What are the best Acorn RiscPC games
Richard Kilpatrick
It's a while since I played games on an Acorn - let's just say I have
fond memories of the theme tune from Corruption and E-type through an
amplifier (I was used to an ST, so forgive me *grin*).
Partly for my own interest, and partly as part of my ongoing battle to
persuade our readers that the Risc PC is a worthwhile platform, what
games are available that compare well with PC products, and what sort of
price are we looking at for them. Many photographers will buy a computer
with imaging capability as a home system so it is of interest to them.
Things I don't think will go down well are early-style games where the
Risc PC multisyncs into a letterbox, and low colour resolutions unless
they are very playable. Again, I'll say this with a reservation or two;
I wasted many hours playing Pigeons on my A3000...
Richard
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Acorn Risc PC, WIndows and Mac OS imaging with alternative platforms.
Camera tests, multimedia products featured in every issue, technique, examples.
Tel: 44 1573 226032 Fax: 44 1573 226000
Bill Kotsias (Fantasia Soft)
Richard Kilpatrick wrote:
[snip]
> Things I don't think will go down well are early-style games where the
Hey, Wizard Apprentice is a puzzle game that runs at (full screen)
640*512 res with 256 colours. ;-) It is available from The Datafile.
...
Shameless advertising? Who?
Cheers,
Bill
R-Comp Interactive
> Things I don't think will go down well are early-style games where the
> Risc PC multisyncs into a letterbox, and low colour resolutions unless
> they are very playable. Again, I'll say this with a reservation or two;
> I wasted many hours playing Pigeons on my A3000...
Well, we'd have to say Acorn Doom at this point ;->
One of the few games with resolution independant graphics (play it at
640x480 or higher on an SA, or in 24bpp), arguably the best versions of
Doom on any platform.
Sim City 2000 is also pretty good, with BHP another contender.
If you can live with letterboxing (or use GameOn etc. to un-letterbox it)
then Exodus (also from us - sorry!) will fit your strategy needs.
Future products from Artex - Ankh and Tek both look like fitting the
bill, too.
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Alex Holloway
Best RiscPC games? There isn't one yet, cos Iron Dignity isn't finished...
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Adrian Jackson
R-Comp Interactive wrote:
> Well, we'd have to say Acorn Doom at this point ;->
> One of the few games with resolution independant graphics
> (play it at 640x480 or higher on an SA, or in 24bpp),
> arguably the best versions of Doom on any platform.
Doom64?
Adrian
James Hammerton
Richard Kilpatrick (photon_...@lovecraft.demon.co.uk) wrote:
> It's a while since I played games on an Acorn - let's just say I have
> fond memories of the theme tune from Corruption and E-type through an
> amplifier (I was used to an ST, so forgive me *grin*).
>
> Partly for my own interest, and partly as part of my ongoing battle to
> persuade our readers that the Risc PC is a worthwhile platform, what
> games are available that compare well with PC products, and what sort of
> price are we looking at for them. Many photographers will buy a computer
The Doom Trilogy has just been released and is at higher resolutions
and faster frame rates than the original PC version. It costs 35
pounds.
You can get a PD Quake player and buy a PC version of Quake for the
PAK files. Total cost -- whatever the cost is for the PC version plus
the cost of downloading ArcQuake.
Of the homegrown games, Drifter (35 pounds?) is good and has decent
graphics whilst Star Fighter 3000 (25 pounds?) is a good 3D
shoot'em'up. The latter has been converted to the PC range (as Star
Fighter) with better graphics however. BHP (35 pounds?) looks
reasonable but I haven't played it so whether it is worth boasting
about I don't know.
To be honest I wouldn't recommend the RiscPC for playing games, since the
other platforms have far more and generally better quality games than
Acorns do. Hopefully that will change. That said there are some good
games available.
For music, graphics & DTP the RiscPC has software that rivals the best
on other platforms, and in the case of Sibelius has arguably got the
best scorewriting package available.
James
--
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R-Comp Interactive
In message <34E2DD...@dai.ed.ac.uk>
Adrian Jackson <adr...@dai.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
Since I've not played it, I can't comment.
But...
Can you play it in 1024x768?
In a window?
With drag'n'drop saving?
And is it PC pWAD compatibile?
Acorn's rule, guys ;->
Tony Houghton
In message <na.8ed3c14816...@argonet.co.uk>
Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Best RiscPC games? There isn't one yet, cos Iron Dignity isn't
> finished...
That's silly. Out of the games already available, some of them must be
the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
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Simon Jones
In article <db6e621748%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>,
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <na.8ed3c14816...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > Best RiscPC games? There isn't one yet, cos Iron Dignity isn't
> > finished...
> That's silly. Out of the games already available, some of them must be
> the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
> Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
Well, basically, if it has good gameplay, it's going to knock the socks
off everything that's been before.
Many Acorn games have had brilliant gameplay, but not-so-good technical
aspects (SR2000 to name a perfect example - my favourite game, by the way).
If Iron Dignity can get really good gameplay, it'll be the first native
game to have good gameplay *and* good graphics/sound/etc...instead of the
other way round, or just missing out the latter completely.
Simon.
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Peter Smith
> R-Comp Interactive wrote:
> > Well, we'd have to say Acorn Doom at this point ;->
>
> > One of the few games with resolution independant graphics
> > (play it at 640x480 or higher on an SA, or in 24bpp),
> > arguably the best versions of Doom on any platform.
>
> Doom64?
I've seen it, and to be honest, it's complete cack. It doesn't even use the
same levels! The only similarity between Doom and Doom64 is the big pink
shaved gorillas (Demons).
Peter
--
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45. Announce in a demonic voice: "I must find a more suitable host body."
Tony Houghton
In message <48176d7b52s...@argonet.co.uk>
Simon Jones <sjprod...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <db6e621748%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>,
> Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > That's silly. Out of the games already available, some of them must be
> > the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
> > Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
>
> Well, basically, if it has good gameplay, it's going to knock the socks
> off everything that's been before.
It would need great gameplay; everybody's just assuming it will, but
that's far from a foregone conclusion. Look how great Destiny was
supposed to be going to be.
I've seen other demos (demo demos rather than games) which have
impressed me more.
Anarchy
Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> In message <na.8ed3c14816...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Best RiscPC games? There isn't one yet, cos Iron Dignity isn't
> > finished...
>
> the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
> Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
So Tony, those drugs you're taking. What colour are they? ;-)
Anarchy
Tony Houghton
In message <34E4BA...@durham.ac.uk>
Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Tony Houghton wrote:
> >
> > That's silly. Out of the games already available, some of them must be
> > the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
> > Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
>
> So Tony, those drugs you're taking. What colour are they? ;-)
Drugs? So that's why Iron Dignity looks slow, jerky and blurry, and
even somewhat psychedelic if you try to reduce the colour depth ;).
Big Mad Karl
: > That's silly. Out of the games already available, some of them must be
: > the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
: > Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
On said subject, what is the status of this game at the mo? It looks
K3WL! ;-). The fly through at http://????? is pretty damn good, but the pics
in an Acron User from a few months back look stunning.
--
"I bet you they won't play this song on the radio,
I bet you they won't play this **** song,
It's not that it's **** or **** controversial,
It's just that the ****ing words are awfully strong."
(Python)
Alex Holloway
In article <8ce2e51748%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
<to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> In message <34E4BA...@durham.ac.uk>
> Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > Tony Houghton wrote:
> > >
> > > the cream of the crop. Besides, I don't see any reason why Iron
> > > Dignity's going to be better than all the others.
> >
>
> Drugs? So that's why Iron Dignity looks slow, jerky and blurry, and
> even somewhat psychedelic if you try to reduce the colour depth ;).
>
Whatthehellareyoutalkingabout?!!
I seem to have noticed that the definition of GAME SPEED tends to vary
wildly on this newsgroup...
People say ArcQuake is getting "Faster", when it's improved from 8fps to
10fps, both of which are of course unplayably slow. Similarly TBA-Quake
can't be called fast at 18fps in 480x352, as i consider a minimum decent
frame rate to be 20fps+
Acorn Doom, the leaflet says somewhat optimistically, is ideal in 640x480 or
even 800x600 (!!) in 8bit colour; 800x600 is too slow IMHO, 640x480 is
playable but still jerks visibly. In 24bit colour 480x352 is also rather
jerky although playable, anything higher being unplayable; 320x240 is pretty
smooth, although not quite dead smooth like 320x240 in 8bit colour. It's a
shame that higher res modes don't look that much better, just slower :-(
That demo of Iron Dignity, on the other hand, runs in 24 bit colour in
480x352 and by my judgement its frame rate tends to be higher than Acorn
Doom's at same res or indeed the prospective frame rate for TBA-Quake which
is only 8bit colour!! It's not quite Greased Lightning but smooth most of
the time and, i think, very impressive particularly considering that
apparently that version wasn't even optimised, and its graphics are
undebatably higher tech than both of the 3D walkabouts and would require
very beefy hardware to run at that rate on a PC!
And if anyone thinks these results are skewed then my system spec is
S/A RiscPC overclocked to 242MHz (rates 119.83 BogoMips)
24Mb DRAM (i assign 18Mb to Acorn Doom)
2Mb VRAM, plus AutoVCache (big speedup to IronD.)
so go on, suggest my eyesight's skewed instead.
awright?!
