GDM DecJan 1995

49 Pages·0.59 MB·English

by  UBM TechWeb

december/january 1995
G A M E D E V E L O P E R M A G A Z I N E
G A M E P L A N GGAAMMEE
The Dark of
Editor Larry O’Brien
[email protected]
the Electric Pickle
Senior Editor Nicole Freeman
[email protected]
I
Managing Editor Nicole Claro
[email protected]
n the end, I didn’t even have a what you want to be.” Sha-la-la,
Editorial Assistant Deborah Sommers
chance to light my pickle. In my indeed.
[email protected]
best shot yet at Andy Warhol’s The Bradys had station wagons
Contributing Editors Alex Dunne
promised 15 minutes of fame, I and convertibles, symbols of consump- [email protected]
blew it, but it all might have been tion and status. In contrast, the Par- Barbara Hanscome
different had they just given me the tridges had that most poignant of all [email protected]
chance to demonstrate to the world symbols of freedom from the status Chris Hecker
[email protected]
the miracle of the electric pickle. quo—a schoolbus with birds painted on
David Sieks
I’m often the target of joke e-mails the side.
[email protected]
purporting to be from various people, Where the Bradys had an emo-
Editor-at-Large Alexander Antoniades
but I couldn’t dismiss the one purport- tionally stunted servant woman in Alice [email protected]
edly from Danny!, the daytime talk (why did she need Sam the Oh-So-
Cover Photography Charles Ingram Photography
show. Danny! (exclamation point Blue-Collar Butcher to validate her
mandatory), of course, is a vehicle for worth?), the Partridges portrayed a
Danny Bonaduce, who, if you’re a cer- much more complicated world, in Publisher Veronica Costanza
tain age, you’ll remember as the red- which one has to dance with the capi- Group Director Regina Starr Ridley
haired and mysteriously edgy moppet talist devil even as one decries its
from The Partridge Family. excesses. This complex enigma was Advertising Sales Staff
embodied in the work of one actor— Western Regional Sales Manager
Danny Who? the young Danny Bonaduce. Steve Nikkola [phone]
Yes, The Partridge Family, a show that So, of course, I returned the call. [email protected]
has been strangely unwelcome in the Promotions Manager/Eastern Regional Sales Manager
current “rediscovery” of the 70s. Unlike A Genius and Holly Meintzer [phone]
the Brady Bunch, there’s been no Par- A SCUBA Master? [email protected]
tridge Family movie, no stage produc- There was to be a show on brains vs.
Marketing Manager Susan McDonald
tions, not even a regular slot on Nick at brawn, and my pro-nerd work over the
Advertising Production Coordinator Denise Temple
Night. Why? Because the Bradys years had not gone unnoticed. “What
Director of Production Andrew A. Mickus
played to the status quo, then and makes you think you’re so smart?” they
Vice President/Circulation Jerry M. Okabe
now—sprawling suburban house, ser- asked me. “I don’t think I’m smart,” I
Group Circulation Director Gina Oh
vants, an affluent and secure whitebread answered, “I just edit a magazine for
Group Circulation Manager Kathy Henry
home in which sons and daughters hap- smart people.” “It’ll have to do,” decid-
Circulation Manager Mike Poplardo
pily embrace the bourgeois. ed Producers Julie Knapp and Rita
Newsstand Manager Debra Caris
The Partridges, on the other hand, Whack. “What can you do for the tal-
Reprints Stella Valdez [phone]
were darker. In the cluttered, claustro- ent competition?”
phobic garage in which they practiced, My immediate answer: “Program a
Chairman of the Board Graham J.S. Wilson
they gave birth to songs, not about computer faster than anyone who’s bet-
President/CEO Marshall W. Freeman
“Sunshine-y Days,” but about doubts ter, and better than anyone who’s
Executive Vice President/COO Thomas L. Kemp
and fears. “Stop! I Think I Love You”? faster,” drew a stony silence. I tried
Senior Vice President/CFO Warren “Andy” Ambrose
Why couldn’t he be sure? What was sports: “Throw a Frisbee-brand flying
Senior Vice Presidents David Nussbaum, H. Verne
David Cassidy saying? That corporate disc 120 yards fairly accurately?” Not in
Packer, Donald A. Pazour, Wini D. Ragus
America, by co-opting the language of a studio. “Hold my breath while wear-
Vice President/Production Andrew A. Mickus
romance, had stolen the emotional ing diving gear?” Not exactly riveting
Vice President/Circulation Jerry Okabe
compass to the point where none of us, television. “Ride a mountain bike over a
Vice President/Software Development Division Regina
in fact, could go forward with confi- moderately sized stick?” Stony silence.
