HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: zaxin@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Benjamin Christophe Lee)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Bitmaps or what??
Date: 18 Dec 1992 10:36:22 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu

	I have recently begun playing around with a small tank game that I 
wrote for my pc using Borland C++ V2.1  I played around alot with Hooking INT
09 and checking Port 60 for keyboard input. is this the best way to handle 
such things?
I also set it up to work with the mouse.  It currently polls the mouse 
constantly, but this won't do.  I am planning to set up an interupt handler
and event queue (if i can ever get it figured out) I cant figure out how to
give the correct procedure address to INT 33.

Anyway, on to my real question:
	what (if any) is the best way to store and use graphics in a game
on a pc.  Can the data be encorporated into the .exe file?  so far i have
used windows bitmaps (eek) for the tank pictures... i just loaded the raw
data out of the file.  What I'm getting at is that there must be a better
way... many games have rescource data files and they seem to use their own 
format in storing the pictures.  so how can I draw and edit these pictures 
and save them to disk in such a way that i could laod them into my programs?

SideNote: how do you make use of sound cards in games?

any help appreciated.  Email response prefered.

thanks
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If your going to get drunk, do it in the     |    zaxin@wpi.wpi.edu
basement so you dont fall down the stairs.   |
			---Kevin McDonald    |     Benjamin C. Lee
Xref: sparky rec.games.programmer:5051 comp.graphics:12924
From: djmst19+@pitt.edu (David J Madura)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.graphics
Subject: Maximum Overkill graphics -- How?
Date: 15 Dec 92 19:12:49 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: djmst19@unixd3.cis.pitt.edu

I just bought the game Maximum Overkill : Commanche and extremely
impressed with the graphics.

The game itself is a helicopter simulator but instead of using the
traditional polygon graphics of most simulators, or even texture mapped
polygons, the terrain is unbelievably life-like rendered.  Something
like what Vistapro might generate , except blockier and in real-time.

Quoting from the manual:

"Voxel Space (TM) - a totally new graphics 3-D imaging system.  Using a
desktop computer, it can perform up to 1 million 3-D calculations per
second.  That's over 500 times faster than traditional polygon imaging
systems.

Voxel Space can use real terrain data and render it with directional
light sourcing, generating up to 48,000 3-D surface variations per real
time frame."

If you've seen the game and have any ideas on HOW the graphics were done
please let me know.  I've only been familiar with standard polygon
imaging and then some texture-mapped polygons but the real-time terrain
in Commanche is something else.

The game is by NovaLogic by the way in case you want to buy it.

If you havent seen the game I dont know how to describe it except for
the ground/mountains/water/grass look like real terrain with all the
surface and lighting varations, curves and everything else.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:11:36 -0500 
From: Court Demas <court+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Xlib Clipping Revisited
	<1gm5q5INN5k9@aludra.usc.edu>

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.programmer: 15-Dec-92 Re: Xlib Clipping
Revisited Michael Duffy@aludra.usc (1997)

> Now what I haven't figured out is how to clip a compiled bitmap say top and
> left or top and right........  Hmmmmm...... this one's probably not possible,
> or would slow the code down so much that you'd lose the advantages of 
> compiling it.

Actually, I am just realizing how silly this whole thing is.  Why clip? 
Just do a trivial accept/reject from the bitmap to the clipping
rectangle.  If it's accepted, jump to the compiled routine.  If not, use
a slower clipped version (you could also have a horizontally-clipped
compiled version which I think should still be really fast).  Most
game's don't clip *that* much, and the overhead of intersecting
rectangles is miniscule..

-court
From: hmallat@robin.cs.hut.fi (Hannu Mallat ~ PurpleHaze!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Strategy algorithms
Date: 19 Dec 1992 20:36:37 GMT
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, CS lab
Distribution: inet
NNTP-Posting-Host: robin.cs.hut.fi

In <1gvoi6INN30j@sauna.cs.hut.fi> hmallat@robin.cs.hut.fi (Hannu Mallat ~ PurpleHaze!) writes:

>I'm planning on programming a simple(ish) strategy game, something
>like Empire. Otherwise I can handle doing such a game, but I have

