HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ggs@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Gary Sanders)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer
Subject: Re: software evaluation shareware
Keywords: freeware, shareware, nagware, crippleware, trashware
Date: 28 Jul 92 02:47:42 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer
Distribution: usa
Organization: Univ. of Florida CIS Dept.

>
><Sigh> Shareware is commercial software.  It requires that you pay 
>for it if you want to use it.  It simply uses different marketing
>strategy.  What you're doing is spreading misinformation that
>contributes to this "I want shareware/freeware" flurry of requests 
>on the net as if shareware was really freeware.  I think you are
>confusing shareware with "hobby-ware". 
>
>

ARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH   I'm beginning to get sick of "shareware" programmers
As I posted on another news group, I went to use some shareware the other
day for a project.  The project was a one time deal, but because the program
was crippled, I had to BUY a more expensive package that was AVAILABLE 
IMMEDIATELY through the "NORMAL MARKETING ROUTE."   Thus the program
which was/is quite good ( up to 35 objects ) ( K-DRAW ) would have been paid
for if it wasn't criple-ware.  The money was not the problem.  The program
was/is *very good*, but it is not available like "COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE," and in
my book SHAREWARE != COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE.  
FURTHERMORE, many shareware programs are written by people who do it as a hobby
and the asurance of future support is not like that of commercial software.

My philosophy:  If its crippled, I won't even evaluate it.  If it's workable
I'll play with it, and if I use it, I'll pay for it.

I realize the above is a gamble, but, then again you can gamble your money on
advertising ( check the price if you think it's cheap ) and go commercial.
Care to bet on how many of you fall flat on your face !

CRIPPLE-WARE IS DEAD-WARE !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions expressed are my very own, and ARE NOT MEANT TO BE HUMBLE !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: sl8nl@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Game libraries...
Date: 27 Jul 92 19:03:19 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

> When I write a program in C, I almost never care what the resulting
> assembly looks like; likewise I care *even less* about how the compiler
> does its job, *as long as the resulting exectuable works*.  I certainly
> wouldn't go and edit the GCC source to change the for loop syntax to better
> suit my liking; perhaps that's just me though.

That's you.  I have to know what the assembly looks like.

> A game system is a massive undertaking, even if it's for a fairly
> limited set of game styles.  Mike Roberts has been working on TADS
> since 1987 or so, and that's just for text adventures.  The reason that

I dunno.  My text adventure compiler handled everything (it was similar
to the ADVSYS library), and it took me a couple of weeks.  I could do
everything Infocom could do and more.  The resulting executable was 18k.

> everyone (as a previous poster mentioned) starts their own game library
> but bever finishes is the same reason most people start a *game* and
> never finish, or start a *novel* and never finish.  It's a lot of work,
> and requires *years* to complete.  As with all things in computer
> science, it's easy to talk about but much, much harder to *do*.

True.

>>	That's because I love seeing how other people do things. I've never  
>>actually used anyone else's code before - i just print out and highlight
>>things that strike me then see if I can rewrite it from memory and quite
>>often run it through several reference manuals.
> 
> In my opinion, the place for this kind of instruction is textbooks.
> There really should be some texts on writing games, even if they're
> specific to a particular platform.  The problem is that no game writers
> want to write books; they want to write games.

Since when did textbooks offer you the advanced info only professionals know?

> (BTW, does *anyone* have a copy of Abrash?  Where can you get it?  I've
> tried every big bookstore I know and no one's ever heard of it.)

Que
11711 N. College
Carmel, IN 4603{

Power Graphics Programming $24.95

Call 1-800-428-5331.

That's the info in my book!

Josh


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: bonney@esds.mdc.com (Greg Bonney)
Subject: Re: Formal programming education
Organization: Visual Simulation Systems
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 23:15:38 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.214021.12546@sbcs.sunysb.edu> mkudzin@engws5.ic.sunysb.edu (Matthew A Kudzin) writes:
>In article <1992Jul20.172531.57369@cc.usu.edu> sl859@cc.usu.edu writes:
>>> Don't listen to these guys!  Go to school!  Get your degree!  It's just another
>>> four years (insignificant compared with a 30-year career)!  If you don't, you'll
>>> end up a bartender or truck driver, and you'll never know what you could have
>>> done.
>>
>
>One thing that has not been mentioned yet in this thead (at least not so far 
>as I've seen) is that if you want to be a programmer, you should have a 
>degree, but not necessarily a CS degree.  I am currently a Math/Physics major
>and I routinely (about five or six per year) get job offers looking for 
>programmers.  This includes offers from game companies.  Apparently, a lot of
>companies are looking for more than just CS majors.

