Once around '97 or '98 while looking through game magazines I found an old computer data cassette tape still in the origional packaging.. I think it was marked for use with a C64 or TRS-80.
SDL is for PS2 Linux.
PS2 Linux has a version of Mesa (OpenGL clone)
that ships with it.
Unfortunately texture mapping isn't optimized with that release so the performance isn't
what it could be.
But if you're using OpenGL you're missing all the strengths of the PS2. I'd only use SDL for a frame buffer application or some port of an emulator or something.
If you're going to code anything brand new just go straight to low-level. Otherwise you'll be wasting most of the machines power.
Yeah.. all sorts of crazy things are possible..
I'm the postscript guru at work and I've done all sorts of crazy things when I was bored..
Here's something that you should NOT send to a HP Postscript printer:)
%!PS-Adobe-2.0 ExitServer
%%BeginExitServer: 0 serverdict begin 0 exitserver
%%EndExitServer
serverdict begin () exitserver
/show{/zzdx(fu)def dup(Fu)search{pop pop pop/zzdx(Fu)def}if dup
(FU)search{pop pop pop/zzdx(FU)def}if
dup zzdx search{pop pop dup length 2 ge{dup(c)0 get 0 exch put(k)
0 get 1 exch put show}{pop show}ifelse}{pop show}ifelse} bind def
I for one would love to see unfinished work.
If it sucks then it sucks, but that's what I would expect. Being such a big fan I'd love to get my hands on whatever I could.. even if it is just to bring back a few of the joys and memories of reading through HHGTTG for the first time.
My suggestion would be...
look at random map generation algorithms.
I've found iterated fractal systems to be great inspiration for this sort of thing.
Most of your time will be invested in actually generating the game content (Maps) so why not have the computer do most of the work for you?
Now once you have the algorithm down just save whatever you need to recreate the same results later... most likely random seeds.
So imagine this.. you don't need to store some huge detailed map. Just store a detailed map for whatever is on the screen (or whatever is needed for processing offscreen) and generate the detailed data on the fly from a bunch of non-detailed data. (like random seeds.. or developer chosen hotspots.. whatever)
now for a handy tidbit of advice...
MAKE GOOD EDITORS FOR YOU CONTENT CREATORS.
One of the programmers for a large high profile game once told me this, "The reason all of these games are coming out late is that all the artists are sitting in a dark room tweaking texture coordinates with a text editor"
So whatever you end up doing.. invest most of your time developing the tools to handle the data. Design the data structures so that they can be managed/edited easily. it will pay off a thousand times in the end.
Using normal lighting calculations and threshholding the results is a good technique. (emulates what the artist would be trying to do anyway) but I think there is an easier method.
An old trick to simulate smooth phong-like shading is to use environment mapping on an object. If your env. texture looks like a smooth material like plastic or metal you can get very nice shading effects. Try using a source texture that looks like a toon-shaded sphere.
The main drawback is that you require more texture memory and moving your lightsources is just about impossible, but the code to render this way is extremely easy!
(for those that don't know you can env map by rotating vertex normals by your object->screen space rotation matrix (no perspective or tranlsation!) and throw away the z of the resulting normal. the x and y of the normal make instant UV texture coordinates.
Considering how many times I've seen our non-technical employees warn the company about hoaxes and spread email viruses I wouldn't be surprised if these people would give out dangerous information to a clever social engineer.
This kind of device is going to be extremely useful to the amature and pro developers.
Back when I was hacking the N64 using a rom emulator/copier (Doctor64) we had to compile the code and pray that it would work. System lockup all the sudden? Try and debug by looking at the code. Unfortunately the doctor64 did not allow the n64 to communicate to the pc through the parallel port interface.. so an interactive debugger wasn't possible. This limited development severely.
With this system.. someone will be able to code a simple loader/bios to put on cdr that will communicate over the lpt port to get files... when the Game/demo/whatever is working they can burn that to cdr.. replacing the file loading routines with ones that work off the actual cdr...
Slashdot Mirror
I think you're going to have a bit of trouble with the unified memory architecture.
It's not so much a pc as you would think.
I used to buy my n64 games at that toys-r-us.
Once around '97 or '98 while looking through game magazines I found an old computer data cassette tape still in the origional packaging.. I think it was marked for use with a C64 or TRS-80.
I thought that was kinda spooky
Considering how much trouble I've had
with VIA motherboard chipsets and random
crashes I wouldn't touch a VIA cpu with
a ten foot pole.
Can we mod the main slashdot story as
+5 funny?
That's funny coming from an Amiga guy.
I wished that my pc could play games as
cool as the Amiga.
SDL is for PS2 Linux.
PS2 Linux has a version of Mesa (OpenGL clone)
that ships with it.
Unfortunately texture mapping isn't optimized with that release so the performance isn't
what it could be.
But if you're using OpenGL you're missing all the strengths of the PS2. I'd only use SDL for a frame buffer application or some port of an emulator or something.
If you're going to code anything brand new just go straight to low-level. Otherwise you'll be wasting most of the machines power.
Oh yeah.. here's the fix:
/show systemdict /show get def
%!PS-Adobe-2.0 ExitServer
%%BeginExitServer: 0 serverdict begin 0 exitserver
%%EndExitServer
serverdict begin () exitserver
Yeah.. all sorts of crazy things are possible..
I'm the postscript guru at work and I've done all sorts of crazy things when I was bored..