Starr Ridley
dence. The Bradys on the other hand, “I can juggle a little. Just three balls,
told us that, “When it’s time to change, though.” There was a long sigh and I Miller Freeman
you have to rearrange who you are and could hear the sound of a hand rubbing
A United News & Media publication
2GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
G A M E P L A N
a forehead. “Bring your SCUBA gear. women in the audience here!” Then, to no idea what to do in it. I gave some
We’ll figure it out.” put the audience in stitches, he acted thought to duct-taping my mouth and
Breaking deadlines left and right effeminate and waggled his tongue sug- nose shut and doing push-ups to show
(sorely testing the good humor of manag- gestively. Quentin had appeared on that one could be fit without being
ing editor Nicole Claro and, over at Soft- several talk shows, which is apparently bulky, but I didn’t even know if the pro-
ware Development, Barbara Hanscome), what young comics do nowadays rather duction staff could find duct tape in the
my wife Tina and I flew out to Chicago than actually develop a witty routine. few remaining minutes before taping
Thursday night, the night before the tap- time. It was then that I was saved by the
ing. Impressive as it was to be picked up electric pickle.
The Partridges
at the airport by a limousine, it was less One of the guys replaced by the
impressive that the driver had lost the car idiot comics was willing to lend me his
in the parking structure, missed the exit pickle and a lamp cord. As I’m sure you
from the airport, and got lost again on the know, when 110 volts of alternating cur-
were darker than
way to the hotel. I mean, I don’t know rent flows through a pickle, the result is a
Chicago, but does it normally take two coronal discharge that dances like green
hours to get from O’Hare to Evanston neon, what the Romans would have
with no traffic? called an aurora cucumeralisif only they’d
Three-and-a-half hours of sleep the Bradys and spent a little less time building aqueducts
later, it was time to get up and get to and a little more time installing cheap,
the studio. Finally, I would know if universal electrical service.
green rooms were really green and if So I reported to the backstage area
television sets had as much good food sang songs about newly charged with confidence. There
as movie sets. Tina and I debated are few things that one can know with
whether I should drink two or three metaphysical certainty, but one is that
cappucinos to give me a little bounce or electrifying a pickle on national televi-
whether the resulting quaver in my doubts and fear. sion would be a “grabber.” It’s got all
voice would come across bad on televi- the elements of great drama: surprise,
sion. I didn’t have the choice. By the danger (electrocution and explosion
time I got to the (not) green room, I being distant, but real, possibilities),
couldn’t even find real cream for the and visual appeal that can’t be beat.
“Stop! I Think I
dregs of a pot of Maxwell House coffee. Then, sad to say, it all came apart.
Intimidated by the jeers of the crowd,
Show Us Your Pickle tongue-tied by the insistence of the
I was introduced to my fellow “brain” staff that I “know what you’re going to
Love You”? Why
team members, and it was here that say before you go out,” tired and cranky
things started falling apart fast. After from lack of sleep, I went on and, in a
meeting Alan, the systems analyst, and word, bombed. I was asked to step
Charles, the biochemistry graduate stu- aside, to support my team, to be seen,
wasn‘t he sure?
dent, I was introduced to Quentin and perhaps, but not heard. And then it
Gary, two stand-up comedians who was over. The judges decided that Jose,
were planted in our panel apparently one of the “Macho Maniacs,” was the
because the producers weren’t sure we’d most interesting of us all, a decision I
be amusing enough. Quentin would What was David couldn’t disagree with, based on what
eventually “win” as the most interesting made it onto television.
of our team, despite the fact that his But I can’t help but think what
“talent” was telling an offensive joke might have been. I can’t help but
that was stupid when Eddie Murphy Cassidy saying? dream of the electric pickle. n
first told it 10 years ago. With his Larry O’Brien
chunk-gold jewelry and mock inner- Editor
city speaking cadences, this guy was
popped straight from the Play-Doh When Larry O’Brien is not singing
Create-A-Comic kit. When he finally Still, the stand-up comics at least Brady Bunchand Partridge Familytunes,
got on TV, the first words out of his knew the talk-show drill, which gave he can be found at Game Developermag-
mouth were, I swear to God, “Hey, them a distinct advantage over me. I’d azine or attempting to electrically charge
how y’all doin’? Some fine-looking brought some skin diving gear but had various vegetables.
