HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: swalter@nyx.cs.du.edu (DreamWeaver)
Subject: Re: Console game Programmers
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 05:47:38 GMT

maddie@crash.cts.com (Tom Schenck) writes:

>It would also be nice to hear from any OTHER console programmers out the
e. I don't expect to hear from
>any Apple ][, Commodore 64, or other 8-bit programmers, but for those wh

>do Nintendo, Lynx, GameBoy and other low-end consoles.



Even though I currently don't do console games ... I'd still like to hear
from console programmers.  I'm always interested in what it takes to
produce a cartridge product (since I stare at my PC screen for way too
long each day ;)

-Scotty
From: dt@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Ryan Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: more than 256 colors?
Date: 25 Aug 92 22:25:08 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.


What about flickering 256 colors at one time, then 256 other colors at another
time and alternate? Would that work or not?
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,rec.games.mud
From: ewadams@netcom.Netcom.COM (Ernest Adams)
Subject: Speak at the Computer Game Developer's Conference!
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 18:38:17 GMT
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Service

 
         COME SPEAK AT THE COMPUTER GAME DEVELOPER'S CONFERENCE!
 
The seventh Computer Game Developer's Conference will be held April 17-20,
1993 in Santa Clara, California. The CGDC is the premiere professional
conference of the computer game industry. Every year, it brings together game
developers from all over the world to exchange information and insights (and
business cards). If you have an idea, issue, or problem that you'd like to
share with your colleagues, the Board of Directors wants to hear from you.
 
The format can be a lecture; a panel discussion among two or three
knowledgeable speakers; a roundtable (an open discussion among a small
audience); or a seminar (a shorter lecture followed by open discussion). All
sessions should last about an hour, including a short period for Q & A in
seminars and panels.
 
Topics for talks might include design theory (new ideas about games), design
practice (war stories and how-to information), technical (the nuts and bolts
of writing game software), and business/legal (protecting and selling your
game designs). These are only guidelines, however. Above all, Conference
attendees are looking for SOLUTIONS: practical information they can use to
make their games better and their lives easier.
 
HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL
Write a one-page summary of your proposed talk, and mail, fax, or E-mail it to
one of the addresses shown below. A paragraph will do, but REMEMBER, THE
BETTER THE PROPOSAL, THE BETTER ITS CHANCES OF ACCEPTANCE. Please be as
specific as you can about the content of your talk, its format, and the
category (if any) into which it falls. If you want to do a panel, please list
the names of your proposed panelists.  Please get your proposal to us by
OCTOBER 15, 1992.
 
WHAT WE EXPECT FROM A SPEAKER
Speaking slots are limited, and we think long and hard about who to give them
to. When you agree to be a speaker, you're making a commitment to be there on
time, well-prepared, and to speak on the topic you've proposed. Also, we hope
you'll write a paper for the Proceedings, so that your ideas can reach people
unable to attend your talk.
 
ALL PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 15, 1992!
 
U.S. MAIL:                      Fax:            (415) 965-0221
Anne Westfall                   Internet:       ewadams@netcom.com
1440 Cedar Place                GEnie:          E.ADAMS10
Los Altos, CA 94024             CompuServe:     71170,161
From: mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Splitting the group
Date: 23 Aug 92 19:29:49 GMT
Organization: DB and ES Subdivision, TU Vienna

From article <1992Aug21.180845.16167@ists.ists.ca>, by os9ug@gkcl.ists.ca (OS-9 User Group):
> somehow I managed to figure out that this wasn't the appropriate place to 
> ask how VGA works.  .

I completely agree on that point.
-- 
Markus Stumptner                                mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at
University of Technology Vienna                 vexpert!mst@relay.eu.net
Paniglg. 16, A-1040 Vienna, Austria             ...mcsun!vexpert!mst
From: hewlitt8882@iscsvax.uni.edu (Robert W. Hewlitt Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: 3D Maze Algorithms
Date: 25 Aug 92 22:51:38 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

        I was wondering if anyone has a good way to implement a 3-D maze
algorithm like Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, etc.  Currently
I have the screen divided in to 5 parts (See Figure A).  For example,
Section 1 has 4 choices, it can be a diagonal wall (See Figure A), it can
be a straight wall at depth 1 (See Figure B), it can be a straight wall at
depth 2 (See Figure C) or it can be an empty black space (Not Shown), which
means it's out of persons view sight. 

