HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sl859@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Calling all graphics artists!\
Date: 13 Oct 92 18:24:31 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

>>  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?
> [clip rest of article]
> In relation to this is an idea I've been thinking about recently - how about
> starting a collection of bitmaps suitable for tile-based RPG's or arcade
> games.  Could be organized by genre, game type, etc.  That would give
> programmers who can't draw some more incentive to get their games done.
> Ideally, such a collection (along with an index of some sort) would be
> stored on an FTP site somewhere.
> Another code-fiddler with no artistic talent,

	I am a code person WITH artistic talent... If I do say so myself! :)
I have done the graphics for a couple games in my time and I must say what you
are looking for is a bit impractical to say the least!  Why would a computer
artist put his bitmap pictures out on an FTP site for people to rip off when it
takes LOTS of time to do them.  I suppose IF I had a cooshy job I could afford
to occasionally dump off some pictures, but what use would they be...  I have
found that you really need to work closely with the people in charge of the
game to get anything of what they are looking for.  It is not a simple matter
of doing lots of drawings.  And Animations are the same thing.  I have made a
program to assist people who do 256 color PCX file bitmap animations, but even
with my program it takes a lot of effort to draw stuff on the computer.  I
talked to one artist who had a minor in computer Graphics, where she had done
bitmap drawings, etc, and she likened drawing with a mouse drawing with your
shoe!  In addition, I have tried to scan my sketches and then colorize them,
but this too has been a ROYAL Pain...  Althought I am quite pleased with how it
came out...  

In summary, I would be surprised if anyone could take your message seriously.
I feel REAL bad that most programmers cant draw, but hey, we cant do it all!
Often if you work for a company you can use their gaming engine, or their extra
fonts or their bitmaps, but the company will  have had to have hired some
artist somewhere...  

I guess that Computer Artists gotta eat too.

				wReam...
		      Ultimate Ninja of the LNH (Legion of Net.Heroes!)

P.S.   JOOOOOOSH!  I am having no end of trouble with the bitmaps you want me
to do!  Bleech!  EERRRRGG!  I hate doing tiles of EARTH!! YECH!  WRETCH! BLAH!
(Let's go back and do Elementis instead!!  :) 
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: Sprite Engine News, VOL #1
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 00:29:28 GMT


>    Ask yourself this one little question:

>    If a video card could read from DOS memory (ie.. over the bus) fast
>    enough to send to a monitor, then why is there such a thing as
>    display memory?????? We could use extended memory to act as a frame
>    buffer.

>    You guys should buy a book entitled "Programmer's Guide to the EGA
>    and VGA Cards", 2nd Edition by Richard Ferraro.

Maybe IBM defined a display memory just because they're IBM!  Think
about it, their joysticks stink, and so do their video cards!  That's
why we're trying to build the sprite engine!  To make up for their
mistakes!  BTW, much of this project is weighing on whether or not the
sprite engine can read DOS memory fast enough to send to a monitor! 
Adding about a meg of ram to the sprite engine will drive up production
costs considerably and might affect its marketablility!  If the sprite
engine CAN read dos memory fast enough, then this card should'nt cost
more than 50 bucks!!!  And that would be GREAT!!!

- Rich
  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu
From: dmatiske@nd.edu (David Matiskella)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: real sprites
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:01:40 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer
Organization: University of Notre Dame

In article <1992Oct8.132937.25214@nynexst.com>, baruch@nynexst.com (Robert
Baruch) wrote:
> 
> 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: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Using Atari 2600 joysticks on the IBM
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:53:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw4Hpt.J3F
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


In article <kennehra.718675620@craft.camp.clarkson.edu> kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes:

[Diagram omitted.]

>What the Adapter is going to have to do is add some resistance to the circuit
>when the joystick is pushed up or to the left (No problem) but is going to have
>to ADD some voltage when the joystick is pushed down or to the right.

How did you arrive at that conclusion?
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: PC Sprite Engine
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 02:32:24 GMT




>The sprite engine should work integrally with the VGA adapter.  
>I must also point out that VGA supports smooth scrolling in HARDWARE.  As 
>well as split screen operation.

VGA supports scrolling...on ONE BACKGROUND!!!!  I WANT 5+ BACKGROUNDS
SCROLLING INDEPENDENTLY IN PARALLAX ON A 286 with 12 MHZ!!!
GET IT!?!?  

