Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!telmail!neabbs!rrs
From: rrs@neabbs.UUCP (RONALD VAN EIJCK)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: RE: games & multitasking
Message-ID: <398658@neabbs.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jun 90 08:29:38 GMT
Organization: NEABBS multi-line BBS +31-20-717666 (13x), Amsterdam, Holland
Lines: 41

After reading so much messages about Games vs Multitasking here's my opinion.

Harddisks etc:
 It isn't difficult to make a game harddisk installable, If let it start
 from workbench and get your cd from the icon it runs from any device,
 dh0: work: df1: etc. etc.

RAM:
 1: don't destroy the system and ASK!!! for the memory you need.
 2: Try to keep the data in ram. If you need a data area and you can't
    allocate free the memory for the title screen or some other unimportant
    part of your data and reread it if you need it again. (people who have
    lot's of ram don't have to wait, people who have little ram do.)

Processors:
 If you don't do busy loops and you don't use the dangerous instructions
 processors are the least of your worries.

Multitasking:
 Don't destroy the system. I am not saying that you have to be able to run
 dpain, sonix and whatsoever on the background but you should not disable
 all dma and interrupts. Instead use the following:
 1: Insert an input handler just before intuition (pri 51) and steal all
    the input events while your game is running, nobody wants to give input
    to an other task while playing an shoot-em-up game.
 2: Give your task a priority of 1 (you can use a higher value if you have some
    waits in your programm but be carefull.)
 3: If you have a speed problem look at your algorithm instead of destroying
    the system. (this'll cause me trouble)

Copy protection:
 Don't use diskbased copyprotection:
 1: I really want to have a backup of the programm's I buy.
 2: Some hacker will write a copy program.
 3: You can make copies so someone else can.

 I am using dongle protection for my programs, the advantages are:
 1: People can make backups.
 2: It's impossible to use two copies of the program at the same time
 3: It's more difficult to break hardware.
 4: If someone breaks the hardware only a limited number of copies will be made
 The only disadvantage is that if a lot of programs use them the users get mad.