      Figure A                 Figure B                Figure C
 _____________________   _____________________   _____________________
|\                   /| |                     | |                     |
|  \               /  | |___               ___| |                     |
|   |\           /|   | |   |\           /|   | |                     |
|   |  \ _____ /  |   | |   |  \ _____ /  |   | |_ _____ _____ _____ _|
|   |   |     |   |   | |   |   |     |   |   | | |     |     |     | |
|   |   |_____|   |   | |   |   |_____|   |   | |_|_____|_____|_____|_|
|   |  /       \  |   | |   |  /       \  |   | |                     |
|   |/           \|   | |___|/           \|___| |                     |
|  /               \  | |                     | |                     |
|/___________________\| |_____________________| |_____________________|

  ^   ^    ^    ^   ^
  |   |    |    |   |----- Section 5
  |   |    |    |--------- Section 4
  |   |    |-------------- Section 3
  |   |------------------- Section 2
  |----------------------- Section 1

        Any ideas of other (more faster) ways of doing this would be greatly
appreciated.  Thanks.

/****************************************************************************/
/** Robert W. Hewlitt Jr.                  ** "Be Excellent To Each Other" **/
/** University of Northern Iowa            **                 - Bill & Ted **/
/** INTERNET: hewlitt8882@iscsvax.uni.edu  **                              **/
/****************************************************************************/
From: urbndv8@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bleeding Rivets)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Hackenstein
Date: 27 Aug 1992 06:38:57 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucscb.ucsc.edu
Summary: 3d front end for Nethack?


In article <713975014.17374@zooid.guild.org> ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud) writes:
>>Wolfenstein 3D is one of the best examples of the fact that while some people
>>have remarkable skill at writing code and doing graphics, the skill of writing
>>a game is something else that they don't always have.
>
>But after playing it for a little while, didn't your soul ache for the really
>wonderful games that could have been done with the graphics/sound engine?
>
> - Ron Sharp.

What my soul aches for is Nethack with a Wolf3d front end ....

Unfortunately it might be difficult to fit into anything even _near_ 640K
for DOS.  (for the code, never mind the data files).
You would probably want a couple of dozen images per monster, too; 16
rotations and 3-4 attack images and some running images too.
The best way to go for that would be to make little clay figurines,
photograph them with an electronic camera and convert the images.
Or is there an easier way to go with some kind of solid modeling program?

If you made it a realtime game the play might end up being rather different.

There would also be the issue of whether you would want movement strictly
on a cell-by-cell basis (i.e. like the original ASCII dungeon maps) or
incrementally like Wolfenstein.  I think incrementally would be the way to
go.

You could reduce the power of magic use since you could make
magic spells take a certain number of ticks depending on how hard the
spell was.  This would equalize things somewhat for magic users and
reduce the imbalance that spellcasting ability usually brings. 

Another change in the game would be the fact that you (and the monsters)
would be facing and attacking in a particular direction, and changing
direction would take time.  This, I think, would actually add a lot to
the play ... it always seemed a little unrealistic that you could attack
an orc to the east and then the next turn attack an orc to the west!
I don't know how much original Hack code would be left by the time you
finished doing all this ...

I'm not really talking about recreating Ultima VI here; keep the Wolf-style
graphics and don't for gods sake make the user solve a zillion stupid little
puzzles to get to his goal (sorry adventure game fans a slight peeve of
mine erupting there.)
So any thoughts on this, anyone?

urbndv8@ucscb.ucsc.edu

-- 
"The possessed's mad speech is the higher wisdom of the world, since it is 
human...Why have we not yet acquired this insight in relation to the world
of the free will?  Because outwardly we are the masters of madness, because
the insane are violated by us, and we hinder them from living according to
their ethical laws...Now we must endeavor to overcome the dead point in our
relationship to insanity."       --Wieland Herzfelde, 1914
From: sl8nl@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Adventure Game Compiler
Date: 30 Aug 92 20:57:17 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Aug30.085956.3361@u.washington.edu>, hamrick@milton.u.washington.edu (Mike Hamrick) writes:
> Hey there!
> 
> I am looking for an adventure game compiler.  A while back I read parts
> of a discussion concerning a fellow named Josh, and how he couldn't have
> possibly made an adventure game compiler that was as good as mumblemumble.
> 
> I now find myself in need of this compiler.  If some kind soul out there
> could point me in the right direction I would be much obliged.  Please use
> electronic mail if possible, as I don't wish to waste bandwith with this.
> 
> ---
> hamrick@milton.u.washington.edu -- "I feel most at home among the defiled."

