Chapter 9 Hangman PT2

I have just completed a little bit more of Hangman, after an anoyingly long piece of homework that is! It is beginning to look alot like the game now, since it draws the gallows and the hyphens onto the screen. Though the rest of the routines stubs are printed so it isnt going to be the screen exactly. A simple FOR and NEXT loop, and i got my hyphens laid out =)  

  FOR c = 1 TO LEN(word$)
     PRINT "_ ";
  NEXT c

Anyway still got a bit to do for a working game, and looking forward to completing it, screenshot for all! (I know it isnt much of a looker graphics wise, but this is the first game i make with the book so it keeps it simple, which is fine for me. The fact that i made it makes it appealing to me, oh and it displays the word next to it as proof the hyphens are working, it wont be in the final version of course!

News =D

Well firstly, my Television has broken =( The LCD crystals have gone funny forming pritty lines and colours, so im not glad about that. Luckly its covered on the insurance ^_^


Anyway I found out a few days ago, that because my computer is Windows Vista Home Premium, I get a free windows 7 upgrade! Which I was very pleased with, though as i done with Vista, I will be waiting for it to be out a while, allowing software to adapt and bugs to be fixed, so I will have no problems.


Ok now i dont know if any of you know yet, or are at least interested, but The Games Creators, have made DarkBASIC Professional free!!! Much to my regret as i bought it, but anyhow, now those who do not have alot of money to spend on the internet or are not allowed can program games! Link bellow for those interested


DarkBASIC Professional Free!


And for those of you who are interested in my first project i done a while back (its on my Windows Live Space) The New Solar System, i shall post a link for you to download(Please ignor the music or mute it XD i created the peice before i descovered midi 0.0)


The Solar System Project

Chapter 9 Hangman PT1

(This happened yesterday)


I just started Chapter Nine of Hands on DarkBASIC Pro, the topic being Hangman, and the first actual game I get to make! =D


Previously it has just been teaching me about many diffrent commands in DBP giving me examples, and getting me to do some quick programs with it to test them out. I have also be learning about several key aspects of good progamming.

• Routines
• Planning
• And mini specs

and of course data and controll structures. Anyway im rather excited as this will be my first game I program in darkbasic! I know it helps me and tells me most of what I need to do (This time) but it is still a big step, and should teach alot of what i need to do to program games successfully. Anyway so far I haven't done much, just set up the Constants and Global Varibles and the main program (The part that calls the functions and uses them, think it as a simple circuit, a board is used and the components are placed and manipulated, the components being the functions in this case).


I also have set up stubs for every function, so I cant test the program as I go along and fill the missing code in later. (A stub is where you create a function with no code, or usually a one liner to display its name), and finally i have got two filled functions, InitialiseGame() and ThinkOfWord(). The game is nowhere near done ad the code is already getting big! So all is going well =D I will update on my status when i complete some more.


 (Two screenies for you, both of the code so far)

Click for larger pictures

Introduction

Hello, my name is Andrew, and this is my new blog. I have a windows live space, but do no update it anymore, as it sort of died. This blog will mainly be about me and my programming life, though im sure i will write some other stuff =D


Ever since i was alot younger, i used to think it was inpossible to make games, i didnt even think i was aloud t anyway. But then one day i saw an advertisment for OHRRPGCE, which i clicked and descovered it was a game creation software, much to my delight i investigated further, and began to use it, which i had alot of fun doing. But i didnt like the fact that you could only make RPG's. So then i began searching to see if there was other game creation software, later descovering game maker (Which i did not like that much, it was to hard) continueing my search, the term "Programming" kept appearing, and me be stupid back then had no idea as to what is ment. So having downloaded a piece of software (cant remember its name now) , i gave it the definition of - making games with words =P and i tried a tutorial to make a spinning cube, to which i was amazed. Though it still felt to hard for me, and i abandoned the idea altogether, avoiding the term when it appeared in software.


After a few years or so looking for a good piece of software to make 3D games, i failed, and finally gave in. I searched on google, "Easy programming" and the first page i was given was The Game Creators DarkBASIC, and in its description read: DarkBASIC allows you to create your own games, demos, slideshows, even business applications using the easy to understand BASIC programming language.


Clicking on the site i read more, the software being praised for its afordable price and easy to learn syntax. I was so happy, reading the example, it looked easy, and i really wanted it. So i asked my mum, who happly bought it for me, and there i was. My first programming langauge, i didnt get to far though, because it wasnt till a few months after slow learning (it was pritty hard, and the tutorials were not all that good) i descoved that i had bought the unsupported version -.- Because DarkBASIC Professional had been developed. About a month later i bought that, hoping it woul be easyer and more freindly, and much to my delight it was. Following tutorials i began to slowly learn the fundimentals of programming. (I was given a very satisfying explination of varibles, as boxes the computer makes, sticking a label on it and puting numbers inside) i was making my own programs (not to sure what i was doing, an what stuff ment)


Then i soon found out there where two books, Hands on DarkBASIC Professional(HODBP), volume one and two. Looking at he reviews and the taster, they looked very good, and just what i needed. So i bought the first volume(and the second later), and began my proper study of the langauge. And my was i inpressed, not only did make understanding easy, it was fun =D within the first page it had me doing an activity.


So here we are, i am still studying the first volume, taking it slow, and carefully. I know alot more about programming that i did, and enjoy it. I also never looked at a game the same way again, unable to stop myself thinking about the mechanics of how it worked and how certain things could be done.


Anyway i hope to take games development as my carrer. On this blog i will post what i learn as i go through HODBP, my projects/ideas. DarkBASIC Pro is the best thing that ever happened to me ^-^