Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: a talk with an apple person.... Message-ID: <14511@smoke.brl.mil> Date: 17 Nov 90 15:05:12 GMT References: <1990Nov17.052755.29141@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 24 In article <1990Nov17.052755.29141@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu) writes: > Sierra On-line stopped developing products for the GS on the grounds that >the machine was too slow and technologicaly outdated, so they went to develop >softwares (concentrate) for the IBM and Mac. Well, that's something I can >believe. I have seen different Sierra games for both the GS and IBM, and the >GS versions are 100% better quality than the IBM versions. King of Chicago, >Defender of the Crown and Sinbad are a few examples. The graphics and sounds >(GS stand) on the GS version are super. If you don't believe me ask some IBM >user to show you this games after you have seen the GS version. > The GS version, win.....!!! Those aren't Sierra products. Sierra On-Line's IIGS problems have been discussed at length previously. Basically, what it comes down to is that their games are written in a special game-programming language, which is in turn implemented as an interpreter on each kind of computer that Sierra supports. The IIGS implementation of the game system did not perform as well as would have been required for market acceptability. Some people blame it on the use of a high-level language (C) to implement the kernel of the interpreter, while others of us blame it on the poor quality of the code generated by the compiler that Sierra used. In any case, a good implementation would be considerably faster. Sierra declines to allow anyone to work on this without becoming a full-time Sierra employee, which of course rules out the majority of qualified IIGS programmers.