Oh yes, one more clarification: I mean the home computer Empire by
Interstel(?), not the UN*X one.
--
I gotta roll, can't stand still,		\/
Got a flame in my heart, can't get my fill,	/\	     Hannu Mallat
Eyes that shine burning red,			\/	hmallat@niksula.hut.fi
Dreams of you all thru my head.			/\
From: beders@wip-sol.dfki.uni-sb.de (Jochen Bedersdorfer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: super vga library test
Date: 15 Dec 1992 09:45:41 GMT
Organization: DFKI Saarbruecken GmbH, D-W 6600 Saarbruecken
NNTP-Posting-Host: dfki.uni-sb.de
In-reply-to: sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu's message of 14 Dec 92 19:10:53 GMT

In article <85334@ut-emx.uucp> sill@zoe.as.utexas.edu (Daniel Sill) writes:

   We are currently completing development
   of a super-vga graphics library.  As there
   are an inordinate number of different
   video cards for the PC, we would like to
   do some preliminary testing on as many
   cards as possible.  Please take the 
   included uuencoded zip file and try it on
   your PC.  Then, let us know what kind of
   video card and how much memory you have
   and whether the program identified them
   correctly.

   WARNING:  We felt it necessary to restrict
   the executable to 386 processors or better
   to take advantage of the 32 bit capabilities.
   This program will NOT work on 286 or lesser
   machines.  Sorry.

Please, use a OS/2 compatible DOS-Extender for your 32-bit coding.
How about EMX or DPMI-conforming extenders.
I would really appreciate that.

Greetings, :)ochen



--

----====###################====--------====##################====----
--==#### Jochen Bedersdorfer (beders@wip-sol.dfki.uni-sb.de) ####==--
--                                                                 -- 
--==####      "666 is no longer alone ...", Genesis          ####==--
----====###################====--------====##################====----
	  




			        
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: toddl@county.lmt.mn.org (Todd Lehman)
Subject: Re: Copyrights of old games...
Organization: none:
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 03:06:35 GMT

In article <2108@acf5.NYU.EDU> checker@acf5.NYU.EDU (checker) writes:
>toddl@county.lmt.mn.org (Todd Lehman) gives his opinions on `simple' games:
>>Getting back to the copyright thing, it's really a matter of luck who gets to
>>own the simple ideas, and it's really sort of sad when someone does.  I mean,
>>nobody cares if someone owns the copyright to Super Mario World XXVII.  But
>>we're all a little peeved when a simple game like Tetris is copyrighted.
>
>I think you have things backwards here.  Coming up with more levels to
>Super Mario Brothers is my definition of easy (perhaps brainless is a
>better description).  Coming up with something elegant and simple like
>Tetris is a _lot_ of work.  Of course you're peeved; all great ideas
>seem to be simple, once you hear about them.
>
>Let's give credit where credit is due.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to denounce the work of Alexy Pazhitnov and Vadim
Gerasimov (Tetris) and Erno Rubik (The Cube).  The entire world owes them a
hearty round of applause for their creations.

But what I meant was that in these two cases (and probably others), these
games are so simple as to be discovered by any civilization, given enough
time.  I'm not saying it doesn't take a great deal of ingenuity to create
them, I'm just insisting that they weren't "invented."  When a new
mathematical theorem or proof is discovered, we give credit to the scientist
making the _discovery_.  And that's a good thing.  But you wouldn't want
copyrights on things like the Mean Value Theorem.  And you wouldn't want
Dr. Mandelbrot to own the copyright to the Mandelbrot set just because he
discovered it.  So why should the "inventors" of Tetris be allowed to own
the copyright to Tetris?  I don't see the reasoning there. 

I realize that my opinions here may be way out in left field, and I realize
that computer games can be copyrighted while mathematical objects and theorems
cannot, but the landscape of the whole thing looks like such a gray area...

--
Todd Lehman
toddl@county.lmt.mn.org

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: gardabr@unix1 (Gard Eggesbo Abrahamsen)
Subject: Re: I to get in a major game developers door?
Organization: MRIH, More og Romsdal Ingeniorhogskole
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 16:09:36 GMT

Daniel Rubin (rubin@godzilla.cis.ohio-state.edu) wrote:
: Sorry if this is a frequently asked question but...
: 
: Does anyone know how to apply for a job at the major companies that develop
: video games.  Like Sega, Atari, Nintendo, Bally Midway etc.   You never see
: these companies represented at job fairs?  I would love to work as a software
: developer for a company like this.  Anyone got any good pointer on how to
: get in...

