HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: grey@bnr.ca (Bryan Miller)
Subject: Re: RISK: Anouncement, calling for discussion, etc...
Keywords: Risk
Reply-To: grey@bnr.ca (Bryan Miller)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 16:59:37 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.133312.17295@odin.diku.dk>, rael@diku.dk (Peter Hj{resen) writes:
|> Hello world...
|> 
|> 
|> [This is my first posting, so bear with me...]
|> 
|> I have been following this group for quite a while, and I (almost) 
|> haven't seen one single discussion about RISK. I think this is a shame...
|> 
[stuff about what to do for distribution of windows risk game deleted]

post your source code (if you want) to comp.sources

if you're going to let people know about the program yourself,
any ftp site is as good as another. if want people to find it
themselves, submit to a common archive.

note, if you post it to comp.sources, it will get archived there
automatically

|> 
|> Right now, the program uses an ad hoc playing strategy, based on local
|> observations. I would like to hear from any of you, who migth have 
|> interesting views on the possibility of using 
|>    
|>      1) Alpha/Beta-pruning (minimax?).

if you're going to use minimax, of course use alpha/beta pruning
to reduce the search space, search deeper in the same time, whatever
tradeoff you choose. the big problem is the heuristic that evaluates
board position. what do you want to maximize (minimize)?

for instance. i've seen risk programs that clearly choose the country
against which they have the best odds each time. there is no strategy
for expansion.

your heuristic would clearly need to evaluate:
- expected number of points for armies next round
- probability of cashing in cards for armies on next round
- order of play (if you play first you need to be defensible,
  if you play last, you can take a stab at a continent just to
  take away the other's bonus)
etc.

this is always a good approach as long as:
- you can make a reasonable evaluation of board position
- you can do it fast enough to search far enough ahead
- the evaluation heuristic is not too obvious

keep in mind that you can't search very far ahead in a game
like this, and there's really no point. each player can make
large numbers of moves or none. the search space is too large.

having a table of combat loss probabilities for combinations of
attacking/defending armies makes combat prediction a simple lookup,
but how many armies will be moved in, from where, will he attack
again from there, etc?


--------------
Grey

my opinions, not those of Bell Northern Research
From: torstein@itekiris.kjemi.unit.no (torstein hansen)
Subject: Re: Calling all graphics artists!
Organization: Dept. of Chem.Eng, Norwegian Inst. of Tech
Date: 13 Oct 92 22:40:27

In article <Bw2FtA.IMw@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu> mucds@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Corey D. Stinson) writes:

     Greets all,

	 I am working on a traditional-type role playing game but I have a
   small problem.  I really can't draw that well!  Is there anyone out
   there who is a good artist, able to draw people and monster pictures?
   I'm not looking for anything fancy at all.  The game I'm working on will
   be shareware.  Is there anyone who would like to contribute?

	 Since I'm just putting this together now (not much code has
   actually been implemented) I can't tell you gain you would get from
   something like this.  But, you would at the least get your name in the
   credits :)

	 If this peaks anyone's interest, please respond.  Also, if anyone
   has tips for drawing characters, humans in particular, or just drawing
   in general let me know.
				    Thanx in advance,
					   Corey Stinson

It seems to me that this may be a common problem, why should a person
with programming knowledge also be a graphic artist? As for myself,
I've got a couple of games almost ready for distribution, but the
graphics are not up to standard. (Actually in one case it is, but I
had to steal some bitmaps from another game, alas I won't distribute
it with stolen bmps.) 

If there are people out there with special interest in game design,
graphic artists, writers (as you may notice english isn't my natural
language), programmers etc. maybe we could join forces? If anybody are
interested drop me a line.

To Corey: If you like the idea, drop me a line will you?

ps: I would especially like to get in contact with people programming
for the MS-Windows environment.

torstein
torstein@itekiris.kjemi.unit.no
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: sulcer@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (PSYCHOTICS R US)
Subject: FAQ anyone?
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 07:27:12 GMT

I just began reading this newsgroup and I'm looking for a FAQ so that I
don't bother all of you with my profound ignorance.

Just in case you care-- I'm looking for information concerning graphics
programming on the IBM preferably VGA standard and "tweeked" modes.  I also
would like sound routines using either the PC speaker or SoundBlaster card.
And I need information about basic game writing techniques.

