HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: helie@bach.udel.edu (Ray Helie)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: wishlist for the ultimate role-playing adventure?  [poll]
Keywords: Blind lust for Adventure Games
Date: 5 Oct 92 23:05:19 GMT
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <1992Sep23.150229.22209@liveware.com> todd@liveware.com writes:

" Take this a bit further and you might as well get your waking
  stick out and feel your way around life. ;')  "

But only if you've got someone next to you twenty-four hours a 
day, describing, in detail, everything around you.  ;-)


Ray
-- 
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
   Ray Helie         8-)                   University Of Delaware
   [helie@bach.udel.edu]                   Newark, DE
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
From: cyberman@toz.buffalo.ny.us (Cyberman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: real sprites
Date: 5 Oct 92 00:49:32 GMT
X-Maildoor: WaflineMail 1.00r


   Baylor was espousing about 'Re: real sprites',
   on [10-03-92  04:54] to All!
 Ba> Not in this lifetime. Only the 8515 on up will support hardware 
 Ba> sprites (on an IBM, which by vga i assume is the case here), and then
 Ba> only one 16x16 sprite for mouse handling. And of course, no one gets,
 Ba> uses or programs for the 8515.
 Ba> No, you have to save the background somewhere each time, either
 Ba> on the video page or in ram. No way around software work that i know
 Ba> of.

    Reminds me of a project I wanted to do.  Build a
    "coprocessor" for VGA.  Where you could control "sprites" in
    the VGA display.  I never got around to doing it though.
    Such is life :) I still think it would have been a cool
    project.  The problem came with finding ANY information about
    programing the PC's DMA.  Since I couldn't get any I simply
    gave up.

        Stephen Cyberman@Toz.Buffalo.NY.US
        Scripted at Sun  10-04-1992  16:21:53

... Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.
--- Blue Wave/QWK v2.10
                                                                                                                     
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: isc30108@nusunix1.nus.sg (AMBAT SASI S/O PALISSERY P)
Subject: Re: CGA 160x100x16
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 04:26:18 GMT

Louis        siuoL (u910826@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au) wrote:
: I saw a question in here the other day, as to info on the above mode.
: I have some.
: unfortunately, it only works on register compatible CGAs (NOT VGA repeat NOT VGA or EGA).
: 
: I can post it if any one really wants it.

i was referring to a 160x200x16 mode (if any)
i've already obtained code from a kind soul for the 160x100x16 text mode.
i saw a reference made to a low res mode 160x200x16 in an old
book. just wondered if anyone had code for that.

sasi.
<thanks>
From: sl8nl@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: What is Mode Y?
Date: 2 Oct 92 23:51:16 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

> 		By now I'm sure that most of us know what Mode X is,
> 	but what exactly is Mode Y?  Some people have told me that
> 	it is 320x400x256 while others say it is 320x200x256x4 pages.

The latter description is correct.  Mode Y is the planar mode 13h equivalent
with access to all 256k of VGA memory instead of just 64k.  It is addressed the
same as the other tweaked modes.

Joshua Jensne
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: What about us MAC game developers
From: rossw@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Ross Williamson)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 00:30:27 GMT
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.

	The subject says it all.  Whenever I read this group there is
nothing of use to anyone except for those developing on PC's.  What
about the reset of us.  There is more to games programming than 'VGA
modes' and 'BIOS' there is the way to construct mazes, scenarios, etc. 
Why is there *never* any discussion on these topics?
What about programming hints for mac people or just general algorithmic stuff?

Ross Williamson ( MAC developer )
+-----------------------------------+---------------------------+
| Name   : Ross Williamson          | Do you remember when sex  |
| E-Mail : rossw@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz  |  was safe and skydiving   |
| Auckland University, New Zealand  |      was dangerous?       |
+-----------------------------------+---------------------------+
|   Of course these opinions are my own and thank !! for that   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: isc30108@nusunix1.nus.sg (AMBAT SASI S/O PALISSERY P)
Subject: Re: what do you want to know?
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 13:23:22 GMT

Baylor (baylor@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
: >1. is there really a low resolution mode in CGA ?
: >   160 x 200 x 16 color GPHIC mode (not tweaked text mode..)
: >
: 	It goes lower than that. Check out the nifty tunnler game.
: 							- baylor

i just checked it out for myself.
sad to say it uses the 160 x 100 x 16 color tweaked text mode.
just wish some1 has set up the REAL LOW res mode (if any...)

sasi.