I can't refer you to mine, but I can refer you to a program called ADVSYS by
David Betz.  It takes some getting used to, but it allows for almost infinite
gaming possibilities.  Last I heard, it was available on archie.au.  Somebody
was corresponding with me through email, and if they are reading this (was it
you, Amit?) please post the exact location.

Josh

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,rec.games.hack
From: cliff@sfn.ORG (R. Cliff Young)
Subject: Re: Hackenstein
Followup-To: rec.games.hack
Organization: Society for Neuroscience
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 20:33:33 GMT

In article <17hta1INNt6i@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> urbndv8@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bleeding Rivets) writes:
>What my soul aches for is Nethack with a Wolf3d front end ....
[...]
>I'm not really talking about recreating Ultima VI here; keep the Wolf-style
>graphics and don't for gods sake make the user solve a zillion stupid little
>puzzles to get to his goal (sorry adventure game fans a slight peeve of
>mine erupting there.)
>So any thoughts on this, anyone?

Well, you can take a look at what the finished result will look like
by checking out Ultima Underworld, preferably on a fast (33MHz)
machine.  (IMHO, the Ultima Underworld "look" would be more suited to
a Nethack3D variant.)

The thing I like about Nethack is its portability--the more graphic
frills you throw in, the less portable it will become.  And Nethack is
practically defined by that portability.

Taking Nethack and wrapping it up in a Wolf3D/Ultima Underworld-style
front-end to make Nethack3D would be neat.  But it wouldn't be
Nethack.

Followups redirected to rec.games.hack.

--
 R. Cliff Young, SysAdmin, SFN --/\/-- cliff@sfn.ORG
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: mle@owlnet.rice.edu (Mark Louis Engelberg)
Subject: Soundblaster Programming?
Organization: Rice University
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 01:07:04 GMT

A while back I seem to remember there being a thread on Soundblaster
Programming.  I didn't follow it at the time, but now I'm at a point
where I could use some similar advice.  How do I get started
programming Soundblaster support into a game?  Presumably I would want
to compose something using a different program, and translate this
somehow into C code.  How do I do this?  Any suggestions or pointers
to appropriate references would be appreciated.

--Mark

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: cat@wixer.cactus.org (Dr. Cat)
Subject: Re: Cribbage Algorithm Wanted
Keywords: cribbage
Organization: Real/Time Communications
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 08:15:58 GMT


Well, since you're dealt only 6 cards, there are only 30 possible four card
hands you can be left with after choosing two to discard.  If you write a
scoring algorithm (which you'll need for the game anyway), it wouldn't be
hard to simply scan all the possible alternatives and select the highest
scoring one.  You might want to put some weighting factors in for cards that
are more likely to gain value when the top card of the deck is combined with
them - jacks and 2 card sequences are good, and 5s aren't bad either.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ricki@rwthi3.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Richard Breuer)
Subject: WANTED: Card images
Keywords: card game image bitmap
Organization: Rechnerbetrieb Informatik  /  RWTH Aachen
Date: 26 Aug 92 07:15:13 GMT

Does anyone have bitmaps of card images for a card game I am currently
programming? Pointers to ftp sites will do.

Ricki

--

e-mail: ricki@rwthi3.informatik.rwth-aachen.de            | E.vil N.ever D.ies
mail  : R. Breuer, Brunssumstr. 6, 5100 Aachen, Germany   |     (Overkill)

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis)
Subject: Don Woods stamp in Zork
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 19:10:55 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

O.K. - I've had enough requests for this, so here goes.
The remainder of this message contains spoilers for some puzzles
only seen in very late versions of mainframe Zork; specifically,
for the "Don Woods" stamp, and for the three palantirs. Hit `n'
now if you don't want to see these.