4 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
S E Z U !
Gaming for
The Fun of It??
SSAAYY IITT!!
The shady staff of Game Developerwould love to hear your comments, questions, and suggestions! Please send them to: Game
Developermagazine, Sez U!, 600 Harrison St., San Francisco, Calif., 94107. For those of you who do have access to the Inter-
net, send e-mail to [email protected] or go to the Game Developerweb site at http://www.mfi.com/gdmag. Thanks!
Dear Editor: some adults who have enjoyed gaming for the
I
just have to say I really enjoy your maga- fun of it.
zine. I’ve made a living doing defense and Randall G. Arnold
commercial product design for many years Coppell, Texas
and have only now gathered the resources to
do what the majority of your readers are
already doing—creating games! I’ve tested
the waters by doing game-testing, consult- WWAAIITT AA MMIINNUUTTEE,, MMRR.. PPOOSSTTMMAANN
ing, manual design, editing and much play- Dear Editor:
P
ing. Now I’m ready to see if my hare-brained lease stop calling the postal service’s uni-
ideas will sell! versal access, low technology, information
I enjoyed Barbara Hanscome’s “Gamin’ for transfer media snailmail! Remember, only
Grrrrls” (Chopping Block, Oct./Nov. 1995). 10% of the U.S. population is on the Internet at
Despite the fact that boys and girls dohave this time. The rest of them still need to move
differing tastes, we are after all, both human physical objects around at the universal cost of
and have that much in common. We like to be 32 cents per ounce.
entertained, challenged, amused, thrilled, Jason Feinman
and teased. Boys don’t necessarily need Via e-mail
blood and violence, and girls can live without Dear Editor:
H
cute, fuzzy animals. My sons not only like the ow come you don’t put articles online,
background sound in games, they thrive on thereby saving trees and many post offi-
it! In addition, my 8-year-old plays all four of cers’ backs? I know money is a concern,
the characters in Street Fighter 2, including but can’t you just stick the advertisers’ ad in
the girl (she has “neat powers”)! the articles? I promise to be subliminally
I believe we can most easily find common affected by their ads.
ground by examining games of the past, in Andrew Shebanow
addition to perennial favorites. I have noticed Via e-mail
that both sexes really get into games that let
them insert their own personalities. Role- Editor Larry O’Brien responds:
playing games let players of either sex use After receiving the preceding disturbingly
their unique strengths. Hey, men like a good angry letter from a postal carrier in response to
game of chess, yahtzee, cards, and so on–no our referring to ground mail as “snailmail,”
real violence there. My point is that I honestly we’re not about to become even more of a tar-
think these big game companies are trying get by throwing hundreds, maybe even thou-
toohard and maybe they should consult with sands, of carriers out of work.
6 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
GGIIMMMMEE MMOORREE!! Our Readers
but I just wanted to warn you that there’s a
Dear Editor: woman on your staff who doesn’t look where
I’m a big fan of your magazine, and I’m glad she’s going on the busy sidewalks of San Fran- This month, our
to see you’ve lowered the price. I thought the cisco.
October/November 1995 issue was your best Enrique Hombrelibre
yet. Mike Michaels’s “Organizing User Input, Via e-mail
Part I: The Input Queue Manager and Keyboard readers have much
Events” was very well written and informative. Contributing editor Alex Dunne responds:
I do have a suggestion, though: I’d really like Thanks for the note. We’ve taken care of Nicole
to see more information about game industry Freeman, a.k.a. “little Nikita.” She travels under
sales figures and other market data. Unlike a variety of assumed names, especially when to say about gender
other PC application categories, game sales involved in covert pedestrian-bumping opera-
information is very hard to come by. I’d like to tions. Rest assured that everyone on our staff
know how well games sell, what the total mar- was alerted to her slip-up and that she will be
ket size is, what typical budgets for games are, severely reprimanded! It’s slip-ups like this that
differences, the
and how game developers make their money. can devastate a little magazine like ours.