Basically, I'm new and ignorant and wet behind the ears and I need to know
everything.  I now know nothing.  

Pseudocode, C++, Pascal and anything but assembler welcome


-- 
The Perpetually Happy Order of Raving Lunatics                P.H.O.R.L.

Geoff Sulcer                                  sulcer@ucsu.colorado.edu
recluS ffoeG                                  sulcer@rintintin.colorado.edu
From: sl859@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Legality of Color Scanned Images
Date: 16 Oct 92 17:18:19 MDT
Organization: Utah State University


	I have a question of legality that hopefully some of you are familiar
with.  I am not sure which news group to post this to but since it is for a
game and I read this group commonly I will post here.
	Scanned images...  If I color scan an image of say Big Ben am I going
to get in trouble using it?  What if it was from a post card?  What if it was a
photo I actually shot?  I have some images of the inside of the Vattican and
Rome in general.  Can I use the images freely or what?  I mean they are things
 so can they be subject to use in like a game??? What is the legality of
scanned images... What if I alter the image or change the color scheme?

	Hopefully someone is familiar with this type of perdicament and is
willing to speak of it...  		THANKS
						wReam...

P.S. :) <-- disclaimer supreme...

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.unix.programmer
From: davewt@NCoast.ORG (David Wright)
Subject: Looking for sparse-array example code
Organization: North Coast Public Access *NIX, Cleveland, OH
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 02:27:51 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer


	I am looking at starting work on a SF-oriented MUD system based
on LPmud 3.x. The main changes I want to implement (all of these take place
in the C language "core" parser, and so I think they belong here rather
than in rec.games.mud.lp) involve greatly restricted access to the
programming language ("normal" players (read like 99.99%) would not be able
to create new objects, but would only be able to "program" their ship to
do certain actions automatically for them (navigate to location xxx,
fire phasers if more than yyy units of energy left, otherwise use torps,
etc)), and the ability to have an integral "positioning" system inside the
lowest level of the object classes.
	What I want to do is to allow objects such as ships, stars, planets,
etc. to occupy a set or coords in a 2d or 3d space, and you should have the
ability to navigate from place to place without needing to create any
"inbetween" objects. That is, the "empty" portions of space would not exist,
and the only things taking up space in RAM or on disk would be the
actual objects themselves.
	Does anyone have any example code for creating/handling sparse
arrays, or do you think it would just be better to use some kind of
indexing system (in which case, do you have any C-ISAM library code?).

				Dave


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: PC Sprite Engine
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 14:49:59 GMT

scarnie@esk.compserv.utas.edu.au (Stuart George Carnie) writes:


>Who said you can't scroll the VGA smoothy.  I've done it, on SLOW computers.
>All you need to do is switch to 256k mode, and then change the start-address-
>high/low registers and wait for a Vertical Retrace. If you keep changing this
>offset, you will create a smooth scrolling background.

Ok, maybe you can get ONE smoothly scrolling background.  But what
about 3??? or 5???  The sprite engine will be able to support SEVERAL
independently parallax scrolling backgrounds.  THATS why I don't want
to incorporate VGA into the sprite engine!!!  NO VGA IN EXISTENCE 
is able to recreate the graphics on sega's "Sonic the hedgehog"...
and the sprite engine will be able to do sonic the hedgehog and much
more!!! 

- Rich
  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,k12.ed.comp.literacy,comp.sys.mac.games,comp.sys.mac.programmer,rec.sport.baseball
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: What language for kids to write baseball program?
Organization: Clarkson University
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 02:26:37 GMT

bdavis@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (William Davis) writes:

>Hi,

>My 10-year old and a friend want to write a computer game dealing with
>baseball, for a special school project.  They are bright and patient,
>but have no computer experience (Dad does, and is willing to tutor).
>Any ideas on what language or tools they (I) might investigate using?
>We have a Mac and the school has Apple IIe's, so it would be ideal if
>the language/tools were available on both platforms.