Lines: 30
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 18:00:40 MDT
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: KirkA.Baum@ernie.cs.byu.edu (Kirk A. Baum)
Subject: Re: xlib - Smooth scrolling update
Organization: Computer Science Department, BYU
Distribution: world

In article <1992Sep28.091455.164652@dstos3.dsto.gov.au> egg@dstos3.dsto.gov.au writes:
>From: egg@dstos3.dsto.gov.au
>Subject: xlib - Smooth scrolling update
>Date: 28 Sep 92 15:14:55 GMT
>Hi folks,
>
>  Thanks to your responses and tips I have updated XLIB to version 2 to
>incorporate pel panning which allows for smooth pixel aligned scrolling
>in all directions.
>
>xlib02.com is also available at wuarchive.wustl.edu in the directory
>pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS.
>
>Suggestions for further improvements or additions are welcome.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Themie Gouthas,
>egg@dstos3.dsto.gov.au
>
[CODE DELETED]

The files at wuarchive have been cleaned out of MSDOS_UPLOADS
directory.  Could someone who got xlib02.com  before it was erased
put it back on.  

Thanks,

Kirk Baum
kirk@ernie.cs.byu.edu
From: gt7803b@prism.gatech.EDU (Raving Mad Lunatic)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Game Design Issues(Randomness, Windows, Women)
Date: 28 Sep 92 21:29:12 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

>Second, other than the Sim series (ant, city, world), I have yet to see
>a game for the Windows environment that actually uses the GUI to improve
>gameplay (Balance of Power, sort of made good use of a GUI).  Is this

Windows sucks more processing power away than any other Trojan Horse in 
existence. Writing something like the new Ultima Underworld series would be
a miracle. My personal opinion is that there is no advantage of a GUI that
could make up for Windows performance.
-- 
Child-molesting is an art, not a science...
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ap@jyu.fi (Patrick Aalto)
Subject: Wing Commander II graphics viewer source, anybody want?
Organization: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 06:48:31 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.154829.59269@cc.usu.edu> sl8nl@cc.usu.edu writes:
>
>Lessee, Wing Commander uses the mode (DPaint's Camera program was able
>to capture a screen.).  Most commercial software uses it, also.

This suddenly reminded me.. I coded (some time ago) a program that can
view Wing Commander II sprites. The program is a really quick and dirty
hack, but if someone would like to have the sources (gee, I don't even
remember whether they were Turbo Pascal or Turbo C.. Turbo Pascal I think,
using a Mode-X graphics library) I could send them or make them available
somewhere.. The EXE is not much use as it has a fixed directory path where
the WING2/GAMEDAT/*.* files have to be, etc. Talk about quick & dirty...

I don't know about the ethical status of my program, but certainly you would
not use it to anything unethical, like copying sprites to your own games,
now would you?

It might also be nice if someone would compile it to a polished program,
I myself have not the time nor the interest to do that.

What I would like to see is a program that could do the same thing to all
the Wing Commander II speech files (well, not to display them, but to play
them out).

Patrick Aalto
ap@jyu.fi

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: bill@baku.eece.unm.edu (William Horne)
Subject: Re: Next Computer Olympiad
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 92 21:03:59 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <717967636.0@selene.FidoNet.Org> Eric.Kjellman@f99.n121.z1.FidoNet.Org (Eric Kjellman) writes:

>  Hey there! Could you tell me what the Computer Olympiad is? It sounds
>  really neat, but I've never heard of it before.

From what I understand its a competition that pits computer programs
against one another on specific games: backgammon, othello, and I assume
chess amongst others are played.

By the way, I still have not gotten a definative response as to when
the next Olympiad is....  although one person sent me email and said
that it was probably going to be in London during August.

