Second Sight and Games programming

[Mike Pfaiffer <pfaiffer@mbnet.mb.ca>]

I've been thinking. As my friends tell me this is always a dangerous
thing. As an infrequent reader of this newsgroup I have no idea if this
has been suggested before. Anyway here is my thought...

	3D games need a lot of horsepower on a computer. Other games such as
grid type games (eg. Warcraft, Civilization, Starcraft, and Command &
Conquer) do not need a lot of graphic processing. If a move is made off
screen there is no need to animate it. Comparing these games to older PC
and Apple// games the requirements they have compared to what is
actually done does not match. Sound and movement can be pre-calculated
and stored as a table. Only random events need to take up time. If a lot
of pieces need animation on the screen and there isn't enough time then
bigger (animated) moves would probably not be noticed.

	Depending on the resolution and colour depth, if a game were to be
written for the Second Sight card, couldn't the tiles of the grid be
uploaded to the card as a cache for faster animation?

	I remember friends showing me games using these techniques on their
][+. The only difference would be the size, amount of pieces, graphics,
and sound.

	As I type this message it occurs to me one engine could suffice for all
these programs. Simply change tables, tiles, and sounds. The Random
events may also be put into tables and included/excluded depending on
the game. Considering it would be simply a matter of table manipulation
the speed would be fantastic.

	I would love to hear what some of the original authors would say if
some of their games could be brought down to around one Mb (excluding
sound and graphics). Then have a working copy running on a GS. ;-) 32Mb
and Windoze 95... HAH! Look at this! 

	I shouldn't be so cynical. I've talked with a few of these people. They
are simply going with what people want. 

	Well there's my idea. I can now get on with what I was doing. ;-)

				Later
				Mike





-- 
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Lifes the same I'm moving in sterio. Lifes the same except for my shoes.
	-The Cars 1978
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