>E-mail me, or post.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

C++!!!  :)


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: thomash@edb.tih.no (Thomas Hagen,o91b)
Subject: vga
Reply-To: thomash@edb.tih.no
Organization: T I H / T I S I P
Posting-Front-End: Winix Conference v 92.05.15  1.20 (running under MS-Windows)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 16:45:15 GMT

!

Is is possible to adress a VGA 320x200x256 screen using
bitplanes, as opposed to the MCGA (bitmap)? And, if so,
HOW? 

Page-swapping won't be needed, so using mode x seems a
bit unnecessary.   

Thanks -

Thomas Hagen

thomash@edb.tih.no
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: baruch@nynexst.com (Robert Baruch)
Subject: Re: real sprites
Organization: NYNEX Science & Technology, Inc.
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 13:29:37 GMT

In article <kennehra.718415785@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>, kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> Hi!  Thanks for your reply!!!  I have a few questions for you:
|> 
|> 1)  What courses did you take in order to be able to have the technical
|>     knowledge to build a VGA card?  I would LOVE to be able to do that!

(?) None that I know of.  I just sort of wandered around in bookstores until I found
books that were of use.  I see no reason why anyone should not be able to 
do the same!

|>    
|> 2)  Can you recommend some good books on video cards that contain
|>     skematics diagrams?

Hmmm.  That's a tough one.  No one book that I know of contains schematics,
but a look at databooks from companies that manufacture video chips should
give you all the information you need.  Mainly from the companies that 
manufacture graphics chips.
  
|> 
|> 3)  What kind of equipment do you need to test and debug the circuits
|>     involved in the video cards?

Probably an oscilloscope, that would be nice.  I know that I would love
to use a logic analyzer, but I just don't happen to have $10,000 lying around.
  
|> 
|> 4)  How much does do the parts cost in general? where do I special 
|>     order chips?

Oh, maybe a few hundred.  Maybe a bit less.  You can probably get "special
order chips" (by which I mean non-7400/4000 series) as free samples from
companies.

|> 
|> I've been doing alot of thinking about the "sprite engine"  Here are
|> the features that I'd put in if I could build one:
|> 
|> 1)  I'd make it comaptible with all IBMs (except the IBM pc jr.) from
|>     the lowly 8086 to the 80486...basically, if you have a card slot 
|>     and its an ibm, it'll run. 

Agreed.  Anyone who has an 8086 deserves it!
 
|> 
|> 2)  I'd have some on-board memory for defining the sprites.  Would a
|>     megabyte of ram do it?

Seems right.  You need to calculate the maximum number and average
size for sprites.
  
|> 
|> 3)  I'd have some scaling and rotation features for the sprites (this 
|>     can come later...and is just wishful thinking :)

That requires some thought...
  
|> 
|> 4)  It should be able to output to a regular VGA monitor

I'll say!
 
|> 
|> 5)  Definitely an atari 2600 joystick port!!  (for those arcade style
|>     gamers!)

(?) I'm not familiar with the atari 2600 joystick.  Does it have a joystick
and a button on it?  If so, an IBM joystick will do just as well, and can
be attached to the game port.
  
|> 
|> That's all I can think of right now...I'll post the source code to my
|> pascal program once I go back to my room and get my disk.  See ya!
|> 
|> - Rich
|>   kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu
|> 
|>
From: sill@hal.as.utexas.edu (Daniel Sill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: svga help
Date: 8 Oct 92 12:51:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: ut-emx.81279
Organization: McDonald Observatory, University of Texas @ Austin

hello to all,

"well, ok then"...

i posted the following a few days ago:

******************************************
>i found a vga kit called "VGAKIT41.ZIP"..

>i think it is really great;however i am
>having some difficulties with it...my vga
>card is a 'BOCA SVGAX1'(it is quite new)..
>it uses a NCR chip; however the "whichvga"
>function of the kit will not recognize it...
>(for that matter neither will CSHOW ver 
>841...however; i told it to use the NCR 
>driver and it works fine)...

>my questions are these:

>1)where i can find the author: john bridges?
>2)is there a newer version (the 4.1 ver 
>  has a date of oct 91) ?
>3)is there any other documentation on how
> to tell what svga card is installed (and
> info on the bank switching required) ?
>4)anything else that would be helpful ?

