Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:58590 comp.sys.amiga.tech:12265 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!njin!uupsi!sunic!sics.se!bula!bjornk From: bjornk@bula.se (Bjorn Knutsson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: Game vs Multitasking Message-ID: <7373@bula.se> Date: 29 May 90 08:09:23 GMT References: Sender: rnews@bula.se Reply-To: Bjorn Knutsson Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga Distribution: comp Organization: Bjorn's Amiga, Sweden Lines: 86 In article mt87692@tut.fi (Mikko Tsokkinen) writes: [...] >Okay, that's about that, now I had few other questions (or more specific I >would like to hear your opinions on following subjects): > >1. Should game be HD-installable? > > - IMHO I think this is quite useless because many HD drivers eat chip-memory > and you will run out of it especially on 512k chip-ram machines. And you > can make Disk-based routines lot more faster and more data in one disk > which helps people without HD. Yes. If you have a harddisk, you don't want to fool around with floppies. I wouldn't buy a game that can't be installed on my harddisk. You may think this is useless, but a lot of people don't. And besides, the kind of people who buy harddisk are the same kind of people who are prepared to BUY your program. You don't want to piss them off since they're your (potential) customers. >2. Should game multitask? > - IMHO I at least don't want to play those shit games with multitasking on. > But if we are talking about for example following "Multitasking": Game > disables interrupts while playing but for example if you pause it it will > turn interrupts back on. I would like to make my game work like this. But > there are few drawbacks: Copy-protection is alot harder to make and you > very easily run out of memory. Again, I wouldn't buy a game that won't let me multitask. I don't even want programs that take over the display. Also, if your program is copy protected I will hesitate to buy it. Word-in-the-manual, if done right, is OK. Any disk based protection is out. >3. Should game detect extra memory/diskdrives/processors? > - IMHO memory is must because it makes the game lot more playable and HD-people > don't argue about the loading speed. Extra drives eat memory which causes > serious trouble in 512k machines. Processors are useless in simple scroll > games because they at least should be using the blitter in nasty-mode so > processors don't speed it up too much. Nowadays the games also must run on > all motorola 680x0 family thanks to A3000. But by detecting I mean really > notice the speed increase and add new things to game (BTW my program notices > but noone of my friends has 68020/68030 so I dunno how much it helps:-). A program should, of course, use as little memory as possible if it's multitasking. Offer the user the ability to cache stuff that is needed often. Use as little CHIPMEM as possible. The program should, of course, not use CPU based timing. If you detect a faster processor give the user the OPTION of adding extras if you like. But don't use the CPU more than you need. Think about those other tasks. Also, you shouldn't adapt to faster processors because CBM has released the A3000. Even an A1000 can have a 68030. >4. Should game be exitable? > - IMHO exitable games are harder to protect and you can't destroy anything in memory > and you will end up again without enough memory:-( Yes. Anything else is not acceptable. I want to be able to start a game, play it while downloading some files, and then quit the game and resume work. > And I would like also to know how many of you people really play games while doing >something else? If you do, do you really like those every now and then updating >games with poor graphics (thanks to memory shortage). I do and I like them. The most important aspect of a game is NOT cute graphics. It's much more important that the game is fun to play. One of my favorite games is The Colony. It multitasks, I can install it on my harddisk and I can pull down it's window. Now, there are some other aspects of this game that I don't like, but those would be the same regardless if the game multitasked or not. The protection used is OK as protections go. Now, I don't like any form of copy protection, but I can see why it's needed. The solution used in The Colony is one of the better I've seen. Generally, The Colony, while not the best game I've ever played, does a VERY good job of adapting to your machine. It even adapted its screen to the size of my overscanned PAL (704*568) workbench screen. >-- >Mikko "Assembler rules OK!" Tsokkinen >Internet mt87692@tut.fi : UUCP tut!mt87692 : Bitnet mt87692@fintut --- Bjorn Knutsson / USENET: bjornk@bula.se or sunic!sics!bula!bjornk Stangholmsbacken 44 / Phone : +46-8-710 7223 S-127 40 SKARHOLMEN / "Oh dear, I think you'll find reality's on the S W E D E N / blink again." -- Marvin The Paranoid Android