chips1@houti.UUCP (H.BIMS) (08/08/83)
I saw the game at Six Flags' Great Adventure in New Jersey. From the cartoon quality graphics displayed, it is my estimation that a computer could not possibly generate the images in real-time. Hence, there must be some type of videodisk memory system, from which the frames are retrieved. Along those same lines, I noticed that the game will only monitor input from the console during certain times. Also, there is only one correct move in a particular situation. (Note, there may be several situations per scene). Have you noticed how the scene jumps after a response has been entered with the joystick? I also noticed a longer delay for incorrect responses, than for correct ones. Thus my guess for the hardware design is that it uses a videodisk. Each situation is contained within a given data block area on the videodisk. For simplicity of operation, the disk probably only spins in the forward direction while the game is playing. The most plausible organization of the block is as follows: ______________________________________ + + + New situation segment + +____________________________________+ + + + Correct response segment + +____________________________________+ + + + Incorrect response segment + +____________________________________+ Intersituation and intrasituation scan time delays would cause momentary blackouts of the screen. An IF-THEN-ELSE construct is probably used to decide which segment to read from for the next sequence of images and to keep track of score, etc. In the final analysis, the game hardware design is probably not that much more complicated than your average video game. The only difference is the use of a videodisk player. Harry Bims ATTIS - Holmdel, NJ houti!chips1