>the kit allows one to do hi rez/hi color on
>most any card and it is transparent to the
>calling program...
********************************************

i have received about 10 replies so far...
THEY ALL WANT a copy of whatever info i get...

no one has yet sent me any info...i know there are
people out there that are SVGA savy...

PLEASE POST A REPLY HERE!
there are many people who want the same kind of
information...


thanks in advance,

daniel sill

sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu

-- 
Daniel Sill  - sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu
  The Department of Astronomy - the University of Texas at Austin
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: using atari 2600 joys
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:54:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw4HqD.J49
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


In article <gate.RHigsB1w165w@toz.buffalo.ny.us> cyberman@toz.buffalo.ny.us (Cyberman) writes:
>
>    Thier's a MUCH better way of doing this.  Each of the contact
>    switches in the Atari joystick represents a bit pattern.  All
>    you have to do is use one of the parrallel port output pins
>    to provide the TTL logical HIGH.

[Description of how to wire the stick to a PC's printer port omitted.]

>    What does this get you?  Well it allows you to use
>    the printer port for printing whenever your not using the
>    joystick.

It also gets you a joystick that is totally unsupported by any
commercial, shareware, or freeware game ever produced for the IBM PC.
Yes, your idea WILL work, but you'd have to write your own games or
convince the commercial game developers to support your stick interface.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: larsen@meena.cc.uregina.ca
Subject: A couple questions:  stupid machine mangled backspaces first time.
Date: 15 OCT 92 00:00:58 GMT
Organization: University of Regina, Regina, Sask., Canada

I have made several video games before, but none for the IBM PC.  I have a
couple of questions.

1)  Do you recommend 3 or 2 page swapping?  I seem to be leaning towards
3 page for 4 reasons
        1) I don't know how to do 2 page -- does anybody know where some sample
        code for the interrupt handler is?
        2) Background animation will be smoother.
        3) The code would be simpler, wouldn't it?
        4) It should be easier to speed up and slow down.

2) is there any performance hit for C++?

Thank you,
Bryan
(Larsen@Meena.CC.URegina.CA)




Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: "david shadoff" <david.shadoff@canrem.com>
Subject: pc sprite engine
Reply-To: "david shadoff" <david.shadoff@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: rec
Date: 16 Oct 92 20:54:55 EST

In message <kennehra.719020359@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>,
kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes:

>>My idea was that the sprite card would genlock with whatever VGA card
>>in use and that way, programmers could use the VGA as a background with
>>the sprites in the foreground (eliminating the need for backgrounds in
>>the sprite board and concentrating on sprites only).

>VGA cannot produce a smooth scrolling background.  So the sprite engine is
>going to have to do both scolling AND sprites.

>>Mind you, I think you people in no way even come close to starting this
>>project (Like the killer graphics lib, sprites lib, etc...)

>Speak for yourself.

>PLEASE keep in mind that the Super Nintendo can handle multiple backgrounds,
>sprites, scaling and rotation at 2.15 Mhz!!!

HEY!!!  Great idea!!!  License the chipset from one of the videogame
machine (or even console) makers - there are lots to choose from:
Sega, Nintendo, NEC, Atari, or my personal favourite... the makers of
both the original Nintendo and the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx...Hudson Soft.

Or just convince (one of) them to sell boards for the PC.  Then there
will instantly be programmers, games ported, tech. specs, and a
general consensus in the marketplace about a (de-facto) "standard".

How about it ?

 - Dave
 
 /===================================================================\
|    David Shadoff       |  Usenet:  david.shadoff@canrem.com         |
 \===================================================================/
---
  DeLuxe 1.21 #7291  Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere.
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
From: sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu (Daniel Sill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: High Resolution Graphics Modes
Date: 9 Oct 92 01:00:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: ut-emx.81332
Organization: McDonald Observatory, University of Texas @ Austin

hello to all,

"well, ok then"...

i posted the following a few days ago:

******************************************
>i found a vga kit called "VGAKIT41.ZIP"..

>i think it is really great;however i am
>having some difficulties with it...my vga
>card is a 'BOCA SVGAX1'(it is quite new)..
>it uses a NCR chip; however the "whichvga"
>function of the kit will not recognize it...
>(for that matter neither will CSHOW ver 
>841...however; i told it to use the NCR 
>driver and it works fine)...

