Wikipedia
DarkBASIC is a open source game creation programming language released by The Game Creators. The language is a structured form of BASIC and is similar to AMOS on the Amiga. The purpose of the language is game creation using Microsoft's DirectX from a BASIC programming language. It is faster and easier to use than comparable languages, but also less powerful. It is marketed on its ability to allow a total novice to make playable games after following its tutorials.
DarkBASIC is a programming language that specializes in the creation of games. It can create both 2D and 3D games, providing function libraries that enable a game to be programmed with considerably less code than with a language such as C++ without such dedicated libraries. DarkBASIC consists of an IDE, debugger and interpreter, and an engine built on DirectX 7. The compiler emits Bytecode that is appended to an interpreter to create a stand-alone executable.
It was first released in 2000 by DarkBasic Software Ltd (now The Game Creators Ltd.). In 2002, The Game Creators released an updated version called DarkBASIC Professional able to use newer versions of DirectX. The pre-Professional version is informally referred to as DarkBASIC Classic to distinguish between the products.
The current DarkBASIC Classic version is 1.21, released on 14 August 2008. Since the introduction of DarkBASIC Professional, The Game Creators have stated that there will be no further updates to the language, although it will still be sold.
In 2016 the source code of DarkBASIC professional was liberated for the community.