O.K - you asked for it.

The "Don Woods" stamp.
----------------------
One of the items in the game (I think it was the matchbook)
contained an advertisement for G.U.E. tech, complete with
the phrase "Send for our free brochure today!".  If you did
this (by typing "Send for brochure") the game responded:
"O.K. but you know what the mail service is like . .".
Some time later, while you were inside the house, you would
hear a knocking at the door.  If you went outside and looked
in the mailbox, you would see a brochure.  Closer examination
of the brochure would reveal a rare "Don Woods Commemorative"
stamp affixed to the brochure.  Examining the stamp gave you
the typical teletype-art rendidition, complete with the phrase
"One Lousy Point"


The Palantirs
-------------
These showed up (in a slightly different form) in the Infocom
Zork Trilogy.  The first palantir was the white sphere found
at the top of the well; there were two more (one red, one blue).
Looking into any one of the palantirs showed you the location
of a specific one of the other palantirs.  The other palantirs
were found in two new rooms;  a dusty room (the same puzzle as
in the Trilogy, the only difference being you didn't have the
placemat so you had to use something else; I used the newspaper),
and a sooty room which was half way down the coal chute. You
could only get there by tying the rope to something big and heavy
(like the broken timber, although I heard that the coffin worked),
dropping the rope down the chute, and climbing down the rope.
The dusty room and the sooty room were connected by a very narrow
crack that you could look through, but there was no way to squeeze
through the crack (at least, none that I ever discovered).
-- 
John Francis                                johnf@apollo.hp.com
Seen passing on the net:  Spotted Owl - the *other* white meat!
From: pcellik@axion.bt.co.uk (Peter SPHINX Cellik)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: VGA memory address
Date: 26 Aug 92 08:56:12 GMT
Reply-To: pcellik@axion.bt.co.uk (Peter SPHINX Cellik)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs


In article <BtJK9v.8Bw@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan) writes:
|> 
|> In article <92237.172148KSADEGH@auvm.american.edu> Kayvon Z. Sadeghi <KSADEGH@auvm.american.edu> writes:
|> >
|> >Assuming that I am usind a VGA monitor, this chould place the character
|> >'u' in the upper left corner of the screen. (under assumption that 0xB800
|> >is the right address) But it doesn't.
|> 
|> That's because B800 is not the right segment for the video buffer on a
|> VGA.
|> 

What do you mean that B800 is not the right segment for VGA text?  It is.
Only for EGA and VGA GRAPHICS modes that the video segment moves to A000.

Don't start thrashing the bloke if you don't know yourself.

       SPHINX

====================================================
=== Kill others only if you wish to be killed.   ===
===                                       SPHINX ===   
====================================================
From: sdoran@chester.ksu.ksu.edu (Steven Marcotte)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Question: Rotating a small bitmapped image?
Date: 26 Aug 1992 11:08:14 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: chester.ksu.ksu.edu


mucds@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Corey D. Stinson) writes:


>	Could someone help me with a problem.  I have a small sprite
>(bitmapped) and when animating, instead of re-drawing the picture over
>and over to repesent the rotation stages I would like to develop some
>algorithm to rotate the image.  And suggestions on one that would not
>degrade the image?  Thanx for any help you can offer :)
>					Corey

	Wouldn't the idea be the same as rotating a point on a screen
except instead of moving a point on the screen you are moving a point 
in an array?  Say you wanted an image rotated in 6 different directions.
You would start out with your source bitmap, then apply the rotation
function (which I don't remember right off hand, but it should be in
any trig book) to all points in the array at intervals of 60 degrees.
If you place the center of the bitmap at the origin I wouldn't think that
this scheme would distort the image.  Good luck
					Steven
From: amitp@owlnet.rice.edu (Amit J Patel)
Subject: Re: Adventure Game Compiler
Reply-To: amitp@owlnet.rice.edu
Organization: Rice University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 14:08:36 GMT

In article <blah>, librik@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David Librik) writes:
|> 
|> I don't know about mumblemumble, but I'll take this moment to point
|> out that TADS -- The Adventure Development System -- is the best darn
|> adventure system I've ever seen (and I think I've seen all of 'em).
|> It's shareware, and is available from wuarchive, in (I think)
|> /msdos/mirrors/games/textadv.  Unlike most adventure-development
|> systems, whose authors seem permanently stuck in the 64K age of
|> limitations, TADS is a full-fledged C/Pascal-like object oriented
|> language, which has a source-code #include file (ADV.T) that defines
|> everything having to do with adventures, so you can change everything.

