colin_fox@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Colin Fox) (04/10/91)
Hmmm - As far as games on the Amiga are concerned, I have a few bits to throw in here. (This thread was that lemmings thing...) Taking over the machine: This is NECESSARY under conditions of high framerate, such as a flight sim or fast arcade game. It is NOT necessary for a thoughtful, less framerate dependant game like Sim City or even Battlechess. Writing in C: What Distinctive Software (Test Drive, Hardball, Grand Prix Circuit etc - I used to work for them) does (and I am doing) is write libraries in assembly (such as DrawShape()) and have control routines in C. This allows fast low level code and easily maintainable control code. It is not feasable to 'map out' the machine and then take over. WHen I say take over, I'm talking about taking over politely so you can revert back, but nothing else is running (can't do a download while flying a jet in F-18). On a Commodore 64 or an Apple II or something, you can map out your memory usages to the byte, but on an Amiga there are so many possible differences all you can do is ask for resources and then use them. I sure hope the people who are discussing what you can do on an Amiga as far as games are concerned have written at least one (mine was Wings of Fury). --- Colin_Fox@outbound.cynic.wimsey.bc.ca
mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) (04/12/91)
This is an honest, well thought out view of the reality of how games work (IMHO). In article <colin_fox.4087@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca> colin_fox@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Colin Fox) writes: >Hmmm - As far as games on the Amiga are concerned, I have a few bits to throw >in here. (This thread was that lemmings thing...) > >Taking over the machine: This is NECESSARY under conditions of high framerate, >such as a flight sim or fast arcade game. It is NOT necessary for a >thoughtful, less framerate dependant game like Sim City or even Battlechess. > >Writing in C: What Distinctive Software (Test Drive, Hardball, Grand Prix >Circuit etc - I used to work for them) does (and I am doing) is write >libraries in assembly (such as DrawShape()) and have control routines in C. >This allows fast low level code and easily maintainable control code. > It is surprising how much of a game done in 'C' ends up being critical core type code. In the one game I did (Dark Castle) using 'C', the program had 100 source files, 10 were in 'C'. A game I am currently working on was written by someone else in 'C' and at least 60% is in assembler language. My own personal gripe with using 'C' is that a big stack is required and some huge routines (like sprintf() and 32x32 multiply routines) get yanked in, making the code requirements larger than (sometimes) desired. The technique that Distinctive uses allows the library portions to be recoded for the PC, say, and the 'C' code ports right over. To them, this is an important concern. The real question that needs to be asked is how well does the Amiga version perform. If the answer is "fine", then there is nothing to debate. >It is not feasable to 'map out' the machine and then take over. WHen I say >take over, I'm talking about taking over politely so you can revert back, but >nothing else is running (can't do a download while flying a jet in F-18). On >a Commodore 64 or an Apple II or something, you can map out your memory >usages to the byte, but on an Amiga there are so many possible differences >all you can do is ask for resources and then use them. > When you design a game that takes over the Amiga, you DO map out every last byte and what it is used for. Making a game that can both MAP out the entire memory map AND work politely (as you put it) basically requires TWO entirely different programs. >I sure hope the people who are discussing what you can do on an Amiga as far >as games are concerned have written at least one (mine was Wings of Fury). > >--- Colin_Fox@outbound.cynic.wimsey.bc.ca I'd like to qualify this by adding that the game should be an Amiga game :) -- **************************************************** * I want games that look like Shadow of the Beast * * but play like Leisure Suit Larry. * ****************************************************