Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!van-bc! From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: Game vs Multitasking Message-ID: <1658@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 29 May 90 12:35:00 GMT Lines: 110 Return-Path: To: van-bc!rnews In <17866@ultima.cs.uts.oz>, vilkas@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Iron Wolf) writes: > >Good for you but when you are blasting a games designer with these statements >you have to examine the reality of the matter and his point of view as well. >Now...if you have a DMA SCSI HD you need a buffer in CHIP ram...am I corect? >(I am not real sure but I assume this is true). He is not 'blasting a games designer'. He is answering with an opinion in response to a direct question. You are incorrect, unless the machine happens to have ONLY CHIP ram. Examining the issues from the designers point of view only carries so much weight. If the designer is designing for himself, fine, but he is not; he is designing from the point of view of making the game appeal to as wide an audience as possible. He is being told what is important to those he has asked. >Also....a VERY large number of the type of people who BUY these games, the >MARKET, don't have a HD, and quite a few only have 512k. Now unless we want >to make the cost of development increase by having the programmers write >variations for hard drives, extra memory and so on, we should be content that >in general, the games that are written actually WORK on most Amiga >configurations. You can talk about what _you_ should be content with, but please do not presume to tell us that we should accept your standards. Many demand more, and if it is not forthcoming, will not be forthcoming with their money. The author ignores wishes and/or demands at his own peril. >>I wonder how many people would play rogue if you had to load it in from >>9-track tape every time, then restart Unix afterwords? > >Lets not bring up a stupid comparison, UNIX is a lot more cumbersome that >AmigaDos, and I wonder if you realise how much piracy costs the game industry? >If the programmers start saying: "Sure, run a cli - make an image of the memory" >we will find very few commercial quality programs coming out on the market as >they will be easily available in pirated form. > >Every effort should be made to insure the integrity of the software and the >security of it. As if it really mattered whether or not a CLI can be brought up... games get stolen; it's a fact of life. No matter what you do, this will be the case. You might delay the inevitable, but you will not stop it. Bottom line here, again, is that I vote with my wallet. Copy protection is high on the list of things that will make me vote no. >Now...if we want games to multitask...we dont want security...we dont want >fast flashy games....we want lots of system overhead when writing simple >routines....we want somewhat inconsistent reaction times. Well >Well if this is what you want...take a look; you already have it PD & >shareware is what is viable for such demands. The quality is generally poorer >the cost is much less. You want multitasking, well you can get it. I'll stick >with quality and performance. And the only way to get consistent performance >is to shut off any interference. Again, speak for yourself. I will tell you that your priorities are not absolute immutable physical laws. You buy the ones that take over. I, and many others will choose to do without. >You're argument falls apart where you point out that there are machines such >as the A3000 and 1Mb & 2Mb Amiga's. The majority of Amiga's out there are >A500's with 512k or at most 1Mb, one..maybe two drives. Adn as such, there >is what the programmer's MUST cater for to achieve maxmimum market penetration >and sales. The games MUST have protection to discourage piracy and the games >must follow the dictates of what the majority of consumers want. Your argument was never together enough to fall apart. The point is not where the market is. The point is that the designer asked what was important in a few specific areas. He was told. Should he choose to ignore it, he will not make the sale to those who have expressed those opinions, and those who agree with it. Nobody is forcing him to comply; there are no midnight visits from the multitasking police. He will make his choices, we will make ours. Simple, neat, and self policing. >As the market changes, so will the games..already many games require 1Mb >and even the European games (which are the majority of good games) are beginning >to notice that second disk drive stuck onto the machines instead of saying >"please insert disk 2". I haven't found European games to be particularly good, but then we obviously have different ideas on what's good and what isn't; on what's acceptable behaviour and what isn't. >So the message gets through and the direction changes. > >So in a speculative future where the A750 with 68020 & 1Mb chip mem with two >drives is the basic model...we will see a lot of the things you are talking about >but we will also see a lot of games that are written in the same way as todays >games with more features better performance etc. > >The only way that your gripes will be picked up by the programmer's is if >the majority of the market started feeling the same way. > >The main point to remember is that the industry is geared towards the consumer >and will produce what he wants to see (or more correctly what he is willing >to pay for) That's right. You choose to ignore it in your main message, then reverse yourself here. -larry -- The raytracer of justice recurses slowly, but it renders exceedingly fine. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+