Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!vsi1!zorch!amiga0!mykes From: mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: Lemmings - a tutorial Part V (last) Message-ID: Date: 29 Mar 91 00:08:32 GMT References: <23837@well.sf.ca.us> <1991Mar27.211819.19370@neon.Stanford.EDU> Organization: Amiga makes it possible Lines: 128 In article <1991Mar27.211819.19370@neon.Stanford.EDU> espie@flamingo.Stanford.EDU (Marc Espie) writes: >In article mykes@sega0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: >>In article <23837@well.sf.ca.us> farren@well.sf.ca.us (Mike Farren) writes: >>>mykes@sega0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: >[stuff deleted] >??? hey ! There aren't only amiga 500 with 512 K around. > Anything correctly written for the 512K Amiga runs on all Amigas. >How about checking the configuration of the machine you use ? >If your game is designed for 512K, maybe (just maybe) you could preserve >the OS when running on >1Meg machines. If you're really good, you can >even check the speed of the processor and leave part of the OS running... >How about a download on your a3000 while you're playing an arcade game ? >Since the blitter has a 32 bit path, this means that *even* coprocessor >stuff runs twice as fast as on a 500. Plenty of time left... >F18, for instance, works much better on >1.5meg machines. And it runs with >a 68030 at an impressive speed... > >> >>The ROM Kernel routines have many many bugs in them that you end up >>programming your way around. It is not lazy to want to avoid the > >Disregarding the fact that there aren't so many bugs around (if you're >used to game machines, maybe you don't respect multitasking rules :-), >Commodore is working on 2.0, which will be more stable and better... >and break most arcade type games. > >What about 68030 and MMU ? Are they a bug ? What the heck, perfectly >reasonable self-modifying code BREAKS when running under them. > Self-modifying code breaks even if you ARE using the OS. Commodore has been pretty clear about what you shouldn't do, either when using the OS or when taking over. > >Most of the code I've seen in Assembler does atrocious things and is >fairly unreadable. Code written in C tends to be cleaner... >And I know some people who don't know ANYTHING about high-level >languages and Operating Systems. For them, assembler is the easiest way. > I know lots of people that don't know assembler and think of themselves as great programemrs. If they don't understand what it means to use assembler, their opinions carry little weight. >Assembler vs C: compare IFF SMUS/soundtracker. On one hand, you have >a fairly reasonable format, not incredibly effective. On the other hand, >you have a highly effective memory dump, with major problems. >- VERY bad design. Features like sample length/repeat stuff should be >coded with the sample. Several different versions exist, all are >subtly incompatible with each other. >- not supple. Does it support iff sample ? >Does it support fibonacci compression ? >- hardware dependant... the difference between NTSC/PAL kills it. > IFF SMUS is a poor format. I suggest you look at standard MIDI file format. It is much better. The best music drivers for the Amiga don't use SMUS. The most popular music drivers for the Amiga do, unfortunately. Fibonacci compression is guaranteed to distort the audio of any sample used with it. Is soundtracker PD? You get what you pay for. >> >>Have you ever taken over the Amiga? I bet if you did, you'd change >>your tune. I on the other hand have done things both ways (using the >>OS and taking over), and the power you gain by taking over more than >>offsets the capability to multitask your game with other programs. >>Open your mind and give it a try, then we can really have a productive >>disagreement. > >Again: you can take over and keep the OS in a corner, that is easy to >do. You can even partly take over and leave os stuff running. > There are no corners to hide the OS in on a 512K machine. >Ok, what I've said doesn't apply to all games. But I'm sick of seeing >many games breaking the OS for gratuitous purposes. Why is >Shadow of the Beast so badly protected ? Why does full metal planet >take over the machine ? Why does Populous crash so often ? >Why do I spend so much time making BROKEN games running ? installing >bootblocks, patching codes, trying things out ? >Why have so many games decided the joystick should go into port 0 ? >Is this so difficult to add an option (and leave my mouse where it is) ? > A pirate party was just busted in France. The police confiscated over $1 Million in pirated games. These parties go on all the time, here in America and abroad. I don't like copy protection, myself, but I understand the rational behind why people use it. Populous is a port from the PC. As long as Amiga marketing data for software is dismal, big companies won't make the investment required to make truly awesome Amiga games. The only companies that do make Amiga originals that survive are European. >I can understand that you feel personally attacked by what Mike Farren >says. So, alright, you're a nice little programmer. Now, look at >existing games... Don't you feel a little uneasy about some of them ? > I do not feel personally attacked by what Mike Farren says. I am only concerned that he is closing off a valid approach to making games. Yes, I feel a lot uneasy about many games on the Amiga. I can't stand it when I see an action game written in 'C'. It is easy to tell which games are done this way, and they suck. >>******************************************************** >>* Appendix A of the Amiga Hardware Manual tells you * >>* everything you need to know to take full advantage * >>* of the power of the Amiga. And it is only 10 pages! * >Which is the surest way to break things. You should >*at least* read the recommendations at the beginning of the RKM. >>******************************************************** > > Marc Espie (espie@flamingo.stanford.edu) -- ******************************************************** * Appendix A of the Amiga Hardware Manual tells you * * everything you need to know to take full advantage * * of the power of the Amiga. And it is only 10 pages! * ********************************************************