- Rich
  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: dkennett@fraser.sfu.ca (Daniel Kennett)
Subject: Scaling and rotation routines???
Summary: Scaling and rotation routines???
Keywords: SCaling
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 15:53:45 GMT

I'm also interested in getting my hands on some scaling and rotation routines,
could you also Email me.....

	Thanxs in advance!

	Daniel Kennett
        dkennett@sfu.ca


	-Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Sheep?-

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: "jonathan forbes" <jonathan.forbes@canrem.com>
Subject: mode x
Reply-To: "jonathan forbes" <jonathan.forbes@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: rec
Date: 11 Oct 92 01:36:20 EST

-> ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the file outgoing/sdollins/modex.zip.  Friends
-> and I wrote this library specifically for a networked 3-D space
-> dogfight game -- to be released RSN under the name Netspace -- so it
-> may not be as general as you might like.

This must be a very popular type of game, because a friend are I are
working on exactly such a game (if you've seen LineWars II, it's
something like that, although it does use more than just grayscale (Mode
X, of course ;-)).

I'd really love to get my hands on some fast vector/poly routines
though.  Pity I don't have FTP access... argh.

Our game will run under a multi-line BBS program.
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
From: jas37876@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (John A. Slagel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: getting the palette from a PCX file
Date: 13 Oct 92 15:17:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw2Fto.BD
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

ccsteve@cybaswan.UUCP (s marshall) writes:

>I have recently been developing a graphics library for the PC, and have
>come across a problem manipulating PCX files.

>I can load in the image succesfully, but cannot get the palette to set
>correctly.

>Any suggestions as to what the problem might be would be much appreciated.


     Steve- I think your problem is this:  A .PCX file stores the RGB 
     intensities in the range of 0-255.  However, when you set the VGA
     DACs, the values can only be from 0-64.  So, you need to run through
     your array of RGB values and divide them by 4 before sending 'em
     to the VGA palette registers.  This should solve it.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
  John A. Slagel, email: jas37876@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: glens@natinst.com (Glen Sescila)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: PC Sprite Engine
Date: 16 Oct 1992 12:30:24 -0500
Organization: National Instruments, Austin, TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: falcon.natinst.com

	Don't forget that Atari has a patent on the way they have implemented
hardware scrolling.  If you produce a commercial piece of hardware that does
this you might want to make sure that you don't violate the patent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Now You're Playing With Power Without The Price!"  Glen Sescila   |||
                                                                  / | \
My opinions do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and probably are
exact opposites.	InterNet: glens@natinst.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: djmst19+@pitt.edu (David J Madura)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Using Atari 2600 joysticks on the IBM
Date: 7 Oct 92 19:20:48 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Oct7.112400.14317@hellgate.utah.edu> galt%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu writes:
>In article <kennehra.718319941@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>, kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes:
>>Hi.  Is there any kind of adapter that I can build that will allow me
>>to use my atari 2600 joystick on the IBM??  This would be for gaming
>>purposes only where only 8 directions are needed (Like Gauntlet 2,
>>commander keen, sopwith, robotron 2084, etc) Thanks in advance! 
>
	WHy not just buy a Gravis PC GamePad? emulates the Analog stick
with only 8 directions and all the buttons.
From: twillis@ec.ecn.purdue.edu (Thomas E Willis)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: PowerPC: the ultimate games machine??
Date: 9 Oct 92 19:44:41 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

In article <81325@ut-emx.uucp> baylor@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Baylor) writes:
>>This might seem like a weird question, but is anyone thinking of writing games
>>for the PowerPC?
>	Ok, try this for weider question.
>	What is a power PC?

i believe that would be the new RISC processor apple, ibm and motorola are
developing for next-generation macintosh and ibm boxes.

if i remember correctly, PowerPC a single chip implementation of the RISC
chipset ibm uses in their RS/6000 workstations.

according to the mac rags, apple is supposed to have boxes out using the
chip within a year or so.

the systems are supposed to scream, from what i've heard...
--
    - t
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Willis		 / "If you understand, things are just as they are;
Purdue Electrical Engr. / If you do not understand, things are just as they
twillis@ecn.purdue.edu / are." - Zen Koan
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: vputz@nyx.cs.du.edu (Victor Putz)
Subject: Re: PC Sprite Engine
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 15:18:03 GMT


Hmm... smooth scrolling not possible?  See Themie Gouthas' xlib03 demo. 
Looks pretty good to me (you just have to imagine the art work).  Of
course, parallax scrolling has to be done manually, but the actual
scrolling part should be quite smooth.

