december 1994
GAME DEVELOPER MAGAZINE GAME PLAN GGAMEAEM
A Rant Editor Larry O’Brien [email protected] on Ratings Senior Editor Nicole Freeman [email protected] Production Editors Barbara Hanscome [email protected] “The true danger is when liberty is nibbled the software companies. So much for the Nicole Claro away, for expedience, and by parts.” garage-based entrepreneurs trying to pull [email protected] —Edmund Burke themselves up by their bootstraps with Editorial Assistant Diane Anderson shareware games. [email protected] ating systems are crap. With the Rating systems impede creativity. Contributing Editors Alex Dunne entire entertainment industry They do so in a perverse way, where bru- [email protected] rolling over whenever Congress talities are traded off against each other. I David Sieks [email protected] calls a hearing, it’s fallen on us can personally attest to the kinds of dis- Wayne Sikes to denounce these initiatives for cussions that happen all the time in Holly- [email protected] what they are—cynical postur- wood: “Page 48, you’ve got the forcible Editor-at-Large Alexander Antoniades ing and electioneering with no injection of drugs. That’s an X, rewrite it. [email protected] substance. Rating systems, Page 72—the rape scene. That’s O.K.” whetherR for movies, television, video This dehumanization is fine, that dehu- Cover Photography Charles Ingram Photography games, or any other form of communica- manization isn’t, let’s do lunch. tion, don’t work, cost money, and impede But the refrain is always, “We need Publisher Veronica Constanza creativity. Everyone at those hearings, ratings systems to control what our chil- Group Director Regina Starr Ridley politicians and witnesses alike, knows that. dren are exposed to.” A parent in a video But there’s nothing politicians love more store once told me that her child might Advertising Sales Staff than “standing up for the family” and want to see R movies, but when she says West/Southwest blaming America’s cultural violence on no, the child knew not to argue. The Yvonne Labat (415) 905-2353 Hollywood. So the entertainment indus- corollary, I imagine, is that when she says [email protected] New England/Midwest try submissively pisses all over itself and no to a PG movie, the child argues. The proposes “voluntary” systems from the favorite argument of “but all the other kids Kristin Morgan (212) 626-2498 [email protected] pathetic to the laughable. are watching it” is used by the child to What are rating systems supposed to subvert the very point of the rating system. Marketing Manager Susan McDonald do? Curb the glorification of violence and And ultimately, the incident holds Art Director/Marketing Christopher H. Clarke sex. But “glorification” cannot be quanti- the right answer to controlling what chil- Advertising Production Coordinator Denise Temple fied. Which of the movies True Lies, Nat- dren are exposed to. Parents should Director of Production Andrew A. Mickus ural Born Killers, Schindler’s List, and Wes decide. If parents don’t want their kids to Vice President/Circulation Jerry M. Okabe Craven’s New Nightmare, glorifies violence play X-Com or see Terminator 2, they Group Circulation Director Gina Oh and which denounces it? The rating sys- should say “No” and put up with the ensu- Circulation Manager Philip Payton [email protected] tem doesn’t make a distinction—they’re all ing argument. They don’t need and Newsstand Manager Pam Santoro rated R. shouldn’t get a ratings system to supple- Reprints Krista Hiser (415) 905-2783 In the face of the failure of the ment their authority. The government has MPAA rating system to control our no right to help parents say “No” at the MillerFreeman national psyche, the ratings advocates video store if that governmental interfer- A MEMBER OF THE UNITED NEWSPAPERS GROUP don’t make the logical conclusion that rat- ence impedes your rights to develop what- Chairman of the Board Graham J.S. Wilson ing systems are bogus, but instead say that ever content you feel appropriate. President/CEO Marshall W. Freeman the problem is that not enough things are We all have responsibilities. To cre- Executive Vice President/COO Thomas L. Kemp rated! If our culture’s general level of sex- ate responsibly, to control the viewing and Senior Vice Presidents H. Vern Packer, Donald A. ual frankness and violence has risen gaming habits of our own children, and to Pazour, Wini D. Ragus despite the movie rating system, it’s only call the government’s ratings initiatives Vice President/CFO Warren (Andy) Ambrose because other forms of entertainment have what they are. Cynical, ineffective, Vice President/Administration Charles H. Benz not yet been purified. oppressive, and wrong-headed. ■ Vice President/Production Andrew A. Mickus Rating systems cost money. A ratings Vice President/Circulation Jerry Okabe “board” (actually, a sizable and bureaucrat- Larry O’Brien Vice President/Software Development Division Regina ic institution) and its cost will be borne by Editor Starr Ridley
2 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 SEZ U!
Client/Server Gaming?
by Our Readers Dear Editor: Recently, a new game called Earth was very excited when I saw your new Invasion for Windows came out. It proves magazine. Oddly, it’s not because I quite nicely that you can have arcade We‘ve only been Iever hope to write a game per se. action in a “slow” graphical environment My job function is aptly described (I can spell that word because I was once (using someone else’s words) as a corpo- a COBOL programmer). How much I would rate cubbyhole programmer. I’ve been love to splice some of that action into my around a little while, using Toolbook and Multimedia Toolbook applications! Just to keep them eager to for a couple years. I know it isn’t as go on, of course. manly as C++ or even Visual Basic, but I Your article about OLE 2.0 (“Let’s Go can pretty much do all the things, in 60 Embed,” Premier 1994) was right on, and scripting seconds, that take a Dr. Dobb’s I hope someday it will allow me all sorts but we‘re already guy six nitty-gritty pages of text and code of opportunities to use interesting game- to describe. creating authoring tools. Multimedia has Using Toolbook, calling Q+E as my caused everybody to buy faster PCs. Cer- database access and Pinnacle’s Graphics tainly, they run Windows fast enough for hearing from readers. Server SDK, I can really get fast access to something more than Solitaire now. Let’s CSV datafiles and plot everything from replace drag-and-drop with aim-and-fire. bar charts to interactive (hot spot) bubble Twitch spreadsheets? Dbase thumb? charts. I create transformed reports The more I read about desktop virtu- In this, the first install- (transports) from my customers that give al reality, the more I see myself running good GUI, good drill-down, and good through my relational database like in graphical constructs of their data. Wolfenstein 3D, past orthogonal buildings Using Multimedia Toolbook, I cap- (disguised as three-dimensional bar ment of our forum for ture mainframe screens and add neat charts) of my data looking for the evil odd postage-stamp video to accomplish CBT. piece of data. Not as compelling as I My fuzzy-grey cubbyhole for a better com- would like, but maybe Comptons has pression algorithm (or a horse)! already patented it. your opinions, we‘ve So why am I telling this to Game I get a small taste of this in Virtus Developer editors? Well, you’ve heard of VR, but they’re more interested in show- infotainment and edutainment? Why not ing off real buildings with real wire frame busutainment? Aside from its neat name? fireplaces and are not into anthropomor- My son plays Math Blaster for Win- phizing bad data (with TrueType labels) got a sampling of dows. It rewards him with a spaceship into gun-toting Nazis—yet. launch or trash to zap after accomplish- Edward Saur ing certain goals. Adults may be more Flemington, N.J. amused if surprised by some Easter egg queries, criticism, and they stumble across. I have been known Editor Larry O’Brien responds: to make a user chase a normal looking Heaven forbid that we talk about busi- button that jumps away randomly on ness software development in Game mouseEnter. If you are very quick, you can Developer. But since you did bring it up: suggestions. nail it. humans have a set of evolutionary talents
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 5 SEZ YOU!
that include competing, gathering, and plicity in mind (that is, they should not Also, I was hoping Game Developer hunting in a visually complex environ- focus too heavily on it). could get down and dirty on comparing ment. The computer game industry makes I object to a simplistic level rating the new consoles coming out and out billions off the fact that these are so system (especially the one Dunne men- already. For example, comparing the awe- wired into the wetware that humans will tioned that was proposed by someone on some Doom on the Jaguar vs. the Sega pay for the privilege of exercising them. A CompuServe) because it does not work. 32X version. I think readers would really business program that took advantage of Using the groups presented, Lemmings like this. these evolutionary strengths would proba- would possibly qualify as a 5. While Ray Rivera bly gain accolades for its “intuitive” and laughing about how absurd this sounds, Norfolk, Va. “friendly” interface. press the mushroom cloud to detonate the Lemmings on the screen and bits and pieces of stuff fly out of the figures. Even A Real Plan How Do You Get Super Mario Brothers would rate at least Dear Editor: to Carnegie Hall? a 2—and possibly a 4, depending on he boom in interactive entertainment Dear, Editor: which creature in which game you are is clearly reflected in the glut of new ould you give me some pointers as considering. Tcomputer entertainment periodicals, to what a college graduate should Rather than try to put all of the acts but most developer’s magazines followed Cdo as far as looking for work and in a game into one linear category, I sug- other trends. And so it seems that the what I should learn on my own to get into gest that the game industry use some- debut of Game Developer this year was the game developing field? I realize most thing similar to what I see now for many timely and auspicious. game developers write games in their premium cable movie channels. The Although Game Developer is still spare time or start their own companies, movies are rated with a simple letter code thin, and has gotten pricey, each issue is but I thought you might have some sug- system that describes the content of the more organized and carries the promise gestions for recent grads on what kind of movies. AL means adult language, MV that later issues will be stronger. So far, work they should look for to help expand means mild violence, GV means graphic the article topics have been appropriate, their knowledge in the field. Do game violence, AS means adult situations, N but unfortunately, much of the program- development companies hire recent grads, means nudity, BN means brief nudity, and ming content lacks technical depth. Andre and if so what would they look for? so on. Of course no system is perfect, and LaMothe’s article, “The Mysterious Mode Craig Tyler certainly we need to work out what consti- 13h” (Sept. 1994), was especially via the Internet tutes mild versus graphic violence. But appalling. LaMothe says, “Mode 13h is an the object of the rating system is to obscure graphics mode that few game Editor Larry O’Brien responds: inform the potential buyer of the content developers have mastered.” Whoa! If you Your question is one that we get all the of the product, not simply line up all of want to increase readership, don’t pursue time, and we always give the same the games in an arbitrary linear scale. the newbies who probably won’t subscribe answer. There is no answer. Due to the John Durbetaki anyway. relatively young age of the computer game Gaston, Ore. Finally, I’m glad you gave standard industry, most of the game developers names to your departments in the third who are big names in the field started issue, instead of article titles. The six writing their own games themselves and More Praise, Please! departments do a lot to make Game companies grew up around them. Ask 10 Dear Editor: Developer a “real” magazine. game developers how they got into the aught your second issue and I loved Tom Park business, and you’ll get 10 different it! As an aspiring game developer via the Internet answers. We plan to focus on this in the Cand local musician I found the arti- future, but there’s no simple answer that cles deep and informative. It’s good to we can give you here. know that some people know what guys like myself want in a magazine. I did Game Over! notice some flaws in Jim Cooper’s infor- Ratings Brouhaha mative article (“Computer vs. Console,” We need your feedback! Send your cards, Dear Editor: June 1994), though. The Sega Genesis letters, and article suggestions to: n response to Alex Dunne’s editorial, runs at about 7MHz and has 128K of Game Developer “The Ratings Game” (Bit Blasts, Sept. memory not 12MHz with 512K of RAM. I 600 Harrison St., 4th Floor San Francisco, CA 94107 1994), I am sure we will see some form thoroughly enjoyed Cooper’s article. All I Attn: Larry O’Brien of ratings system imposed on the industry and all, I think Game Developer gives a sooner than later, and I can only hope that unique perspective on the gaming indus- E-mail is even better: the system’s creators somehow keep sim- try rarely seen in other magazines.
6 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 BIT BLASTS
Child’s Play Diane Anderson and Nicole Claro PRODUCTS table; integrating 24-bit Truecolor paint and plug-in interfaces for Photoshop fil- Walt Disney, Watch Out! ters to be used as ink, which make the Autodesk and transition from still-image editing to animation even smoother; and providing a digital sound studio designed specifi- cally for animation. The sound module Microsoft offer lets you manipulate soundtracks in any way you need to, squeezing or stretching music to make it fit, recording from CDs and tapes and then layering the sounds, two of four new or adding special effects such as reverb or aving recently broken my finger, I pitch shifting to music or vocals. While am more than ever a slave to my recording your sound or narration, you computer. I can’t write anything can view your animation in a separate animation options that Hwith a normal implement, so I video window simultaneously. have to skip the “pen-and-paper” step Autodesk Animator Studio reads and jump right to the keyboard. Not and writes in many formats, including only that, but I’m obsessed with the fact AVI, FLI and FLS, BMP, TGA, promise to help that if I put my hair into a ponytail, it TIFF, JPEG, GIF, and PCX. Suggest- will always flop to the left (it’s messing ed list price is $795. up my karma, I think). Oh how I wish I had a cool, new animation program to For More Information Contact: take me away.... Autodesk Inc. you bring your Autodesk’s award-winning, widely 2320 Marinship Way used two-dimensional animation soft- Sausalito, Calif. 94965 ware, Animator Pro, has been around for Tel: (415) 332-2344 a few years now. Recently, the company graphics to life. Also, announced the upcoming launch of Ani- Marriage Announcement mator Studio Release 1, a Windows 3.1- 3DLabs and Argonaut Software are based successor to the Animator Pro joining forces. tools. The company calls Animator Stu- 3DLabs’ GLINT two-dimensional an update on the dio a “powerful...2D animation produc- processor is capable of 300K shaded, tion package with direct application to depth bufffered, anti-aliased polygons 2D film, TV, and video production.” per second. It offers Gourard shading With its new product, Autodesk and texture mapping, 32-bit color, two- current game ratings seeks to break the boundaries between and three-dimensional acceleration, and multimedia development venues and tra- an on-chip Peripheral Component ditional graphic art studios. Animator Interconnect (PCI) local bus interface. Studio merges the two, allowing the user According to 3DLabs, the GLINT trend. to create animation with “onion skin- processor is “ideal” for OpenGL or ning,” much like working on a light other 3D APIs.