1) Get a developer's kit from the company / for your computer
2) Make something really good.
3) GIVE it to someone in the company, get to know this person very well
4) Persuade this person to get you a job there.

-or-

1) Marry the daughter of the boss of the company you would like to get into.
   If she is already married, tough.

: Thanks                                                           - Dan

No problem.

:              Daniel Joseph Rubin     rubin@cis.ohio-state.edu 
:      
:                        GO BENGALS!      GO BUCKS!

===============================================================================
Gard Eggesboe Abrahamsen                              PO Box 5061, Larsgaarden,
gard.abrahamsen@mrih.no             o O                  6021 Aalesund, Norway
gardabr@unix1.mrih.no              =( )=             Postal giro: 0825 0488697
ga@samson.mrih.no                    U         Date of birth: August 19th 1973
Gard@IRC                                     "Why sort what already is sorted?"
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ghost@next14csc.wam.umd.edu ()
Subject: Speed of Different Sprite Libraries
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 19:19:23 GMT



which is faster for coding /doing grafix in Turbo Pascal 

1) Fastgraph
2) Anivga

which is fastest/effiecient for C++
?

thanx.
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 05:47:29 EST
From: <SML108@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: games project

In article <1992Dec17.085451.10791@nuscc.nus.sg>, eng10317@nusunix1.nus.sg (TAN
PONG FEI) says:
>
>hello anyone out there,
>    Hi!!!!! I am looking for some help from anyone of you, in fact quite
>a desperate help that i need. At this moment, we are told to write a
>programme on games on either the mastermind or othello. I have to submit
>my proposal as soon as possible. I really hope some of the kind hearted
>soul out there to help me. I thank you in advance!!!!! Hope to hear from
>you soon. Bye.
>
>
>P.S it iwill be all the better if it is in fortran 77 programme,
>otherwise any other programme is fine too. Thanx again!!!

Sounds good!  But I'm a wheeling/dealing sort of guy.  I wrote this othello
program in high school that gets smarter the more it plays and is even in
Fortran 77!  So what are you willing to trade for it?  I'll take any
of the following:

 1. A program to accurately predict the structures of proteins
 2. A truly working model for human consciousness
 3. A year's worth of dates with Sharon Stone
 4. Ownership of Atari computers so I can steer them back on track and
    buy one of their computers without feeling like I've just ordered
    kiddy porn
 5. A working Quantum Leap(tm) Accelerator
 6. A proof of Fermat's last theorem
 7. A jar of nano-factories
 8. Rude and public humiliation of Bill Gates for stating Windows will
    replace X.
 9. A Corvette ZR-1
10. All of the treasure in that water filled pit on that island in Canada
    that they've covered in episodes of _In Search of_ and _Unsolved
    Mysteries_

Ok, but remember soon I will be a multi-millionaire with a mansion and a
yacht so a quick reply is appreciated... Thanx!
>
From: mike.mcaulay@spacebbs.com (Mike Mcaulay) 
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Job opening: games designer/programmer
Date: 18 Dec 92 05:21:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: mike.mcaulay@spacebbs.com (Mike Mcaulay) 


Ybarra Productions, creators of SpellCraft and Shadow of Yserbius (on
TSN) is seeking a programmer/designer.  Must live in or be willing to
relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area.  No
non-super-intelligent-hyper-blazes need apply.  If you are totally
psyched to design and code games and are ready to start full-time work
and can solidly demonstrate your abilities (thru games or demos you have
written) send me e-mail for details.

Note: this does not constitute the "official" job description cuz I
don't have it in front of me at the moment.  If you send me e-mail I can
return it to you.

Serious inquiries only, please.

M.
                                                                                          
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: toddl@county.lmt.mn.org (Todd Lehman)
Subject: Re: Copyrights of old games...
Organization: none 
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 21:38:44 GMT

In article <1992Dec20.155958.11026@ee.rochester.edu> seah@ee.rochester.edu (David Seah) writes:
>In article <1992Dec18.143639.3778@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters) writes:
>>Parker Brothers had to chase down a lot of people who were translating the 
>>popular Monopoly and Risk games into computer versions without licensing 
>>them.  Too many of these, and the copyright holders can "lose" the copyright
>>to the public domain.
>
>Has this happened with Tetris?  There seem to be ten million clones of it
>out there. 