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Jon Hall
In article <na.9450a94818...@argonet.co.uk>, Alex Holloway
<ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
[snip]
> Acorn Doom, the leaflet says somewhat optimistically, > even 800x600 (!!)
>in 8bit colour;
Dunno about your 'somewhat optimistically' quote. It works fine and fast for
me at that res.
I have 40Mb Dram, and 2Mb vram.
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http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/jghall/
Tony Houghton
In message <na.9450a94818...@argonet.co.uk>
Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> That demo of Iron Dignity, on the other hand, runs in 24 bit colour in
> 480x352 and by my judgement its frame rate tends to be higher than Acorn
> Doom's at same res or indeed the prospective frame rate for TBA-Quake which
> is only 8bit colour!! It's not quite Greased Lightning but smooth most of
> the time and, i think, very impressive particularly considering that
> apparently that version wasn't even optimised, and its graphics are
> undebatably higher tech than both of the 3D walkabouts and would require
> very beefy hardware to run at that rate on a PC!
OTOH the Iron Dignity demo currently only has to plot two moving
objects, while the scenery isn't properly textured.
James Forrester
In article <e0da621848%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
<URL:mailto:to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <na.9450a94818...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > That demo of Iron Dignity, on the other hand, runs in 24 bit colour in
> > 480x352 and by my judgement its frame rate tends to be higher than Acorn
> > Doom's at same res or indeed the prospective frame rate for TBA-Quake which
> > is only 8bit colour!! It's not quite Greased Lightning but smooth most of
> > the time and, i think, very impressive particularly considering that
> > apparently that version wasn't even optimised, and its graphics are
> > undebatably higher tech than both of the 3D walkabouts and would require
> > very beefy hardware to run at that rate on a PC!
>
> OTOH the Iron Dignity demo currently only has to plot two moving
> objects, while the scenery isn't properly textured.
>
help fil - but it doesn't look too great on dunes3 - I recommend oldmetal2.
However, IMO, it looks better with gourad shading on a pseudo-realistic multi-
colour thingy. And, Shirley, when the ground object explodes, there are 4
resultant objects which are then plotted. OK, so it's only 5 objects, but it
*does* look good - and anyway, by the time it comes out, 5 SAs and a Voodoo3
PCI card will be the normal minimum specs. Oh well, maybe it won't be too long
til it comes out then 8.)
--
James D. M. Forrester
Home Also at
mailto:ja...@jdmf.demon.co.uk mailto:ja...@nfkp.demon.co.uk
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Wayne Bagguley
In message <e0da621848%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <na.9450a94818...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > That demo of Iron Dignity, on the other hand, runs in 24 bit colour in
> > 480x352 and by my judgement its frame rate tends to be higher than Acorn
> > Doom's at same res or indeed the prospective frame rate for TBA-Quake which
> > is only 8bit colour!! It's not quite Greased Lightning but smooth most of
> > the time and, i think, very impressive particularly considering that
> > apparently that version wasn't even optimised, and its graphics are
> > undebatably higher tech than both of the 3D walkabouts and would require
> > very beefy hardware to run at that rate on a PC!
>
> OTOH the Iron Dignity demo currently only has to plot two moving
> objects, while the scenery isn't properly textured.
stiLL looKS a niCE gaME thouGH.
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ArtexSoft
seemys...@tardis.ed.ac.uk (James Hammerton) wrote:
>To be honest I wouldn't recommend the RiscPC for playing games, since the
>other platforms have far more and generally better quality games than
>Acorns do. Hopefully that will change. That said there are some good
>games available.
We'll change that :)
Cheers,
Jan
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Mail: JKA...@gmx.net | _| > < | (_) | | |) | | |_| | \__ \
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ArtexSoft
Concerning the best RiscPC games, might I suggest the following two titles:
1. ANKH features 32000 colours as well as high resolution and 16 bit CD music.
Maybe it'll also include a rendered introduction film (if time is on our side).
A demo will be available in 2 weeks.
2. TEK features hi-res graphics, 800x600 is the standard mode (can be scaled),
CD music, speech, films, and much, much more. However you'll have to wait until
Autumn 98 (or Summer 98 if you have a NetStation).
And of course there's also EXODUS :)
Wrath
Alex Holloway wrote:
>
> In article <8ce2e51748%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
> <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > In message <34E4BA...@durham.ac.uk>
> > Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> > > Tony Houghton wrote:
> > > >
> > Drugs? So that's why Iron Dignity looks slow, jerky and blurry, and
> > even somewhat psychedelic if you try to reduce the colour depth ;).
> >
> Whatthehellareyoutalkingabout?!!
He's talking about the fact that ID appears jerky and blurry when you're
on the big yellow pills while spinning fast on a computer chair ;-)
Ie, talking shite a wee bit laddy :)
> I seem to have noticed that the definition of GAME SPEED tends to vary
> wildly on this newsgroup...
Yeah, I've noticed that as well. Has anyone *played* ID? No...so don't
go counting your weena chickens.
[snipped]
> so go on, suggest my eyesight's skewed instead.
>
> awright?!
Anyone says anything to the contrary and Alex and me will take you on!
Awright?! You better be 'cause we are......the (unbelievably cool)
management :)
Wrath
Dave Sloan
OK - The best Acorn RiscPC games have to be (IMVHO): Best at the top:
Commercial:
SR2000 - Original, fast, very playable.
StarFighter 3000 - Great blast fest
RComp's Doom - Best conversion
PD:
Abuse - Great shareware conversion
ArcQuake - Good conversion
I haven't got Exodus so I can't comment on that but doubtless it wouldn't
beat the playability of Stunt Racer, which is probably the greatest game of
all time. It's a bit of a shame that FedNet aren't doing any more Acorn
games, because when they were at their peak we had better games than any
other system.
All IMHO,
--
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The Turtle Moves!
Tony Houghton
In message <34E89E...@durham.ac.uk>
Wrath <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Alex Holloway wrote:
> >
> > In article <8ce2e51748%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
> > <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > In message <34E4BA...@durham.ac.uk>
> > > Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Tony Houghton wrote:
> > > > >
> > > Drugs? So that's why Iron Dignity looks slow, jerky and blurry, and
> > > even somewhat psychedelic if you try to reduce the colour depth ;).
> > >
> > Whatthehellareyoutalkingabout?!!
>
> He's talking about the fact that ID appears jerky and blurry when you're
> on the big yellow pills while spinning fast on a computer chair ;-)
>
> Ie, talking shite a wee bit laddy :)
I'm just pointing out that the demo in no way suggests that the gameplay
is going to be any good. Nor are the special effects any better than
what I've seen in other demos.
Sure, maybe it'll be improved, but by hyping it up out of all proportion
on the strength of a rough demo which:
(a) doesn't show anything about the gameplay at all,
(b) doesn't run very fast,
(c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
(d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
noticeable on the landing pad
and denying the above problems you're not doing the Acorn games scene
any favours you'll just make the author think it's fine as it is and
it'll be another Destiny.
Keith Mckillop
In message <19980216000...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, ArtexSoft wrote:
> Concerning the best RiscPC games, might I suggest the following two
> titles:
> 1. ANKH features 32000 colours as well as high resolution and 16 bit CD
> music. Maybe it'll also include a rendered introduction film (if time is
it'll make more people look at it.
If under a month, then go for it!
> on our side). A demo will be available in 2 weeks.
Keith
Anti-UCE address: kmc at arcade dot demon period co period uk
Please translate this Anti-UCE address for private replies - thank you.
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Toby Haynes
In article <18566e1948%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>,
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <34E89E...@durham.ac.uk>
> Wrath <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>> He's talking about the fact that ID appears jerky and blurry when you're
>> on the big yellow pills while spinning fast on a computer chair ;-)
>>
>> Ie, talking shite a wee bit laddy :)
>
>I'm just pointing out that the demo in no way suggests that the gameplay
>is going to be any good. Nor are the special effects any better than
>what I've seen in other demos.
Ah. So you've seen lots of demos with more gouraud shaded polygons
than ID?
>Sure, maybe it'll be improved, but by hyping it up out of all proportion
>on the strength of a rough demo which:
>(a) doesn't show anything about the gameplay at all,
This is true, but hey - it's a *demo* :-)
>(b) doesn't run very fast,
Depends - switching on VRAM caching makes a big difference. Having an
SA helps as well :-)
>(c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
It's not too bad, although the odd green pixel appearing is a bit
disconcerting...
>(d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> noticeable on the landing pad
ROTFL :-)
Are you aware of a techinique known as bilinear filtering? Maybe
not. This isn't strictly what ID is doing AFAICT, since ID is
rendering an independently coloured height map with gouraud polygons,
but the effect is the same. The level of detail before smearing occurs
depends on the level of subdivision you allow for the
landscape. Reduce the number of subdivisions, and the aliasing effects
get worse, increase the number of polygons and it gets better. This
sort of smoothed landscape effect is the sort of thing you rarely see
on a PC without a decent 3D card.
>and denying the above problems you're not doing the Acorn games scene
>any favours you'll just make the author think it's fine as it is and
>it'll be another Destiny.