8 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 BIT BLASTS
Argonaut Software’s BRender three- demand for animated titles, Microsoft’s For More Information Contact: dimensional API provides scalable perfor- new animation playback tool for Win- Microsoft Inc. mance, true z-buffering, and perspective dows facilitates the creation of full- 1 Microsoft Way texture mapping across a wide range of screen multimedia titles. Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399 computer and games platforms. BRender Its toolset includes the WinToon Tel: (800) 426-9400 is intuitive and compact. run-time engine. WinToon uses the Combine GLINT and BRender and Video for Windows architecture to One Board, One World you’ve got high-performance rendering allow developers blue-screen capabilities power. The partnership of the two com- for superimposing images (remember panies promises to be a formidable force Jurassic Park?). WinToon’s scan-time in the Windows and WindowsNT graph- engine digitizes traditionally animated ics market. characters, and its playback engine helps with design review. Microsoft promises For More Information Contact: the user “richer, more fluid, and more 3DLabs Inc. realistic animation” with WinToon. 2010 N. First St., Ste. 403 Because the new Windows operat- Matrox Graphics Inc. is now shipping San Jose, Calif. 95131 ing system will have a WinG API and a the MGA Impression Plus, a one-board, Tel: (408) 436-3455 display control interface (DCI) built three-dimensional graphics accelerator in—along with 32-bit implementation that provides fast Windows, three- Winny the Toon of the Video for Windows architec- dimensional, and video on the PC. The WinToon is Microsoft’s latest product ture—multimedia soon may have set MGA Impression Plus features a flexible announcement. Addressing the strong standards. architecture that provides complex dri- vers to optimize Windows, multimedia, Industry News: More to Hate About Ratings CAD, and three-dimensional applica- irst we had to deal with our parents forbidding us from seeing R-rated movies, then tions. The 64-bit acclerator uses came that music label identification scandal, now this. Now our games and the very Microsoft’s DCI API for smooth video digital frontier we hold sacred are being threatened. Cyberia is inherently anarchic, playback at resolutions up to 1,280-by- chaotic, and methodic in its madness. Down with censorship! See Alex Dunne’s com- 1,024 at 30 frames per second. It’s also ments (“The Ratings Game,” Bit Blasts, Sept. 1994) and Larry O’Brien’s comments in the only graphics accelerator that lets Fthis month’s Game Plan. you upgrade to the VESA Media Chan- nel (VM-Channel). The VM-Channel’s The Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), a group established to “implement and oversee a national ratings system,” recently elected Robert Roden as its president. “So open specification accepts up to 15 video what!” you scorn. “Who’s he?” you ask. Well, as it turns out Robert Roden is not only the streams, so you can add on any VM- president of RSAC, he’s also a member of the LucasClub. He’s the “general counsel and direc- based multimedia peripheral. tor of business affairs” for LucasArts Entertainment. The MGA Impression Plus is ship- ping for $449 and includes the MGA Coincidence? Conflict of interests? Ironically, RSAC’s nine-member board is three-dimensional-SuperPack, a three- designed to “ensure the ratings system will be independent of the soft- dimensional CD-Rom with three ware industry’s control.” With a software bigwig as its president? Seems games—Sentõ, Spectre MGA, and Ice unlikely. Hawk—three-dimensional viewing files, and three-dimensional library demos. The RSAC rating system assigns to a product a numerical score between zero and four across three categories—violence, sex/nudity, and language. Any scores above zero For More Information Contact: are posted on the product’s packaging. Developer participation is voluntary, but retailers are wary of carrying nonrated products. Matrox Graphics Inc. 1055 Saint-Regis “RSAC’s system has nothing to do with censorship or with telling developers what to put in Dorval, Canada H9P 2T4 their games,” Roden says. (But developers who get an unfavorable rating will obviously be Tel: (514) 685-2630 stigmatized; such labeling may damage or boost sales.) Roden innocently claims the organi- zation’s “purpose is to inform consumers what’s in the box.” If parents are so concerned with what’s in boxes they’re buying for their kids, parents should consider checking out the games themselves instead of depending on an outside agency to babysit the floppy babysitter. What ever happened to quality time? Diane Anderson is editorial assistant for Game Developer magazine. Nicole And why haven’t Tom Sawyer and Catcher in the Rye been banned from all high school read- ing lists yet? Claro is production editor for Game Developer magazine.
10 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 CROSSFIRE
Revenge of the Sequel Syndrome
by Alex Dunne hat do Friday the 13th, • Some reasons for developing a sequel Rocky, and Nightmare on or look-alike game Elm Street have in common? • What Windows ’95 offers that will Like many current If you answered, “They’re all spur developers’ imaginations movies that spawned a • A relationship between a hardware never-ending series of vendor and game developer that sequels,” you got it. It’s a spawned a stunning new game. movies, popular formula that works for the Wstudios: After the first movie is deemed a O.K., There are success, Movie 2 or Revenge of the Bad Compelling Reasons Guy From The Last Movie invariably Don’t get me wrong, there are sound rea- comes out the following year. At the sons for developing look-alikes and games are spawning same time, the rest of the movie industry sequels. Look-alikes tap into hot market latches onto the “look and feel” of the crazes and can turn a great profit for their movie and releases look-alikes. developers. The reception that Doom You’ve probably seen enough of received has companies like Capstone an explosion of these movies to know the formula. Per- negotiating with Id Software to use its haps you enjoyed a few of them, too. But technology. As a result, Capstone’s Cor- how many of these sequels and look- ridor 7 looks strikingly similar to alikes would you describe as unforget- Doom—but I’ll venture that it does fairly sequels, look-alikes, table? If I saw a movie and came out of it well in the market. thinking, “That was Raiders of the Lost Sequels tap into name recognition Ark starring Michael Douglas,” I and their predecessor’s story lines and are wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. especially prevalent in adventure and role- and wannabes. Alex Unfortunately, I’m feeling this way about playing games. The market knows the a growing number of games. products already, so most of the market- I fear that this mentality is becom- ing department’s job is done. The look ing prevalent within the game industry as and feel of the game is established, so cre- Dunne looks at the well. How many different football and ative folks don’t have to sweat out many baseball games are on the market today? conceptual changes. Perhaps much of the How many air-combat simulators? If I interface code can be reused, saving the had to sum it up, I’d say, “a lot.” Are developers’ time. With reasons like this, there too many? At the rate that sequels who’d knock the idea of a sequel? trend and makes his and look-alikes are hitting the market, I’d If it’s done right, probably nobody. I hazard to say that most of them are am simply championing the idea that you financially successful enough to justify might be rewarded an order of magni- their development. But as a developer, tude more by going out on a limb with a case for originality in you’ve got to ask yourself, “Should I ride fresh game idea than by choosing a less the coattails of the latest game craze or risky game concept. Develop a truly create a completely new type of game and groundbreaking game and suddenly risk an unresponsive market?” In you’re all alone, and your competitors are concept and design. response to this dilemma, let’s look at: scrambling to catch up. Although it’s
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 13 CROSSFIRE
been talked up to death, Myst is the per- tion. Simple messages (such as a chess developer 47-Tek. 47-Tek is creating a fect example. I find that when I try to move) would take less than a second. battle game titled Sentõ that is optimized describe Myst to someone, I can’t use This will make modem-based games for the card and features very cool real- another game as a reference. Myst, by much more popular because players will time animation. Sentõ’s use of the card’s virtue of being so different, has been a be able to enjoy the benefits of coordinat- engine creates a unique visual experience financial boon for both the Rand brothers ing team play (or cursing at each other) as that makes other fighting games pale in and Broderbund. they play. This of course will be a tremen- comparison. dous boon to game distributors who bun- Unfortunately, Sentõ’s performance Microsoft’s New dle phone cradles and chiropractic under other video cards doesn’t match the Game Platform coupons with their games. optimized conditions that the Matrox Among the most talked about events in Perhaps the most significant aspect accelerator provides. It’s possible to fore- the industry and one that has significant of the new Windows ’95 system is the see a game so narrowly optimized for a potential to change the face of gaming is much touted WinG graphic library. I particular computer configuration that a Windows ’95. Now that Microsoft has don’t have to convince anyone how pitiful nonoptimal setup would bring the game gone through two beta cycles of the oper- game performance is under Windows 3.1. ating system, developers are getting a feel Microsoft claims that its come close to for its abilities. The capabilities Windows matching DOS game speeds using the ’95 offers over DOS should lead to some WinG library under Windows ’95. incredible new games. It’s unclear when Windows ’95 is Windows ’95 promises to be a com- going to be released. As of late October, I petitive platform to DOS when it comes can only say (as Microsoft is) that it will to game speed and adds some benefits not be available sometime between April and found in the old 16-bit operating system. June 1995. The acceptance rate of Win- Coupled with OLE, Microsoft envisions dows ’95 into homes is hard to project, Other combat games pale in comparison the ability to drag and drop game ele- however, so it’s difficult to determine how to Sentõ, which uses the Matrox acceler- ator to its maximum potential. ments, the use of standard game interfaces large the market for Windows ’95 games that developers could use to extend a will be. Given Solitaire’s popularity when game’s functionality, and the possibility of Windows 3.0 came out, Microsoft is to its knees. That, of course, would seri- embedding game sessions into mail mes- probably praying for some killer Win- ously affect the size of the game’s market. sages that would automatically connect dows ’95 games to speed the system’s 47-Tek has sidestepped this problem by you to another player over a network or adoption into family rooms. These “killer” bundling Sentõ with the hot-selling modem. games, I predict, will be innovative and Matrox card, but of course that’s not an The ability to develop network mul- make the most of Windows ’95’s option for every developer. tiplayer games will be greatly enhanced enhancements. Perhaps the Matrox card will with Windows ’95. Developers won’t become a de facto standard for three- have to write the networking code or Hardware Advancements dimensional polygon-based games— work around the network’s memory Spur Innovation though I doubt it (the world can only space. Using WinSockets, game develop- Another angle developers are beginning to handle so many standards). On the other ers will be able to write games for a wide pursue in their quest for breakthrough hand, the symbiotic relationship between range of networks including Novell, games relates to hardware advancements. Matrox and 47-Tek might become a TCP/IP, Windows for Workgroups, Back when sound cards first entered the standard, one best suited for start-up Banyan Vines, and LAN Manager. market, card vendors courted developers developers looking for a niche. In what looks to be a boon for the to write games that supported their hard- So, as you begin brainstorming your phone companies, Windows ’95 will pro- ware. As a result of Creative Labs’ dili- next game, keep in mind the sequel syn- vide support for a new modem technology gence and marketing savvy, every major drome. Experiment with new concepts called VoiceView, which will ship as a game today supports the Sound Blaster, and ideas, rather than rehashing old ones. standard feature of many modems begin- and it has become the de facto standard. Look around at new technologies the ning in 1995. VoiceView will let modem Now, a video card manufacturer, industry is offering, and capitalize on users talk on the phone and use their Matrox, has come along with the power- them. It comes down to this: Do you modem over the same line. The technol- ful new MGA Impression Plus accelera- want your game to be the next ground- ogy is suited to games where each player tor card that incorporates a three-dimen- breaking hit or the next Romancing the takes a turn, such as chess, allowing the sional polygon engine. Matrox is hoping Stone? Take the road less travelled. ■ computer to take over the phone line to to popularize the accelerator among game transmit game data and then relinquish it players and, to further this aim, has estab- Alex Dunne is contributing editor for back to the callers for further conversa- lished a partnership with start-up game Game Developer magazine.