I'd like to also recommend ADVSYS (which Josh mentioned), which is the
"best darn adventure system I've ever seen" (and I have seen TADS).  ;)
Of course, "best" is subjective, so I won't say TADS is worse than ADVSYS.
They're probably equal in power, and it may just be a personal preference.

There is an Amiga version at:

	gatekeeper.dec.com
	/.2/micro/amiga/fish/f0/ff087/AdvSys.zoo

and an IBM-PC version at:

	procyon.cis.ksu.edu
	/pub/PC/Games/Misc/advsys.arc

[or at least Archie tells me they're there...]

"ADVSYS is a Lisp-like object-oriented language, which has a
source-code #include file that defines everything having to do with
adventures, so you can change everything."  :) ADVSYS also comes with
C source so that you can mess with it --- you can tweak it so that if
your adventure is REALLY REALLY huge, you can change it so that it
works under a DOS-extender to run in many megabytes.  (Or at least it
seems possible...)

What probably keeps most people away from it is the lisp syntax, but
that also keeps the interpreter down to 20k (or Josh's version down to
12[??]k).  David Betz, the author of ADVSYS, also wrote the XScheme and
XLisp compilers, and he used the same byte-compilation techniques in
ADVSYS.

I think that ADVSYS is crippled because it doesn't have first-class
procedures, symbol manipulation, and lists.  It is Lisp brought down
to the restrictions of Pascal.  :( I'd rather be using the Real Thing
(Scheme).  :)



		Amit

--
"I know Josh and I know myself, and I tell myself, \"I'm no Josh!\"!"
From: dmatiske@vyasa.helios.nd.edu (david matiskella)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Hackenstein
Date: 27 Aug 92 15:30:33 GMT
Reply-To: dmatiske@vyasa.helios.nd.edu (david matiskella)
Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame


		I guess my major problem is I have yet to see easy to follow code demonstrating 3-d graphics that is any more complex than rotating a sphere or a
box.
	For digitize images find some D&D fantatic who paints minatures.
From: will@kafka.SAIC.COM (Will Scarvie x6388)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Generic strategy builder
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:03:39 GMT

Hello everyone,

  I'm thinking about beginning a project which would create a strategy engine
capable of reading a database of rules and creating a space of possible
strategies based on those rules.  The rule database would consist of the
rules of some fairly simple baord wargame translated into a yet-to-be-defined
machine readable language.  The idea here is to create a language capable of
expressing a large number of different wargame rules sets, and an engine 
capable of reading and operating on any rules set expressed in that language.
The goal of the strategy engine would be to propose strategies for the
playing of a game based on current board position, victory conditions, and
whatever else is relevant.

  But, I'm in need of some pointers on where to look for work already done in
this area.  Particularly interesting would be references which deal with
representing boards, units and rules in a program, and anything done already
on decision making and planning in games.  I have a feeling that a lot of work
has been done in similar areas for the creation of computer controlled players
but I don't know where to look.

  If any of you have ANY ideas about what I ought to be reading for this
project, please forward them to me.  If there's any interests, I'll compile
a listing of the resources and post them to this group.

Thanks very much,

Will Scarvie
will@kafka.saic.com

DISCLAIMER:
The opinions expressed are entirely my own and should not be construed to 
represent those of my company.
From: kaufman@eecs.nwu.edu (Michael L. Kaufman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: 3D Maze Algorithms
Date: 30 Aug 92 03:10:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: eecs.1992Aug30.031047.6461
Organization: EECS Department, Northwestern University

In article <1992Aug28.063805.13850@zooid.guild.org> Ross Ridge <ross@zooid.guild.org> writes:
	AABBCC   ^North
	DDEEFF
	GGHHII
 	JJKKLL

>A very simple way to draw maps like these simply back to front.  

Very nice, and very eay to add to if you want to be able to see farther.

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.programmer,comp.graphics