| DIV Games Studio | 
 enlarge | From: FastTrak
Category: Software
List Price: £34.99
Buy New: £19.99
You Save: £15.00 (43%)
Buy New/Used from £14.98
Avg. Customer Rating:   (6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 7122
Platforms: Windows 95, Windows 98, No Operating System
Media: CD-ROM
Number Of Items: 1
EAN: 5032197000636
ASIN: B00004VXJ5
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Way back in the mists of time (the early 1980s), commercial games software was written by industrious souls in their bedrooms. As time wore on and the games market exploded into the multi-billion industry it is today, this motley band of homebrew programmers disappeared to be replaced by more formal teams of "professional" coders, skilled in the black arts of PC coding. Over the last few years there has been a number of half-hearted attempts to put the programming power back in the hands of the enthusiastic amateur, but none have caught the mood quite as well as the oddlyf named DIV Games Studio. Rooted very firmly in the realm of the BASIC, with elements of C and other high-level languages thrown in for good measure, DIV is an impressive package. Note that it does not do 3D. You cannot produce Quake with this package in its current form. (An updated version with full support for 3D is in the works.) That aside, what DIV does do is to give the amateur an astonishing amount of power to produce anything 2D and throws in a Mode 7-alike for good measure. (Think Mario Kart on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and you've got the right idea). This is also an integer-based language, so forget floating point. String handling is poor, although there is a downloadable add-on from the official site that helps redress this issue. Play with this tool for any length of time and it soon becomes obvious that the shortcomings are more than made up for by DIV's strengths. It's a joy to code with the command set given, which includes pre-built functions for collision detection, distance between onscreen objects, full screen scrolling and more. Everything is handled by the custom development environment that incorporates a graphics manipulation environment text editor--with full syntax colouring, full debugger and sundry other utilities designed to help pull all the bits together to create an identifiable game. The gaudy yellow manual is worth keeping by the desk. It falls short in some areas but in others excels with its description of the command set et. al., which hopefully won't hold too many people back. a thriving community of users has sprung up at the official Web site, so users are always on hand through a series of online message boards to give help and coding advice--and to clarify the bits of the manual that haven't translated well from Spanish to English. To claim that this package will turn the user into a games expert would be wrong, and don't expect to be able to churn out games by the minute. First and foremost, this is a programming environment with its emphasis completely on games. It requires time and patience from the newbie and a little understanding from the older hands to get over the initially high learning curve and to start to get the best out of it. That said, from a cold start this reviewer had a passable, if graphically dire, version of Defender up and running inside of two hours--no mean feat if you've ever wrestled with the intricacies of packages like Visual C++. Nor is this a tool for the gaming professional. That said, if you're a weekend coder with a yen to finally create that electronic version of a table top wargame, a retro fan who wants to recreate the halcyon days of Chuckie Egg and Space Invaders or a newcomer with patience and a desire to create rather than just to play this is a great way to have a crack at games coding. But if your creating is tood, there's nothing to stop you turning out Shareware or even commercial(esque) games, since the distributors grant owners full rights to distribute their creations without paying royalties. --Gordon James
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 recommended June 23, 2005
Div has its shortcomings(256 colors, DOS and not that fast) but IF you have a DOS\Windows 98 system available it's surely worth trying. It IS easy to learn, since I was capable of making some nice games with it even when I was around 13 with no other programmong excperience. the manual is definately not the size of a bible(pretty small actually) but is very cryptic and hard to understand for someone that has never programmed before. My advice is thus: don't read the manual, but start by editing the sample games, and following some tutorials(Michael Sexton's rpg tutorial for example, google it)
Also it is true that the program doesn't use C or Basic. the programming language is BASED on it, so if you know these languages you will surely recognize some elements from those languages. You CAN however use C to write Dynamic Link Libraries that add new commands to div.in a nutshell:
Div is a nice language that is easy to understand, a great tool for making 2D games. Learning it will surely help you understanding more complex languages later.
Excellent! April 20, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is undoubtedly an excellent game making package! It includes a complete graphics editor, debugger, and compiler. The person complaining above is an example of somebody who wanted klik n play, instead of the full blown programming language this is. Besides the fact that there is no windows compatibility (DOS only) and only 256 colors max this is one of the best ways to quickly make a 2d game. Perfect if your a retro fan who has the desire to make a game. I started out knowing nothing, and now im programming almost all the time. Great stuff!
 waste of time..... November 26, 2002
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
here's some helpful advise: Dont buy DIV Games Studio!!! That may as well be the end of this review. To go into detail, I must warn most of you that the self proclaimed 'easy to use' code is very misleading. To start, you must read a manual the size of the BIBLE in order to understand how to use the code. Judging by the results, you may aswell have shot yourself in the face, its more constructive. The programme doesnt even use C++ or BASIC, which means it definately is not the right piece of kit to use if you want to get into the gaming industry.
avoid.
The easiest thing apart from Klik n' Play! August 15, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This piece of software is phenomanol. It can trun someone who never thought thay could make a game, and make him produce games better than those on the snes. I have made games that I enjoy to play, and to share online. Im not a whizz. I started out getting no-where. But once you have read the starting tutorial you will understand how it all comes together. Once you know how to move objects, make them crash into other objects, and shoot, you can slowly add on commands, so you slowly push the potential of the software to its limits. When I loo back on the games I have made at the beginning i think about how I made them and it was easy back then, but how that now I know the commands I could have made them in 5 seconds. This software is very easy to pickup, and has much depth to it. However: dont listen to the official review about the 3D mode. Im afraid the 3D language is very tricky to use, and its not very good. Also it is in dos, BUT you can still make good graphics. Most importantly dont buy it if you expect to be making beat em ups the night you get it. You WILL need to carefully read the manual (or at least the example part of it). In terms of graphics it is at the low end of the spectrum, in terms of ease it is the BEST. However if you have a little more time, or already can program in C++ or anything Basic then just try something more ambition, but has more potential, eg Blitz-3D. The demos of this piece of software are amazing. But in short DIV has ease, not graphics. But dont expect to be making GTA by the night you get it. (expect to be making a crappy shoot em up(which isnt bad for a days work with a programming language!)I RECOMEND IT!
Genius June 19, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Where do I start?I started using DIV Games Studio 3 months ago. Within 3 weeks I had created my first game. The programming language is very easy to learn and implement. Even total beginners will soon pick up the basics... I would have given this 5 stars, but the graphic editor that is provided isn't very good. If the user has a good graphics package then they will soon be on the road to creating brilliant games, just like me! :)
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