It's one thing to maintain a healthy cynicism about release dates and
eventual specs - witness the slide of the TBA Quake release date from
'in the New Year' to 'The Wakefield Show' - but is quite another to
put down a game before you have actually played it!
Cheers,
Toby
--
Toby Haynes | "Take a look at Independance Day. There
Somewhere in Cambridge | you have concrete proof that all you need
| to do to destroy an Alien Civilisation
| is to plug an Apple Mac into it ..."
Anarchy
Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> In message <34E89E...@durham.ac.uk>
> Wrath <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > Ie, talking shite a wee bit laddy :)
>
> I'm just pointing out that the demo in no way suggests that the gameplay
> is going to be any good. Nor are the special effects any better than
> what I've seen in other demos.
So the realtime reflections that have been put in and the revamped
walkers and the underwater mode......
> Sure, maybe it'll be improved, but by hyping it up out of all proportion
> on the strength of a rough demo which:
Hold on. I am not going on about the demo, I am going on the development
*game*, Frank's notes etc.
If you call Frank a liar I'll kill you.
> (a) doesn't show anything about the gameplay at all,
I know.
> (b) doesn't run very fast,
But I know how much it has been optimised.
> (c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
Eh?
> (d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> noticeable on the landing pad
This may be called depth of field view!
> and denying the above problems you're not doing the Acorn games scene
> any favours you'll just make the author think it's fine as it is and
> it'll be another Destiny.
I don't think it will be a Destiny as you've already seen the power of
both engines. Saying they are both comparable?
IronD is being converted to the PC so make your own mind up whether it
will be any good as I can't give any info at the mo'.
Anarchy
Tony Houghton
In message <6cbqrh$dco$1...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
tj...@mrao.cam.ac.uk (Toby Haynes) wrote:
> In article <18566e1948%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>,
> Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >(c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
>
> It's not too bad, although the odd green pixel appearing is a bit
> disconcerting...
And the rest! What about clearly being able to see the individual
polygons the sky is made up from even in 32K, and the text which appears
at the beginning going completely haywire?
> >(d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> > noticeable on the landing pad
>
> ROTFL :-)
>
> Are you aware of a techinique known as bilinear filtering? Maybe
> not. This isn't strictly what ID is doing AFAICT, since ID is
> rendering an independently coloured height map with gouraud polygons,
> but the effect is the same. The level of detail before smearing occurs
> depends on the level of subdivision you allow for the
> landscape. Reduce the number of subdivisions, and the aliasing effects
> get worse, increase the number of polygons and it gets better. This
> sort of smoothed landscape effect is the sort of thing you rarely see
> on a PC without a decent 3D card.
I can't imagine that PC games would go to the trouble of doing all that
unless they managed to produce a result a hell of a lot better than
ID's.
> >and denying the above problems you're not doing the Acorn games scene
> >any favours you'll just make the author think it's fine as it is and
> >it'll be another Destiny.
>
> It's one thing to maintain a healthy cynicism about release dates and
> eventual specs - witness the slide of the TBA Quake release date from
> 'in the New Year' to 'The Wakefield Show' - but is quite another to
> put down a game before you have actually played it!
And another to claim the demo is wonderful just because it has the
potential to be when optimised and fixed.
Tony Houghton
In message <34EA00...@durham.ac.uk>
Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Hold on. I am not going on about the demo, I am going on the development
> *game*, Frank's notes etc.
Well, I was going on about the demo, obviously. Duh. If you can't admit
it's less than perfect without describing a private version instead,
just shut up.
> If you call Frank a liar I'll kill you.
I think his personal qualities are best left out of it, especially as
he's made the admirable decision to keep out of threads like this. I
hope he also has the sense to ask you to keep out of them too. I doubt
he appreciates people making death threats on his behalf.
Alex Holloway
> Sure, maybe it'll be improved, but by hyping it up out of all proportion
> on the strength of a rough demo which:
>
But gives us just an idea about the ATMOSPHERE which is very important for
gameplay, the main reason why you need good graphics really
> (b) doesn't run very fast,
You're machine is slow :^)
> (c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
Nobody wants to run it in less so why bother? 32BPP RULES!!
> (d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> noticeable on the landing pad
It's SUPPOSED to smear, that's the effect! If it didn't, you'd say it looked
(VERY) blocky! What you're seeing is a great way of improving the look
without resorting to large texture maps which produce a massive slowdown!
>
> and denying the above problems you're not doing the Acorn games scene
> any favours you'll just make the author think it's fine as it is and
> it'll be another Destiny.
>
The I.D. demo looks MUCH better than the demo of Destiny at last year's
Wakefield show, which was at a higher state of development! Anyway don't go
by a year-old demo. I hope you've seen the screenshots that appeared in
Acorn User a few months ago. No comparison. Phewee.
Andreas Joos
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> Hold on. I am not going on about the demo, I am going on the development
> *game*, Frank's notes etc.
TH> Well, I was going on about the demo, obviously. Duh. If you can't admit
TH> it's less than perfect without describing a private version instead, just
TH> shut up.
Aehm... I didn't read the thread, and perhaps I miss-understand something
'cause of my english-level, but what's the problem, when he speaks about
the game (in developement-stage)? That YOU have no access to this game, just
to the demo and so you can't verify his statements?
What did he said, so unbelieveable?
I'll check it next weekend, when Frank appears on our meeting, here in
South Germany...
Bye, Andreas Joos
=== ARM Powered - I+t+l Outside.
Martin Piper
In message <6cbqrh$dco$1...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> Toby Haynes wrote:
>
> ROTFL :-)
>
> Are you aware of a techinique known as bilinear filtering? Maybe
> not. This isn't strictly what ID is doing AFAICT, since ID is
> rendering an independently coloured height map with gouraud polygons,
> but the effect is the same. The level of detail before smearing occurs
> depends on the level of subdivision you allow for the
> landscape. Reduce the number of subdivisions, and the aliasing effects
> get worse, increase the number of polygons and it gets better. This
> sort of smoothed landscape effect is the sort of thing you rarely see
> on a PC without a decent 3D card.
>
ID uses gouraud subdivision approximation with a LOD based algorithm. It is a
hack and a bodge, but one which is quicker than trying to calculate full
bi-linear filtering. So in my book its a 'Good Thing' (tm) to do.
This is no where near bi-linear filtering and doesn't even produce the same
visual effects.
Just to put the record straight. Bi-linear filtering involves taking the
weighted average values of four ( or more ) texcells and combining them into
the destination point to make a new colour. A very expensive operation to do
properly. Bi-linear filtering tends to be perspective correct as well,
something which the gouraud approximation used in ID can't do.
I can supply source code examples if you want it. ;-)
--
Martin Piper
Partner, TBA Software.
Free demo downloads of our software at http://www.tba-software.co.uk/
Look out for BHP driving your way, right now!
Adrian Jackson
Alex Holloway wrote:
> But gives us just an idea about the ATMOSPHERE which is
> very important for gameplay, the main reason why you need
> good graphics really
Atmosphere also depends on gameplay, though. How tense it
feels when you play a game depends on the speed and type
of feedback you get from it.
> > (b) doesn't run very fast,
> You're machine is slow :^)
No, you just have a strange definition of fast. :-)
> > (c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
> Nobody wants to run it in less so why bother? 32BPP RULES!!
Why bother? Well, because you can get increases in speed
and/or resolution by running a game in a lower colour-depth?
Most people tend to prefer a lower colour depth with higher
resolution once there's sufficient colour to show everything
you need - 16bpp is certainly enough.
> The I.D. demo looks MUCH better than the demo of Destiny at
> last year's Wakefield show, which was at a higher state of
> development!
Yes, but most things looked much better than the demo of
Destiny... :-)
> Anyway don't go by a year-old demo. I hope you've seen the
> screenshots that appeared in Acorn User a few months ago.
> No comparison. Phewee.
No real difference, either. No idea of the speed and smoothness
of the game, no idea of the gameplay.
That said, I still have reasonably high hopes for the game,
but it's not worth hyping it out of all proportions when there
is no feedback to us about what the game's going to be like.
Adrian
ArtexSoft
Keith Mckillop wrote:
>> 1. ANKH features 32000 colours as well as high resolution and 16 bit CD
>> music. Maybe it'll also include a rendered introduction film (if time is
>
>How long will this set it back by? If it has even a slightly nice intro, then
>
>it'll make more people look at it.
We hope to deliver the whole thing in time, including intro film. This is a big
effort, but we're working too much anyway :)
BTW trying to keep the deadline won't reduce game quality. If the game needs
serious polishing, we'll have to shift, but we'll invest some sleepless nights
to avoid any delays :)
Tony Houghton
In message <na.59e6214819...@argonet.co.uk>
Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <18566e1948%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
> <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > (b) doesn't run very fast,
>
> You're machine is slow :^)
Oh, so it's going to be Risc PC 2 only? I'm not planning to get one of
those :-(.
> > (c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
>
> Nobody wants to run it in less so why bother? 32BPP RULES!!
16bit would look almost indistinguishable and be considerably faster if
it worked properly.
> > (d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> > noticeable on the landing pad
>
> It's SUPPOSED to smear, that's the effect! If it didn't, you'd say it
> looked (VERY) blocky! What you're seeing is a great way of improving
> the look without resorting to large texture maps which produce a
> massive slowdown!