14 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 MODE X
Mode X Revealed by Matt Pritchard raphics are one of the most ble video memory and more usable important parts of any game hardware features. From that discovery today, yet the VGA standard we have what is commonly referred to Frustrated by the comes up short in providing as Mode X. Mode X gives us access to the features and power many the following features that are lacking games demand. “More col- in Mode 13h: ors!” That’s what the VGA • Higher screen resolutions limitations of Mode promised over its predeces- • Hardware screen scrolling Gsors. “Pick any 256 from a quarter mil- • Page flipping (the key for smooth lion!” it said. Unfortunately, as animation). designed by IBM, only one mode actu- ally delivered this promise of rich color: The Technical Details 13H? Try Mode X, the Mode 13h. Game programmers everywhere have But there was a catch. Mode 13h heard of Mode X, but for many it is did not provide many features game still mysterious or unclear. The biggest designers wanted—features they were reason for confusion is that Mode X is graphics mode that accustomed to on other platforms. not a hard-and-fast video mode, but a Screen resolution was limited. Hard- label for any number of derived modes ware scrolling was out. Page flipping that have one thing in common: was a pipe dream. If you wrote a game Unchained Video Memory Access. Let promises better using mode 13h, screen flicker was a me explain. constant enemy that limited your A big limitation of VGA graphic graphics and animation. Super VGA modes is that there is only a 64K win- cards came out and provided more 256- dow of address space at segment A000 screen resolutions, color mode options, and some even through which to access graphics mem- provided page flipping. But there were ory. EGA 16-color modes allow access no standards between brands and to up to 256K of video memory by makes of VGA cards. Developers need- mapping four “video planes” over each page flipping, ed something that would work on any other in the same 64K of address space. VGA card, from the first IBM VGA So, 4 bytes of video memory are actual- built into a PS/2 to the latest 4MB ly mapped into each single byte of super duper VGA card. That some- address space. Special control registers thing turned out to be Mode X. let the programmer set the four video hardware screen Back in 1989, someone got down planes which are actually mapped in at with the IBM VGA internals, took a any given time. In Mode 13h, none of close look at the internal registers and this exists. There is only one byte of workings of Mode 13h, and discovered video memory for each memory scrolling, and super that nothing was etched in stone. This address, limiting this mode to 65,536 unsung hero determined that features pixels maximum. With a screen resolu- from the EGA 16-color modes could tion of 320-by-200, 64,000 of those be blended into Mode 13h to create a pixels are used. Tragically, 192K of a rich color. hybrid video mode with more accessi- standard VGA card’s 256K of video
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 25 MODE X
Listing 1. Modex.C (Continued on p. 27) memory goes to waste here, in the only 256-color mode. The “secret” of Mode #include
26 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 modes use the MSL register in the VGA’s Listing 1. Modex.C (Continued from p. 26) CRT controller to draw each scan line twice. Set that register to 0, and you /* ===== Simple Mode-X Line draw routines ===== */ have 400 lines of vertical resolution. By borrowing the vertical display settings void modex_rect (int UL_X, int UL_Y, int LR_X, int LR_Y, int Color) { from Mode 12h (640-by-480, 16-color modex_hline(UL_X, LR_X, UL_Y, Color); graphics), we get 480 lines of glorious modex_hline(UL_X, LR_X, LR_Y, Color); 256-color graphics, although the screen modex_vline(UL_Y, LR_Y, UL_X, Color); refresh rate slows from 70Hz to 60Hz. modex_vline(UL_Y, LR_Y, LR_X, Color); Finally, in this mode, setting the MSL return; register back to 1 gives you 240 pixels } vertically. Horizontal and vertical screen reso- void modex_hline (int Left_X, int Right_X, int Y, int Color) lutions can be combined as desired, but { int x; one combination is worthy of special for (x = Left_X; x <= Right_X; x++) set_point(x, Y, Color); notice: 320-by-240 pixels. On a VGA return; monitor, this resolution has an aspect } ratio of 1:1, which gives it perfectly square pixels and easily allows for true void modex_vline (int Top_Y, int Bottom_Y, int X, int Color) squares and circles on the screen. { Once you set a screen resolution, int y; you can set a “virtual resolution.” This for (y = Top_Y; y <= Bottom_Y; y++) set_point(X, y, Color); lets you create a “virtual screen” larger return; } than the displayed resolution. The screen display then becomes a window into the larger virtual screen, and the “window” can be moved and scrolled around. In Mode X, this is accom- plished by setting the VGA card’s Offset Register with the width of the desired virtual screen divided by 8. This creates the virtual screen, which can be wider than the 320 or 360 displayed pixels. The Start Address registers the position of the upper left corner of the screen display in video memory in the VGA’s CRT controller control. Because each address has 4 bytes (4 pixels at 1 byte per pixel) mapped into it, when you change the Start Address register by 1, the screen display will shift by 4 pixels. To move a single pixel at a time, use the Horizontal Pixel Planning register in the VGA’s Attribute controller. It can only shift the display up to 3 pixels in Mode X, but when you use it in conjunction with the Start Address registers, smooth, full-screen scrolling is possible.
Setting Mode X So far, I have avoided getting very spe- cific about the VGA registers and processes. At the end of this article, I have included an assembly language listing, Modex.asm (Listing 3), which
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 27 MODE X
Listing 2. Modex.H the VGA sequencer. Next, you will need to invoke an asynchronous reset #ifndef __SETMODEX_H on the VGA card. While the VGA is in #define __SETMODEX_H a reset state, you can change the hori- zontal dot clock. After ending the reset, /* ===== SCREEN RESOLUTIONS ===== */ you then load the CRT Controller’s regis- #define Mode_320x200 0 ters with the values for the desired hori- #define Mode_320x400 1 zontal and vertical resolutions. Some #define Mode_360x200 2 registers are protected from accidental #define Mode_360x400 3 modification so a protection register #define Mode_320x240 4 must be turned off before starting and #define Mode_320x480 5 turned back on when finished. Finally, #define Mode_360x240 6 the virtual screen width must be set. At #define Mode_360x480 7 this point, the desired version of Mode X is set up and ready to go. Usually, the /* ===== MODE X SETUP ROUTINES ===== */ next step is to clear all the VGA’s video int far pascal set_vga_modex (int Mode, int MaxXpos, int MaxYpos); memory completely, so any leftover void far pascal set_text_mode (void); garbage will not appear on the screen. int far pascal scan_keyboard (void); To do this, you need to know how to write pixels in Mode X. /* ===== BASIC GRAPHICS PRIMITIVES ===== */ Drawing Mode X Pixels void far pascal set_point (int Xpos, int Ypos, int Color); In Mode 13h, drawing pixels is very int far pascal read_point (int Xpos, int Ypos); simple. You just write the desired byte void far pascal set_window (int XOffset, int YOffset); value to address (320 * Y) + X. In Mode #endif X, it gets a lot more complicated because there are four pixels at each memory address. This is where the Map Mask register comes in. As part of the contains a routine that will set up Mode Switching the computer’s display VGA’s sequencer, it acts like a control X at any of the eight resolutions that I into Mode X involves a few basic steps. valve for each of the four video planes, described and create any sized virtual First, you call the VGA’s BIOS to set the determining if a byte written by the screen to order. Additional routines, display to Mode 13h. Some people have CPU will be passed through to each of which we will discuss, show how to plot bypassed this step and do it manually, the four video planes or ignored com- pixels, read pixels, and scroll a virtual but I advise against it. Many super pletely. While it is a hassle to set the screen. I have also included two short VGA cards have extra registers and fea- Map Mask register for each pixel to plot, demo programs, Modex.C and tures that are not part of the VGA stan- doing so can be beneficial if we want to Modex.H, shown in Listings 1 and 2 dard. Calling the BIOS allows the VGA write the same color value to more than and written in Borland C++ 3.1. They card to set any special or unique fea- one video plane at a time. If all video show each Mode X screen resolution tures it might have and ensures maxi- plane access bits in the Map Mask register and virtual screen scrolling. Both list- mum compatibility. After Mode 13h is are set to 1, a single byte written by the ings use the medium memory model. set, you disable the Chain-4 register in CPU will be simultaneously copied to all four video planes, setting four pixels with a single byte. Alas, this is a topic Mode X is not a hard-and-fast video mode, unto itself that we must save for later. So, how do you determine the address of a given pixel that you want to write to location (X,Y)? The formula is but a label for derived modes that have similar to mode 13h but requires two more steps. First, you multiply the Y position by the virtual screen width (or display screen width if they are the Unchained Video Memory Access. same) and add the X position—just like Mode 13h, except that the width does not have to be 320. Then you take the
28 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 result and divide it by 4. The whole Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued on p. 30) number that results is the address in the A000 segment that you need to write to, .MODEL Medium and the remainder is the video plane .286 number from 0 to 3, as shown here: ; Macros to OUT 8 & 16 bit values to an I/O port OUT_16 MACRO Register, Value Raw_Address = (Y_pos * Screen_Width) IFDIFI
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 29 MODE X
to calculate the memory address and Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued on p. 31) plane number, but you will set the Read Map register in the VGA’s Graphics con- ASYNC_RESET EQU 00100h ; (A)synchronous Reset troller instead of the Map Mask register. SEQU_RESTART EQU 00300h ; Sequencer Restart Unlike the Map Mask register, this regis- VGA_Segment EQU 0A000h ; VGA Memory Segment ter just needs the plane number from 0 VERT_RETRACE EQU 08h ; INPUT_1: Vert Retrace Bit to 3. PLANE_BITS EQU 03h ; Bits 0-1 of X = Plane # Specifically, you need to load AH nil EQU 00h ; Used to mark end of list with the plane number, AL with 04h (to wptr EQU WORD PTR ; Shorthand text select the Read Map register), and OUT AX dptr EQU DWORD PTR ; macros for pointers to 03CEh. After that, you read the byte .DATA? ;==== DGROUP STORAGE NEEDED (10 BYTES) ==== at A000:Memory_Address and it will return CURRENT_PAGE DW 0 ; Offset of current Page the value of the desired pixel. Examine CURRENT_SEGMENT DW 0 ; Segment of VGA memory the READ_POINT routine in Listing 3 for SCREEN_WIDTH DW 0 ; Width of a line in Bytes an example of Mode X pixel reading. MAX_XOFFSET DW 0 ; Current Display X Offset MAX_YOFFSET DW 0 ; Current Display Y Offset Scrolling the Screen ; Mode X Mode list data table format... Once you know how to address pixels Mode_Data_Table STRUC in Mode X, it is easy to scroll a window M_MiscR DB ?,? ; Value of MISC_OUTPUT register around a larger virtual screen. All you M_XSize DW ? ; X Size Displayed on screen need to know is which pixel should M_YSize DW ? ; Y Size Displayed on screen appear in the upper left corner of the M_XMax DW ? ; Maximum Possible X Size screen. With that, you compute the M_YMax DW ? ; Maximum Possible Y Size address and plane number of the pixel. M_CRTC DW ? ; Table of CRTC register values The 16-bit address is loaded into the Mode_Data_Table ENDS CRT controller’s Start Address registers. .CODE ; Data Tables put in CS for easy access You then multiply the plane number by ; CRTC Register Values for Various Configurations 2 and load it into the Horizontal Pixel MODE_Single_Line: ; CRTC Data for 400/480 Line modes Panning register of the VGA’s Attribute DW 04009H ; Cell Height (1 Scan Line) controller. Occasionally, this process DW 00014H ; Dword Mode off may produce shearing of the display DW 0E317H ; turn on Byte Mode screen. To avoid this, the Horizontal DW nil ; End of 400/480 line CRTC Data Pixel Panning register is usually updated MODE_Double_Line: ; CRTC Data for 200/240 Line modes during the display’s vertical blank peri- DW 04109H ; Cell Height (2 Scan Lines) od. Examine the SET_WINDOW routine in DW 00014H ; Dword Mode off Listing 3 for an example of virtual DW 0E317H ; turn on Byte Mode screen scrolling. DW nil ; End of 200/240 Line CRTC Data Whew! This Mode X stuff is cer- MODE_320_Wide: ; CRTC Data for 320 Pixels tainly more involved than Mode 13h, DW 05F00H ; Horz total but the results are worth it. We have DW 04F01H ; Horz Displayed only scratched the surface of Mode X, DW 05002H ; Start Horz Blanking and in future articles I hope to cover DW 08203H ; End Horz Blanking ways to use Mode X’s unique features DW 05404H ; Start H Sync to produce fast and efficient graphics DW 08005H ; End H Sync routines such as page flipping, block DW nil ; End of 320 pixel CRTC Data fills, and sprites. Until next time, happy MODE_360_Wide: ; CRTC Data for 360 Pixels coding! ■ DW 06B00H ; Horz total DW 05901H ; Horz Displayed DW 05A02H ; Start Horz Blanking Matt Pritchard is a software devel- DW 08E03H ; End Horz Blanking oper for Lacerte Software in Dallas Texas, DW 05E04H ; Start H Sync and the author of MODEX110 a compre- DW 08A05H ; End H Sync hensive freeware Mode X library. He can DW nil ; End of 360 pixel CRTC Data be reached at [email protected] or through Game Developer.