I am a CS major, but I like to think I'm also "more than just" a CS major.
Indeed, "Math/Physics major" is not adequate to describe you as a person.
Every individual is unique, and has their own unique set of skills and
talents, likes and dislikes.

But why these companies think a Math/Physics major would be happy programming
all day long is beyond me.  Usually, when people get a degree in a particular
field it's because that's what they want to do for a living.  So, the next time
you get one of these annoying offers, give them my name.  If somebody offers me
a job working with a particle accelerator, I'll give them yours.

Greg Bonney
bonney@esds.mdc.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: dmb@wam.umd.edu (David M. Baggett)
Subject: Re: 386 Game Library 
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 21:40:45 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.182453.20983@tc.cornell.edu> elan@tasha.cheme.cornell.edu (Elan Feingold) writes:
>Whoops, big mistake.  The only reason nkk & I posted this was because we
>were getting pissed off at all the "well you should see MY library" type 
>whining.  This was never meant to be believable!!!  My apologies to everyone.

Whining?  Who was whining?  For that matter, who was kidding besides you?

Dave Baggett
dmb@wam.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: hamrick@milton.u.washington.edu (Mike Hamrick)
Subject: Re:  TP or C ?
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 05:14:06 GMT

Chris Gray writes:

>Folks! Use full prototypes. Turn on all possible warning flags. Make your
>code compile clean. Use some fairly standard programming style. Make your
>file global variables instantly distinguishable from your local ones. Avoid
>inter-file globals (externs) like the plague. Don't overuse macros. Make
>ALL macro names in all upper case (except perhaps true/false).

Wow.  I can't agree with you more.  I learned ANSI C programming while
I worked at Microsoft.  I can't tell you how many times function prototypes
have saved my skin.  It seems all the source code I look at in the UNIX
world is non-ANSI, this sorta bugs me.  I also agree with you regarding
always using all possible warning flags, however it becomes difficult
to do this when the OSCALLS.H header file on your system looks like this:

extern int access();
...

I suppose I could make my own stinking header file which has stuff that
looks like: 

extern int access (char *, int);

Would it really be worth it?

mikeh
From: millerje@CS.ColoState.EDU (Jeff Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Bitmap 3-d graphics systems
Date: 31 Jul 92 14:59:52 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department

In article <1992Jul31.02556.1505@ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes:
>I wonder if it would be possible to use the graphic system in WC or
>say, Falcon. If the entry points of the appropriate routines could be
>weeded out and documented, one could use them for one's own project.
>I.e. to run the freeware space blasters, one must have Falcon on the
>hard drive, from which the appropriate code is extracted at run time.
>Perfectly legal. I'd like it for prototyping at least.
>
Not really... many disk packs I've seen clearly state "this program
may not be disassembled..."


-- 
 _____________________________________________________________________________
|                                                                             |
| "Nuke the unborn gay whales!" |  millerje@cs.colostate.edu  |  Jeff Miller  |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
From: cyberman@toz.buffalo.ny.us (Cyberman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Game langauge [revisited]
Date: 29 Jul 92 02:07:37 GMT
X-Maildoor: WaflineMail 1.00r

Ok since this topic really did get out of control and in fact was
well misunderstood :) I am posting this message.

What it is!

The idea is to generate code complilable under either C or C++.

REASONING
C is widely available on many platforms.
It is easy to create machine specific graphics libraries
independent of what machine the original source was written on.
Thus a program on X machine will work on Y given that appropriate
libraries.

GENERAL PURPOSE
Actually it is a misnomer to call it a gaming language it is
bettter put as an OOP simulation language.  In which call by
ALIAS [explained later] is a available, and many other unusual
things.