Yes, but it hasn't been done *properly* has it (at least not in the
early demo)? Smearing != smoothing.
Tony Houghton
In message <1A0E...@amiuni.au.s.shuttle.de>
Gr...@amiuni.au.s.shuttle.de (Andreas Joos) wrote:
> Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hold on. I am not going on about the demo, I am going on the development
> > *game*, Frank's notes etc.
> TH> Well, I was going on about the demo, obviously. Duh. If you can't admit
> TH> it's less than perfect without describing a private version instead, just
> TH> shut up.
>
> Aehm... I didn't read the thread, and perhaps I miss-understand something
> 'cause of my english-level, but what's the problem, when he speaks about
> the game (in developement-stage)? That YOU have no access to this game, just
> to the demo and so you can't verify his statements?
>
> What did he said, so unbelieveable?
I have never said that the final game isn't going to be better than the
demo, but I merely pointed out that the old publicly available demo
isn't really all that good. Immediately a number of ignorant sycophants
accused me of spouting rubbish; just because some people have seen
better versions doesn't mean I'm lying about the demo.
Tony Houghton
In message <34EAFF...@dai.ed.ac.uk>
Adrian Jackson <adr...@dai.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
[Realistic views of Iron Dignity]
Thank you, someone sane instead.
Martin Piper
In message <be24771a48%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk> Tony Houghton wrote:
> In message <na.59e6214819...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > In article <18566e1948%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
> > <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > (b) doesn't run very fast,
> >
> > You're machine is slow :^)
>
> Oh, so it's going to be Risc PC 2 only? I'm not planning to get one of
> those :-(.
>
> > > (c) has bugged colour conversion for non-32-bit modes,
> >
> > Nobody wants to run it in less so why bother? 32BPP RULES!!
>
> 16bit would look almost indistinguishable and be considerably faster if
> it worked properly.
>
> > > (d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
> > > noticeable on the landing pad
> >
> > It's SUPPOSED to smear, that's the effect! If it didn't, you'd say it
> > looked (VERY) blocky! What you're seeing is a great way of improving
> > the look without resorting to large texture maps which produce a
> > massive slowdown!
>
> Yes, but it hasn't been done *properly* has it (at least not in the
> early demo)? Smearing != smoothing.
>
I must say I'm in agreement with Tony here. It seems he is the only person
contributing to this thread that a) knows what he is talking about ( re:
texture mapping and its wobblyness ) and b) has the guts to stand up and make
a good discussion of his own opinion.
By the way, doesn't this thread say "What are the best Acorn RiscPC games"?
Surely this means games that are out now and not some games that may/may not
be out in the future? I assume this leaves out all the games that don't work
on RPC?
Tony Houghton
In message <19980218....@tbalond.demon.co.uk>
Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk (Martin Piper) wrote:
> I must say I'm in agreement with Tony here.
Woo, more sanity! :-)
Anarchy
>
> TH> Well, I was going on about the demo, obviously. Duh. If you can't
> TH> instead, just shut up.
>
> Do I translate it right to german, if I translate it with my own words back
> (only to keep the sense) to english like this:
>
> "Shut up, if you say, it's perfekt, as long, as you don't descripe this
> version of the in-development-stage-game"
That's exactly the message which oozes out of his posting, yes :)
> Of course, he can say his meaning about this version, without decsription
> of the game...
Thank you. You see Tony, we are not all into slagging people off as you
are.
Anarchy
Anarchy
Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> In message <34EA00...@durham.ac.uk>
> Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hold on. I am not going on about the demo, I am going on the development
> > *game*, Frank's notes etc.
>
> it's less than perfect without describing a private version instead,
> just shut up.
I find your mood humourous :)
If you can't admit that IronD demo was breathtaking then *you* shut up.
> > If you call Frank a liar I'll kill you.
>
> I think his personal qualities are best left out of it, especially as
> he's made the admirable decision to keep out of threads like this. I
> hope he also has the sense to ask you to keep out of them too. I doubt
> he appreciates people making death threats on his behalf.
Oooooo. You seems somewhat too pessimistic. Frank knows the problems
with the IronD demo and they were fixed yonks ago. Thinking the game
will be crap spreads pessimism thro' csa.games and I do not like that
when a game like IronD isn't going to be a project which falters.
I also do not like being told what to do and being told what other
people *might* think. I do not speak on behalf of Frank and am trying to
undo the kakky unhappiness you are spreading especially when you go and
try and compare something like Destiny with it!!!
Anarchy
Mr K R Spence
You can't slag off Iron Dignity when it has not been released yet!
Peter ;)
--
--. --. --. --. : : --- --- .---------------------------------------------.
|_| |_| | _ | | | | |_ | |Internet provider for all Acorn RISC machines|
| | |\ | | | | |\| | | '---------------------------------------------'
| | | \ |_| |_| | | |__ | KVAP....@argonet.co.uk
Alex Holloway
In article <na.e6f067481a.a...@argonet.co.uk>, Mr K R Spence
<kvap....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> You can't slag off Iron Dignity when it has not been released yet!
>
Alex Holloway
In article <be24771a48%to...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
<to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >
> > You're machine is slow :^)
>
> Oh, so it's going to be Risc PC 2 only? I'm not planning to get one of
> those :-(.
>
Robert Templeman
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <na.59e6214819...@argonet.co.uk>
> Alex Holloway <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>Oh, so it's going to be Risc PC 2 only? I'm not planning to get one of
>those :-(.
>
>>
>> Nobody wants to run it in less so why bother? 32BPP RULES!!
>
>16bit would look almost indistinguishable and be considerably faster if
>it worked properly.
The reason why 24bpp is so superior to 16 for the effects in I.D. is that he is
making use of translucency. If you've ever played around with translucency
you'll see that multiple applications of the effect can have very unpredictable
effects. In 'real' rendering hardware the effects are all achieved with
floating point (or at least a very high precision representaion). The
difference in decreasing the granularity of the represention from 5bits per
channel to 8 is very noticable. However, it does have to be said that with the
RPC's inherantly poor memory system slightly lower quality output is almost
certainly preferrable to lower frame rate. I liked ID as a demo and the
rendering engine certainly works well & is more than adequately specced for a
game.
>
>> > (d) has bugged texture mapping which smears the patterns, especially
>> > noticeable on the landing pad
>>
>> It's SUPPOSED to smear, that's the effect! If it didn't, you'd say it
>> looked (VERY) blocky! What you're seeing is a great way of improving
>> the look without resorting to large texture maps which produce a
>> massive slowdown!
>
>Yes, but it hasn't been done *properly* has it (at least not in the
>early demo)? Smearing != smoothing.
I thought the effect was over-done especially when close up. If he hadnt
'blended' the texels you'd probably be complaining about the huge blocky effect
hehe!
--
see you
RobT
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/
http://mphhpc.ph.man.ac.uk/~mbcaprt/DESTINY.html
Robert Templeman
Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk (Martin Piper) wrote:
>In message <6cbqrh$dco$1...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> Toby Haynes wrote:
>
>
>>
>> ROTFL :-)
>>
>> Are you aware of a techinique known as bilinear filtering? Maybe
>> not. This isn't strictly what ID is doing AFAICT, since ID is
>> rendering an independently coloured height map with gouraud polygons,
>> but the effect is the same. The level of detail before smearing occurs
>> depends on the level of subdivision you allow for the
>> landscape. Reduce the number of subdivisions, and the aliasing effects
>> get worse, increase the number of polygons and it gets better. This
>> sort of smoothed landscape effect is the sort of thing you rarely see
>> on a PC without a decent 3D card.
>>
>
>ID uses gouraud subdivision approximation with a LOD based algorithm. It is a
>hack and a bodge, but one which is quicker than trying to calculate full
>bi-linear filtering. So in my book its a 'Good Thing' (tm) to do.
yep all hacks are good!
>
>This is no where near bi-linear filtering and doesn't even produce the same
>visual effects.
>
>Just to put the record straight. Bi-linear filtering involves taking the
>weighted average values of four ( or more ) texcells and combining them into
>the destination point to make a new colour. A very expensive operation to do
>properly. Bi-linear filtering tends to be perspective correct as well,
>something which the gouraud approximation used in ID can't do.
I think you're getting bi-linear filtering and bi-linear mapping a bit mixed up
here.
Tony Houghton
In message <34EC97...@durham.ac.uk>
Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Andreas Joos wrote:
> >
> > "Shut up, if you say, it's perfekt, as long, as you don't descripe this
> > version of the in-development-stage-game"
>
> That's exactly the message which oozes out of his posting, yes :)
That about sums up your attitude, having to resort to inept double
translations to put words into my mouth.
Tony Houghton
> I find your mood humourous :)
> If you can't admit that IronD demo was breathtaking then *you* shut up.
No, it isn't breathtaking and I won't shut up.
> Oooooo. You seems somewhat too pessimistic. Frank knows the problems
> with the IronD demo and they were fixed yonks ago. Thinking the game
> will be crap spreads pessimism thro' csa.games and I do not like that
> when a game like IronD isn't going to be a project which falters.
All I said was that the Iron Dignity demo isn't all it's hyped up to be.
I never said the final game would not be any good, just that the demo
doesn't prove it will. I don't see why you can't see that if Iron
Dignity is going to live up to its reputation, there must be quite a big
gulf between the final version (and probably Frank's current state of
development) and the early demo.