30 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued on p. 32)
MODE_200_Tall: DB 0E3h, 0 ; 480 scan Lines & 25 Mhz Clock MODE_400_Tall: ; CRTC Data for 200/400 Line modes DW 320, 240 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y DW 0BF06H ; Vertical Total DW 1088, 818 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes DW 01F07H ; Overflow DW offset MODE_320_Wide, offset MODE_240_Tall DW 09C10H ; V Sync Start DW offset MODE_Double_Line, nil DW 08E11H ; V Sync End/Prot Cr0 Cr7 MODE_320x480: ; Data for 320 by 480 Pixels DW 08F12H ; Vertical Displayed DB 0E3h, 0 ; 480 scan Lines & 25 Mhz Clock DW 09615H ; V Blank Start DW 320, 480 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y DW 0B916H ; V Blank End DW 540, 818 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes DW nil ; End of 200/400 Line CRTC Data DW offset MODE_320_WIDE, offset MODE_480_Tall MODE_240_Tall: DW offset MODE_Single_Line, nil MODE_480_Tall: ; CRTC Data for 240/480 Line modes MODE_360x200: ; Data for 360 by 200 Pixels DW 00D06H ; Vertical Total DB 067h, 0 ; 400 scan Lines & 28 Mhz Clock DW 03E07H ; Overflow DW 360, 200 ; Displayed Pixels (X,Y) DW 0EA10H ; V Sync Start DW 1302, 728 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes DW 08C11H ; V Sync End/Prot Cr0 Cr7 DW offset MODE_360_Wide, offset MODE_200_Tall DW 0DF12H ; Vertical Displayed DW offset MODE_Double_Line, nil DW 0E715H ; V Blank Start MODE_360x400: ; Data for 360 by 400 Pixels DW 00616H ; V Blank End DW nil ; End of 240/480 Line CRTC Data DB 067h, 0 ; 400 scan Lines & 28 Mhz Clock ; Table of Display Mode Components & Index Table DW 360, 400 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y MODE_TABLE: DW 648, 816 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes DW offset MODE_320x200, offset MODE_320x400 DW offset MODE_360x200, offset MODE_360x400 DW offset MODE_360_Wide, offset MODE_400_Tall DW offset MODE_320x240, offset MODE_320x480 DW offset MODE_Single_Line, nil DW offset MODE_360x240, offset MODE_360x480 ;======MODE_320x200: ; Data for 320 by 200 Pixels ; int SET_VGA_MODEX (int Mode, int Max_XPos, int Max_Ypos) DB 063h, 0 ; 400 scan Lines & 25 Mhz Clock ; DW 320, 200 ; Displayed Pixels (X,Y) ; Sets Up the specified version of Mode X. Allows for DW 1302, 816 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes ; the setup of of a virtual screen which can be larger DW offset MODE_320_Wide, offset MODE_200_Tall ; than the displayed screen. DW offset MODE_Double_Line, nil ; MODE_320x400: ; Data for 320 by 400 Pixels ; ENTRY: Mode_Type = Desired Screen Resolution (0-7) DB 063h, 0 ; 400 scan Lines & 25 Mhz Clock ; 0 = 320 x 200 4 = 320 x 240 DW 320, 400 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y ; 1 = 320 x 400 5 = 320 x 480 DW 648, 816 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes ; 2 = 360 x 200 6 = 360 x 240 DW offset MODE_320_Wide, offset MODE_400_Tall ; 3 = 360 x 400 7 = 360 x 480 DW offset MODE_Single_Line, nil ; MODE_360x240: ; Data for 360 by 240 Pixels ; Max_Xpos = The Desired Virtual Screen Width DB 0E7h, 0 ; 480 scan Lines & 28 Mhz Clock ; Max_Ypos = The Desired Virtual Screen Height DW 360, 240 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y ; DW 1092, 728 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes ; EXIT: AX = Success Flag: 0 = Failure, -1 = Success DW offset MODE_360_Wide, offset MODE_240_Tall DW offset MODE_Double_Line , nil SVM_STACK STRUC MODE_360x480: ; Data for 360 by 480 Pixels SVM_Table DW ? ; Offset of Mode Info Table DB 0E7h, 0 ; 480 scan Lines & 28 Mhz Clock DD ?,?,? ; DI, SI, DS, BP, Caller DW 360, 480 ; Displayed Pixels X,Y SVM_Ysize DW ? ; Vertical Screen Size Desired DW 544, 728 ; Max Possible X and Y Sizes SVM_Xsize DW ? ; Horizontal Screen Size Desired DW offset MODE_360_Wide, offset MODE_480_Tall SVM_Mode DW ? ; Display Resolution Desired DW offset MODE_Single_Line , nil SVM_STACK ENDS MODE_320x240: ; Data for 320 by 240 Pixels PUBLIC SET_VGA_MODEX
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 31 MODE X
Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued on p. 33)
SET_VGA_MODEX PROC FAR JZ @SVM_Set_Data ; finished CRTC programming PUSHx BP, DS, SI, DI ; Preserve Registers @SVM_Setup_CRTC: SUB SP, 2 ; Allocate workspace MOV AX, CS:[DI] ; Get CRTC Data from Table MOV BP, SP ; Set up Stack Frame ADD DI, 2 ; Advance Pointer ; Make Sure Mode, X and Y Sizes are legal OR AX, AX ; At End of Data Table? MOV BX, [BP].SVM_Mode ; Get Requested Mode # JZ @SVM_Setup_Table ; If so, go get next Table CMP BX, 8 ; 8 Modes max: Is it 0..7? OUT DX, AX ; Reprogram VGA CRTC reg JAE @SVM_BadModeSetup ; If Not, Error out JMP short @SVM_Setup_CRTC ; Get next table entry SHL BX, 1 ; Scale BX to word MOV SI, wptr MODE_TABLE[BX] ; CS:SI -> Mode Info ; Initialize Page & Scroll info, DI = 0 MOV [BP].SVM_Table, SI ; Save ptr for later @SVM_Set_Data: AND [BP].SVM_XSize, 0FFF8h ; X size Mod 8 Must = 0 MOV CURRENT_PAGE, DI ; Offset into VGA memory=0 MOV AX, [BP].SVM_XSize ; Get Logical Screen Width MOV AX, VGA_SEGMENT ; Segment for VGA memory CMP AX, CS:[SI].M_XSize ; Check against Displayed X MOV CURRENT_SEGMENT, AX ; Save for Future LES’s JB @SVM_BadModeSetup ; Report Error if too small ; Set Logical Screen Width, X Scroll and Our Data CMP AX, CS:[SI].M_XMax ; Check against Max X MOV SI, [BP].SVM_Table ; Get Saved Mode Info Ptr JA @SVM_BadModeSetup ; Report Error if too big MOV AX, [BP].SVM_Xsize ; Get Display Width MOV BX, [BP].SVM_YSize ; Get Logical Screen Height MOV CX, AX ; CX = Logical Width CMP BX, CS:[SI].M_YSize ; Check against Displayed Y SUB CX, CS:[SI].M_XSize ; CX = Max X Scroll Value JB @SVM_BadModeSetup ; Report Error if too small MOV MAX_XOFFSET, CX ; Set Maximum X Scroll CMP BX, CS:[SI].M_YMax ; Check against Max Y SHR AX, 2 ; Bytes = Pixels / 4 JA @SVM_BadModeSetup ; Report Error if too big MOV SCREEN_WIDTH, AX ; Save Width in Pixels ; Make Sure there is Enough memory to Fit it all SHR AX, 1 ; Offset Value = Bytes / 2 SHR AX, 2 ; # of Bytes:Line = XSize/4 MOV AH, 13h ; 13h=CRTC Offset Register MUL BX ; DX:AX = Total mem needed XCHG AL, AH ; Switch format for OUT JNO @SVM_Continue ; Exit if Total Size > 256K OUT DX, AX ; Set VGA CRTC Offset Reg DEC DX ; Was it Exactly 256K??? ; Setup Data table, Y Scroll, Misc for Other Routines OR DX, AX ; (DX = 1, AX = 0000) MOV AX, [BP].SVM_Ysize ; Get Logical Screen Height JZ @SVM_Continue ; if so, it’s valid... MOV CX, AX ; CX = Logical Height @SVM_BadModeSetup: SUB BX, CS:[SI].M_YSize ; CX = Max Y Scroll Value XOR AX, AX ; Return Value = False MOV MAX_YOFFSET, CX ; Set Maximum Y Scroll JMP @SVM_Exit ; Normal Exit ; Clear all of VGA Memory @SVM_Continue: OUT_16 SC_INDEX, ALL_PLANES_ON ; Select All Planes MOV AX, 13H ; Start with Mode 13H LES DI, dptr CURRENT_PAGE ; ES:DI -> A000:0 INT 10H ; Let BIOS Set the Mode XOR AX, AX ; AX = 0 OUT_16 SC_INDEX, CHAIN4_OFF ;Disable Chain 4 CLD ; Block Xfer Forwards OUT_16 SC_INDEX, ASYNC_RESET ;(A)sync Reset MOV CX, 8000H ; 32K * 4 * 2 = 256K OUT_8 MISC_OUTPUT, CS:[SI].M_MiscR ;Set New Timings REP STOSW ; Clear video memory! OUT_16 SC_INDEX, SEQU_RESTART ;Restart Sequencer MOV AX, 0FFFFh ; Return Success Code -1 OUT_8 CRTC_INDEX, 11H ; Select Retrace End Reg @SVM_EXIT: INC DX ; Point to Data ADD SP, 2 ; Deallocate workspace IN AL, DX ; Get Data, Bit 7=Protect POPx DI, SI, DS, BP ; Restore Saved Registers AND AL, 7FH ; Mask out Write Protect RET 6 ; Exit & Clean Up Stack OUT DX, AL ; And send it back SET_VGA_MODEX ENDP MOV DX, CRTC_INDEX ; Vga Crtc Registers ;======ADD SI, M_CRTC ; SI->CRTC Parameter Data ; void SET_POINT (int X_pos, int Y_pos, int Color_Num) ; Load Tables of CRTC Parameters from List of Tables ; @SVM_Setup_Table: ; Plots a single Pixel on the active display page MOV DI, CS:[SI] ; Get Ptr to CRTC Data Table ; ADD SI, 2 ; Point to next Ptr Entry ; ENTRY: Xpos = X position to plot pixel at OR DI, DI ; A nil Ptr means that we have ; Ypos = Y position to plot pixel at
32 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued on p. 34)
; ColorNum = Color to plot pixel with MUL SCREEN_WIDTH ; Get Offset to Line Start ; MOV BX, [BP].RP_Xpos ; Get Xpos ; EXIT: No meaningful values returned MOV CX, BX ; Save to get shift count SP_STACK STRUC SHR BX, 2 ; X offset (Bytes) = Xpos/4 DD ?,? ; BP, DI, Caller ADD BX, AX ; Offset = Offset + Xpos/4 SETP_Color DB ?,? ; Color of Point to Plot MOV AL, READ_MAP ; GC Read Mask Register SETP_Ypos DW ? ; Y pos of Point to Plot MOV AH, CL ; Get Saved Xpos SETP_Xpos DW ? ; X pos of Point to Plot AND AH, PLANE_BITS ; mask out Plane # SP_STACK ENDS OUT_16 GC_INDEX, AX ; Select Plane to read in PUBLIC SET_POINT, READ_POINT XOR AX, AX ; Clear Return Value MOV AL, ES:[DI+BX] ; Get Color of Pixel SET_POINT PROC FAR POPx DI, BP ; Restore Saved Registers PUSHx BP, DI ; Preserve Registers RET 4 ; Exit and Clean up Stack MOV BP, SP ; Set up Stack Frame READ_POINT ENDP LES DI, dptr CURRENT_PAGE ; ES:DI -> A000:0 ;======MOV AX, [BP].SETP_Ypos ; Get Line # of Pixel ; void SET_WINDOW (int X_pos, int Y_pos) MUL SCREEN_WIDTH ; Get Offset to Line Start ; MOV BX, [BP].SETP_Xpos ; Get Xpos ; Since a Logical Screen can be larger than the Physical MOV CX, BX ; Save to get shift Plane # ; Screen, Scrolling is possible. This routine sets the SHR BX, 2 ; X offset (Bytes) = Xpos/4 ; Upper Left Corner of the Screen to the specified Pixel. ADD BX, AX ; Offset = Offset + Xpos/4 ; When called, this routine syncronizes the display to MOV AL, MAP_MASK ; Select Map Mask Register ; the vertical blank. MOV AH, 0001b ; Start w/ Plane #0 (Bit 0) ; AND CL, PLANE_BITS ; Get Plane Bits ; ENTRY: X_pos = # of pixels to shift screen right SHL AH, CL ; Get Plane Select Value ; Y_pos = # of lines to shift screen down OUT_16 SC_Index, AX ; Select Plane ; MOV AL,[BP].SETP_Color ; Get Pixel Color ; EXIT: No meaningful values returned MOV ES:[DI+BX], AL ; Draw Pixel SW_STACK STRUC POPx DI, BP ; Restore Saved Registers DW ? ; BP RET 6 ; Exit and Clean up Stack DD ? ; Caller SET_POINT ENDP SW_Ypos DW ? ; Y pos of UL Screen Corner ;======SW_Xpos DW ? ; X pos of UL Screen Corner ; int READ_POINT (int X_pos, int Y_pos) SW_STACK ENDS ; PUBLIC SET_WINDOW ; Gets the color of a pixel at (X_Pos, Y_Pos) ; SET_WINDOW PROC FAR ; ENTRY: X_pos = X position of pixel to read PUSH BP ; Preserve Registers ; Y_pos = Y position of pixel to read MOV BP, SP ; Set up Stack Frame ; ; Check if our Scroll Offsets are Valid ; EXIT: AX = Color of Pixel at (X_pos, Y_pos) MOV AX, [BP].SW_Ypos ; Get Desired Y Offset RP_STACK STRUC CMP AX, MAX_YOFFSET ; Is it Within Limits? DD ?,? ; BP, DI, Caller JA @SW_Exit ; if not, exit RP_Ypos DW ? ; Y pos of Point to Read MOV CX, [BP].SW_Xpos ; Get Desired X Offset RP_Xpos DW ? ; X pos of Point to Read CMP CX, MAX_XOFFSET ; Is it Within Limits? RP_STACK ENDS JA @SW_Exit ; if not, exit ; Compute proper Display start address to use READ_POINT PROC FAR MUL SCREEN_WIDTH ; AX=YOffset * Line Width PUSHx BP, DI ; Preserve Registers SHR CX, 2 ; CX / 4 = Bytes into Line MOV BP, SP ; Set up Stack Frame ADD AX, CX ; AX=Offset of UL Pixel LES DI, dptr CURRENT_PAGE ; ES:DI -> A000:0 MOV BX, AX ; BX=Desired Display Start MOV AX, [BP].RP_Ypos ; Get Line # of Pixel MOV DX, INPUT_1 ; Input Status #1 Register
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 33 MODE X
Listing 3. Modex.asm (Continued from p. 33)
; Wait if we are currently in a Vertical Retrace @SW_WAIT0: IN AL, DX ; Get VGA status AND AL, VERT_RETRACE ; In Display mode yet? JNZ @SW_WAIT0 ; If Not, wait for it ; Set the Start Display Address to the new window MOV DX, CRTC_Index ; We Change the Sequencer MOV AL, START_DISP_LO ; Display Start Low Reg MOV AH, BL ; Low 8 Bits of Start Addr OUT DX, AX ; Set Display Addr Low MOV AL, START_DISP_HI ; Display Start High Reg MOV AH, BH ; High 8 Bits of Start Addr OUT DX, AX ; Set Display Addr High ; Wait for a Vertical Retrace to smooth out things MOV DX, INPUT_1 ; Input Status #1 Register @SW_WAIT1: IN AL, DX ; Get VGA status AND AL, VERT_RETRACE ; Vertical Retrace Start? JZ @SW_WAIT1 ; If Not, wait for it ; Now Set the Horizontal Pixel Pan values OUT_8 ATTRIB_Ctrl, PIXEL_PAN_REG ; Select HPP Reg MOV AX, [BP].SW_Xpos ; Get Desired X Offset AND AL, 03 ; Get # of Pixels to Pan SHL AL, 1 ; Shift for 256 Color Mode OUT DX, AL ; Fine tune the display! @SW_Exit: POP BP ; Restore Saved Registers RET 4 ; Exit and Clean up Stack SET_WINDOW ENDP ;======; void SET_TEXT_MODE (void) ; int SCAN_KEYBOARD (void) ; ; Routines for the Demo program, MODEX.C ; SET_TEXT_MODE - Sets the VGA to MODE 3 (80 col text) ; SCAN_KEYBOARD - Gets a Key from BIOS PUBLIC SET_TEXT_MODE, SCAN_KEYBOARD
SET_TEXT_MODE PROC FAR MOV AH, 0 ; 0 = Set Mode Function MOV AL, 3 ; Mode to Set = 3 INT 10h ; Call the VGA BIOS RET ; That’s it! SET_TEXT_MODE ENDP
SCAN_KEYBOARD PROC FAR MOV AH, 00H ; Function #0= Read key INT 16H ; Call Keyboard BIOS RET ; That’s it! SCAN_KEYBOARD ENDP end
34 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 MTV Meets CD-ROM!