What else?
Graphics libraries.
These will be STANDARDIZED in their interface.  How they work the
programer could care LESS about.  A program written on the PC
should be the same as for the MAC, AMIGA, ATARI ST, and even
UNIX [except it would be under X] or even under windows!

AUDIO support
AGAin trivial the libraries will be standard.  however they will
"tune" to the available capabilites.  An Amiga and MAc lib are
easy however the PC will be a BIT more intresting [so many
standards].

My Idea is to use MIDI for background music etc.  [it's a
standard!]  this would make portability a cinch.

SYNTAX
here is the OPENER.
I'm working on a document of my suggested syntax.

what "I" think should be "in it" or capabilities

signals that allow parameterization
ALIAS refernces to objects
EX
    refer to by class - all objects of that base class OR higher
        recieve the signal [ all walls echo a sound (instresting
        thought? simulating echos!) ]
    refer to by name a specific object [entering the "adventurers
        guild" or you drop a coin]
    refer to by scope - specify the "area" the signal is for [all
        objects in a room for example]

    And a multitude of other methodes of specifying what objects
    or objects to send your signal must reach.  This can include
    distance position etc whatever the object knows about itself.
class definitions
class inheritance
class encapsulation

Now how to support this in C?  Eh later :)

        Stephen Cyberman@Toz.Buffalo.NY.US
        Scripted at Tue  07-28-1992  00:56:12

... My hard disk is full! Maybe I'll try this message section thing.
--- Blue Wave/QWK v2.10
 
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: sl8nl@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Dave 'n' Josh
Date: 30 Jul 92 13:53:54 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

> What this discussion seems to come down to, to me, is a question of
> credibility.  Josh has made some pretty impressive claims, Dave has
> doubted those cliams.  Period.

Well, I called a truce...let's see what Dave does.

> 	Now, there are ways to settle this.  I, personally, know that
> Dave can both program and design complex systems.  I've played his
> games and used Game Workbench.  I know he's more technically competent
> than me, and -- given a known and an unknown -- I'd be more inclined
> to trust his judgement.  That doesn't mean that Josh is wrong, though.

I don't doubt it.  I haven't seen it, but...

> 	Could a complete (but not necessacarily TADS-like) adventure
> system be created in three weeks?  I suppose, depending on how much
> experience and code you had lying around to use.  I, personally, have
> spent over a year on mine, but if I were to start over I could re-
> produce what I have now in, say, a month of part-time work.  Given that,
> I'd be willing to believe that a system could be put together in three
> weeks.  In 18K?  I'd have to see it to believe it.  So, apparently,
> does Dave.

Thank you for believing that much.  I have lots and lots of code lieing
around, as I said.  Part of it was used.  The expression analyzer, for
instance, came from the C compiler I wrote (which took a lot longer than
3 weeks).

As for the 18k part.  Get ahold of ADVSYS by David Betz.  His is right in
that range.  The compiler is 20k, the interpreter (his uses an interpreter)
is about 18.5k.  Its public domain.  I've heard that source is available,
but I haven't found it...and no, the executables aren't compressed.

> 	I believe that a flat-surface texture mapping routine could
> be written with Bresenham.  Would it be fast enough to be real-time?
> I'd like to see it.  So, apparently, would Dave.

The code's posted...I'd like to hear your comments on it,too...

> 	And as for interest:  I'm incredibly interested.  An 18K
> adventure system could revolutionize what I'm doing.  I'm sure there
> are dozens of people here and in rec.arts.int-fiction that could
> really, really use something like that.  A real-time flat-surface
> texture mapper would generate equal excitement.

If the interest is there, I'll post the executables to the system.  The
original is written in Pascal...I'm doing a C conversion now so I can
port it between computers.

> 	I firmly believe that a 16-year-old can be a programming god.
Thank you, but I don't consider myself that.

> I also believe that nobody is going to believe him until he proves
> himself.  Which Josh can with one post.

Done yesterday...