Again, if there is someone out there who knows.... please post or
send me email.

Bill




--
===============================================================================
Bill Horne                                  | email: bill@chama.eece.unm.edu
Dept. of Electical and Computer Engineering |
University of New Mexico                    | Phone:   (505) 277-0805
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: fxmlk@acad3.alaska.edu (KIENENBERGER MIKE L)
Subject: Re: Programming the Atari 2600 Graphics chip!!!
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41.UAC
Organization: University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 09:04:00 GMT

In article <kennehra.718045475@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>,
kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes...
> 
>Hi.  I was wondering if anyone could give me ANY information on
>programming the Atari 2600 graphics chip.  Please note that I am 
>referring to the customized graphics chip, and not the CPU.  Thanks
>in advance for any help you may give me!
> 
>- Rich
>  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu

Well, the Atari 2600 programming mailing list is:
	program-2600-list@raven.alaska.edu
To subscribe, send a message to:
	program-2600-request@raven.alaska.edu
or just reply to this message.

The mailing list is normally really quiet as this is just a hobby for most
of us, and we don't work on it except "when we have time."

I have a copy of the big file of 2600 programming info.  I'm not sure how
much of it is accurate, but I will send it out on request.  (What we
really need is an FTP site :-)

=============================================================================
-Mike Kienenberger                       FXMLK@ALASKA           (BITNet)
 Academic Computing                      FXMLK@acad3.alaska.edu (Internet)
 University of Alaska-Fairbanks
 "I'm a computer programmer....<link><link><kludge><kludge> say-no-more!"
From: luit1@wsinfo08.info.win.tue.nl (Wim Jansen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Question on 1280x1024x16 with Tseng 4000 Hicolor.
Date: 1 Oct 92 09:26:54 GMT
Reply-To: luit1@info.win.tue.nl

The other day I installed a Tseng ET4000 Hicolor card in my 386/25.
The diagnostic program that comes with it provides a color test. All 256
color modes and 16K(hicolor) modes check out fine, but I seem to have a
problem with 1280x1024x16 mode... The screen is visible, but seems out of
center, to the left. It's the same effect as when the Horizontal phase is
incorrect.
Does anyone has any idea why this is the case ? I assume my card should be
able to handle this mode, as well as my monitor (WESCOM Greatwall ).

Thanx in advance, Wim

-- 
======================================================================
=         -- Another Key-bored Genius gets Mouse-trapped --          =
=        luit1@info.win.tue.nl ( in real life: W.M. Jansen )         =
======================================================================
From: thor@vivaldi.psu.edu (Thomas Moertel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: What about us MAC game developers
Date: 2 Oct 92 21:41:37 GMT
	<1992Oct1.143913.24189@javelin.sim.es.com>
	<1992Oct1.201024.25506@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz>
Organization: Pennylvania State University

In article <1992Oct1.201024.25506@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> rossw@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Ross Williamson) writes:
Path: atlantis.psu.edu!psuvax1!wupost!waikato.ac.nz!aukuni.ac.nz!rossw
   Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
   From: rossw@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Ross Williamson)
   Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:10:24 GMT
   References: <1992Oct1.003027.15504@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> <1992Oct1.143913.24189@javelin.sim.es.com>
   Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.
   Lines: 41

In rec.games.programmer you write:

  [deleted stuff...]

   >1.  What are the available C compilers for the Mac?  I know there is
   >    ThinkC, are there any others.

	   ok 2 choices really MPW ( gag ) or **** Think C ****
	   Thats about it really the pick of the bunch has to be TC really.
   MPW is okish but is a bit of a dog to work with and all the people that
   I know who program MACs use TC.

I use MPW, and it's pretty good.  It's a UNIX-like environment for
development, as opposed to an integrated environment.  If you're used
to UNIX, or just prefer a monolithic environment, then MPW's for you.
Also MPW is the only choice for using certain tools (e.g., C++ and
MacApp 3) and mixing languages, say Fortran (yikes! a Fortran game
(scary)) and Pascal with C.  Be warned however, that MPW requires a
big computer as a host.  Some of the MPW 3.2.3. tools do not even run
on machines < 68020.