> I also do not like being told what to do and being told what other
> people *might* think. I do not speak on behalf of Frank and am trying to
> undo the kakky unhappiness you are spreading especially when you go and
> try and compare something like Destiny with it!!!
Don't do it to others then.
Jim White
In article <na.7afc15481a...@argonet.co.uk>, Alex Holloway
I take it you`ve read the letters page of this month`s AU.
Rob
--
Jim White
ZFC Cd Wimbledon London England
Scully: Oh God, Mulder, it smells like....I think it's bile Mulder: How can I get it off my fingers fast without betraying my cool exterior?
Jim White
In article <na.bffc32481a...@argonet.co.uk>, Alex Holloway
I haven`t :o)
No I haven`t honest, go and check Deja News or whatever.
Rob
--
Jim White
ZFC Cd Wimbledon London England
El 'aanigoo 'ahoot'e.
Richard Kilpatrick
In article <19980218....@tbalond.demon.co.uk>, Martin Piper
<Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk> writes
>I must say I'm in agreement with Tony here. It seems he is the only person
>contributing to this thread that a) knows what he is talking about ( re:
>texture mapping and its wobblyness ) and b) has the guts to stand up and make
>a good discussion of his own opinion.
>
>By the way, doesn't this thread say "What are the best Acorn RiscPC games"?
>Surely this means games that are out now and not some games that may/may not
>be out in the future? I assume this leaves out all the games that don't work
>on RPC?
When I originally started this I was thinking about the machines that
are relevent to our readers - that would be the RiscPC SA110, at the
moment, and possibly the A7000+ but I personally think that is too slow
for imaging work (and too limited for expansion).
I had intended games which are out before June, will work (and
preferably support in full) on the RiscPC system without having to do
anything kludgy or complicated, and are comparable to PC or Console
games. The idea is to get the message across to our readers that the
RiscPC platform is /not/ limiting in anyway, as some have said "Yes,
RiscPC is good for imaging, but what about....(games/accounts/DTP/presen
tations...)"
To this end I am reviewing HardCash, which appears to be an excellent
and cheap payroll package, far more versatile than Sage Payroll (and
cheaper, too), ArcFax, OvationPro (when Beebug get around to sending it
- maybe they have forgotten me :( ) and any other software which
publishers are willing to send.
Sierra continually send me PC games which I cannot review, but the
RiscPC page is my own and I can basically write /anything/ about Acorns
on it. I will mention games in June. I may contact some of the game
producers and approach them for review copies, but I don't mind if I
can't review them because I can always rely on CSAG for some worthwhile
comment.
So far, I have assumed R-Comp doom to be a good choice, and have seen
Screenshots of BHP which look OK. I downloaded the demo's from TBA's
site, and they both were low-resolution and therefore not what I was
looking for.
IronD sounds great, really, but will we be able to buy it in June?
Best Wishes,
Richard
[Who is currently trying to install Linux on an external drive for
AppleTalk networking. Can anyone help just get the damn thing to boot, I
have tried everything...]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photon Digital - photon_...@lovecraft.demon.co.uk
Acorn Risc PC, WIndows and Mac OS imaging with alternative platforms.
Camera tests, multimedia products featured in every issue, technique, examples.
Tel: 44 1573 226032 Fax: 44 1573 226000
Liam Gretton
In article <34EC97...@durham.ac.uk>, Anarchy
<URL:mailto:n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> If you can't admit that IronD demo was breathtaking then *you* shut up.
I think it was ever so good, but for me it says mothing about what a possible
game might be like. I'm sure there *will* be a very good game coming from it,
but the existing demo says very little to me other than there's a powerful 3D
engine for demos beneath it.
> Oooooo. You seems somewhat too pessimistic. Frank knows the problems
> with the IronD demo and they were fixed yonks ago. Thinking the game
> will be crap spreads pessimism thro' csa.games and I do not like that
> when a game like IronD isn't going to be a project which falters.
You must forgive us though - there have been so many promises of fantastic
games for RISC OS which have never materialised that it's sometimes hard to
believe anything that looks quite as good as ID is ever likely to appear.
At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
get the ball rolling:
Axis 2
Wing Commander (this was mentioned in Acorn User many moons ago)
Spitfire Command
Tales of Anubus (that Egyptian thing)
ArcExile
The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
..not to mention 'where are they now?'
Paradroid
Conqueror
Er... that's it.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to Iron Dignity, and wish all the best to Frank's
efforts.
--
Liam Gretton
li...@binliner.demon.co.uk
l...@star.le.ac.uk
Andreas Joos
Tony Houghton <to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
TH> I have never said that the final game isn't going to be better than the
TH> demo, but I merely pointed out that the old publicly available demo isn't
TH> really all that good.
May be so.
But you also said:
TH> Well, I was going on about the demo, obviously. Duh. If you can't
TH> admit it's less than perfect without describing a private version
TH> instead, just shut up.
Do I translate it right to german, if I translate it with my own words back
(only to keep the sense) to english like this:
"Shut up, if you say, it's perfekt, as long, as you don't descripe this
version of the in-development-stage-game"
Of course, he can say his meaning about this version, without decsription
of the game...
Bye, Andreas Joos
=== All i need is Archie-speed!
Martin Piper
In message <6ci3sc$saf$2...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> Robert Templeman wrote:
> >Just to put the record straight. Bi-linear filtering involves taking the
> >weighted average values of four ( or more ) texcells and combining them into
> >the destination point to make a new colour. A very expensive operation to do
> >properly. Bi-linear filtering tends to be perspective correct as well,
> >something which the gouraud approximation used in ID can't do.
>
> I think you're getting bi-linear filtering and bi-linear mapping a bit mixed up
> here.
>
Nope definatly not. I just went onto bi-linear mapping for examples sake.
Thomas Boroske
In message <6ci3mi$saf$1...@yama.mcc.ac.uk>
Robert Templeman <mbc...@mphhpc.ph.man.ac.uk> wrote:
> The reason why 24bpp is so superior to 16 for the effects in I.D. is that he is
> making use of translucency. If you've ever played around with translucency
> you'll see that multiple applications of the effect can have very unpredictable
> effects.
Yep. I once had a play with Photodesk (1) and was VERY disappointed of what I saw
after applying an effect multiple times.
Kind regards,
--
Thomas Boroske
Spyder
Robert Templeman wrote:
<SNIP>
OK, who did do the hehe's in the mirror then? ;)
He's back again and already prodding bottom with his foot, so that must mean
a full scale war with Martin Piper is on the cards :-).
Better get ready with those rocket launchers...
--
_ _
( |)\_/|\|_ |)
_)| | |/|_ |\
mailto:dsl...@argonet.co.uk
The Turtle Moves!
Tony Houghton
In message <na.8d110f481...@argonet.co.uk>
Jim White <ji...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <na.7afc15481a...@argonet.co.uk>, Alex Holloway
> <ale...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > But i don't plan to either...
>
> I take it you`ve read the letters page of this month`s AU.
What about it?
!Wrath!
Is this some sort of reverse psychology or somat?
Wrath
!Wrath!
Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> In message <34EC97...@durham.ac.uk>
> Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > >
> > > "Shut up, if you say, it's perfekt, as long, as you don't descripe this
> > > version of the in-development-stage-game"
> >
>
> That about sums up your attitude, having to resort to inept double
> translations to put words into my mouth.
Agitated aren't we? Maybe you should lighten yourself up without trying
to jump down people's throats. There is this thing called humour and you
were the one who started getting a bit abusive.
Wrath
Alex Holloway
In article <na.6d217e481b...@argonet.co.uk>, Spyder
<dsl...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Robert Templeman wrote:
>
> <SNIP>
>
> OK, who did do the hehe's in the mirror then? ;)
> He's back again and already prodding bottom with his foot, so that must
> mean
> a full scale war with Martin Piper is on the cards :-).
>
> Better get ready with those rocket launchers...
>
<fx>hauls BFG9000 and six Bulk Cells out of that box at the back of the
garage</fx>
Okay, we start the bidding at £1000... :-)
Tony Houghton
In message <34EDE4...@durham.ac.uk>
!Wrath! <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Agitated aren't we? Maybe you should lighten yourself up without trying
> to jump down people's throats. There is this thing called humour and you
> were the one who started getting a bit abusive.
I get agitated by people like you.
I just pointed out that the Iron Dignity demo isn't perfect; for that
I've been accused of spouting rubbish, lying, accusing the author of
lying, and received a death threat. Mostly by you.
And now you have the nerve to accuse me of starting to get abusive?
Mr K R Spence
> > Agitated aren't we? Maybe you should lighten yourself up without trying
> > to jump down people's throats. There is this thing called humour and you
> > were the one who started getting a bit abusive.
>
> I get agitated by people like you.
>
> I just pointed out that the Iron Dignity demo isn't perfect; for that
> I've been accused of spouting rubbish, lying, accusing the author of
> lying, and received a death threat. Mostly by you.
>
> And now you have the nerve to accuse me of starting to get abusive?
Will you lot just shut-up!!!
I thought the subject was the best Acorn RiscPC games?? Stop being so
immature and high and mighty!!!