After all, being a game developer isn’t simply a
EE RR RR AATTAA
matter of hacking out code–you’ve got to sell
Q
those games too. Thanks. uality is job one here at Game
postal service,
Andy Shebanow Developer magazine. We strive to
Via e-mail correct any mistakes we’ve made
to provide you with best product we
can. That said, we lower our heads
and suspicious
and admit to the following two mis-
LLIITTTTLLEE NNIIKKKKII takes.
Dear Editor:
I
was walking down the street the other day •In Mike Michaels’s Oct./Nov. 1995
just minding my own business when this feature article “Organizing User encounters with
woman ran into me and knocked me into Input, Part I: The Input Queue
moving traffic. Now, I was quite upset until Manager and Keyboard Events,” we
she said she worked on this game maker mag- left out Listing 3, HEAPMGR.C.
azine or something, and gee didn’t that sound •In “Getting Started with VESA” by the staff of
interesting, and, well I guess I could forget the Matt Pritchard (June/July 1995) part
whole incident if she would send me a copy of of the code in Listing 2, VESADE-
what sounded like a great read, but I never MO.C, was omitted.
heard from her again. I thought she said her
Game Developer
name was Nakita Freeman or something, so I You can access each of these listings
looked up game stuff on my groovy web brows- in its entirety (as well as all refer-
er and there’s someone on your staff named enced code from previous issues) on
Nicole. I thought she might be working there the fabulous carousel that is the
magazine.
under an assumed name or something. I don’t Game Developerftp site.
care so much about the magazine anymore,
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995 7
C R O S S F I R E
A Hardware
Spec for
Games
L
Alex Dunne
ast issue, I examined the inter- and intracompany politics that
GamePC Consortium’s can hold back rapid adoption of a stan-
The standards specifi-
(GPCC) efforts to put dard. The three-dimensional graphics
together a benchmark for benchmark I described last issue is
three-dimensional graphics merely one component of this proposed
performance. The GPCC is a specification.
cation under discus- young organization compris-
ing hardware and software Standardizing
vendors in the PC game industry. The Game Hardware
consortium was formed to target the Like the MPC certification, which is
sion at the Game PC vacuum in PC game standards through controlled by the Software Publishers
the creation of the GamePC Association’s Interactive Multimedia
specification—an all-encompassing section, the GamePC certification will
GamePC standard similar to the Mul- provide a way for consumers to deter-
timedia PC (MPC) specification. This mine the minimum hardware they
Consortium is a hot
standard is a tough nut to crack, not need to enjoy their software purchas-
merely because of the technical hurdles es. It will also help the game develop-
that have to be cleared, but because of ment community develop and market
topic these days. So
hot, in fact, that we‘ve
got the results of the
vote in this month‘s Bit
Blasts (we are so on
The GamePC Consortium’s specification for gaming hardware will be implemented as a
seal of approval, indicating the type of hardware recommended for game play. These
logos are still in the design stages.
top of things).
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995 9
C R O S S F I R E
games because a common level of game the GamePC Consortium roams. Cre- specification that generated the most
performance will be expected from the ating another specification that dictates debate. In fact, it wound up being such
hardware. similar—but not identical—require- a complicated topic that it didn’t make
Why not simply use the MPC ments as the MPC specification will it into the
standard for games? It doesn’t go far only confuse consumers. To avoid o f f i c i a l
enough. For instance, a graphically duplicity or conflicts between the certi- GamePC
undemanding and processor-friendly fications, the GPCC has decided to ballot. The
game of the Myst variety would do fine base the GamePC specification on group is
using the MPC3 specification. A game either the MPC2 or MPC3 specifica- still work-
that required a bit more horsepower tion and build on those requirements in ing on it
under the hood—perhaps Dark Forces areas specific to game play. (You can as we go
or Wing Commander 3—would need a find a thorough description of the vari- to press,
specification that provided for a faster ous MPC requirements on the World and it
processor, graphics, and perhaps better Wide Web, at http://www.spa.org/- will be
audio as well. Further down the road, as mpc/default.htm.) voted on inde-
games demand more sophisticated As a result, the GamePC specifica- pendently from the rest of the hardware
hardware, the specification can be tion will rely to a large degree upon one requirements. When completed, it will
updated or higher levels of the specifi- of these two MPC levels as a baseline. likely take shape as a test suite that
cation can be created. In theory it’s an excellent plan—con- computers will have to pass, similar to
sumers won’t have to worry about con- the MPC test suite.
