Learning Sparky's Collision

I'm really getting into programming with DarkBASIC again. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I think taking a bit of a break for a few months helped me somehow. Whatever the case, for some reason my brain likes programming now. So much so that I see myself making a few games in the near future!

As many of you from the TGC Forums know, DarkBASIC doesn't have a very good collision detection system, especially when it comes to polygonal collision (a necessity for objects that are complex; everything from characters to trees and even gears in a clock). Not only that, but the collision detection itself is slow in performance and very notorious for its annoying bugs. It's also nearly impossible to get polygonal collision detection working properly, which is rather annoying for those of us who want to create a game out of more than just simple spheres and cubes. Amirite?

The alternative to this nightmare? A brilliant little .DLL known as "Sparky's". Basically, by using this file that contains new (yet somewhat similar) collision detection commands, a programmer can finally create a more complex level with more diverse objects. Imagine a slightly more oblong sphere, perhaps modeled to morph into a cube on its other side, with coins hovering above it just like in all the platformers. Now imagine trying to use polygon collision detection on it with DBP's native collision commands. It ain't happenin', is it? Now use Sparky's. Suddenly, it's possible, and hey presto!, it works without a hitch. 

Honestly, I've not yet used Sparky's, but I've started learning the commands and have played around a bit with the demo programs it came with. Not only is the sliding, polygonal detection fast and accurate, it looks fairly easy to implement. So easy, in fact, that I know if I spent a day experimenting with it I could totally get the hang of it and implement it into my game's engine. This will allow me to have some mighty interesting levels in my game, which is exactly what I need. 

Speaking of which, I'm gonna draw some level concept ideas down on paper and most likely scan them into my computer and maybe even upload them to this blog, just to let people know I'm actually doing something. Oh, and to get feedback, too. Feedback is always welcome. :)