracking
• Giving the User Control
• Handling Camera Collisions
• Outputting Camera Image to a Surface
• Locking an Object to the Viewport

Lighting

• Types of Light
• Light Colour
• Creating Lights
• Light Range
• Creating a Fog Effect

Meshes and Limbs

• Creating Meshes
• Models with Limbs
• Translating Limbs
• Texturing Limbs
• Glueing an Object to a Limb
• Using Limbs to Create a Door

Importing 3D Models

• File Formats
• Scaling Models
• Animated Models
• Model Limbs

User Control

• Selecting On-Screen Objects

Solitaire - The Board Game

Advanced Lighting and Texturing

• Surface Reflection
• Light Maps and Bump Maps
• Sphere and Cube Mapping
• Texture Blending
• Alpha Mapping
• Cartoon and Rainbow Shading
• Shadows

Collisions

• Bounding Boxes and Spheres
• Detecting a Collision
• Line-of-Sight Collisions
• Static Collisions

Particles

• Standard Particles
• Fire Particles
• Snow Particles
• Particle Examples

BSP Models

• Loading BSP
• BSP Cameras
• BSP Collisions

Elevators - a 3rd Person Game

Creating Terrain

• Terrain Contour Images
• Texturing Terrain
• Advanced Terrain Statements
• Treasure Island - a 1st Person Game
• Sky Boxes

Landscape Matrices

• Creating a Matrix
• Texturing a Matrix
• Matrix Transparency
• Matrix Lighting

Manipulating Vertices

• Capturing Vertex Data
• Changing Coordinates, Lighting, and Texture
• Creating New Shapes

Pointers and Memblocks

• Basic Concepts
• Using a Pointer
• Creating a Memblock
• Storing Data in a Memblock
• Images, Sounds and 3D Objects in Memblocks

Shaders

• Vertex Shaders
• Pixel Shaders

ODE

• Dynamic and Static Volumes
• Gravity, Velocity, Mass

Maths: Vectors and Matrices

• 3 and 4 Element Vectors
• Matrices
• Transforming Vertices

Network Programming

• Basic Concepts
• Setting up a Link
• Adding and Removing Players
• Sending and Receiving Data
• Creating a Multi-Computer Game

FTP

• Setting up a Connection
• Downloading and Uploading Files

Using DLLs

• Creating new DBPro Statements
• Adding Highlighting and Help
• Using Standard DLLs