The MPC Spec flicting requirements in the two specifi- Three-dimensional User Input. A
To see how the GamePC specification cations. With a little collaboration, the requirement for three-dimensional
will be used, look no further than the two standards organizations should be input (such as a joystick-generated
MPC certification as a model. The able to effectively update their specifi- command) was recommended for game
MPC specifications (there are three lev- cations on a regular basis without step- machines, as the MPC specification
els—the higher the number the more ping on each others’ toes. However, calls only for a standard 101 keyboard
current the specification) dictate the there are some parts of the GamePC and a mouse. The keyboard is fine for
minimum processor, RAM, hard drive, ballot that risk conflict with the MPC Doom and the mouse is great for Myst,
floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, audio, specification. but a Descent-type game or a flight
graphics performance, video playback, simulator allowing six degrees of free-
user input, I/O, and system software Turning Suggestions dom should require a flight stick to
present on a PC. In addition, the MPC into a Ballot keep players from auguring in. Howev-
Working Group provides a test suite on The following items present in the er, the ballot sent out by the GamePC
CD-ROM, written by the National GamePC specification were bandied Consortium only queried for the pres-
Software Testing Laboratories, for about among GPCC members. Some ence of a universal serial bus (USB) dig-
establishing whether a computer is items made it onto the ballot for ital joystick interface and a front-
delivering MPC3 compliance in the key members to vote for or against mounted joystick port—there was no
areas of processing speed, video play- the specification, while others mention of the computer actually hav-
back, graphics performance and audio. were shelved for future ver- ing a joystick hooked up. Specifying
Hardware vendors are required to sions of the specification. that a person have a joystick port, but
pass the test suite in order to Some of the suggested not requiring the joystick itself is some-
display the MPC mark on items were pretty cutting what like requiring that the computer
their products. In 1994, edge, but given that the have a port for a keyboard, but not
the MPC1 MPC2 logo won’t take effect requiring the presence of a keyboard
certification marks until sometime well (the big difference being that every
were extended to indi- into 1996, the recom- computer comes with a keyboard, and
vidual CD-ROM dri- mendations were ap- no computer that I know of automati-
ves and sound cards, propriate. Here’s a quick cally comes with a joystick).
and in 1995, the MPC3 rundown of items that A consumer without a joystick is
mark was extended to were suggested for apt to look at a flight simulator box, see
video playback boards and GamePC-compatibility: the GamePC logo, figure he or she-
speakers. Three-Dimensional meets the specification (“Hey—I’ve got
Because the MPC standard was Graphics. The three-dimensional graph- the joystick port”), bring the game
developed years ago, it has already ics benchmark that I profiled in my last home, and find out that the darned
staked out much of the territory that column was probably the part of the thing doesn’t work too well with a
10 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
C R O S S F I R E
mouse and keyboard. I may be nitpick- courage consumers from taking the 28.8KB modem might have been better
ing, but I feel that if the specification is specification seriously. This is one of (oh well). I wonder if specifying access
going to ask for something as nifty as a those cases where the special interests to one of the major commercial online
front-mounted USB, you might want to of certain companies can cause political services shouldn’t be a requirement of a
require the control that plugs into it. problems in specification creation. For- future GamePC specification. By all
T h r e e - tunately, neither of those items made it accounts, CompuServe, America
dimensional onto the ballot. Online, Prodigy, and the Microsoft
Sight and CD-ROM. This was an item that I Network are hot and heavy to promote
Sound. Vari- saw in potential conflict with the MPC a new generation of graphical games
ous GPCC specification. The GPCC proposed a using their online services as a back-
members data transfer rate from a CD-ROM bone. Another idea for future GamePC
proposed at 450KB per second—in other specifications is a network card— noth-
that infor- words, a triple speed drive. This ing beats the speed of head-to-head
mation per- raises two questions: why stan- play when you’re connected to your
taining to three-di- dardize on this rare model of roommate’s computer with some coax!