-->vputz
From: parker@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bryan Parker)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: xlib02 compile
Date: 13 Oct 92 06:32:54 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

I have just recently started programming in 320x200x256 graphics mode...
Hoping to program a game or two in the very near future.  But I've had a hell
of a time getting started.  So far, I've written my own code for mode 13h
functions... Now I find that there is a rec.games.programmer newsgroup and
seems to be plenty of mode 13h libraries around.... ?!?  Why couldn't I find
any of those earlier?  <sigh>  
 
Anyway, I haven't got too much in the way of mode 13 stuff yet.  (Basically
just a putpixel, set palette, a couple others)  Am I wasting my time?  Should
I go ahead and use the so called ModeX library?

And mouse routines too... wow, I'm overjoyed...

Now then, just WHERE was that FTP site?
From: sam_s@NeXT.com (Sam Streeper)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Collision/Detection Routines!!!!!
Date: 4 Oct 92 08:06:20 GMT
Reply-To: sam_s@NeXT.com

> Could someone please give me some simple collison/detection routines?

This discussion was quite good, but it missed a couple of points for reducing  
the overhead of collision detection (that aren't applicable to all  
applications...)

If things move in a predictable fashion, it may be cheapest to precalculate  
_when_ a collision will happen, rather than doing it on every iteration (where  
an iteration may or may not correspond to a single animation frame).  This has  
the additional advantage that you can't iterate "over" a collision (things  
going through each other between iterations but never colliding at iteration  
time.  Another advantage is that since you know exactly when things collide,  
you know how they collided rather than trying to figure this out  
post-collision.

As an example, imagine two objects, A and B, moving in straight lines.  Rather  
than comparing positions every frame, you can project A's vector until it  
collides with B's vector at time T.  Knowing this, you can happily animate up  
to time T without checking for collisions.  (In the multi object case, T is the  
minimum of all collision times.)  Note that you must recalculate T any time  
something interesting happens, like any object's vector changing.   
Recalculating projected collision times isn't necessarily more expensive than  
simply calculating current collision statuses, however.


Some kinds of games lend themselves to an active collsion list.  Objects that  
are outside they realm of interest (like villains two screens behind the hero)  
can be removed from the active collision checking list to save cycles, and  
things entering the realm of interest can be added as needed as part of  
bringing them to life.

Hope these thougts are useful.  I might add that the cost of collision  
detection is insignificant compared to the cost of moving graphics around in  
virtually every application I have ever seen.  If performance is important,  
your first concern should usually be to minimize the amount of drawing you do.

-sam
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: southern@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Southern)
Subject: Re: getting the palette from a PCX file
Organization: Syracuse University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 22:27:46 EDT

In article <1061@cybaswan.UUCP> ccsteve@pyr.swan.ac.uk (s marshall) writes:
>I have recently been developing a graphics library for the PC, and have
>come across a problem manipulating PCX files.
>
>I can load in the image succesfully, but cannot get the palette to set
>correctly.
>
>My palette is of the form
>
>RGBrec=record
>	     red,green,blue:byte
>end;
>
.....


You nearly have it! Everything is perfect except that you didn't go through
and divide each RGB value by 4. Run through the entire 768 bytes and divide
each byte in the array and that should do it. If that doesn't do enough 
than I could mail you some code that I wrote to set the palette.

southern@Mailbox.syr.edu
From: liebgold@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Dan M. Liebgold)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Display memory
Date: 13 Oct 92 18:32:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: SEASnet, University of California, Los Angeles


It would seem possible to put a meg of display ram on this "Sprite 
Engine" for not too much money considering my Trident card does it
for only $90 when its also got is VLSI proprietary chips on there.
1 meg of SIMMs cost $30-40, but 1 meg of drams is much cheaper, but
I don't know how much exactly.....

anyone?

dl
-- 
------------------------------------------------
Dan Liebgold		  liebgold@seas.ucla.edu
310 DeNeve Dr.		"Bear with my ignorance"				
LA, CA 90024		          (310) 794-4370
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: gtd543a@prism.gatech.EDU (death)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.programming
Subject: no-so-random numbers...
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:22:25 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer
Organization: Fool's Paradise
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Borland C++ has a random number generation feature.  However, this does
not produce statistically (bell curve) random numbers until you get into
an -extremely- high quantity of numbers.