Here's something that you should NOT send to a HP Postscript printer
%!PS-Adobe-2.0 ExitServer
%%BeginExitServer: 0 serverdict begin 0 exitserver
%%EndExitServer
serverdict begin () exitserver
/show{/zzdx(fu)def dup(Fu)search{pop pop pop/zzdx(Fu)def}if dup
(FU)search{pop pop pop/zzdx(FU)def}if
dup zzdx search{pop pop dup length 2 ge{dup(c)0 get 0 exch put(k)
0 get 1 exch put show}{pop show}ifelse}{pop show}ifelse} bind def
I've had my set for about a week now and here are some of the highlights:
Re-dubbed english dialog with new translations. (More story details!)
Remastered and improved audio. (better foley effects and other realistic touches)
Capsule mode, English translations of the graffiti!
4500+ stills and production art
Interviews with the director and a sequence about the soundtrack.
Origional Japanese soundtrack left intact.
I highly reccomend this.. the restored video and surround sound make this an amazing movie to watch.
Use peanut butter to remove stuck on paper-gunk from stickers that won't peel off nicely.
I think it also can be used to remove chewing gum that's stuck in your hair.
Peanut butter is almost as useful as a towel when you're traveling through space.
So maybe the drives will not get bigger but I'm sure they can always be faster, quieter and cheaper.
Have you actually tried to use Blender?!
:)
The program relies so heavily on hotkeys that I have to wonder if they obfuscated it on purpose just to sell more books
I currently have a special cable built for programming the gameboy advance hooked up to LPT1.
check out http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/mbv2faqs.php
I for one would love to see unfinished work.
If it sucks then it sucks, but that's what I would expect. Being such a big fan I'd love to get my hands on whatever I could.. even if it is just to bring back a few of the joys and memories of reading through HHGTTG for the first time.
Noone will give you any money. Anyone interested in investing is looking for a quick profit that games will not bring in.
Try to sell a finished game to a publisher.
If you can prove to a publisher that you are capable you can usually get immediate work porting other games to different platforms.
My suggestion would be...
look at random map generation algorithms.
I've found iterated fractal systems to be great inspiration for this sort of thing.
Most of your time will be invested in actually generating the game content (Maps) so why not have the computer do most of the work for you?
Now once you have the algorithm down just save whatever you need to recreate the same results later... most likely random seeds.
So imagine this.. you don't need to store some huge detailed map. Just store a detailed map for whatever is on the screen (or whatever is needed for processing offscreen) and generate the detailed data on the fly from a bunch of non-detailed data. (like random seeds.. or developer chosen hotspots.. whatever)
now for a handy tidbit of advice...
MAKE GOOD EDITORS FOR YOU CONTENT CREATORS.
One of the programmers for a large high profile game once told me this, "The reason all of these games are coming out late is that all the artists are sitting in a dark room tweaking texture coordinates with a text editor"
So whatever you end up doing.. invest most of your time developing the tools to handle the data. Design the data structures so that they can be managed/edited easily. it will pay off a thousand times in the end.
I'd be more worried about toxic MIR space fungus
eating at my Space Shuttle parked outside...
Using normal lighting calculations and threshholding the results is a good technique. (emulates what the artist would be trying to do anyway) but I think there is an easier method.
An old trick to simulate smooth phong-like shading is to use environment mapping on an object. If your env. texture looks like a smooth material like plastic or metal you can get very nice shading effects. Try using a source texture that looks like a toon-shaded sphere.
The main drawback is that you require more texture memory and moving your lightsources is just about impossible, but the code to render this way is extremely easy!
(for those that don't know you can env map by rotating vertex normals by your object->screen space rotation matrix (no perspective or tranlsation!) and throw away the z of the resulting normal. the x and y of the normal make instant UV texture coordinates.
Happy rendering
Considering how many times I've seen our non-technical employees warn the company about hoaxes and spread email viruses I wouldn't be surprised if these people would give out dangerous information to a clever social engineer.
Yup.. and you can go get the source at a few places.
try...
http://ps2dev.sourceforge.net/index2.html
and
http://www.anarchists.co.uk/html/psx2.html
also.. for more (non-gpl) psx2 coding fun try...
http://www.napalm-x.com/~duke/
I just hope I don't have old packman mazes burned into my retina when I'm 80.
The dreamcast serial port can do upto 1.5 mbps.. this is what I'm using to develop at home:
. ht m
(and I highly reccomend this to any dc hackers)
http://www.doubledutch.fsbusiness.co.uk/sdindex
Good info on the Mario Bros. TV Show.
http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/sa
Hrmm....
'What's actually going is that they are forking the code, as not all of the code can be opened for "technical or licensing reason". '
I guess if you can't knife it or spoon it... then just FORK IT.
This kind of device is going to be extremely useful to the amature and pro developers.
Back when I was hacking the N64 using a rom emulator/copier (Doctor64) we had to compile the code and pray that it would work. System lockup all the sudden? Try and debug by looking at the code. Unfortunately the doctor64 did not allow the n64 to communicate to the pc through the parallel port interface.. so an interactive debugger wasn't possible. This limited development severely.
With this system.. someone will be able to code a simple loader/bios to put on cdr that will communicate over the lpt port to get files... when the Game/demo/whatever is working they can burn that to cdr.. replacing the file loading routines with ones that work off the actual cdr...