mensional sound be included in drive (why not just base it on System Software. No mention of
the specification, and others favor sup- a 4X speed?), and won’t this system software is made because all
port for stereoscopic devices in the conflict with the MPC3 specification if MPC specifications specify DOS and
GamePC mark. My feeling when I first that gets ratified as the basis for the 16-bit Windows. However, the
saw those suggestions was, yes, those GamePC specification? To attain the GamePC ballot queries support for
high-end goodies should be in future MPC3 rating, a computer must have a AutoPlay (or similar functionality),
versions of a specification, but coming quad-speed CD-ROM drive, so ap- which implies support for Windows 95.
off the blocks with a specification that proval of a triple-speed drive will cause The question of which operating system
calls for hardware that a miniscule por- the GamePC rating to dip below an to standardize on could confuse the
tion of the gamers own (and not many already approved base standard. Some specification if it is not cleared up.
games will support anyway) will dis- kind of amendment to the standard Additionally, GPCC members such as
might have to be IBM have made it clear that they’d like
made to correct this the GPCC to come up with a specifica-
apparent conflict. tion that’s operating system neutral.
Audio. The This means that either the AutoPlay
GamePC specifica- requirement will have to be ditched,
tion seems to be IBM will have to enable its own version
fairly similar to the of AutoPlay in OS/2, or IBM is out of
MPC specification. luck.
Game PCs will The results of the balloting will be
likely be required to available by the time you read this.
support the current However, it’s still not clear when the
standard sampling GamePC specification will begin to
rates between 8 and appear on game boxes or hardware.
44.1KHZ and sup- Realistically, I wouldn’t expect it until
port wavetable syn- the spring or summer of 1996. Yes,
thesis for MIDI there are issues to be resolved regarding
playback. the GamePC specification, but there’s
Communica- no question that it’s a step forward for
tion. With the everyone—developers and consumers
head-to-head capa- alike. If you’d like to keep up to date
bilities of many with what’s going on with the specifica-
games on the mar- tion, or you’re interested in becoming a
ket these days, the member of the GPCC, check out their
GPCC suggested web site at http://www.mmwire.com/
requiring a 14.4KB gamepc/gpchome.html. n
modem in a Game-
PC-compatible
machine. Excel- Alex Dunne is contributing editor to
lent—although a Game Developermagazine.
12 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
B I T B L A S T S
Let’s Hear
It for the Boy
O
Nicole Claro n For more information contact:
.J.’s over, the World Series
Nintendo of America
actually happened this year 4820 150th Avenue N.E.
(with the Cleveland Indians, Redmond, Wash. 98052
Christmas is here, no less!), and my editor got to Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
rub shoulders with our
favorite bottom-tattooed, for- Diamond on the Edge
mer child star. Judgment Day
and there are new happens in less than a week, Virtual Fighter, “Ready, Go!” Windows
but after that, things could start to get 95-integrated video and audio has
dull around here. Hey, Christmas, a big reached new heights. Diamond Multi-
season for the game industry, is just media Systems Inc. has announced a
tools, new books, around the corner! Many of our readers line of integrated three-dimensional
have probably recently shipped projects multimedia accelerators that lets users
they’d worked on diligently for months play a variety of high-powered games
and are ready to spend some time under Windows 95.
new virtual headsets exploring each others work (not to The company believes its Dia-
mention the tools they each used on mond Edge 3D is the only single-board
that work). Enter hardware for the accelerator that features a digital game-
Christmas season—Virtual Boy from port for precise joystick control and two
for everyone! We‘ve Nintendo. video gameports that let you play spe-
Nintendo recently launched Virtual cialized, multiplayer titles. Several
Boy to the tune of a $25-million mar- game companies are developing prod-
keting campaign. The VR headset is a ucts specifically to take advantage of
RISC-based, 32-bit system using two the capabilities offered by Diamond’s
also got the scoop on
high-resolution, mirror-scanning LED new product. Papyrus’s Nascar Racing
displays, which immerses the player in a and Interplay’s Descent: Destination
fantastic world. The player controls the Saturn are two games slotted to be
action inside the lightweight headset bundled with the upcoming release of
the results of the
(fitted with stereo sound) using the dou- Diamond Edge 3D. Retail price for
ble-grip controller with six buttons and Diamond Edge 3D will range from
two plus-keys. Nintendo was responsible $249 to $299.
for the three-dimensional image immer- n For more information contact:
GamePC
sion technology used in Virtual Boy, Diamond Multimedia
Systems Inc.
while the company has licensed the pro-
2880 Junction Ave.
prietary display technology from Reflec-
San Jose, Calif. 95134-1922
tion Technology Inc., based in Tel: [phone]
Consortium‘s vote on
Waltham, Mass. Nintendo is currently Fax: [phone]
working with several companies on
third-party games designed specifically Crash, Bang, Boom!
for the Virtual Boy headset, which will
specifications!
retail for $179.95. Gameboy, Virtual Positron Publishing has released the
Boy, where does the boy go from here? Dynamic Motion Module, the first
14 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995
H O T O F F T H E P R E S S !
