Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ted
From: ted@cs.utexas.edu (Ted Woodward)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Ultima series
Message-ID: <92@victoria.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 23 Nov 90 09:28:24 GMT
References: <1990Nov8.215859.19374@isis.cs.du.edu> <1990Nov10.190258.22843@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> <84@sahara.cs.utexas.edu> <10205@helios.TAMU.EDU> <87@syrian.cs.utexas.edu> <9154@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
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Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 37

In article <9154@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> hale@scam.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Greg Hale) writes:
>In article <87@syrian.cs.utexas.edu> I write:
>>In article <10205@helios.TAMU.EDU> n074ez@tamuts.tamu.edu (Joe Bezdek) writes:
>>>...  I myself can see no reason why a game that can run on an
>>>IBM with VGA can't run on a Mac II with very few changes (cosmetic).

>>Actually, if you are smart when you 1st write the program, you can.  What you
>>need to do is come up with your own set of screen libraries and only use those,
>>not machine dependent stuff.  Then you write the libraries for each machine
>>...

>Of course, this produces an ibm-like program on the Mac, often without
>windows, menus, nice interfaces, etc..., which absolutely drive Mac
>people insane when they must do without.

Again, not if you do it correctly.  And some games don't need to be 'macified'
anyway.  Other than nice menus, of course, like the ultimas.  To port an
Ultima using the above method all you need to do is put the stuff in windows
and add menus, and, of course, mouse support, and it will be fine.
My trick above eliminates a lot of the tedium of finding the graphics calls
for the IBM or Amiga or somesuch and replacing them with the mac calls.

Oh, by 'correctly' I mean customize it for the machine being ported to.
Someone ought to call Origin and tell them that pull down menus are not that
hard to deal with.  And are actually easier than writing your own code
(like microsoft did in its flight simulator...UGLY!)

>Gads - when will people leave Mac ports to Mac programmers... :(

I am a mac programmer.  And I agree; only a mac user can truly tell if an
interface would be palatable to other mac users.


-- 
Ted Woodward (ted@cs.utexas.edu)

Mad scientists HATE shopping for shoes -- Peaches