f you are part of the MTV gener- Two small production houses cre- ation, you are accustomed to play- ated particularly successful music CD- ing Nintendo or Sega and alter- ROM products: Brilliant Media in San nately listening to music or Francisco, Calif., developers of Peter watching music videos. It’s not Gabriel’s Xplora 1, and Graphix Zone surprising, then, that many musi- in Irvine, Calif., developers of Prince’s cians and game developers are (S) Interactive. Let’s take a look at joining forces and flocking to the these two game-like CD-ROMs. CD-ROMI playground—rushing to get a corner of the market. Gabriel’s Xplora 1 Old cartridge games are like new When you load Xplora 1, you hear CD-ROM games; you see the land- world music—mystical flutes in snake- scape of Marioland much like you see charmer tones. Then you see a suitcase the island of Myst. Likewise, popular open; Peter Gabriel emerges from its two-dimensional action games parallel depths to give you an overview of the new interactive music games; you hear landscape and explain the controls you bullets and punches much like you play will need on your exploration. He gen- with an interactive mixing board. erously gives you your own suitcase Games aim for a multisensory impact; with which to collect goodies along the interactive music CD-ROMs feature way. (If you fill your suitcase, you earn puzzles and challenges for players. In icons and screen savers.) both, you feel you are a part of the arti- You remember a suitcase motif ficial environment. You leave your from his recent tour and realize this is desktop behind and enter a world of no flat, dull video. The screen seems vivid imagination and carefully crafted alive. Along the top of the screen are With the interface of Peter Gabriel’s Xplora 1 creation to envision another three- pictures you recognize from his US CD-ROM, you can interact, watch, resume, or dimensional realm. album—each piece of art represents quit your play. The color stripe on the side is A gaming element can bring one of the songs from the album and the signature of Real World Records. music to life and entice people to expe- each is done by a different artist. You rience music in a new, visual way. The begin to feel very at home with this music CD-ROMs available today interface. enable players to interact with their Along the side of the screen are favorite artists’ clips and turn the pages icons that act as verbs—you control of a musical memorabilia scrap book. what happens. You can interact, watch, Interactive music CD-ROMs are resume, or quit by pointing on the difficult to create, design, program, and image and clicking. You click on pic- develop. Multimedia means there are a tures which correlate to songs, and you lot of things a game maker must are transposed to another interface address, polish, and then integrate with a new menu. For example, you together—and, like most development can access the song “Digging in the projects, it all comes together under Dirt” by clicking on the appropriate tight deadlines. icon—a painting of a shovel—and get
36 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT
by Diane a bio on the artist who created the Santa Clara, Calif., developed an painting. You can watch the video, object-oriented authoring tool for in- Anderson hear from the team who worked on the house users called Digital Montage. video, or watch an interview with Peter After working with Apple in 1991, he Using multimedia (by this time you are on a first-name realized the entertainment field was basis with the man) who offers his ripe and ready to harvest. With his reflections on the particular song. licensing fee from Apple for Digital Montage, Nelson founded Brilliant technology and game S’s Interactive Media. Imagine playing Myst. Only it’s star- His first project was a CD-ROM trekky. And purple. Very purple. Wel- demo, which combined elements from come to S’s Interactive. While Gabriel’s So album with available art Gabriel’s game is more of an “interface and text. Nelson had never met elements, two gutsy game,” S’s Interactive is more of a Gabriel, but he managed to show him “place game,” in which the player has the demo—and he loved it. the feeling of being placed in a futuris- Gabriel, who has always been on tic environment. Instead of watching the proverbial cutting edge, was defi- and innovative actors act, the player acts and plays. nitely ready for something interactive. You use the cursor to motor around. His concerts, his killer videos, his phil- The cursor is, of course, a symbol like anthropic benefits are all major produc- this: S. It is purple and zipple-like in tions where lights, sound, and action development houses the Macintosh version, white and come together for an in-your-face and rotating in the PC version. blow-your-mind sensory overload. You can turn, go forward, up, Remember the music videos for his hits down, and all around. Instead of being “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time”? wooed music‘s presented with options, you are pre- (Reportedly, some unfortunate epileptic sented with a mystery, and you must in Boston suffered a seizure from one discover the solution on your own. It’s of his videos. I’d call that using a medi- very three-dimensional. Instead of a um to touch your audience.) biggest stars— and static feel, Interactive has motion and a Gabriel’s involvement gave Bril- geographical dimension—a Myst-like liant Media access to a world of environment with rich three-dimen- resources, such as Real World (which sional textures. You feel like you are on films many of Gabriel’s concerts and a voyage, a discovery. videos) and The Box magazine, another gave the MTV British-based company closely associ- Peter’s People ated with Gabriel. Such a consortium Despite Peter Gabriel’s acute interest let Brilliant Media use much of in computer technologies, he didn’t Gabriel’s existing media—song lyrics, generation a new have his own CD-ROM project until a interviews, images, movies, and graph- smart, plucky developer came along. ics, as well as the several paintings Meet Steve Nelson who, while at Gabriel had commissioned by individ- Claris (then a division of Apple) in ual artists to capture the essence of medium to rock to.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 37 MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT
Witness (a project that equips those who suffer human rights violations with cameras and other technology to expose those violations) were included in the game. Thus, Xplora 1 is not just a rock video but a close-up of the artist and his passions.
S’s People The concept for Interactive was initiat- ed by Prince—excuse me, S—but the design, programming, and porting of the game were the work of Graphix Zone. In contrast to Gabriel, S, and his production company, Paisley Park, were looking for developers. “Prince got the bug to be an interactive artist Welcome to Gabriel’s secret world. Each interface element in Xplora 1 is a doorway to a different who wanted to express himself in a experience. The ear takes you to Gabriel’s World of Music and Dance, the eyes let you into his product like this,” explains Dave personal file, the nose takes you behind the scenes to a recording studio and the Grammy’s, the Nichols, project director. S and Pais- mouth lets you enter the US database, which includes music, videos, artwork, and interviews. ley Park put the word out that they were looking for developers to propose each song on the US album. These Media’s progress. For the most part, ideas and show presentations for possi- paintings are what add the unique Gabriel approved of Nelson’s work— ble approaches. Nichols and others at visual element to the audio and turn he just added creative elements to the Graphix Zone worked hard to show each song into a multimedia experi- production. Gabriel’s unbelievable Paisley Park what they could do. After ence. James Johnson, who started as an breadth of talent and interests, includ- looking at Graphix Zone’s stuff, Pais- intern at Brilliant Media and soon ing WOMAD (World Of Music And ley Park decided to go with them for became the company’s digital produc- Dance), Amnesty International, and the project. tion supervisor, jokes that even if Bril- liant Media were to have produced a “crappy interface,” the CD-ROM still would have been a success because of Gabriel’s incredible material. As it turned out, the interface received acco- lades and awards, including the Inter- active Media Festival’s Sparky Award. A major part of the collective design effort was the group of inde- pendent artists and contractors who were hired for a time to scan, color, and clean up images. Troy Daniels, a Bay Area graphic artist, was hired to create the game screen. He remembers his time on the project. “Gabriel was very cool to meet and working with him made the experience unforget- table. He inspired me. We all wanted to finish with a quality product.” Gabriel not only incited enthusi- asm and generated the music, video, Stop! In the name of...Prince (or rather, S). In S’s Interactive, the artist formerly known and art, he oversaw the entire project. as Prince is the master of ceremonies, and players must solve puzzles to progress through Nelson met often with Gabriel while the game’s purple, interactive maze. he was on tour to show him Brilliant
38 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT
SGI KICKS BUTT Nichols explains that after the ini- tial hand-off from Paisley, Graphix o, you want your game to have killer graphics. You’ve settled on something inter- Zone took over all the design and pro- active, but aren’t sure what the best development route is. It looks like this will be a CD-ROM project, and there is the prospect of making it an entertainment title. duction of the project—they were the Where should you begin? Well, if all were for the best in this best of all possible creative brains and the technical mus- worlds, you’d have the money to invest in one of the Indy systems from Silicon cle. Of course, Graphix Zone showed SGraphics (SGI) and take advantage of the UNIX multiuser operating system. Then, you’d Paisley the stages of progression and have a gigabyte of hard disk space and multitasking would be painless. So would porting to got feedback. It was a collaborative Macintosh and PC platforms. However, if this is on your wish list, make sure you have at effort. Paisley supplied information, least $5,000 to $25,000 for hardware alone and another $50,000 for necessary software: music tracks, and other material. Since Alias’s Eclipse ($5,995), Mentalix’s PixelFX ($1,600), Visigenic’s Creative License 1.1 S is media-oriented, the “talent” in ($1,495), and Barco Graphics’s Creator 5.2 ($17,000) and Strike ($18,000). Granted, appli- this case was very willing to cooperate. cations will run very quickly, but for that price they better. S recorded a song and shot a video specifically for this project—something Wake up, you were dreaming. Unfortunately, you don’t have the money to buy such extrav- agant dreams. And since CD-I and 3DO are not yet the standard, you’ve decided to stick to many developers hope artists will con- more traditional (and affordable) means. The PC looks like a good pick, but you remind tinue to do in this medium, instead of yourself you want graphics and good ones. You want a three-dimensional world where simply recycling old stuff. sound and video combine to anesthetize the player. For your project, budget, and goals, Obviously, Interactive’s design Macintosh is the choice. needed to match S’s persona—and it does. You sense S throughout the Surprisingly, some great games were developed on the Macintosh this year. Xplora 1 and experience. The game is seductive and Interactive are not isolated anomalies. They aren’t the only great Macintosh-developed mysterious—and purple. games. Myst is a perfect example. But there is stiff competition from DOS and PC game The design and product were fun- makers. Doom has shared more wares than anyone would care to count. And Lucas’s amaz- damentally done at Graphix Zone, ingly lucrative product Rebel Assault was developed on the PC. It sold 500,000 individual after the initial hand-off from Paisley. copies by the summer of 1994—not even a year after its late November 1993 release. Myst sold 200,000 copies by April 1994—but that is way before its PC version even had (Money makes things happen!) time to pick up any steam. Give Myst some time selling to both Macintosh and PC con- Graphix Zone completed the job in six S sumers, and I’m sure its commercial success will be overwhelming. Despite its bugs, the months—just in time for ’s birthday Macintosh-made Myst is a multisensory, virtual-reality envelope pusher. on June 7.
However, this is not a comparison or contrast of games, but an examination of developing Peter’s Machines on the Macintosh. And I must agree with Wayne Sikes that “the three-dimensional anima- The video “Kiss that Frog” on the Xplora tion graphics in Rebel Assault are excellent” (“Breaching the Rebel Base,” Chopping Block, 1 CD-ROM lucidly illustrates that Sept. 1994). However, the relatively affordable graphics capabilities of Macintoshes have Gabriel and the Brilliant Media team enabled creators of games to realize the aesthetic environments of their imaginations. The had the help of human and technological pixels on a Macintosh screen are what make the difference. Even if PCs are more tenable, resources. Mindblender Rock Motion the presentation on Macintosh is superior. Programming on PCs is unequivocally smoother, but visual aspects of a game are crucial as well. Theatre, a “ride” featuring quadraphonic sound and hydraulic seats, joined forces Macintoshes have simply been the best three-dimensional performers. Who else has killer for the video aspect with video director applications like QuickTime, Photoshop, Illustrator, Electric Image, and Strata? Now pro- Brett Leonard (Lawnmower Man). A.E. grams like Live Picture by HSC Software let users work with really large files with FITS Bunker’s sketches were scanned into Sili- (Functional Interpolating Transformation System) technology. con Graphics workstations and three- dimensionally animated at Angel Studios Many people involved in such visual creation are artists (see David Siek’s “Artist vs. Arti- in Los Angeles. Leonard preconceived san” in Artist’s View, p. 63), not programmers; the Macintosh is more user-friendly to such ideas on the computer using three- people. Of course, many computer novices get involved in the production of such titles. dimensional wire frames. They shot Musicians, animators, and marketers are all important players. footage with Sony’s HDTV camera. Since Apple infused the market with so many CD-ROM drives and Adobe first introduced its Viewers can reinterpret and reexpe- graphics applications to the Macintosh community, it seems logical that Macintoshes rience “Kiss that Frog” over and over would be a natural place for CD-ROM developers to congregate. Competition from IBM with again. It is a powerful blending of psy- its new Holiday ’94 multimedia computers is good for the industry. chedelic graphics, organic textures, and primitive emotion. The video makes viewers feel as if they are moving. Other videos on Xplora 1 don’t have motion, but do contain morphs and other tricks.