Don't reply to this by giving me abuse either, just shut-up!!!
Andy
Keith Mckillop
In message <19980218172...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, ArtexSoft wrote:
> Keith Mckillop wrote:
>>> 1. ANKH features 32000 colours as well as high resolution and 16 bit CD
>>> music. Maybe it'll also include a rendered introduction film (if time is
>>
>> How long will this set it back by? If it has even a slightly nice intro,
>> then
>> it'll make more people look at it.
> We hope to deliver the whole thing in time, including intro film. This is
> a big effort, but we're working too much anyway :)
Nice.
> BTW trying to keep the deadline won't reduce game quality. If the game
> needs serious polishing, we'll have to shift, but we'll invest some
> sleepless nights to avoid any delays :)
Help! I'm not used to this strength of devotion to the Acorn Games scene
before!
Not saying that I'm not in favour, quite the opposite!!!
Keith
Anti-UCE address: kmc at arcade dot demon period co period uk
Please translate this Anti-UCE address for private replies - thank you.
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| The Definitive Acorn BBS | http://arcade.demon.co.uk at weekends |
Keith Mckillop
In message <ant19211...@binliner.demon.co.uk>, Liam Gretton wrote:
> At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
> get the ball rolling:
> Axis 2
> Wing Commander (this was mentioned in Acorn User many moons ago)
what's happened to it?
> Spitfire Command
> Tales of Anubus (that Egyptian thing)
> ArcExile
> The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
> ..not to mention 'where are they now?'
> Paradroid
> Conqueror
> Er... that's it.
Tony Houghton
In message <na.0a145f481c.a...@argonet.co.uk>
Mr K R Spence <kvap....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Will you lot just shut-up!!!
> I thought the subject was the best Acorn RiscPC games?? Stop being so
> immature and high and mighty!!!
>
> Don't reply to this by giving me abuse either, just shut-up!!!
See what I mean, now I'm getting accused of being a child abuser.
That remark obviously shouldn't be taken too seriously.
But people who abuse participants in a thread, no matter how annoying,
and then demand not to have their own even greater immaturity and
arrogance pointed out don't deserve that courtesy by a long shot.
So kindly interpret the last paragraph in the spirit it is intended, ie
abuse at a rather personal level.
Alex Holloway
In article <980222...@arcade.demon.co.uk>,
address...@nospam.demon.co.uk (Keith Mckillop) wrote:
>
> How about Pheathon? I don't recall seeing it in any software price lists
> :(
>
released!)
Rik Griffin
In article <34EC97...@durham.ac.uk>,
n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk (Anarchy) wrote:
> Thank you. You see Tony, we are not all into slagging people off as
> you are.
Tony never slagged anyone off in this thead. He merely had the impudence
to speak his mind about the ID demo. If you don't like what he has to
say, rebut it in a sane and civilised manner, lets not let this group
degenerate further into personal insults and snide remarks.
Comments such as "If you call Frank a liar I'll kill you" are hardly
polite or helpful.
--
"I've been looking for the ultimate crime,
Infinite victims, infinitesimal time." - Jim Steinman
Rik Griffin
In article <34EDE4...@durham.ac.uk>,
n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk (!Wrath!) wrote:
> Tony Houghton wrote:
> > That about sums up your attitude, having to resort to inept double
> > translations to put words into my mouth.
>
> Agitated aren't we? Maybe you should lighten yourself up without
> trying to jump down people's throats. There is this thing called
> humour and you were the one who started getting a bit abusive.
I have found none of your posts on this topic humourous in the
slightest. Merely adding a smiley to something offensive does not make
it funny.
Anarchy
Liam Gretton wrote:
>
> In article <34EC97...@durham.ac.uk>, Anarchy
> <URL:mailto:n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > Oooooo. You seems somewhat too pessimistic. Frank knows the problems
> > with the IronD demo and they were fixed yonks ago. Thinking the game
> > will be crap spreads pessimism thro' csa.games and I do not like that
> > when a game like IronD isn't going to be a project which falters.
>
> You must forgive us though - there have been so many promises of fantastic
> games for RISC OS which have never materialised that it's sometimes hard to
> believe anything that looks quite as good as ID is ever likely to appear.
When the PC element is in their and the game engine is largely done then
I think that says it all.
> At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
> get the ball rolling:
>
> Axis 2
> Wing Commander (this was mentioned in Acorn User many moons ago)
But Acorn User had a nack of announcing projects which were only
*talked* about.
Remember Chaos Engine? I waited ever so patiently for that to appearbut
AU had done their master trickery once again.
> Spitfire Command
> Tales of Anubus (that Egyptian thing)
> ArcExile
> The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
The above did come out.
Anarchy
Joe Smerdon
In article <34F1E3...@durham.ac.uk>, Anarchy
<URL:mailto:n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Liam Gretton wrote:
> > Spitfire Command
> > Tales of Anubus (that Egyptian thing)
> > ArcExile
> > The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
>
> The above did come out.
>
> Anarchy
>
I tried to buy Tale of Anubis, but I got told development had stopped on it.
That was about three years ago, I think.
Who brought out ArcExile, and where can I get it?
joe
--
Joe Smerdon
Gareth Moore
In message <34F1E3...@durham.ac.uk>
Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> > At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
> > get the ball rolling:
> >
> > Axis 2
>
> *talked* about.
Well, in the case of Axis 2 it's TBA who did the talking. AU just did the
repeating.
Let me quote one of Martin Piper's "press releases" from a few years back,
extracted from the 'Archive' section on my web site:
"Axis 2 (Yeahh!)
Axis 2, a super fast 3D action game using TAG2, the next version of our
custom 3D game development environment. Includes extra texture mapping and
multiprocessor support for the RiscPC. Will appear soon in demo form at an
Acorn show with a VR headset! Its roughly the same as Axis 1 but in 3D, so
that means the scenery is all 3D, the tanks are in 3D and the sound is in
3D, using the latest in surround sound technology."
This is dated February 1995 on my web site. Hmm. Doesn't look like "soon"
turned out to be that accurate...
> > ArcExile
Someone acquired the rights to a 32-bit version of this from whoever it was
who bought the rights from Superior (was it Audiogenic?), but they never
did anything with it. They turned out to be conning the programmers and
people they'd got to work for them, and then they just disappeared. I'm
almost certain that no money was given for this right, however, so if
someone reapplied...
> Remember Chaos Engine? I waited ever so patiently for that to appear but
> AU had done their master trickery once again.
But then again, the same thing happened to Doom - announced a long time ago
and then never appeared (legally). Until now. And it's hardly AU's fault, is
it? Maybe the same thing is about to happen to The Chaos Engine as happened
to Doom!
> > Tales of Anubus (that Egyptian thing)
Someone claimed that development on this had "started up again", but it
seems unlikely given how old it would be now!
> > The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
>
> The above did come out.
Wasn't it "Sylvia Lane"? The whole thing was a very sad title, anyway, and
I don't think likening the game to what it's a witty pun (ha ha) on is very
sensible, anyway.
Gareth
--
Gareth Moore Station Manager, Cambridge University Radio
Downing College, CB2 1DQ gl...@cam.ac.uk
32-bit Acorn Gaming WWW Pages http://www.doggysoft.co.uk/gaming/
====== The longest running regularly updated Acorn WWW magazine ======
Chris Joseph
In article <ant19211...@binliner.demon.co.uk>,
Liam Gretton <li...@binliner.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[snip]
>At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
>get the ball rolling:
>
>Axis 2
Proposal
[Just trying to keep all of TBA's "products" together;-]
>ArcExile
Wasn't that associated with the infamous "machine love", who tried to
rip off the writers of Stryker's Run III?
In which case, it probably never existed...
>The Exotic Adventures of Sylvia Slain (actually, let's forget that one)
As someone else said, that *did* get released. But thoroughly deserves
to be forgotten...
Chris. (feeling cynical again today)
--
"They can't break you if you don't have a spine." (Wally, from 'Dilbert')
Chris Joseph
In article <6085e1d48%gl...@glm20.cam.ac.uk>,
Gareth Moore <gl...@cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>In message <34F1E3...@durham.ac.uk>
> Anarchy <n.a.at...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>> > get the ball rolling:
>> >
>> > Axis 2
>>
>> *talked* about.
>
>Well, in the case of Axis 2 it's TBA who did the talking. AU just did the
>repeating.
>
>Let me quote one of Martin Piper's "press releases" from a few years back,
>extracted from the 'Archive' section on my web site:
>This is dated February 1995 on my web site. Hmm. Doesn't look like "soon"
>turned out to be that accurate...
IIRC, the reason given (about a year ago) for the failure to release the
game was that "the programmer of the original didn't want TBA to use the
name AXIS". I wouldn't have thought that it would take three people two
years to think up a new name... (And even if you have to change some of
the graphics, etc - that's the easy bit, and shouldn't take all that long)
>> Remember Chaos Engine? I waited ever so patiently for that to appear but
>> AU had done their master trickery once again.
>
>But then again, the same thing happened to Doom - announced a long time ago
>and then never appeared (legally). Until now. And it's hardly AU's fault, is
>it? Maybe the same thing is about to happen to The Chaos Engine as happened
>to Doom!
