Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!netserv2!deven From: deven@rpi.edu (Deven T. Corzine) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: Game vs Multitasking Message-ID: Date: 30 May 90 01:48:19 GMT References: Distribution: comp Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY Lines: 61 In-Reply-To: mt87692@tut.fi's message of 29 May 90 00:05:35 GMT On 29 May 90 00:05:35 GMT, mt87692@tut.fi (Mikko Tsokkinen) said: Mikko> 1. Should game be HD-installable? Mikko> 2. Should game multitask? Mikko> 3. Should game detect extra memory/diskdrives/processors? Mikko> 4. Should game be exitable? Mikko> And I would like also to know how many of you people really Mikko> play games while doing something else? If you do, do you really Mikko> like those every now and then updating games with poor graphics Mikko> (thanks to memory shortage). The answer to every one of these questions is a resounding YES. If you even need to ask, something's amiss. Of course, better you ask than do it wrong. Stop thinking like a C64 programmer. You DON'T have the entire machine at your disposal. Taking over the machine will keep MANY people from bothering with it. More importantly, you're clearly only thinking about your own system configuration. There are many variations in configurations and priorities, and you ignore them at your own risk. Any HD owner will NOT want to run your game off floppies, period. Many people want ANY game to multitask. People get very irritated by a game which keeps loading images off a floppy (slowly) when they have a hard drive and megabytes of memory and could go MUCH faster if the game were written correctly. And an ever-growing number of users are getting VERY tired of having to reboot the machine after playing a game. In short, every point you brought up is a major reason many people avoid poorly-written games. Don't second-guess the user. You might be concerned about ultimate speed and memory efficiency, but someone with an A3000 running under KickStart V2.0 with a 25MHz 68030/68882 and 2 Meg of chip RAM, 16 Meg of 32-bit fast RAM, and a 600 Meg 16 ms hard drive is likely to have far different priorities than the user with an A1000 running under KickStart V1.2 with an 8 MHz 68000, 512K chip RAM, no fast RAM and one floppy. Also, note that a user on a small system may well prefer to sacrifice some speed for the ability to continue something in the background... And don't use CPU timing loops! Do NOT assume everyone in the world has the same type of system as you have. It's NOT true. Even you will probably have a different system in the future. Avoid assumptions you don't need to make. Don't steal the system or go directly to the hardware. If you must, then at least cooperate with the operating system to gain ownership of the hardware before using it. You don't need to be unfriendly to the system in the name of efficiency. Just learn to do it right. Basically, follow the rules and guidelines long since established for developers... [don't you just hate lectures? *sigh* it's justified, anyhow.] Deven -- Deven T. Corzine Internet: deven@rpi.edu, shadow@pawl.rpi.edu Snail: 2214 12th St. Apt. 2, Troy, NY 12180 Phone: (518) 271-0750 Bitnet: deven@rpitsmts, userfxb6@rpitsmts UUCP: uunet!rpi!deven Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.