mil@mendel.acc.Virginia.EDU (Maria I. Lasaga) (01/14/91)
_____________________________________________________________________ Below is a summary of e-mail and net replies to an earlier posting of mine about "Mac II disappointment/request for game recs." First I will summarize the opinions about why there is a lack of color/full-screen applications for the Mac. Then I will summarize the discussion on the programming difficulties or lack thereof in developing such applications. Lastly, I list the suggestions of existing games (and other applications) with color/full-screen capabilities. ______________________________________________________________________ **************** Why the problem? **************** Many owners of various Mac II models expressed similar disappointment with software performance on large-screen, color monitors. The almost unanimous rationale for such shortfalls in currently available software seems to be one of supply/demand: there isn't enough demand yet for software developers to spend time and money to develop color/large-screen versions of their applications; the demand is becoming greater with the sales of the new machines; but the demand will probably remain low unless/until Apple begins to sell a color-capable macintosh at a much lower price. *************************************************** About the Programming Difficulties or Lack Thereof *************************************************** Lawson English (Lawson.English@p88.f15.n300.z1.fidonet.org), in article <34240.27875334@stjhmc.fidonet.org>, writes: > Barry Brown writes in a message to All BB> The demand for entertainment software for color Macs simply isn't BB> there. Oh the other hand, there are many classic Mac owners with BB> a thirst for games, and so the authors have written software BB> for that denominator. No sense spending the extra time and expense BB> to develop color games with resizable windows if no one is going BB> to buy them, eh? > Lazy is not the same as cutting cost: it really is no bother to specify > that a window opens to screenbits.bounds etc. As for color, the old > macs supported 8 colors anyways, so a good writer should have left > the option available, maybe with a resource used as a flag to indicate > that color machines were now available so activate the menu item > (or whatever). ------------------------------------------------------------ John Calhoun (mlab2@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu), in article <27721.27873c18@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>, writes: > True it is an easy enough task to expand the game window, but if you > don't enlarge the 'contents' of the window then essentially you still > have the 9" screen - only centered and filled around. I can only speak > for the games I've done, but enlarging the contents of the screen > would be a major hassle. Alternate PICTs for the various monitor > dimensions, a whole slew of variables where constants were, major > if/thens all over the code. Perhaps it would even slow down the > game to have all these extra branching thrown in. That may be > okay with a word processor, but a game relies on all the optimization > it can afford. ------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny Lee (jlee4@spurge.uwaterloo.ca), in article <1991Jan6.215656.15669@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, writes: > I would assume that most games would use offscreen bitmaps for speed > (if they weren't using the second screen). Unfortunately, offscreen > bitmaps don't support 8 colours. There's a TN about it. ------------------------------------------------------------ David Phillip Oster (oster@well.sf.ca.us) in <22532@well.sf.ca.us> writes: > I've been in the business for awhile. > 1.) Offscreen Pixmaps support as many bits per pixel as you'll want. ---------------------------------------------------------- Lawson English (Lawson.English@p88.f15.n300.z1.fidonet.org) in <34584.278C73D5@stjhmc.fidonet.org> writes: > I'm currently designing an educational package that may run on > different sizescreens, may need to have resizable fonts for seeing- > impaired students, etc. There are no "if-then-else's" to decide how > to big to make the screen: things are merely scaled to the screen > (with exceptions when it looks "funny"). I'm using the TCL's with > Think Pascal, so I have a resizable pane that takes its location from > the pane to the left and above, with a default to a fixed location if > there is no leftmost/abovemost pane. ---------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************* Suggestions for Games/Applications that Can Fill a Large Screen and Use Color ******************************************* An extremely informative e-mail reply (not cited by name, since sent privately on bitnet) revealed the following: 1. For many games, the b&w versions are sold "over the counter." The customer may need to request a color version from the publisher. 2. Regarding Adobe Illustrator, it only has color in the preview mode, and that is dithered color. Illustrator can work in 16 bit mode, but not 24/32 bit mode. Aldus Freehand also has 16 bit preview mode [unclear whether this is also dithered--mil]. Studio/32 and Studio/8 are two very good color paint programs. Next, a list of the suggested games with _both_ color and full-screen capabilities: -SimEarth is in color and recognizes the size of your monitor. -Shanghai, by Activison, has great full screen color graphics and sound on the Mac IIsi. It's a solitaire game based on Mah Jongg tiles. - OIDS is a game that works in 16 color mode. Joe Hold (jholt@adobe.COM) in article <9872@adobe.UUCP> of comp.sys.mac.games writes: > ...OIDS shipped on January 9th. ...OIDS is a fast arcade game which > combines elements of Asteroids, Defender and Choplifter. ...OIDS > runs on every Macintosh, including ... the new IIlc's and IIsi's. > What's really cool is that OIDS fills your entire screen with the > playfield, even on a 19" color monitor! > FTL's number in San Diego is (619) 453-4711. Finally, below is a list of suggested games that run in color, although it was _not_ clear which if any of these could accomodate a large screen: -SimCity, and Tetris work well, in color on the IIcx (with lots of nice music). _Should_ run on an si. -Leprechaun is a full (256) color arcade/puzzle game with digital sound. -For D&D fans, there are the Might & Magic games, at least one of which is available in color if you write the publisher. -SeaHaven Towers. -Iraq Attack. -Orb Mazez. -Stained Glass. -Crystal Quest. -SkyShadow. -Pipe Dream. -Harpoon. ************************************************* Thanks to all who replied to my earlier posting! (I have sent the suggestions to my brother.) ************************************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maria I. Lasaga Dept. of Psychology Gilmer Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 mil@virginia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~