Contrary to what ISTR someone saying a while ago, the game is sufficiently
complete for the screenshots in AU to be real - the only thing that was
missing from the Archimedes conversion at the time was sound. Obviously,
I wouldn't know whether someone was fixing that, license discussions had
been occuring, or about the existance of the demo version. Not me :)
Chris.
John Lindley
On 21 Feb 1998, Keith Mckillop wrote:
> In message <ant19211...@binliner.demon.co.uk>, Liam Gretton wrote:
>
> > At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
> > get the ball rolling:
>
[SNIP]
>
> > Spitfire Command
Spitfire Fury?, was enveloped and used in the much bigger Birds of War
[BIG SNIP]
>
>
> Anti-UCE address: kmc at arcade dot demon period co period uk
> Please translate this Anti-UCE address for private replies - thank you.
> --
> ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ | Free Internet E-mail and Anti-UCE News |
> | / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \ | +44 181 654 2212 also +44 181 655 4412 |
> | A R C A D E | Croydon UK - Fidonet#2:254/27.0 |
> | The Definitive Acorn BBS | http://arcade.demon.co.uk at weekends |
>
>
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| | _ |_ ._ | o._ _|| _ |
| \_|(_)| || | |_|| |(_||(/_\/ |
| / |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| WWW | E-Mail |
| www.BITS.bris.ac.uk/~john | jo...@BITS.bris.ac.uk |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+
Chris Joseph
In article <19980220....@tbalond.demon.co.uk>,
Martin Piper <Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <6ci3sc$saf$2...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> Robert Templeman wrote:
>
>> >Just to put the record straight. Bi-linear filtering involves taking the
>> >weighted average values of four ( or more ) texcells and combining them
>> >into
>> >the destination point to make a new colour. A very expensive operation
>> >to do
>> >properly. Bi-linear filtering tends to be perspective correct as well,
>> >something which the gouraud approximation used in ID can't do.
>>
>> I think you're getting bi-linear filtering and bi-linear mapping a bit
>> mixed up here.
>
>Nope definatly not. I just went onto bi-linear mapping for examples sake.
Since pretty much every sentence (including the last one) includes the
words "bi-linear filtering", I'd say that it was fairly difficult to tell
that - remember, kids, always check that you're typed the word you
*meant* to type, rather than just a close approximation! :)
Chris. (Sorry, Martin, nothing personal :)
Martin Piper
In message <6085e1d48%gl...@glm20.cam.ac.uk> Gareth Moore wrote:
> Let me quote one of Martin Piper's "press releases" from a few years back,
> extracted from the 'Archive' section on my web site:
>
> "Axis 2 (Yeahh!)
> Axis 2, a super fast 3D action game using TAG2, the next version of our
> custom 3D game development environment. Includes extra texture mapping and
> multiprocessor support for the RiscPC. Will appear soon in demo form at an
> Acorn show with a VR headset! Its roughly the same as Axis 1 but in 3D, so
> that means the scenery is all 3D, the tanks are in 3D and the sound is in
> 3D, using the latest in surround sound technology."
>
> This is dated February 1995 on my web site. Hmm. Doesn't look like "soon"
> turned out to be that accurate...
>
That is because we do not own the license for Axis ( the original author does )
hence we can not release anything Axis like and call it Axis 2.
Hope that clears up the problem once and for all.
Liam Gretton
In article <19980226....@tbalond.demon.co.uk>, Martin Piper
<URL:mailto:Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <6085e1d48%gl...@glm20.cam.ac.uk> Gareth Moore wrote:
>
>
> > Let me quote one of Martin Piper's "press releases" from a few years
> > back, extracted from the 'Archive' section on my web site:
> >
> > "Axis 2 (Yeahh!)
> > Axis 2, a super fast 3D action game using TAG2, the next version of our
> > custom 3D game development environment. Includes extra texture mapping
> > and
> does ) hence we can not release anything Axis like and call it Axis 2. Hope
> that clears up the problem once and for all.
If any work went into Axis 2, why not come to some arrangement with the
original author and release it? Or is he/she still planning on a release?
Keith Mckillop
In message <na.6580b6481c...@argonet.co.uk>, Alex Holloway wrote:
> In article <980222...@arcade.demon.co.uk>,
> address...@nospam.demon.co.uk (Keith Mckillop) wrote:
>
>> How about Pheathon? I don't recall seeing it in any software price lists
>> (
>
> Oh. Well doesn't come into the same category, as i've got that. (It was
> released!)
Wasn't it under "Where is it now?". Oh well, did you get it direct or through
a dealer?
Keith
Keith Mckillop
In message <6cus1a$5f0$1...@news.ox.ac.uk>, Chris Joseph wrote:
> In article <ant19211...@binliner.demon.co.uk>,
> Liam Gretton <li...@binliner.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> [snip]
>> get the ball rolling:
>>
>> Wing Commander (this was mentioned in Acorn User many moons ago)
> ARL
> Proposal
>
> [Just trying to keep all of TBA's "products" together;-]
What was it?
Chris Joseph
In article <980301...@arcade.demon.co.uk>,
Keith Mckillop <address...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <6cus1a$5f0$1...@news.ox.ac.uk>, Chris Joseph wrote:
>> In article <ant19211...@binliner.demon.co.uk>,
>> Liam Gretton <li...@binliner.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>> At this point I feel a 'whatever happened to...' thread coming along. To
>>> get the ball rolling:
>>>
>>> Axis 2
>>> Wing Commander (this was mentioned in Acorn User many moons ago)
>> ARL
>
>I remember seeing a screen shot of that in AC...
There was (possibly still is) quite a large section about it on
the TBA web-pages. Although if it's still there, it must now be
something like a year since it was last updated...
>> Proposal
>>
>> [Just trying to keep all of TBA's "products" together;-]
>
>Warp Riders?
>
>What was it?
Warp riders was the game that Martin described as being "a lot
like the original Star Wars arcade game". Beyond that, I can't
honestly remember much about it, although I think it appeared in
an article in AU, and there's certainly a mention on Gareth Moore's
web-pages...
Chris.
Robert Templeman
Mar...@tbalond.demon.co.uk (Martin Piper) wrote:
>In message <6ci3sc$saf$2...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> Robert Templeman wrote:
>
>
>> >Just to put the record straight. Bi-linear filtering involves taking the
>> >weighted average values of four ( or more ) texcells and combining them into
>> >the destination point to make a new colour. A very expensive operation to do
>> >properly. Bi-linear filtering tends to be perspective correct as well,
>> >something which the gouraud approximation used in ID can't do.
>>
>> I think you're getting bi-linear filtering and bi-linear mapping a bit mixed up
>> here.
>>
>
>Nope definatly not. I just went onto bi-linear mapping for examples sake.
>
OK i'll let you off with just a hard stare hehe! Anyway you shouldn't use
bi-linear mapping you should always use a projective mapping, their far more
tasty!
--
see you
RobT
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/
http://mphhpc.ph.man.ac.uk/~mbcaprt/DESTINY.html
Mr K R Spence
> OK i'll let you off with just a hard stare hehe! Anyway you shouldn't use
> bi-linear mapping you should always use a projective mapping, their far
> more
> tasty!
Adrian Jackson
Martin Piper wrote:
> That is because we do not own the license for Axis (the
> original author does ) hence we can not release anything
> Axis like and call it Axis 2. Hope that clears up the
> problem once and for all.
Hardly. What's wrong with just renaming it? If the original
author of Axis thinks he has rights on all games featuring
tanks wandering round a landscape then they're in for a
bit of a surprise...
Adrian
Lucas Rists
Is there anyone out there with any good MineHunt scores (I'm particularly
interested in the Expert level).
The reason is that me and my colleague have had an ongoing competition for
the fastest time on Expert, and I've just beaten his high score with what we
consider to be a damn good time. (I won't reveal my time yet).
We were thinking that there may be some sort of national record for
MineHunt.
Cheers
Peter George (pg.l...@argonet.co.uk)
Lucas Rists Wiring Systems
--
--. --. --. --. : : --- --- .---------------------------------------------.
|_| |_| | _ | | | | |_ | |Internet provider for all Acorn RISC machines|
| | |\ | | | | |\| | | '---------------------------------------------'
| | | \ |_| |_| | | |__ | lucas...@argonet.co.uk
Steven Lowry
>Is there anyone out there with any good MineHunt scores (I'm particularly
>interested in the Expert level).
My score on the expert level is 61 seconds.
has anyone done better?
Steve...
Julian Meekings <jkhm100@york.ac.uk>
umm.. my girlfriend has done it in 29 seconds, I can't even complete it :(
Julian
Lucas Rists
Steven Lowry - 61 seconds for expert. That's going some. My time was 74
seconds and its taken me 2 years of lunch times to get there. Well played !!
Julian Meekings - the expert level is the one with 99 mines. Are you sure
your girlfriend has done it in 29 seconds. If so then well done to her - I'm
retiring as of now.
Cheers
Peter George
Julian Meekings <jkhm100@york.ac.uk>
On Thu, 5 Mar 1998, Lucas Rists wrote:
> Steven Lowry - 61 seconds for expert. That's going some. My time was 74
> seconds and its taken me 2 years of lunch times to get there. Well played !!
>
> Julian Meekings - the expert level is the one with 99 mines. Are you sure
> your girlfriend has done it in 29 seconds. If so then well done to her - I'm
> retiring as of now.