40 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 Although Brilliant Media didn’t shoot the videos or write the songs, the company assembled them to create a cohesive and rich product. Program- ming this material into a tapestry required patience and skill. To put the whole thing together and add the interactive element, Brilliant Media used its proprietary authoring system, Digital Montage, a program based on HyperCard and developed by Nelson. Think of Digital Montage as Quark or Pagemaker for multiple media. It lets the user lay out various digital infor- mation—text, images, video—into a seamless song. It allows multiple users Prince represents himself with this sym- Choosing from diverse facial features, to work on a file and coordinates “asset bol—which is seen throughout his players of Xplora 1 must put together management” for a whole project. Interactive CD-ROM. Peter Gabriel’s passport photo. Because Digital Montage is based on Hypercard, it provided extensibility. For the trippy morphs and sleights of • VideoFusion by VideoLake (for cre- • Video Vision and PLI hand, Hypercard let Brilliant Media ating effects) • A 1.07GB turbo drives. control the architecture of the game. • Photoshop by Adobe (to create and These products helped Nelson We all know multimedia is about com- manipulate PICT, TIFF, and EPS and his crew tackle the most Herculean munication—not just between people files) task of all—the particular challenge of but between programs. Digital Mon- • Premiere by Adobe (to digitize and dealing with video footage. In Eng- tage took advantage of Hypercard’s edit digital video) land, the video standard is PAL; in the capabilities. Other important tools • AfterEffects by CoSa U.S., it is NTSE, which made for Brilliant Media used included: • QuickTime and MovieShop by some difficulty. However, James John- • Digital Film Board by SuperMac (to Apple son managed to be a competent liaison; digitize video) • SoundDesigner by Digidesign he coordinated communications
Cross the bridge and enter another realm. The amazing three-dimensional rendering of Interactive lets you get inside your computer.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 41 MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT
they must face if they want to cater to a wide audience. Many developers use Macromedia’s Director, which enables developers to port their games to both PC and Macintosh platforms. Digital Montage enabled the Brilliant Media team to complete the project in nine months, but it didn’t provide a straight PC link. Brilliant Media released Xplora 1 for the Mac- intosh only and went to an outside company in England to provide the CD-I and PC ports. At press time, a PC version of Xplora 1 was about to be released. Graphix Zone’s Apple Media Tool compiles for Macintosh and Windows platforms, which reduced their porting worries. Not only did Interactive ship on time (thanks to the tool), but it was able to run on both Watch an image magically change before your very eyes. Morphs for Interactive were done platforms. in Elastic Reality. What’s Next? Big names like Prince and Peter between Real World and Brilliant The first part of the Apple Media Gabriel mean big bucks for developers Media and managed the vast sound Tool works like Director—only simpler. who can create great games that work. files, photo PICTS, and video clips You sacrifice some control but you get Brilliant Media is now working on involved. It was imperative these the same mapping or staging. The sec- other multimedia projects for Disney resources were not damaged, destroyed, ond part of the tool is a variation of the and Warner Bros., and a CD-ROM or lost, and so archiving was vital. Not C programming language called Apple movie project featuring Richard Drey- only did Johnson get an education in Media Programming Language. This is fuss. The exposure Brilliant Media management; he learned a lot about a custom language that allowed the team received for its pioneering work on the technology. Fortunately, Digital Mon- to design what it wanted to as far as collaborative Xplora 1 title couldn’t tage allows for easy tracking of navigation, graphics, and the integration have hurt its chances of winning such changes—an important benefit for such of audio and video in a real simple inter- bids. collaborative projects. face. Because the designers wanted to do Graphix Zone’s next project is for custom things like adding a mixer (a DJ Bob Dylan—quite a change from S. S’s Machines booth where you can select CDs and Nichols says that coordinating with From a creative and technical stand- play them in a player), the team used talent is challenging, but his real inter- point, Nichols says the people at Apple Media Kit, which enabled them est is getting inside the minds of stars Graphix Zone feel pleased with their to code in their own features when they and figuring out their styles. Where work on Interactive. Design and pro- wanted to do something above and does Nichols see the future? “I want to gramming aspects were nearly painless beyond Apple Media Tool. try to continue to do that same thing with their authoring tool, Apple Media Other code-intensive projects —extend the use of both technology Tool. They needed Apple Media Tool required programming—a puzzle in the and the ability to communicate some- to create the main part of the program virtual video room, morphs in the thing that represents the artist accu- and then extend into other areas, some- church, and so on. Morphing was done rately and in an entertaining way.” thing possible from other programs like in Elastic Reality. Nichols claims Apple The egomaniacal S is at it again. Hypercard. However, other script lan- Media made it much easier on the This time he’s back with a male- guages aren’t as powerful as C is and will development team. female-arrow-mirror-symbol-deal. only allow you to do limited things “in Graphix Zone made the new symbol addition to y’know making a movie The Pain of Porting its navigating cursor. I’d call that an player, being able to turn left or right or Porting is perhaps the biggest chal- accurate representation—and an enter- whatever,” says Nichols. lenge developers face today, and one taining one.
44 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 CD-ROMs this year. Conversely, Doom and Mortal Kombat will be starring in movie theaters near you soon. Television commercials are more cyber-aware these days. Technology (represented by the image of a laptop screen), coupled with an icon of coun- terculture, is used to advertise tennis shoes of all things. Intel Inside pops up between Letterman skits. Conversely, one of our favorite Saturday Night Live personalities is featured in a com- mercial advocating the CD-I platform. Strange, but big-name designers can be found not only on the pages of fashion magazines, but on the pages of our favorite techno-savvy, slick, and oh-so- very-90s ’zines. This proves a very symbiotic rela- tionship—entertainment need be tech- nical and technology is entertaining in ■ Modern Jukebox. Click on an icon, get a song. Xplora 1 pleases your eyes, your ears, and your and of itself. mind.
Break on Thru now responsible for Kurt Cameron, to the Other Side Tia Carrere, Dennis Hopper, and Diane Anderson is the editorial Not only have multimedia merged, but Stephanie Seymour showing up in assistant at Game Developer. industries have as well. Making tran- scendent computer experiences is not easy. The aim of games and the prospect PORTING of virtual reality promise the possibility of transporting a person sitting in front acromedia User Journal #27 gives this advice: “To distribute Director 4 of a computer into another environ- movies to Windows users, you need to create a projector using the Win- ment. Players should forget they are dows version of Director 4. To distribute Director 4 movies to Macintosh users, you need to create a projector using the Macintosh version of Direc- using a computer and be unaware of the tor 4. In both cases, the projector file can then call the same Director 4 mouse or keyboard as they attempt to Mmovie files. The only restriction on movie files is that they are named in accordance with grasp another dimension. PC naming conventions.” Another word on Director: Since Microsoft seems to enjoy seeing For so long, stories have helped its Windy City operating system repeatedly renamed (Windows 4 or Windows 95), there people enter new worlds, and music has not been OLE 2.0 support for Director’s Windows version. But Macromedia has good has aided in soothing the stress of life news for gamers, it looks like OLE 2.0 support will happen if Microsoft ever comes by connecting us with a spiritual aspect through. of sound. Now interactive CD-ROMs offer us an illusion of control. Interac- Beware of differences in color—a display on Windows has lower color depth, and so col- tive multimedia is cool. A lot of things ors don’t look the same. Some VGAs can show 16 colors and some can show 256. Making are multimedia—meals, poetry read- a movie look the same on all platforms is no easy task. Sound is also better on a Macin- tosh. These individual aesthetic elements (mediums) are the individual parts that, when ings, concerts, movies—but the inter- assembled together, make the multi the operative part of multimedia. active element is what intrigues our human nature. Macromedia’s Director is a good tool to use if you are concerned with making a game that Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Sili- runs on both PCs and Macintoshes. Neither platform has complete dominance (especially wood. It looks like information and with all these strange, rumored mergers and buyouts), so it seems smart to put your game entertainment are coming together out as many ways as possible. Visibility means marketability for your company—compe- more and more. Technology didn’t tition is the name of this multimedia game we’re playing. only make the MTV generation, it is
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 45 CHOPPING BLOCK
Bandits at 0x1200 High!
included with Pacific Strike, will automat- ically run whenever the user’s computer only has XMS memory available. (Origin’s JEMM.OVL was written by Jason Yenawine—JEMM is probably a mnemonic for “Jason’s Expanded Memory Manager.”) If you have trouble running the game, the included OSITEST.EXE routine, a carryover from Strike Comman- der, will diagnose your system and make recommendations for running Pacific Strike. (I saw no mention of this routine in the game literature.)
How it Works Pacific Strike’s primary executable, PACIFIC.EXE, is about 1MB in size and is not compressed or encrypted. It Pacific Strike sends the player—acting as fighter pilot—on battle missions based on real- was written using the Borland C++ life occurrences (Pearl Harbor, Midway, and the like). Here, a Japanese Val plane has just Development System. This file contains been targeted. essentially all the executable code in the game. My analysis showed the presence of a built-in cheat mode (although I haven’t yet figured out how to access it), plus lots p next on the chopping block is of internal diagnostics. PACIFIC.EXE Pacific Strike by Origin Sys- requires a minimum of a 80386 processor tems Inc. Pacific Strike is an and runs the game in protected mode. action-oriented aircraft simula- Comparisons of PACIFIC.EXE and the tion based in the Pacific theater INSTALL.EXE file show that the devel- during World War II and was opers made provisions for two add-on written using Origin’s Real- mission packages. Of particular interest Space Technology. Although was my discovery of embedded Uthis review centers on Pacific Strike v. PKWARE data compression functions. (I F1.19, I included the speech pack (sold later discovered that most of the graphic separately) in my analysis. terrain data was stored in ZIP format, so Once installed, Pacific Strike uses the presence of a “pkunzip” function about 20MB of hard disk space and makes sense.) requires 583K of conventional memory as Essentially all game data is contained well as at least 4MB of XMS (extended) in the PACIFIC.DAT file. This large file or EMS (expanded) memory. Ideally, the (about 16MB in size) contains 600 data game wants expanded memory, so the files. I will refer to these embedded data JEMM.OVL expanded memory manager, files as File Records. Listing 1 gives a
54 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 by Wayne Sikes general summary of how PACIFIC.DAT able-length file whose design allows for is organized. Basically, you can break an open-ended, expandable format. PACIFIC.DAT into three parts: (Origin Systems has used the IFF File • An 8-byte header Record format in several games includ- What makes the best • A list of 74-byte File Description ing Privateer and Strike Commander. Records. My PREDIT, PREASY, and SCEASY • A list of File Records. “help” utilities modify various IFF File The header gives the total number Records in these games.) Basically, an of File Records and the file offset of the IFF File Record is made up of one or games fly? Flexible first File Record (see the PACIFICDATHEADER more forms, with each form containing example in Listing 1). Following the one or more records. Following are a header are File Description Records. few general rules for IFF File Record Each 74-byte File Description Record construction. contains information about a File Record, • All forms have a header consisting of data structures. such as the path name of the original data the “form” text string followed by a 4- file making up the File Record, where the byte number. This number is the num- File Record is located in PACIFIC.DAT ber of data bytes in the form. (expressed as an offset from the top of the • All records have a header consisting of Wayne Sikes presents file), and the size (in bytes) of the File a name (that can be up to 8 bytes of Record. In other words, each File text characters) followed by a 4-byte Description Record “points” to its corre- number. This number is the number of sponding File Record—as in the data bytes in the record. FILEDESCRIPTIONRECORD structure in Listing • Records can be located both inside and a navigation plan to 1. (In this review, I will frequently refer to outside a form. File Records using their original data file • Never change the form or record header name. For example, the Corsair aircraft name, and never change the total num- data is contained in the CORSAIR.IFF ber of data bytes in these structures. File Record.) Violation of these rules will most likely steer you through the The File Records constitute most of cause a system crash. (Actually, you can the space in PACIFIC.DAT. These change the number of record data bytes records vary in size from a few to several but be very careful when restructuring hundred thousand bytes and contain the any forms that may enclose the record.) ins, outs, ups, and actual “pieces” of game data. Many differ- I extracted most mission and aircraft ent types of File Records are stored in data discussed in this article from IFF PACIFIC.DAT. Most File Records have File Records. The next two sections dis- an IFF file name suffix; out of 600 File cuss how missions and aircraft are “built” Records, 511 are of the IFF type. by the game engine, using the IFF File downs of Pacific Records. What is an IFF File Record? The IFF file name suffix is possibly a Mission Anatomy mnemonic for “Information Form File.” Essentially all mission data is stored in An IFF File Record is a structured, vari- IFF File Records. The name of a mission Strike.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 55 CHOPPING BLOCK