I
t’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for...Just days ago (remember, it’s December
in Magazineland, but October everywhere else) the GamePC Consortium (GPCC)
announced the results of its vote on standards for game specifications. For back-
physics-based collision detection pro- ground information on the debate, see Alex Dunne’s Crossfire column, on page 9 of
gram for the PC. Designed as a plug-in this issue. Following are the standards the GPCC agreed on for the GamePC Level 1
for Autodesk 3D Studio, the Dynamic Compatible System Specification. The specification covers five areas, systems, CD-ROMs,
Motion Module uses physics to create graphics, sound, and video. The GPCC also agreed on a Recommended System Specifica-
series of keyframes more precisely than tion, but due to its length, we couldn’t provide that data here. Go to our soon-to-be web
you could by hand. It lets animators site (http://www.mfi.com/gdmag), though, and you can view it.
combine objects that have been
SYSTEM
assigned dynamic motion with other
• Must Meet MPC level 2 minimum specifications
objects that rely upon key frame motion
• Base system must contain at least 8MB RAM
and detects the collision of objects
• Must Support AutoPlay (or similar functionality)
(with a collision detection resolution of
• Must be able to read 10MB data file from hard disk in 17 seconds (more than
up to 1/480th of a second), calculating 600Kb per second).
the resulting motion response of the
objects. The module uses quaternions CD-ROM
(complex algebraic structures) to • Must be able to read 10MB data file from CD in 30 seconds (300K/sec).
improve rotation and lets you apply fac-
tors such as gravity, wind, acceleration, GRAPHICS:
• Must run “Fox and Bear” benchmark (640x480x8) at a rate of 30 fps
velocity, and drag to your objects. Fully
• Must implement local bus (VLB or PCI) graphics with total video RAM greater
compatible with 3D Studio’s internal
than or equal to 2MB
splines, the Dynamic Motion Module
• Minimum total RAM (base system RAM+ video RAM) must be 9MB
also provides smooth-shaded preview
• Display and monitor must support the following display modes:
images as frames are generated.
320 x 200 256 Colors (Mode 13 and Mode X)
n For more information contact: 640 x 400 256 Colors (Mode 100h)
Positron Publishing 640 x 480 256 Colors (Mode 101h)
1915 N. 121st St.
640 x 480 32K Colors (5:5:5) (Mode 110h)
Ste. D
640 x 480 64K Colors (5:6:5) (Mode 111h)
Omaha, Neb. 68154
640 x 480 16.8M Colors (8:8:8) (Mode 112h)
Tel: [phone]
800 x 600 256 Colors (Mode 103h)
Fax: [phone]
SOUND:
VB Underground
• Must be able to play 4, 22KHz 16-bit wave buffers mixed, concurrently
• Must support all sample rates between 8KHz and 44.1KHz, mono and stereo
The Waite Group Press has released
• Must support General MIDI compatible wave table synthesis.
another in its series of “Black Arts”
books for programmers. Black Art of VIDEO
Visual Basic Game Programming, by • Must be able to play a sample MPEG movie file from CD-ROM (accurate sound
Mark Pruett, is a guide to every aspect synchronization with no audio breaks)
of building Windows games from the • 352 x 240 window in display mode 640 x 480 x 8 must run at a rate of 15 fps
ground up. Step-by-step tutorials clear- • Must be OM-1 MPEG compliant.
ly explain essentials like drawing the
Systems that the GamePC Consortium tests and verifies to conform to the above specifi-
boundaries of the game playing field,
cations can earn the GamePC Level 1 Compatiblecertification mark.
using the Windows API to its fullest to
create sprites and bitmap masks, and
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER/JANUARY 1995 15