GFA BASIC
Computer programming language
title: "GFA BASIC" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["basic-interpreters", "basic-compilers", "amiga-development-software", "atari-st-software", "discontinued-basics", "basic-programming-language-family"] description: "Computer programming language" topic_path: "technology/programming-languages" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFA_BASIC" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Computer programming language ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | GFA BASIC |
| logo | |
| screenshot | GFA BASIC editor.png |
| caption | A screenshot of the GFA BASIC editor. |
| author | Frank Ostrowski |
| released | |
| discontinued | yes |
| latest release version | 3.6 |
| latest release date | |
| latest preview date | |
| operating system | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows |
| language count | |
| genre | BASIC |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = GFA BASIC | logo = | logo alt = | screenshot = GFA BASIC editor.png | caption = A screenshot of the GFA BASIC editor. | screenshot alt = | collapsible = | author = Frank Ostrowski | developer = | released = | discontinued = yes | latest release version = 3.6 | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | programming language = | operating system = Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows | platform = | size = | language = | language count = | language footnote = | genre = BASIC | license = | website = | standard = | AsOf = GFA BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language.
History
GFA BASIC was developed by Frank Ostrowski at "GFA Systemtechnik GmbH" (later "GFA Software"), a German company in Kiel and Düsseldorf, as a proprietary version of his free BASIC implementation, Turbo-Basic XL. GFA is an acronym for "Gesellschaft für Automatisierung" ("Company for Automation"), which gave name to the software. The first GFA BASIC version was released in 1986. In the mid and late 1980s it became popular for the Atari ST, because the Atari ST BASIC shipped with them was more primitive. Ports were later released for the Amiga, MS-DOS, and Windows.
Version 2.0 was the most popular release of GFA BASIC as it offered more advanced features compared to alternatives. GFA BASIC 3.0 added support for user-defined structures and other agglomerated data types. The final released version was 3.6. Around 2002 GFA software ceased all GFA BASIC activities and shut down the mailinglist and website in 2005. Due to official support of GFA BASIC having ceased the user community took over the support and installed an own communication infrastructure.
Features and functionality
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Gfa_basic_screenshot.png" caption="date=August 2025}}"] ::
Manual
Some editions of the GFA manual were printed with black ink on red paper, in an attempt to thwart photocopying and bootlegging. The effectiveness of this tactic was questionable.
Windows version
Applications
Éric Chahi wrote a game editor in GFA basic to create his game Another World, including scene design and game scripting; only the game engine (polygon rendering and music) was done in assembler. This editor was used to make all ports of the game, including for consoles and the Collector Edition for Windows released in 2006.
Karsten Köper of Thalion software wrote all the basic game editing software for the "Amberstar" series using GFA Basic.
References
References
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20031216035228/http://www.gfasoft.gfa.net/ Welcome at GFA Online!]
- [https://sites.google.com/site/gfabasic322/ GFA-BASIC 32 for Windows] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-04-06 on google.com)
- [http://gfabasic32.blogspot.de/ GFA-BASIC 32 for Windows Stuff] by Sjouke Hamstra
- "GFA Basic Compiler".
- Another World Édition Spéciale 15ème Anniversaire for Windows, included making-of. Released by ElektroGames and SdLL (2006).
- "The Thalion Source - Fragen & Antworten -".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::