File Record contains the geographic loca- so I will only describe a few of the more axis goes above-below the map and can be tion of the mission and the number of the interesting records. considered as altitude referenced to sea mission at that location. When the game The WRLDFILE record gives the name level. Positive (+Z) movement means engine chooses a mission to play, it opens of the IFF File Record containing the ter- increased altitude. Using cockpit altitude and reads the IFF File Record corre- rain data for the player’s location. The measurements and data from Area sponding to the mission. The first cam- primary geographical areas the player will Records, I calculated a map scale factor of paign mission is centered around the interact with are in the AREA record. This 1 XYZ unit equals 1 meter. I used this Pearl Harbor area. The mission data is record contains the name and XYZ-coor- scale factor to calculate the size of the located in IFF file PRLH-M1.IFF dinate data of each important location— Pacific Strike “world.” This world mea- (PRLH-M1 is a mnemonic for Pearl for example, airfields, ships, enemy sures about 10,500 miles on a side for a Harbor Mission 1). The game engine first encampments, navigation waypoints, and total of about 110 million square miles. scans the File Description Records in the like. The center of this world, at XYZ coordi- PACIFIC.DAT until it finds a reference The game’s three-dimensional nates (0, 0, 0) is the center of the terrain to the PRLH-M1.IFF File Record. Once XYZ-coordinate system is interesting. map currently being used. An example C the correct File Description Record is Pacific Strike references all world objects structure for the AREA record data is given located, the offset and size data are used using a 24-bit coordinate system. If you in Listing 2. to locate and read the PRLH-M1.IFF imagine the world (or an area of it) dis- The CAST record lists the names of File Record. played as a flat map, movement in the X- the IFF File Records containing dialog The mission IFF File Record con- axis direction goes east-west with positive box text and other information used by tains several internal records describing (+X) movement going east. Movement in the cast members. Each cast member has the various mission parameters. The the Y direction goes north-south and pos- a Cast Member Number. Rather than ref- mission structure is somewhat complex, itive (+Y) movement heads north. The Z- erencing cast members by name, the game engine references each cast member using a predefined Cast Member Number. Listing 1. The PACIFIC.DAT File Structure Each cast member plays a part in the mission, and the PART record defines each HEADER member’s role. See Listing 2 for an exam- Bytes 0-3 Number of embedded File Records. Bytes 4-7 Offset of the first File Record. ple C structure for PART record data. Each cast member has a data structure in the FILE DESCRIPTION RECORDS PART record. The cast member structure Bytes 8-XX File Description Records. Each record is 74 references the cast member by its Cast bytes long. XX = 7 + (74 * Number of File Records) Member Number and contains IFF File Record names for files describing the FILE RECORDS member and any associated weapon loads Bytes (XX+1)-EOF File Records. as well as XYZ-coordinate data giving the starting location of the cast member rela- tive to the AREA location in which this EXAMPLE HEADER AND FILE DESCRIPTION RECORD C STRUCTURES member belongs. Finally, this structure #define BYTE unsigned char contains various control bytes specifying struct PACIFICDATHEADER the actions of the member. { long NumFileRecords; // offsets 0-3 Aircraft Construction long FirstRecordOffset; // offsets 4-7 Aircraft data is stored in IFF File }; Records. These records generally have a file name similar to the type of aircraft struct FILEDESCRIPTIONRECORD { being described, for example, the F4F3 BYTE Unidentified1; // offset 0, always value of 1 Wildcat data is stored in the F4F3.IFF char OriginalPathFileName[32]; // offsets 1-32 File Record. The aircraft IFF File Record BYTE Unidentified2[33]; // offsets 33-65 contains records describing various air- long FileRecordOffset; // offsets 66-69, PACIFIC.DAT craft parameters. Because the overall air- // FILE RECORD OFFSET craft description is rather complex, I will long FileRecordSize; // offsets 70-73, FILE RECORD again only discuss a few of the more // SIZE interesting records. }; The JETPHNME record (mnemonic for “JET Pilot NaME”) is interesting because
56 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 drag factor at byte offset 12 appears to be used in calculating the amount of lift required for take-off, while the value at offset 16 is a drag element used for calcu- lation of stall speed. Increasing the value at offset 12 results in higher takeoff speeds, and increasing the value at offset 16 results in higher stall speeds. General- ly, the two drag factors have almost iden- tical values. Pacific Strike’s dynamic animation capabilities depicts a shot of several aircraft sitting on a The WPNS record data consists of one carrier. This image appears in the games opening animation sequence. or more 10-byte structures. Each struc- ture references one weapon type. Listing 2 gives an example WPNS structure. The it shows that much of the Pacific Strike ing 2, which gives an example C structure first two bytes in the structure contain the game engine came directly from Strike for THRS record data. Byte offsets 5 and 6 weapon load (number of bullets, bombs, Commander. After all, why would a in this structure form a 16-bit value that and the like), and the last eight bytes give World-War-II aircraft name be in a represents aircraft engine horsepower. the name of the IFF File Record that record referencing jet aircraft? This horsepower value sometimes differs contains detailed weapon information. The flight modeling is contained in from the values referenced in the game The names of the weapon File Records the TOFF, LAND, DYNMDYNM, STBL, ATMO, THRS, literature (probably due to programmer correspond with the weapon type, for and JDYN records. The DYNMDYNM record (see “tweaking” to make the game more example, 20MM.IFF (20-mm cannon), Listing 2 for an example C structure) playable). Of course, changes in engine 50CAL.IFF (.50-caliber machine gun), contains the approximate weight of the horsepower ratings will drastically affect and B1000LB.IFF (1,000-pound bomb). aircraft in increments of 600 pounds. For aircraft performance. Drag factors are The HPTS record data defines where example, the weight of a 4,200-pound located at byte offsets 12 and 16. The the weapons referenced in the WPNS record aircraft would be given as 7. Obviously in this flight model, the exact weight is not very important. The STBL record contains a data byte representing the overall stabil- ity of the aircraft. These values ranged from an unstable Helldiver (40 decimal) to a very stable Bearcat (131 decimal). If you reduce the value of this parameter to less than 20, your aircraft will never be stable enough to fly. Increase this value to get better handling. The ATMO record appears to contain a measure of the overall atmospheric drag or total air resistance of the aircraft. The Baka (a very sleek, rocket-powered Japan- ese aircraft) had an ATMO record data-byte value of 51 (decimal), and the large and heavy Japanese Betty had a value of 230 (decimal). If the ATMO record data value is too high, your aircraft will have so much drag that you will never get off the ground. Conversely, very small values will give you almost no air resistance—that is, they will create inertia similar to flying in space vacuum conditions. It will take you a long time to bleed off enough speed for landings. The THRS record contains aircraft thrust and propulsion data. Refer to List-
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 57 CHOPPING BLOCK
are mounted on the aircraft. See Listing 2 Listing 2. Several Types of RECORD Data (Continued on p. 59) for an example of the HPTS data structure. Each mount point on the aircraft is called #define BYTE unsigned char a “hardpoint” and is defined by a 13-byte #define WORD unsigned int structure. One or more of these structures // Data in AREA Record make up the HPTS record data. The first // Note there are Type C and S AREA RECORD data. The type is determined byte in the structure gives the hardpoint // by the contents of AreaType. The Type C and S data are different sizes. type. Surveys found the following hard- struct AREA_TypeC point types: { • Type 0: .50-caliber machine guns, BYTE AreaType; // offset 0, C char 20mm cannons, and 7.7mm machine char AreaName[33]; // off 1-33, text or 0x2E guns long XAxis; // off 34-37, X pos of object • Type 1: High-Velocity Aerial Rockets long YAxis; // off 38-41, Y pos of object • Type 2: 100- and 551-pound bombs long ZAxis; // off 42-45, Z pos of object WORD AreaWidth; // off 46-47 • Type 3: 500- and 1,000-pound bombs, WORD Blank0; // off 48-49 Napalm, MK-13 Torpedoes WORD AreaHeight; // off 50-51 • Type 4: 12.7mm machine guns BYTE Blank1; // off 52 The last 12 bytes in each HPTS record }; data structure give the location of the hardpoint expressed in aircraft XYZ coor- struct AREA_TypeS dinates. Aircraft coordinates are represent- { ed as 32-bit signed numbers. The X-axis BYTE AreaType; // offset 0, S char stretches from wingtip to wingtip, the Y- char AreaName[33]; // off 1-33, text or 0x2E long XAxis; // off 34-37, X pos of object axis stretches from the nose of the plane to long YAxis; // off 38-41, Y pos of object the tail, and the Z-axis extends from the long ZAxis; // off 42-45, Z pos of object top to the bottom of the aircraft. Origin’s WORD AreaWidth; // off 46-47 aircraft coordinate system follows the BYTE Blank0; // off 48 standard “right-hand rule” (for those of }; you who remember a little bit of physics). The 0 or center reference position (0, 0, 0) // Data in DYNMDYNM Record is approximately the location of the pilot struct DYNMDYNM seat in the cockpit. Using references to { BYTE unknown0; // off 0 aircraft dimensions given in the game lit- BYTE unknown1; // off 1 HPTS record erature and various data sam- BYTE AirplaneWeight; // off 2, real wt in lbs/600 ples, I calculated a rough XYZ-coordinate BYTE unknown2; // off 3 scale factor of 12 XYZ coordinate units }; equals 1 inch of distance on the aircraft or 144 XYZ coordinate units equals 1 foot. // Data in HPTS Record For example, assume you are sitting in the struct HPTS cockpit of a Corsair and you increase the { X-axis coordinate of a gun mount hard- BYTE Type; // off 0, Hardpoint type 0-4 long XAxis; // off 1-4, X pos of hardpoint point from 400 to 544. Looking out the long YAxis; // off 5-8, Y pos of hardpoint right side cockpit window onto the wing, long ZAxis; // off 9-12, Z pos of hardpoint you would notice the gun mount had }; moved about one foot away from you. // Data in PART Record Undocumented struct PART Keyboard Features { Several useful keystrokes are not docu- WORD MemberNumber; // off 0-1, Cast Member Number mented in Pacific Strike’s game literature. char MemberName[16]; // 2-17, IFF File Record name char WeaponLoad[8]; // 18-25, IFF File Record name Note that some of these are active only in WORD Unknown0; // 26-27 certain portions of the game. During WORD Unknown1; // 28-29 game startup and while onboard the carri- long XAxisRelative; // 30-33, X pos rel to AREA er, the Alt-V keystroke reads out the game version and the state number. The game
58 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 Listing 2. Several Types of RECORD Data (Continued from p.58) exist. Overall, the RealSpace game engine worked well but it could still use some long YAxisRelative; // 34-37, Y pos rel to AREA improvement in the graphics rendering WORD ZAxisRelative; // 38-39, Z pos rel to AREA and updating areas. BYTE Controls[22]; // 40-61, various control bytes RealSpace was also used in Strike }; Commander, and I noticed a definite // Data in THRS Record carryover of old Strike Commander data struct THRS in Pacific Strike. Some Pacific Strike { File Records appeared to be littered BYTE Blank0[5]; // off 0-4 with data such as unused pieces of WORD HorsePower; // off 5-6, Engine HP Strike Commander missions. While BYTE Blank1; // off 7 doing the analysis for my SCEASY and BYTE Flags0; // off 8 SCEDIT Strike Commander utilities, I BYTE Flags1; // off 9 observed that the Strike Commander BYTE Unknown0; // off 10 data was very cleanly organized and BYTE Blank2; // off 11 BYTE Drag1Factor; // off 12, 1st drag factor grouped. Pacific Strike seems to be a BYTE Blank3[3] ; // off 13-15 product that was hurriedly thrown BYTE Drag2Factor; // off 16, 2nd drag factor together using the Strike Commander BYTE Blank4[2]; // off 17-18 engine. The presence of unused Strike }; Commander mission data is a good example of the “we are behind schedule // Data in WPNS Record and on a tight budget, so just make it struct WPNS run” philosophy many game companies { currently operate with. WORD WeaponLoad; // Number of bullets, bombs, etc char WeaponName[8]; // Weapon IFF File Record name The philosophy behind the Real- }; Space file formats used for data storage, that is, IFF File Records, allows for an open-ended, expandable gaming environ- engine references missions using prede- Kit” to experiment with game data. The ment. The price for this technology is fined State Numbers. When you are in kit includes PSDAT, an analysis and data longer time delays during game startup the cockpit during a mission, this same modification tool you can use for extract- and updating (while the various File keystroke reads out the Version and the ing and inserting File Records into Pacific Records are being processed), and more Mission name. The Mission name is Strike. It also includes several X-Wing stringent requirements regarding comput- essentially the name of the IFF File aircraft that I built using aircraft File er system speed and memory usage. (I Record that contains the mission data. Records. (I refer to these aircraft as X- turned off all the sky and water texturing Pearl Harbor Mission 1 has an IFF File Wings because I repositioned the gun options while doing this analysis and I Record name of PRLH-M1.IFF and mount hardpoints on the wingtips so that often achieved a frame rate on my would be displayed with Alt-V as they appear to fire in an X-Wing man- 486DX2/50 of only five frames per sec- “PRLHM1.” ner.) These experimental X-Wing aircraft ond.) I guess its about time for that The game also includes some built-in are much faster and have more firepower 90MHz Pentium upgrade. ■ diagnostics you can activate via the Shift- than the original game vehicles. The D and Shift-F keycodes. Both keycodes Experimenter’s Kit (PSKIT.ZIP) is in the are active only while the player is in the Flight Simulation Forum (GO FS Wayne Sikes has been a computer cockpit. The Shift-D keycode toggles a FORUM) on CompuServe, Historic Air hardware and software engineer for the last readout containing display and memory Combat Library. 10 years. He has an extensive background in usage parameters, including frame rate (in C, C++, and assembly language program- frames per second). The Shift-F keycode Does It Fly? ming. He also has several years experience as toggles a readout of the display frame rate One of the messages that Origin released a computer systems intelligence analyst, only. The Alt-F keycode displays the regarding Pacific Strike was that the where he specialized in deciphering and dis- game score. game tries “to raise the standard in terms assembling computer code while working on of technology, graphics, sound and classified government projects. He has Experimenting with music—every aspect of the gaming expe- authored numerous computer gaming help Pacific Strike rience.” My analysis of Pacific Strike utilities. He can be reached via e-mail at During the course of this analysis, I pre- shows this to be the case, but as with all [email protected] or through pared a “Pacific Strike Experimenter’s evolving technology, numerous problems Game Developer magazine.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 59 BY DESIGN
Reinventing the Death Star
movement, the close relationship between these two companies has helped LucasArts reap the benefits of George Lucas’s movie- making vision.