The interesting thing about Tetris's being copyrighted is that Tetris is not
a game that was "invented" (IMHO).  Rather, it falls into that special
category of simple, elegant mathematical games waiting to be "discovered."
Rubik's Cube is really no different -- it was just a matter of time before
somebody made one.  And when someone did, you thought, "Gee, why didn't I
think of that? -- it's so simple!"

Getting back to the copyright thing, it's really a matter of luck who gets to
own the simple ideas, and it's really sort of sad when someone does.  I mean,
nobody cares if someone owns the copyright to Super Mario World XXVII.  But
we're all a little peeved when a simple game like Tetris is copyrighted.

Sigh.

--
Todd Lehman
toddl@county.lmt.mn.org
From: pinky@tamu.edu (The Man Behind The Curtain)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: C++ Class Game Programming Library?
Date: 11 Dec 1992 11:55:47 -0600
Organization: Texas A&M University
NNTP-Posting-Host: tamsun.tamu.edu
Summary: working on it :)
Keywords: C++ game library

Thus spake bell@beethoven.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell):
>In article <usgcjsx.723771447@gsusgi1.gsu.edu> usgcjsx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (Felix_T_Cat) writes:
>>  [..game library in C?]
>
>Has anyone responded?  I posted a message a while ago regarding trying
>to get together people to create one.  I'm still interested in having
>such a library for UNIX systems, and would be interested in helping
>folk put a "library" of C++ classes for building games.  I'm in the
>process of putting together a very simple class for handling a deck
>of cards to include in such a library.
>
>Anyone else interested in working on such a beast?

Well, there are a few C++ libraries out there such as YakIcons for the
PC, though these are graphics oriented.  As for classes which are
geared towards representing classes of everyday objects, I don't know
of any.  I've begun working upon my own model of such objects -- some
time later today, I plan to post some of my ideas to comp.lang.c++,
where I'm sure people will recoil from the strange way I've implimented
call-backs and runtime method calls.  If the criticisms received are
valid, I'll probably try another way.

The model that I use would work on Un*x as well, of course, and most
of the workings of the objects should work as well except the graphical
parts.  I haven't actually worked on representing any items yet -- still
working upon the way that objects would interact with each other (this
is for a quest game -- objects should be able to interact with each other
in a variety of ways.)

>  Andrew Bell


-- 
Till next time,                \o/   \o/
                                V \o/ V     email:pinky@tamu.edu
<>  Sam  Inala  <>                 V

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters)
Subject: Re: Copyrights of old games...
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:36:39 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.184438.29020@blkbox> collins@blkbox (Chad R. Collins) writes:
>	I was wondering about a couple of games I have seen recently-
>Castle Wolfenstein 3D and Llamatron. Both are new versions of old games-
>dont they violate someone's copyright? I rember some discussion on this
>group before about the possiblity of someone making a M.U.L.E. clone,
>but the consensus seemed to be that you couldn't make one, even a public
>domain one, without violating a copyright. What about these games?
>

Ah, but it is entirely legal to purchase or license the rights to a product.
Apogee did so with Wolfenstein.  If you can find the actual owner of the 
copyright, you might be able to negotiate a license.  

Parker Brothers had to chase down a lot of people who were translating the 
popular Monopoly and Risk games into computer versions without licensing 
them.  Too many of these, and the copyright holders can "lose" the copyright
to the public domain.

For your M.U.L.E. clone, you'd have to locate the copyright holders (probably
EA), and license from them.

Alternately, try to get the copyright owners to buy your conversion and 
release it.  Since EA makes few products on their own, but works more as a 
distributor, this might be the better option.

