Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!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: 31 Mar 91 09:15:54 GMT References: <23788@well.sf.ca.us> <23837@well.sf.ca.us> <781@tnc.UUCP> <2149@pdxgate.UUCP> Organization: Amiga makes it possible Lines: 58 In article <2149@pdxgate.UUCP> bairds@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Shawn L. Baird) writes: >mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: > >[ ... some stuff deleted ... ] > >>No sources will be posted here, but I have done a small game (in 3 >>days in assembler) that I do intend to publish source code to >>at a future date. And believe it or not, it does not kill the OS >>to the point that it can't be restored. In other words, it runs from >>DOS and returns to DOS, but it does NOT multitask. > >I'm a bit confused here. First you say it runs from DOS and returns to >DOS. Then you say you wrote your own boot sector program that doesn't >return to the OS. Which of the two is true? I suspect that, although >you save the state of the OS there really isn't a reason to do so. Not >only this, but using a custom bootblock will render the game only >bootable on floppy disks and (from the descriptions of doing all of >the floppy reading on your own) the disk itself will not be in AmigaDOS >format, therefore there will be no way to install your program on a >hard drive. What is the point of keeping the OS state when even if you >did return to it the user has had to reboot at least once just to get >started? > The game I described uses NO operating system calls and does not multitask. It also runs in <256K. I wouldn't sell it as a product because it is puny by Amiga standards. I did it to prove that I know how to do it. Again, I repeat that it DOES NOT multitask. >Basically, it sounds like most other games I've seen. Granted, you >attempt to do things in a correct and compatible way across all Amigas, >but I already believe that someone who doesn't do this ought to be >shot. I think Mike Farren's point was, correct me if I'm wrong, was that >games like Lemmings could be made to take over the OS or multitask with >the point being to be able to do things like install it on a hard drive. >While avoiding the operating system routines may sometimes be helpful, >I sincerely doubt that you find the routines so horrible that you >avoid using them when running programs like your editor, your assembler, >etc. You can't tell me that fast blitting is impossible when the OS is >still intact. Look at CED. It blazes it's scrolling along at a very >fast clip (and I've noticed that the rest of the machine slows down >accordingly), probably by OwnBlitter() for long periods of time. > Cygnus Ed does not try to maintain a 60Hz animated frame rate as games do. Comparing apples with oranges here. A game is not an application. >--- > Shawn L. Baird, bairds@eecs.ee.pdx.edu, Wraith on DikuMUD > The above message is not licensed by AT&T, or at least, not yet. -- ******************************************************** * 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! * ********************************************************