I am sure, I watched her doing it, she doesn't even have to think about
it, she just seems to move the mouse randomly clicking very fast, she
seems to be able to see the patterns instantly, watching her makes me want
to crawl away and sob :(
She gets upset if she can't do it in under a minute, can't see why
myself..
Juliam
Richard G. Hallas
In message <na.b01a854822.a...@argonet.co.uk>
Lucas Rists <lucas...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Is there anyone out there with any good MineHunt scores (I'm
> particularly interested in the Expert level). The reason is that me
> and my colleague have had an ongoing competition for the fastest
> time on Expert, and I've just beaten his high score with what we
> consider to be a damn good time. (I won't reveal my time yet). We
> were thinking that there may be some sort of national record for
> MineHunt.
Well, playing Flag Day, my own Minesweeper game, my best times are as
follows:
Board size Seconds
8x8 11
12x12 36
18x18 115
27x27 274
32x45 533
--
Richard
-=-=-=-
Richard G. Hallas -oOo- Editor of RISC User magazine
Proprietor of KeyNote: Music Typesetting & General Desktop Publishing
E-mail: Ric...@hallas.demon.co.uk * Telephone/Facsimile: 01484 460280
Peter Smith
In message <na.ef216e4822.a...@argonet.co.uk>
Lucas Rists <lucas...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Steven Lowry - 61 seconds for expert. That's going some. My time was 74
> seconds and its taken me 2 years of lunch times to get there. Well played
> !!
>
> Julian Meekings - the expert level is the one with 99 mines. Are you sure
> your girlfriend has done it in 29 seconds. If so then well done to her -
> I'm retiring as of now.
Doesn't half make me feel inadequate. It takes me this long to do the simple
level.
Sob
Peter
--
51 things to do in a lift....
31. Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
Thomas Boroske
In message <Pine.SGI.3.95L.9803...@tower.york.ac.uk>
> I am sure, I watched her doing it, she doesn't even have to think about
> it, she just seems to move the mouse randomly clicking very fast, she
> seems to be able to see the patterns instantly, watching her makes me want
> to crawl away and sob :(
>
> She gets upset if she can't do it in under a minute, can't see why
> myself..
Well, there're people *playing* Minehunt, and there're *Minehunt Maniacs* :-)
A friend of mine showed it to me as you described it above - I can't understand
it either ...
Kind regards,
--
Thomas Boroske
Michael Bader
In article <Pine.SGI.3.95L.9803...@tower.york.ac.uk>,
"Julian Meekings <jkh...@york.ac.uk>" <jkh...@york.ac.uk> writes:
> On Thu, 5 Mar 1998, Lucas Rists wrote:
>
>> Steven Lowry - 61 seconds for expert. That's going some. My time was 74
>> seconds and its taken me 2 years of lunch times to get there. Well played !!
>>
>> Julian Meekings - the expert level is the one with 99 mines. Are you sure
>> your girlfriend has done it in 29 seconds. If so then well done to her - I'm
>> retiring as of now.
>
> it, she just seems to move the mouse randomly clicking very fast, she
> seems to be able to see the patterns instantly, watching her makes me want
> to crawl away and sob :(
>
> She gets upset if she can't do it in under a minute, can't see why
> myself..
Does she mark the hidden bombs ? I would expect that you have to click your
mouse button at least 300 times to complete the expert level, if you think
about it or not.
I doubt that you can click your Mouse 300 times in 30 seconds (ten times a
second ??? I now I couldn't :-)
The 29 seconds more fit to the 40-bombs-level (which would still be
extraordinary ...)
Michael
--
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http://www.gag.de/
Julian Meekings <jkhm100@york.ac.uk>
On 6 Mar 1998, Michael Bader wrote:
>
> Does she mark the hidden bombs ? I would expect that you have to click your
> mouse button at least 300 times to complete the expert level, if you think
> about it or not.
> I doubt that you can click your Mouse 300 times in 30 seconds (ten times a
> second ??? I now I couldn't :-)
the version that she plays you don't have to mark the hidden bombs.
Julian
Lucas Rists
Now I've started something ....
There may be some confusion over exactly which level we are talking about.
So this is a list of all my high scores for each level.
Beginner 10 mines 8x8 grid 4 seconds
Better 20 mines 8x16 grid 12 seconds
Intermediate 40 mines 16x16 grid 28 seconds
Good 60 mines 16x24 grid 41 seconds
Expert 99 mines 16x32 grid 74 seconds
Michael Bader
In article <Pine.SGI.3.95L.98030...@tower.york.ac.uk>,
Perhaps it's my poor English, perhaps I'm talking about a different MineHunt...
Usually there are hidden bombs around and when you know where they are, you
mark them (in MineHunt with SELECT) which gives a cute little flag on the
field :-)
You can of course leave them unmarked but this is much more difficult
(you have to remember where the bombs are) ...
So how does the mineHunt help you in marking the bombs (I guess it wouldn't
mark them right at the beginning because then it wouldn't be any fun to
play it :-)
So how can I tell my MineHunt to help me in this way ?
(I've got very little time to play so you have to see to having as much
games as possible :-)
Martin Grim
> Is there anyone out there with any good MineHunt scores (I'm particularly
> interested in the Expert level).
My top time in playing mine hunt is 93 seconds (expert level). I don't
think I am able to get near that time now, but I know I still can solve
a solvable expert level within 120 seconds (yesterday 113 seconds).
Martin
Julian Meekings <jkhm100@york.ac.uk>
On 6 Mar 1998, Michael Bader wrote:
> In article <Pine.SGI.3.95L.98030...@tower.york.ac.uk>,
> "Julian Meekings <jkh...@york.ac.uk>" <jkh...@york.ac.uk> writes:
> > On 6 Mar 1998, Michael Bader wrote:
>
> Perhaps it's my poor English, perhaps I'm talking about a different MineHunt...
> Usually there are hidden bombs around and when you know where they are, you
> mark them (in MineHunt with SELECT) which gives a cute little flag on the
> field :-)
> You can of course leave them unmarked but this is much more difficult
> (you have to remember where the bombs are) ...
harder, but faster if you are that sort of person.
> So how does the mineHunt help you in marking the bombs (I guess it wouldn't
> mark them right at the beginning because then it wouldn't be any fun to
> play it :-)
sarcasm yes?
well, no, she just remembers where the bombs are. I did an experiment,
getting the different numbers that tell you how many bombs there are
adjacent to the current cell, normally they are different colours for each
number, but I used a black and white monitor, and she took several times
as long, so it seems to be something to do with visual recognition of
colour patterns, i.e, see a certain group of colours:-its ok to click,
this is naturally much faster than having to read the numbers and then
work it all out.
Julian
Michael Bader
In article <Pine.SGI.3.95L.98030...@tower.york.ac.uk>,
"Julian Meekings <jkh...@york.ac.uk>" <jkh...@york.ac.uk> writes:
> On 6 Mar 1998, Michael Bader wrote:
>
>> You can of course leave them unmarked but this is much more difficult
>> (you have to remember where the bombs are) ...
>
> harder, but faster if you are that sort of person.
Cool, I tried it once but stopped it because I kept exploding on mines which
I had forgotten ...
>
> well, no, she just remembers where the bombs are. I did an experiment,
> getting the different numbers that tell you how many bombs there are
> adjacent to the current cell, normally they are different colours for each
> number, but I used a black and white monitor, and she took several times
> as long, so it seems to be something to do with visual recognition of
> colour patterns, i.e, see a certain group of colours:-its ok to click,
cool... I admit I have to read the numbers ...
> this is naturally much faster than having to read the numbers and then
> work it all out.
I'm afraid I couldn't solve it in 29 seconds even if you told me the position
of the mines first.
Perhaps I should learn to play the piano to make my index finger quicker ...
For months I thought it was impossible to do the bigger levels in less than
1 second per mine. 3 mines per second ... I think I'll exercise my doom
skills instead :-)
Bye,
Michael.
Gareth Moore
> Is there anyone out there with any good MineHunt scores (I'm particularly
> interested in the Expert level).
My record scores are:
Beginner - 9
Better - 19
Intermediate - 57
Good - 96
Expert - 286
Expert level on the Acorn version has too many mines, and descends to pure
luck on the vast majority of occasions (although obviously all levels require
a certain amount of luck).
> The reason is that me and my colleague have had an ongoing competition for
> the fastest time on Expert, and I've just beaten his high score with what
> we consider to be a damn good time. (I won't reveal my time yet). We were
> thinking that there may be some sort of national record for MineHunt.
I think just finishing Expert is difficult - on average there are three or
four places where you are forced to guess, so you have roughly a one in
fifteen chance of being able to complete it each time you play.
Gareth
--
Gareth Moore Station Manager, Cambridge University Radio
Downing College, CB2 1DQ gl...@cam.ac.uk
32-bit Acorn Gaming WWW Pages http://www.doggysoft.co.uk/gaming/
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Paul LeBeau
Gareth Moore <gl...@cam.ac.uk> writes:
> Expert level on the Acorn version has too many mines
It has exactly the same number as the PC version.
> and descends to pure
> luck on the vast majority of occasions
I agree - and I wrote it!
Paul