Re: what is the IIgs? : good idea....

[alelee@mac.com]

Just to clarify a few things (and it's all still theoretical BTW):

There is no way in hell that the IIGS will ever play Day of the
Tentacle. It uses 256 colours for all the graphics. The is no version
of this game that uses a smaller colour depth.

You can't just convert the graphics or music to a IIGS format if you
intend on using SCUMMVM to help. SCUMMVM is an interpreter, similar to
the original run-time interpreters that shipped with the original
games and all it does is load the scripting, graphics, music and sound
data as it was originally laid down in the SCUMM framework that Lucas
Arts developed to make the creation of their adventure games easier.
The part of my blog post covering Monkey Island graphics from the
Amiga version is even more of a pipe-dream for getting SCUMM games to
run at all on the IIGS. To do that would require a complete re-write
of the runtime application to produce the game - you couldn't call it
SCUMM. It'd be something new for the IIGS.

A SCUMM interpreter for the IIGS has to be able to read those same
scripting, graphics, music and sound data from the existing data files
(preferably from the PC versions as I've reasoned in my original blog
post). You can't pre-convert the music to MIDISynth because the music
is played from SCUMM itself. If a IIGS version was to be made, you've
got to channel the output of the SCUMM interpreter through the
MIDISynth tool on the fly.

This isn't nearly as crazy as it sounds, because it's already been
done on the IIGS, with all the Sierra 3D adventure game releases. The
IIGS executable included with those IS an interpreter.

And yes, you can't just compile SCUMMVM for the IIGS. A SCUMM run-time
application would require some serious re-working for the IIGS, to
allow individual scenes to be loaded as they're needed and then
removed from memory as you progress to other scenes in the game...and
lots of other things to accomodate for the IIGS, just as they needed
to back in the 80s and 90s when the games were originally released.

It's all confusing, to be sure, especially when I need to go to
bed :-)

In the meantime, here's a new blog post I wrote about interpreters.
Something, perhaps more feasible for the IIGS:

http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/game-interpreters-part-ii-an-easier-adventure-to-accomplish/

--
- Alex
http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/