Re: Quake for the GS

[philip@io.bocaraton.ibm.com (Philip Stephens)]

Daniel Webster writes:

> I am interested in seeing this 'Doom' port for the GS.  Did you
> ditribute it, and if so, where can I get a copy?

  Many, many months ago (perhaps as far back as last year) I posted
a demo version of my engine to comp.binaries.apple2.  It was called
RenderinGS.  I don't know if anyone archives the contents of that
newsgroup or not, so I can't say whether RenderinGS is available
for download anywhere.

  Since then I've done nothing to improve the code.  RenderinGS was
a direct port of a project that I've been working on to this day,
called WebView3D.  The code for that is available for download from
the web (http://www.arrowweb.com/philip), but is only directly
compilable under Unix/X and Windows 95.  The work I did to make an
earlier version compilable under GNO/ME was never incorporated back
into the base code, and much has changed since then.  A stripped down
version of the latest code could still be ported back to GNO/ME, if
I had the desire to do so.

  Right now I don't have Internet access for my Apple //GS, so I
can't embark on a new port.  If anyone wants RenderinGS or the source
code for it, I'd have to send it to them via snail mail on a 3.5"
floppy disk.

  WebView3D itself has never quite managed to be developed to the
extent that it could be used as a base for a game like Doom, on
any platform.  As strange as it may sound, IBM hired me to work on
WebView3D, but never sunk in the resources or man power to get the
project fully developed within a reasonable time frame.  I'm close to
the point of throwing in the towel completely and moving onto
something new.  Right now I'm trying to get the TCP/IP-based networking
code completed so that WebView3D could be used as a 3D chat server and
client (might as well use it for something!).  But the days when I
thought I could turn it into a portable 3D rendering package for
games and other applications is long gone.

  I'm intending to move onto 3D polygon-based rendering engines like
Quake.  I wrote a very simple prototype of a polygon renderer called
Threedom, which is also available for download from the web
(http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/7533).  Again this
is only directly compilable under Unix/X or Windows 95, but it uses
the same graphical API as WebView3D/RenderinGS does, so it could be
ported to GNO/ME with a bit of work.  It would be dog slow as a game
engine, but it could be uses as an image renderer.  It should be
able to output a scene made up of perspective-correct texture-mapped
polygons in about 30 seconds to a minute on an accelerated GS.