Does anyone know of a random number generator, publicly available, or
a good algorithm for some?  It will be implemented in C.
-- 
Jeff M. Garzik                    |
25861 Georgia Tech Station        | "Only sheep need a leader"
Atlanta, GA  30332                |                       - Nomeansno
E-Mail: gtd543a@prism.gatech.edu  |
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan)
Subject: Re: Using Atari 2600 joysticks on the IBM
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 00:07:00 GMT






Hi.  Thanks for all of the replies!  My plan is to not modify the joystick
internally at all, but to make an adapter that the atari joystick can plug
into.  This adapter in turn plugs into the game port.  Here is a diagram:

                                         
     |                                  |
   __|__               _______          |
  |_____|_____________|       |_________| Your computer
                      |_______|         |
     ^                                  |
     |                    ^       
     |                    |
  Atari Joystick       Adapter
        

Please realize that I KNOW THAT I WILL ONLY HAVE ONE BUTTON!!!  (I've got
more than enough E-mail from people telling me what I already know! :)
What the Adapter is going to have to do is add some resistance to the circuit
when the joystick is pushed up or to the left (No problem) but is going to have
to ADD some voltage when the joystick is pushed down or to the right.  I
think I'm going to need a few transistors to do this.  Any suggestions?

- Rich
  kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu
From: ccsteve@cybaswan.UUCP (s marshall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: getting the palette from a PCX file
Date: 12 Oct 92 11:26:15 GMT
Reply-To: ccsteve@pyr.swan.ac.uk (s marshall)

I have recently been developing a graphics library for the PC, and have
come across a problem manipulating PCX files.

I can load in the image succesfully, but cannot get the palette to set
correctly.

My palette is of the form

RGBrec=record
	     red,green,blue:byte
end;

Palette=array[0..255] of RGBrec.

I blockread the last 768 bytes of the PCX file into a Palette variable,
and then dump that to the VGA card. To read the Palette from the PCX file
I am using seek(PCXfile,filesize(PCXfile)-768);
           blockread(PCXfile,PaletteVar,768); <-record size is 1

Any suggestions as to what the problem might be would be much appreciated.

Steve

-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
         Steve Marshall - University College Swansea Computer Centre
     ccsteve@uk.ac.swan.pyr|ccsteve@cybaswan.uucp|ccsteve@uk.ac.swan.vax
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: wallmann@backus.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Natuerlich!)
Subject: Re: My opinons on Player killing (LONG POST)
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 19:01:59 GMT
Organization: MSD software vault #9 @THD

In article <6OCT199213054101@trentu.ca> cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark) writes:
>Player-killing (and theiving etc.)
>    There seems to be two sides to this:  Realism versus Entertainment.
>If it's realism that your game is striving for, then, to quote my brother:
>"SHIT HAPPENS!".  There are socially-maladjusted people in the real world,
>so why shouldn't they be in a computer world?
>    Now, I agree that after just having made it to level 2, it's a real
>piss-off to have "Mongar the Magnificently Malevolent" come up and kill you
>with two swings of the magical blade "NewbieSlayer".  Still, as much as this
>is aggrivating, it happens in most movies (Arnie taking out the village of
>would-be-malcontents in Predator, for example.)
>    So, if I were to develop an interactive game, here's what I'd do...
> [stuff deleted]
Well why not go even a further step to reality. Let people band together
so that 10 level 2 characters have a good chance at overthrowing "Mongar". 
This could even go a long way to all the wimps building cities, paying 
level 20 creatures a fee to protect them and so forth. There should be an
option to produce a "gang", which is stronger than all these people
fighting seperately.

Just rambling along...

	Nat!
[just reading this newsgroup, 'coz the neighbors at home terrorize me with
 their electric drill (AC 13)]
-- 
"Don't ask what your boyfriend can do for you   
Ask what you can do for your boyfriend"       
				[JFK on a taped phone call to MM]
---	from "Secret Tapes" by Richie Noxin