Using the Force The influence of Star Wars can be felt throughout many computer and video games—from the hyperspace button in Asteroids to the space dogfights in Wing Commander. The Star Wars story first appeared in games in a series of coin-oper- ated arcade games developed by Atari in the early 1980s, which featured sequences loosely based on scenes from the three Star Wars movies: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. The first two were three-dimensional space combat games using vector-based, wire-frame graphics to show action. The third game, The Dark Forces game engine is capable of displaying both one-dimensional rotated bitmaps Return of the Jedi, used more convention- and true three-dimensional polygon objects. In this case, the characters walking around on al, sprite-based color graphics and featured the deck are two-dimensional bitmaps while the spaceship and surrounding spacestation game play from an isometric three-dimen- are polygon-based with bitmaps wrapped around them. sional perspective. To capitalize on the exploding video game market, in 1982 Lucasfilm formed a computer game division called Lucasfilm n an era where most movie compa- Games. From 1982-1987, acting solely as nies are trying to get into the com- a developer, Lucasfilm Games turned out puter game industry, one company games such as Rescue at Fractalis and Ball has been there for a while. LucasArts Blazer. In 1987, Lucasfilm Games became Entertainment and its sister compa- a publisher, and in a corporate restructur- ny, Lucasfilm, both formed by Star ing move eventually became what it is Wars creator George Lucas, have today, LucasArts Entertainment. been in the thick of both industries After developing coin-operated Ifor almost a decade. While the companies arcade games, LucasArts wanted to better are totally separate, they have found a cre- establish itself in the game market and dis- ative synergy in LucasArts games based on tance itself from the shadow of the Lucas Lucasfilm movies. empire. And so, the company began devel- Although both George Lucas and oping games for home computers that had LucasArts CEO Randy Komisar have nothing to do with Star Wars. Its first titles publicly criticized the digital Hollywood were the point-and-click adventure games
60 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 by Alexander Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and series, and Star Wars iconography, made the Alien Mindbenders, Loom, and the X-Wing a smash hit. Antoniades Secret of Monkey Island, most of which X-Wing was so successful that one were created using its own SCUMM supplemental mission disk made PC LucasArts is keeping (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Man- Data’s best seller list by itself. The game sion) game engine. eventually spawned a sequel called Tie LucasArts next entered the flight Fighter. simulator genre, with games such as Bat- After this success, LucasArts investi- tlehawks 1942 and Secret Weapons of the gated making more games with the Star Darth Vader‘s name Luftwaffe. It was from this experience Wars license and the result was another making flight simulators that Star Wars hit, Rebel Assault. This game was more reemerged in the computer game world. episodic and had more linear game play than X-Wing, and it relied more on cap- A License to Develop tured video images, including some taken alive around the LucasArts’ computer game division had directly from the original Star Wars film. first crack at the license to create games Rebel Assault was also among the first based on all of George Lucas’s films. This games to come out on CD-ROM for the relationship worked well on films such as PC and became an early success story for office by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which this product category. had multiple computer games released in conjunction with it. This partnership even Dark Forces produced Indiana Jones and the Fate of Continuing its trend of using the Star Atlantis, a computer game-only episode of Wars license to showcase cutting-edge continuously coming the Indiana Jones saga. Unfortunately, by technology, LucasArts joined the ranks of the time this licensing arrangement was Doom-style games with its latest entry, established, the Star Wars film series had Dark Forces. In this game, the player come to an end. fights storm troopers as a secret agent for But Star Wars games returned in a the Rebel Alliance. up with new games big way in 1991, with the release of X- While the game’s lead programmer, Wing, a game featuring Star Wars charac- Daron Sinnett, admits his team studied ters and themes. In X-Wing, players pilot Doom’s design, he insists that the Dark an X-Wing fighter plane (similar to Luke Forces game engine is 100% original. He using iconography Skywalker’s in the original Star Wars) from speculates, however, that the data struc- training missions up to destroying the tures might be close enough that a conver- Death Star. The X-Wing design team sion program could convert one file struc- integrated the repair and management of ture into the other. the X-Wing’s resources into the game, A clear difference between the two from the Star Wars which added to the game’s realism and games is the design environment that the improved long-term playability. The com- Dark Forces design team used. While the bination of LucasArts’ experience with Doom development team used a NextStep flight simulator games, a game engine environment with its own tools, the Dark similar to Origin’s Wing Commander Forces design team used a DOS-based film series.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 61 BY DESIGN
design environment with Watcom’s C ly enough—the Jedi, and LucasArts Forces. This character had to be approved compiler 10.0 and AutoCAD release 12. hopes to use it again in future games. by licensing and, ultimately, by George The Dark Forces team chose Auto- A shift in the market toward CD- Lucas himself. CAD over other rendering packages ROM games caused LucasArts to because most of the designers were for- decide—halfway into the project—to make The Future mer architects more accustomed to using Dark Forces CD-ROM based. This LucasArts is looking toward the future CAD software. A dedicated programmer allowed the game to have more elaborate with a variety of projects in the computer customized the AutoCAD interface using animation sequences, but the size of the entertainment area, such as Commander, a extensions to add elements such as light- remaining game code was comparable in programmable interactive simulator that ing and wall textures. In the end, devel- size to a floppy-disk-based game. Indeed, can be an airplane, a submarine, or a opers used the base AutoCAD program the overall design of the game is more sim- spaceship. Another project is a multimedia mainly for the geometry of building the ilar to the disk-based, X-Wing-style games network project with Japanese giant Fujit- space. than the CD-based Rebel Assault. su involving a multiplayer Doom-style For the games X-Wing and Tie Star Wars, according to Sinnett, is game with a Star Wars theme. And, Fighter, LucasArts used a general-pur- ingrained into the culture of LucasArts. George Lucas is rumored to have some pose, polygon-based engine that could The basic design of all Star Wars games is new Star Wars movies in the works, which render pretty much any object from the open ended, to the point that designers can will undoubtedly spawn new games to cap- Death Star to a space buoy. The Dark do almost anything they want. No direct italize on the films’ inevitable popularity. Forces engine is more specific in design. link exists between the various games in Regardless of these projects, one It combines a true three-dimensional the Star Wars license, so every game can thing is certain: whatever the outcome in engine to render the objects in the game end with Darth Vader meeting some hor- the interactive entertainment boom and and a flat bitmap manipulation engine to rible new fate. the Silicon-Valley-meets-Hollywood render the characters. LucasArts is look- The licensing division of Lucasfilm is craze, one of George Lucas’s companies ing to make the performance acceptable involved only when a game introduces new will be right in the middle of it ■ on a 486/33MHz machine with a report- characters to the Star Wars pantheon. An ed frame rate of 30 fps on a 486/66MHz. example is the Dark Trooper, a new class Sander Antoniades is Game Develop- This game engine is called—appropriate- of storm trooper introduced in Dark er’s editor-at-large.
62 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 ARTIST‘S VIEW
Artist vs. Artisan
by David Sieks had spent the morning climbing is not always successful, because broad- counter-clockwise, spiraling up based agreement as to what qualifies as through cloistered rooms and spaces Art is hard-won. Even once the label has A paradigm shift has lovingly lit; altars to artistic genius. been made to stick, the question exists as Past the beautiful, the daring, the to what quality content it assures. “I don’t exhilarating; past Miro and Picasso, know art, but I know what I like” has long past Kandinsky and Klee. Finally, at been wielded as a sharp pin to deflate such the very top of Manhattan’s assumptions of worth. IGuggenheim Museum—that corkscrew Many people like computer games, begun in the game through the pulpy core of Modern Art—I though few, if any, would think to define arrived at Kosuth. them as Art. Some game developers “Clear, Square, Glass, Leaning,” an might contend that the act of creating an installation piece by Joseph Kosuth, con- entertaining game is an art form, yet even sists of four clear squares of glass, leaning they would hesitate to acclaim the end industry—arcade side by side against the wall at a slight result a work of art. Games are diversion, angle. As I arrived on the scene, a young fun for fun’s sake. In any case, the very art critic in pigtails and pink stockings was word “game” carries with it a connotation attempting to ferret some meaning from of frivolity that effectively serves to pre- this piece as her mother looked on. vent more serious consideration. action now coincides In the center of each glass square is The visual artist involved in the pro- lettered a word in neat, white type. Pacing duction of a game fares little better, studiously the length of the installation respectability-wise. Generally, our cre- and pointing her small finger at each word ations are rarely considered Art, and we in turn, she read aloud, proudly, in a clear are considered more artisans than true contralto. “Clee-ur ... Squay-ur ... Glass artists, probably ranking lower on the with Art itself. So what ...um...” totem pole than the more traditional vari- Mother was there to assist. “Lean- eties of commercial artist. This is partly ing,” she offered. “Leaning,” repeated the because we are associated with a frivolous waif, regarding the Kosuth with delicately product and also because of the medium furrowed brow. “Leaning, Mommy? Is itself, which has, until recently, delivered does that make us? that what makes it Art?” game graphics that are relatively crude. Art Who? A New Medium I relate that 100% Guaranteed Genuine Of course, the rapid pace of technology No B.S. anecdote to you here because I has changed all the familiar rules. The think it crystallizes the confusion in our realm of possibility with computer graph- Game developers or society surrounding the very notion of art. ics becomes ever more stunning. It is no What it is and, conversely, what it isn’t. longer uncommon to find the dazzling What does any of this have to do with products of sophisticated graphics soft- game development? Read on. ware gracing magazine covers, on televi- Art, as a label, intends to validate sion, in major films, and even featured in Arteests? both the artist and the work. The attempt galleries as, you guessed it, Art.
GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994 63 ARTIST‘S VIEW
exciting the imagination, of provoking Art, nor should they. I can hardly imagine thought, of captivating its audience. Capa- anything more tedious. ble of beauty. In a word, Art. A New Role Feet Back On the Ground At the same time, all games would profit if What, you may be asking yourself, does artists were given a greater role throughout this have to do with the two-way scrolling a game’s development. People in the shooter I want to make to run on the 386? industry tend to use “the talent” as tools— Maybe not much at all. Using the available tell them only as much as they need to technology for meaningful creative expres- crank out their little segment and make sion is a new possibility, not a new man- sure they do as they’re told—like some sort Art? Dogfight was created by Designers’ date. The computer game was born out of of AI-Paint program. (I can hear pro- CADD Co. of Cambridge, Mass., using sam- far simpler pleasures, and there is doubt- grammers drooling at the very idea of ple 3DStudio geometry and plug-ins from less much vigor, joy, and profit left in the being able to realize their game concepts Yost Group Inc. familiar arcade genres. without relinquishing one iota of control, Someone out there is probably clever but no, such software does not yet exist. With the full range of multimedia and creative enough to figure out a way to Just last issue, though, this magazine pro- capabilities now so commonly available, make arcade action and art coincide in a filed software that can compose tunes the games of today—or more to the point, 16-bit cartridge. The paradigm shift I given only thematic guidance by the user. I those of tomorrow—are not, in a manner called for earlier begins within the indus- doubt it’s made many friends amongst liv- of speaking, your father’s Oldsmobile. Not try. There are indications that it already ing, breathing, bill-paying musicians.) only has it become possible to make games has begun. What’s lost by such an approach is that are neater looking, better sounding, By now you might easily have heard potentially valuable creative input that and more smoothly interactive, but sud- more than you ever wanted to hear about could nudge a game in directions denly (relatively so) we have at hand tools Broderbund Software’s Myst (especially if unthought of. What sort of game might truly fit for the artist and a new medium you’re the jealous type). Brodurbund’s suc- develop if the renderers and musicians for meaningful creative expression. cess is remarkable, though, because they were sitting at the table from the earliest Yes, I’m talking about computer dispensed with elements that seemed near- brainstorming sessions? What new ways games. Why not? The art world has tradi- ly indispensable—fluid action, readily might be conceived to interweave talent tionally met encroaching technology with identifiable goals, violence—and delivered with technology, playability with beauty, resistance (ask any airbrush artist). Yet, the a hauntingly evocative, beautifully ren- strategy with color and sound? Fantastic computer is too powerful and flexible a dered game. In a different way, Infogames’ collaborations are waiting to happen. Vast tool to be so ostracized. Witness its near Alone in the Dark defied convention as new horizons await exploration. ubiquitous presence in the design field. well by incorporating a shifting “cinemat- I’ve found myself dreaming lately of a How’s this as a vehicle for creative ic” viewpoint that introduced to computer day when the New York Times reviews expression: graphics tools that allow live- games new possibilities for storytelling interactive computer art with the same action video, photo-illusion, and emula- power and depth. A fresh use of viewpoint highbrow intensity it devotes to cinematic tion of traditional drawing and painting also buoys System Shock, from Looking and literary efforts. Maybe, someday, I’ll media with a palette of colors vastly Glass Technologies. By combining what make my way to the very top of the greater than that offered by any paint they call a “6-D” perspective with highwire Guggenheim and find there a small child manufacturer; quality stereo sound; an tension, they keep the player literally peer- staring rapt into a glowing screen that ever-more-responsive array of interface ing around each corner, attaining a level of responds to each whispered command, options that allow the audience to become audience immersion any Hollywood direc- that whispers back and hums and sings an active participant. With the list of pos- tor would envy. and fills that topmost corner of the muse- sibilities growing almost daily, the com- Tremendous talent exists in the field um with gentle swirls and eddies of sound. puter game can become not only an art today, and gaming horizons are constantly The parent, smiling quietly in the back- form, but an unprecedentedly interactive, being stretched—if in mostly familiar ground, will be visibly pleased that the malleable form of art, guided by the directions. But that’s what paradigms are child shows such appreciation for fine art. artist/game designer and uniquely shaped all about. They’re tough to shake. The cre- It may be a farfetched conceit, but by the audience/user. ative impulse to make something more that’s my job—I’m an artist. ■ The time is ripe for a paradigm shift, than “just a game” will not likely come where society acknowledges the computer from a game developer looking to make a Send your thoughts on art and artists in game as a veritable art form fully as expres- better version of something we’ve already the game industry to Dave Sieks at Game sive as the novel, film, theater, ballet, seen, which is in itself a noble effort. All Developer, or e-mail him at dsieks@ opera. Capable of instilling wonder, of games don’t need to aspire to the level of arnarb.harvard.edu.
64 GAME DEVELOPER • DECEMBER 1994