>my questions are these:

>1)where i can find the author: john bridges?
>2)is there a newer version (the 4.1 ver 
>  has a date of oct 91) ?
>3)is there any other documentation on how
> to tell what svga card is installed (and
> info on the bank switching required) ?
>4)anything else that would be helpful ?

>the kit allows one to do hi rez/hi color on
>most any card and it is transparent to the
>calling program...
********************************************

i have received about 10 replies so far...
THEY ALL WANT a copy of whatever info i get...

no one has yet sent me any info...i know there are
people out there that are SVGA savy...

PLEASE POST A REPLY HERE!
there are many people who want the same kind of
information...


thanks in advance,

daniel sill

sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu

-- 
Daniel Sill  - sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu
  The Department of Astronomy - the University of Texas at Austin
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: boutell@cshl.org (Tom Boutell)
Subject: BGI for Mode X, or even Mode 13...
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Labs
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 18:10:15 GMT

Regarding IBMPC-compatible graphics and Borland C:

Has anyone written a BGI driver for Mode X, or even for regular
320x200x256 Mode 13? I'd kill for one. Please respond by email,
and I'll summarize to the net if I get any useful information. Thanks.

-- 
Tom Boutell, boutell@cshl.org

Clausthaler is the best non - alcoholic beer in the known universe.
Newsgroups: rec.games.video,rec.games.video.arcade
From: king@rtsg.mot.com (Steven King, Software Archaeologist)
Subject: Re: Genesis Shooters
Reply-To: king@rtsg.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 11:48:05 GMT

sandia!marms@unmvax.unm.edu (Mike Arms) publicly declared:
>Maybe some smart company with do us a big favor and develop a great
>home version of Stargate.  Let 'em use fancy background graphics,
>explosions, background music, and sound effects.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  >extreme agony<  >pained look<

This is exactly my complaint with the current rash of video games,
especially shoot-em-ups.  Now, I freely admit that I like a good
shoot-em-up, and there have been a few entries into that market in the
past few years.  There's been *nothing* that I've liked very much.
The reason is, they've all got too much crap flying around the screen
that's completely irrelevant to gameplay.  When enemies and enemy shots
get obscured by explosions, the game's crap.  When they get obscured by
background graphics, the game's crap.  One of the attractions of
Defender and Stargate was the clean screen.  You had you, the enemies,
your little buddies on the ground, and a line-drawing of the landscape.
That's *IT*.  Add a bunch of background graphics to it and what do you
get?  Strikeforce, which is crap.

Maybe it's 'cause I was brought up in the days when there wasn't a CPU
cycle to spare for flash, and programmers concentrated more on gameplay
than on packaging.  I don't have anything against flashy graphics per
se, but when they interfere with the game I don't give that machine
repeat business.

>Hell, I wouldn't
>mind a whole lot if they had to put in "bosses" every once in awhile.

I don't mind the concept of the "boss monster" much.  Unfortunately some
of them are designed soley to part the player and his quarter.  Of
course, all of these let you "insert [lots of] coins to continue"...
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------
The amount of work that actually got done during the   |      Steven King
week is inversely proportional to the number of        |   Motorola Cellular
entries in 'timetool'.                                 |   king@rtsg.mot.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.video,alt.games.lynx
From: kaufman@eecs.nwu.edu (Michael L. Kaufman)
Subject: Re: Review-o-rama (was Re: Sega - Ads?)
Organization: EECS Department, Northwestern University
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 05:49:57 GMT

rich@grebyn.com (Richard Lawrence) writes:
>I just don't think it's necessary to rate the individual aspects, because 
>enjoyment of the game is the measure of its success. 

But what does it hurt? I can see how it would help to have all the pieces of
information, but how would it hurt? For example, lets say you have a game that
has lousy sound on it. You like the everything else, but the bad sound ruins
it for you. I, on the other hand, generally play with the sounds turned down
so I don't care about that. If all you do is give it a lousy rating, I woun't
know that I would like it. What do you think?

Michael


-- 
Michael Kaufman | I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on
 kaufman        | fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in
  @eecs.nwu.edu | the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be
                | lost in time - like tears in rain. Time to die.     Roy Batty 
Newsgroups: rec.games.video