Just be sure with a conversion to MS-Dos machines, you support the Gravis
Ultrasound board in native mode!   B^)   B^)   B^)

-Coyt


Xref: sparky rec.games.programmer:5123 alt.tv.red-dwarf:1990
From: ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,alt.tv.red-dwarf
Subject: Re: WOLF3D - ShareWare version
Date: 19 Dec 92 16:26:36 GMT

From: cs_d604@ceres (David Scutt)
>etljmme@etlxd30.ericsson.se (Jim) writes:
>: Hi everyone.
>: 
>: I've received alot of requests for the ftp site for wolf3d.  I don't know!!
>: 
>: Because alot of people want it, I'll uuencode it with all relevant details and
>: post it to alt.binaries.multimedia by the end of the week.  Sorry for the delay
>: but I've got to go home and get it, etc.
>: 
>: I'll let you know when it's there.
>: 
>: NOTE:  The debugging/cheat keys I gave will only work on the SHAREWARE version
>: of wolf3d, not on the commercial one.  Mail me with any questions.
>: 
>: Also, does anyone know the e-mail address of John Carmack or John Romero, the
>: authors of Wolf3D and Commander Keen?
>: 
>: Cheerio and Merry Christmas,
>: Jim.
>
>	What does this have to do with Red Dwarf???

It doesn't have much to do with games programming either.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: stylian@aramis.uucp (Philip Stylianos)
Subject: Re: Job opening: games designer/programmer
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 21:58:37 GMT

In article <2182.1599.uupcb@spacebbs.com> mike.mcaulay@spacebbs.com (Mike Mcaulay)  writes:
>
>non-super-intelligent-hyper-blazes 

Whazzat?



-- 
                                /
  |)| .|.   (`L  |.            /  C is good.  C works.
  | ||||||) _)|\/||([|)()(`   /
         |     / _________)  /
From: c188-cr@po.berkeley.edu (Chua Hak Lien)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: games project
Date: 18 Dec 1992 01:54:52 GMT
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: po.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Dec17.085451.10791@nuscc.nus.sg> eng10317@nusunix1.nus.sg (TAN PONG FEI) writes:
>P.S it iwill be all the better if it is in fortran 77 programme,
>otherwise any other programme is fine too. Thanx again!!!

What exactly do you want?
If you had some specific questions about your project, you could
ask them. ( Eg: How to do the heuristics/evaluation function for
the moves, etc. ) but all you seem to want is a complete program,
all done and ready for turning in as your own.

Well, sorry.
* DO YOUR OWN WORK, DUDE. THAT'S WHAT LEARNING IS ABOUT. *

Chua
+==+
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: opex@brg5.ldgo.columbia.edu
Subject: Test2
Summary: Test2
Keywords: test2
Organization: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 04:36:18 GMT

Test2
From: hemlock@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bleeding Rivets)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: The Correct Way to Control Game Speed
Date: 20 Dec 1992 09:53:15 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucscb.ucsc.edu


In article <1992Dec19.190258.15117@midway.uchicago.edu> greg@dent.uchicago.edu (Greg Kuperberg) writes:
[a lot of good stuff deleted]
>
>Now for some specifics.  The eye and the visual cortex integrates
>separate images into continuous motion if the images appear at a rate
>faster than 5 or 10 times per second or so.  15 or more frames per
>second looks good, and it is a waste of CPU time to have more than 30
>redraws per second. 
[more good stuff deleted]

sometimes you'll want more than 30 redraws per second.  I'm doing a
spacewar-ish game and if you only have 30 redraws per second then when
the ships start going at a pretty good clip they start to 'break up':
it begins to look like you have 2 or 3 ships following each other; in
other words you get an ugly 'strobing' effect.  At 60 frames/sec (standard
640x480 refresh rate) things are pretty smooth.  The faster you can do
the frames the better, in my opinion; but I will also admit that 'spacewar'
is a special case; you have rather small objects moving rather fast & you
reach the point at which they are moving a substantial fraction of their
own lengths in one frame rather quickly.  The fact that they're high-contrast
against a black background probably also helps make the eye more sensitive
to any problems with jerkiness or strobing.

Anyhow, I ended up just tying the frame generation rate to the vertical
refresh signal of the monitor.  It should still get 60 frames/sec on
a 386SX-16, and it does look really nice at that rate.



-- 
"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: chrisw@castle.ed.ac.uk (C Walton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Wanted - Wolf3D algorithm
Date: 17 Dec 92 19:57:44 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Edinburgh University

Can anyone help me with a bitmap scaling routine like that used
in Wolf3D by apogee.

Thanks in advance

Chris (cdw@dcs.ed.ac.uk)
"All in the name of ..."