  [deletions...]

   >3.  What books or documentation are recommended that describe graphics
   >    and general programming items for the Mac?

	   Inside Mac I-VI are a must they will tell you everything you
   *ever* need to know.  Covers all the OS routines, user interface, etc. 
   OK they're a little pricy but...  well worth the price. 

You might want to hold off until the newly revised, much better
organized Inside Mac comes out.  Right now only 3 volumes are
available: Files, Memory, and Processes.


--

Tom Moertel                 Pennsylvania State University
thor@vivaldi.psu.edu        "Them bats is smart. They use radar!"  ;-)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: real sprites
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 01:24:25 GMT




Sounds good!  I'll be posting Info soon! (or E-mailing it if you
prefer)

- Rich
  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: vputz@nyx.cs.du.edu (Victor Putz)
Subject: Re: Discussion starter
Keywords: discussion started
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 17:19:20 GMT




..I tend to agree.

Nowadays, there is simply a tendency for more flash, less thought; Ultima
7, which sold 50,000 copies day 1 of sales, is FUNDAMENTALLY no different
than it was several years ago.  It just looks better and the player
interface is all nice and pretty.  The Sierra adventures rea no different;
I will no longer play any of them, since every puzzle seems to be of the
"put tab a into slot b" variety.

I know, I know... graphics are good, interfaces are important.... but I
can't help thinking that, back when text was 40-col and heinous and Zork
was the hottest thing to hit the Apple II market... somehow, in a few
indefinable ways, it was better THEN.

Oh well, back to my pretty xmode icon programming--->Vputz
From: baylor@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Baylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Sprite storage in Mode X -- Need More ROOM!
Date: 28 Sep 92 04:49:20 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

>
>Magic Pockets and Gods use the 320x200 16 colour EGA mode but use the VGA
>palette. This is probably because it is the mode that is most ST/Amiga
>compatible. It is not Mode X. Mode 13 ($0D, 0DH) allows two page flip screens
>(@ 32K each) with 6 pages left for graphics (@ 192K). Not all the graphics
>have to be on the card though but what is will be faster.
>

	Ok, i'm no expert, and i've been wrong before, but somerthing about 
this feels wrong. I can't see a way where you can use the vga pallete
in mode D. It's 320x200x16. You get 1 bit per pixel, giving you a total
of 4 bits that can hold a color code; ie., 16 unique colors at a time.
	Gods looks to have more than 16 colors at a time, and you need
the extra bits to hold the color combos.
	As for the vga pallete, that's just a look up table where
the first 16 colors (maybe 64) are the EGA pallete colors. VGA can
only access more possible colors, not different ones.
	Oh yeah, and refering to mode D as mode 13 threw me for awhile
(yeah, i guess D is 13 decimal).
	Or maybe i'm just wrong.
From: amitp@owlnet.rice.edu (Amit J Patel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Discussion starter
Keywords: discussion started
Date: 2 Oct 92 13:22:03 GMT
Reply-To: amitp@owlnet.rice.edu
Organization: Rice University

In article <tholle16.717966724@ursa>, tholle16@ursa.calvin.edu (Tim Hollebeek) writes:
|> Ok, here is an article that should get everyone thinking.

I hope so!
 
|> I write two types of games:
|> 	1) Powerful, inventive, nifty, well-thought out games with
|> 	      excellent story lines
|> 	2) Graphically attractive, colorful, simple games
|> 
|> A few observations:
|> Type 1 games are hard to program, need good algorithms and alot of
|> thought and creativity.  I usually give up before their done because
|> they take a long time to get them to a stage where they are even
|> playable.
|> 
|> Type 2 games are easy to make.  All you need is an good idea for the
|> concept of the game.
|> 

As a game player, I appreciate type 1 a LOT more than type 2.  Sure, 
lots of people play type 2, but the people who play a type 1 game are
really hooked for a long time.  Examples of games I love(d):  Pirates!, 
Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, SimCity, Ultima 4, Ultima 5, King's Quest.
If you look at the King's Quest series, they've turned from type 1 games
into type 2 games, and I don't play the new ones because they're just
graphics.  I might as well be looking at Unreal.  :)  Maybe it's just me,
because I don't like Wolfenstein3D either (it's just graphics in my
opinion).

