OpenDBC
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DarkBASIC. A new playground.

Your next game starts with BASIC.

Build a world, move a character, play a sound. Bring your ideas to life with DarkBASIC Classic and Professional on modern desktops.

Start creating Explore the demos

Free & open source 2D & 3D Built-in Studio

Sky Gardens running in OpenDBC
ProfessionalSky Gardens

From an idea to something you can play

Readable

Commands read like sentences: make object sphere, position camera, play sound. Start with a few commands and build from there.

Immediate

Press F5 in the Studio and the program runs. 3D, sound, input and 2D drawing are built in.

Familiar

Keep the Classic or Professional language you know. The reference shows which commands work, which are stubs and which still need support.

Made to share

Build a standalone game for your desktop. iOS and Android exports are also available with the required platform tools and runners.

Made with OpenDBC

Small games. Big starting points.

Browse all examples

Real frames from the games in the repository. Explore the source, play with the mechanics, and reuse their CC0 models, textures and sounds.

Dusk Rally running in OpenDBC

Dusk Rally

Race a coastal circuit into the sunset.
Reactor Breach running in OpenDBC

Reactor Breach

Outrun a meltdown in a drone-filled facility.
Sky Gardens running in OpenDBC

Sky Gardens

Jump between floating islands and gather glowing seeds.

dbc DarkBASIC Classic

Frost Outpost running in OpenDBC

Frost Outpost

First-person shooter
Wave Racer running in OpenDBC

Wave Racer

Jet scooter race
Flooded Vault running in OpenDBC

Flooded Vault

Exploration
Dune Armour running in OpenDBC

Dune Armour

Tank battle
Hive Defender running in OpenDBC

Hive Defender

Space shooter
Cavern Dash running in OpenDBC

Cavern Dash

Tunnel flight

Try it yourself

A few lines.
A world in motion.

A textured cube is a good place to start. Download the program, save crystal.jpg beside it and run it with the Classic profile.

Write your first program
spinning_cube.dbaDownload
rem A spinning crystal cube - OpenDBC (DarkBASIC Classic)
sync on
make object cube 1, 10
load image "crystal.jpg", 1
texture object 1, 1
do
   turn object left 1, 1
   pitch object up 1, 0.5
   sync
loop

What you get

DarkBASIC Classic

701 implemented command and function forms for 2D, 3D, sound and more. Legacy stubs are listed separately.

DarkBASIC Professional

1042 implemented core forms, plus 87 forms of the ODE physics extension. Explore types, vectors, effects, terrains and a level editor.

Desktop and mobile

Windows, macOS (Apple silicon) and Linux for the Studio; iOS and Android as export targets.

Full reference

Every command with its signature and its support state in each profile.

Pick your starting point

New to BASIC?

Start with text on screen, then add movement, a camera and sound. Each tutorial gives you a program to change.

Have an old project?

Choose its profile, check the source and find out what needs adapting before you run it.

Open source and independent. OpenDBC is MIT-licensed and developed in the open on GitHub. It is not affiliated with The Game Creators or Dark Basic Software Limited. More about the project.