Take care,
Josh
From: cyberman@toz.buffalo.ny.us (Cyberman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Q: amount of display
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:33:42 GMT
X-Maildoor: WaflineMail 1.00r


     -=> Rajiv Sud spoke of "Q: amount of display memo" <=-
    To All at 07-28-92  21:22
 RS> Anyone out there know how to find out the amount of display memory
 RS> available on a PC when using Turbo-c? The setvisualpage, et al calls
 RS> allow one to access different display memory pages. How does one figure
 RS> out how many display memory pages are available for use?

Different VGA cards handle this differently.  Basically they have
some readable io location that will help in determining this.
Unfortunately this is highly hardware dependant.

        Stephen Cyberman@Toz.Buffalo.NY.US
        Scripted at Wed  07-29-1992  13:55:34

... If you're not sure you're right, yell!
--- Blue Wave/QWK v2.10
From: laf@mitre.org (Lee Fyock)
Subject: [Genesis] Games for trade
Followup-To: rec.games.video
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:04:20 GMT

I would like to trade the following Genesis games for others of
equal (or better :-) value:

Crackdown
Golden Axe 2
John Madden Football '92
Lakers vs. Celtics
Marble Madness
Shadow Dancer
Spiderman
Turrican

Some of these are worth less (to me) than others...  Drop me a
note at laf@mitre.org if you'd like to set up a trade.

Thanks,
Lee

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Fyock                                          The MITRE Corporation
laf@mitre.org                                     Bedford, Massachusetts
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
From: lovejoy@cruncher.btv.ibm.com (Steve Lovejoy)
Subject: Re: <Genesis> Krusty's Fun House hints needed
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 12:59:19 GMT
Distribution: na
Reply-To: u7248@btvlabvm.vnet.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Technology Products
Keywords: Sega Genesis Krusty hints

In article <1992Jul20.131857.16996@watson.ibm.com>, lovejoy@cruncher.btv.ibm.com (Steve Lovejoy) writes:
|> In article <1992Jul16.204549.20503@admiral.uucp>, dave@admiral.uucp (Dave Litchman) writes:
|> |> In article <1992Jul15.125825.18843@watson.ibm.com> u7248@btvlabvm.vnet.ibm.com writes:
|> |> >
|> |> >Could someone please post the passwords to get to the different Krusty
|> |> >levels?  Thanks.
|> |>
|> |> Krusty-spoilers ahoy!
|> |>
|> |>

     Found the passwords for Krusty's FUn House in the August edition of EGM.
     They are:











             Genesis                           SNES
             -------                           ----
Level 2      WHOAMAMA                         BARTMAN
Level 3      FLANDERS                         SMITHERS
Level 4      BROCKMAN                         SNOWBALL
Level 5      SIDESHOW                         JEBEDIAH




   Steve

Newsgroups: rec.games.video
From: rauser@fraser.sfu.ca (Richard John Rauser)
Subject: Re: A Gripe about SNES SF2(dragon punch)
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 19:35:11 GMT

JMoylan@cup.portal.com (John Thomas Moylan) writes:

>I have a hint on the DP:
>  I have found that when I merely push down, yes straight down, and then
>fierce pubch key(while holding pad donw), I can ALWAYS DP...

   This isn't a dragon punch, you fool, it's a crouching fierce. A dragon
punch is achieved by pressing forward, down, then down-forward and a 
punch button, at which point your Ken/Ryu will jump in the air and yell
Shouryken (sp.)! Pressing down and hitting fierce just gives you a 
straight-up punch that leaves you very vulnerable. This is NOT a dragon
punch.

   Sheesh...there oughta be a law against newbies posting "tips".


--
Richard J. Rauser      "Sonic 2!"
rauser@sfu.ca              -what Guile says
WNI
From: dskim@eng.umd.edu (Daeshik Kim)
Subject: GENESIS games for sale
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 21:50:30 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: usa

P. Star 2 & 3: each $35 including shipping.
-- 
	Daeshik Kim	H: (703)273-1517 O: (703) 689-5878
	/PN=Daeshik.Kim/O=SprintIntl/ADMD=Telemail/C=US/@Sprint.com
	dskim@eng.umd.edu
From: brian@grebyn.com (Brian Bishop)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video,alt.games.sfii
Subject: Re: SNES SFII
Date: 21 Jul 92 17:59:02 GMT
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing

In article <Bro9zB.D32@watserv1.waterloo.edu> mdpopham@tesla.waterloo.edu (Mike Popham) writes:
>
>Well, I got my first chance to play SNES (well actually Super Famicom)
>SFII.  It's pretty good, and I think some of the sounds are really
>funny.  Chun Li sounds like a dog!  YapYapYapYapYap!  I've been
>playing too much, I can't remember the other funny ones right now.  I
>kind of like the hitting noises, and the Blanka Jungle beat!
>
  I'd swear that Ken and Ryu say "GO HOUSTON!" instead of sheryouken
or whatever they are supposed to be saying. When E. Honda wins, he
says something like "Hoo Boy!" or "Good Boy!"...

  BB

-- 
Brian Bishop, Senior Software Engineer, Virtual Technologies (brian@grebyn.com)

Out on the water, where the sailing men all go,
                             The water's high, while all the fish swim low....
From: ab@nova.cc.purdue.edu (Allen B)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Gameboy line trouble...again
Date: 22 Jul 92 19:50:08 GMT
Distribution: na

In article <1992Jul22.043314.15833@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>  
manley@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (HELD HOSTAGE -- YEAR ONE) writes:
> Well, my Gameboy came down with the dreaded "column of pixels goes bust"
> affliction tonight.  I have heard other owners complain about this.  What
> did you do?  I recall something about Nintendo replacing the unit, but that
> had to have been a dream...

Mine's got it really bad on both edges of the screen. 
Cleaning the cartridges with the cleaning kit helped a
little (a friend said that fixed his completely), but not
enough.

I've had my Gameboy for quite a while, but I started
getting this problem fairly early on.  Tell me if you find a
solution. 

ab
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
From: jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov (Stephen Jonke)
Subject: Re: Lynx vs. Game Gear
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 14:59:44 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.174607.22811@nas.nasa.gov>, tu@wk76.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene L. Tu) writes:
> 
> I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'd like to
> hear some opinions on Lynx vs. Game Gear as a color portable
> game system. (e.g. Graphics resolution and smoothness, 
> game quality and quantity, etc.)
> 

I've bought 10 games for the Lynx since I bought it.  8 of them are good
to great in my opinion.  An 80% success rate certainly can not be said for
my Genesis.

Top that off with up to 8 player games and you've really got something.

Steve 
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
From: wdm@world.std.com (Wayne D Michael)
Subject: Re: Top Ten Most Laughable Games
Organization: The World, via PC Pursuit from Fullerton CA
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 18:24:08 GMT

rauser@fraser.sfu.ca (Richard John Rauser) writes:

>   2. Q*Bert III (Super NES): Maybe I'm just being unreasonable, but who's
>going to pay sixty-odd bucks for bloody Q*Bert??? No matter how flashy
>the colours might be, it's still, well, Q*Bert.

I loved Q*Bert when it was originally released. As long as they don't
screw it up too much for the SNES, I would buy it. I am worried that
they may try to make it more "interesting", and in the process destroy
the simple elegance of the game.
I am also hoping that this game will sell in the $40-$50 range.

When is this game due to be released?

-- 
Wayne Michael
wdm@world.std.com
From: robl@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Rob Laddish)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 17:00:58 GMT
Subject: Super Stale SNES
Organization: Hackers Headquarters
Newsgroups: rec.games.video


Are there going to be any new games for the SNES anytime soon? How about any
time this year? Maybe they are all writing games for the SNES CD for a
christmas blitz.

Bummer, cause I hate waiting! Nothing like buying a video game machine thats
gone stale!

Rob
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
From: dru@meaddata.com (Dru Henke)
Subject: Re: Next Generation Magazine
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 13:47:56 GMT

In article <kc8goB1w165w@tsoft.sf-bay.org>,
   bbs.mwang@tsoft.sf-bay.org (Mark Wang) writes:

[ Long advert deleted ]

Does this kind of net abuse bother anyone else?  Isn't using the net for
commercial traffic illegal?

Just Curious.

--
Dru Henke                         Good leaders being scarce,
dru@meaddata.com                  following yourself is allowed.
Newsgroups: rec.games.video