Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!husc6!m2c!wpi!dseah
From: dseah@wpi.wpi.edu (David I Seah)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Lack of games for the GS
Message-ID: <8776@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 21 Feb 90 00:59:53 GMT
References: <1580@crash.cts.com>
Reply-To: dseah@wpi.wpi.edu (David I Seah)
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester ,MA
Lines: 42

In article <1580@crash.cts.com> tsouth@pro-pac.cts.com (System Administrator) writes:
>I'd have to disagree about the NEED for higher resolution in games.  While
>CAD and other high definition work would SINCERELY benifit from a 640x400 (or
>480!) screen I feel that in the game department the one thing seriously
>killing the //gs (besides speed) is the fact that we only have 16 colors on
>the 320x200 game screen.  This is the SAME as a frickin Commodore 64 folks!

Then again, the Commodore 64 is STILL being developed for by the game
people 'cause there are a gawdawful number of them (10+ million, they say).
It still runs at 1Mhz and only has 16 colors, but it is still a relatively
popular game platform.

More relevant to the color issue, our choice of 16 from 4096 colors is
a heap of a lot better than the C64's fixed palette.  With this range
of colors, artists have quite a bit more freedom in choosing harmonious
and mind-affecting color schemes.  But as a novice artist I'd have to
tell ya that ONLY 16 colors really, really stinks!  It certainly does
train you in the wise choice of colors and judicious application of
dithering techniques.

>The Amiga screens with 320x200 and 256 colors are not any more pixel
>definitive than the //gs, BUT they do have the range of coloration that
>allows for real depth in the graphics displayed.  Comments?

The Amiga doesn't have a 256 color mode.  The standard screen is 320x200
with 5 bit planes (32 colors).  That's their low resolution mode.  Most
games I've seen have used this mode.

The Amiga is capable of some truly inspiring modes...overscan video,
for example, allows you to put graphics in the border for a TV-like,
full screen effect.  Interlaced mode doubles the vertical resolution
with the tradeoff of flicker.  HAM mode gives you 4096 colors (with a
small restriction on color placement) on the screen at once.  These modes
don't seem to be used often in games as much as in static pictures...
I believe there was one game that used HAM mode but I've never seen it.

A 320x200 256 color mode on a future Apple CPU would help even the score
between Us and Them, so long as the hardware could adequately shove this
amount of data around.  Two display pages would be even better.
-- 
Dave Seah | O M N I D Y N E  S Y S T E M S - M |   Internet: dseah@wpi.wpi.edu 
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