For the type 2 games, I agree, that if you have a good concept, then it
can be a great game, but ... "All you need is a good idea for the 
concept of the game" seems to be much harder than it looks.  It's sometimes
hard to judge how much fun a game will be...


|> Now, I have made two of the second types of games recently, and many
|> people I know are horribly addicted to them.  So my advice is:  forget
|> the extremely cool random dungeon generator with artificially
|> intelligent monsters which will never work well anyway, and work on the
|> interface and game concept.  Think about it.

I've thought about it, and I thought of Wing Commander 2:  if the enemies
just fly around randomly, shooting you, it would be no fun.  BUT .. with
the "artificial intelligence" they put in, after a few minutes of my 
dodging by turing in certain ways, they shoot off to my side and hit
me when I turned!  It really seems like they're more "real" when they're
trying harder to beat you (without cheating), and it makes the game more
fun (to me).

Perhaps we should come up with more types of games, too -- 1 and 2
(the types you write) aren't enough for all the games out there.  For
example, what about nethack?  It has awful graphics (all text, no color), 
virtually no story line (as far as I can tell), and the monsters are non-
intelligent, but it's addictive!


Just my $0.01,

	Amit

-- 
/\\ Amit J Patel, amitp@owlnet.rice.edu
\\/ I think I'm at Rice University
From: dank@calvin.usc.edu (Dan King)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: OK, let's talk Macs
Date: 1 Oct 1992 13:24:08 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Distribution: world
Reply-To: dank@usc.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: calvin.usc.edu


OK, folks, it seems there are at least a few of us who work with Macs and
are interested in writing games.  What have people done?  What neat little
toys have you come up with?

I've got three projects that I spend what little free time I have on.

One if a game a lot like Lode Runner, you run around a single screen area
picking up little treasures while being chased by evil bad guys. Like all
three projects, this one is written in MacApp (in C++ with MacApp, to be
more exact).  I've got all the basics working, but it just looks ugly.
The animation proved to be a killer.  Basically, I implemented the game
screen as a fixed number of positions and I never found an easy way to
animate moves between them.  That is, if you're at location 100,100 and
move to 99,100, I just erase one position and redraw the other.  It looks
really ugly, but it did let me experiment with MacApp (it was my first
MacApp program).

Another project I started (but probably won't ever finish) is a simple
Ultima-like program.  You wander around a world, get chased by various
nasties, explore cities, dungeons, and gather plunder.  A good piece of
it works (you can wander around, pick things up, and fight monsters),
but I got distracted by offscreen bitmaps (they kinda failed for this
program, but are neat tools once you understand how they work).  Once
again, the game was hampered by my utter lack of any artistic skill.

The leisure project I currently spend time on is Tetris clone.  Just a
simple, every day Tetris clone.  The hook is that I want to get it
working and release the source (since no one seems to have let any source
code for Mac games out).  It's a good way to blow off stress and would
be nice to get out into the world.

So what have other people done?  What problems did you run in to?  What
clever hacks did you come up with?  I'd love to hear them.

dank
From: C579819@mizzou1.missouri.edu
Subject: Jason Freund..address bounced. Help
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 00:36:50 GMT
X-Posted-From: mizzou1.missouri.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Greetings!
 Your email address bounced. I would like to port you DM program to the
pc platform. Would like to discuss about it. Please email me if possible
Kevin Yoon
c579819@mizzou1.missouri.edu
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: xlib02 compile
Organization: OFSA
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 12:22:57 GMT


Anyone had probs compiling the xlib02 modex library? I am using TC++
2.0 and get lots of errors. The project file included in the release
appears to be TC "straight", not ++. I am not sure what switches or
whatever I need to use. Please email if you have any clue. I mailed
Themie but Au is a ways away and on different time and I am impatient.
:)

Thanks,

Steve