🚀 go-pugleaf

Christopher Smith
cbs...@boomer.uwaterloo.ca
cbs...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
DC 3527
(519) 885-1211x3581
>>>>> "Patrick" == Patrick Gray <peg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu> writes:

Patrick> In article <CJKtx...@sernews.raleigh.ibm.com>,
Patrick> Berchm...@vnet.ibm.com(berchmeister) writes:
>> In <mctague.1...@msu.edu>, mct...@msu.edu (Brendan
>> McTague) writes:
>>>>  [stuff deleted]
>>>> 
>>> Ok, as a Mac AND PC kind of a guy how about this ... the latest
>>> Mac HW to be released in March (the PowerPC 601) can run
>>> Insignia's SoftNode and SoftPC at approximately 486dx/25 speeds
>>> (according to MacWeek) so for about 2k any PowerPC-Mac user can
>>> run any DOS or Mac app. Pentium can't do that, can it.
>> 
>> 
>> Yes and soon OS/2 and Windows.  Buit no Mac user wants to wait
>> that long for DOOM.  But unfortunately, they probably will have
>> to.  System 7 is very different from DOS(shocker).  Recompiling
>> for MAC is a sizable project for any any program, much less a
>> beast of the size of DOOM.  And Brendan is right about the low
>> MAC share of the market.  Last I heard it was 9%.  All that means
>> is that people are less likely to write programs for Macintosh,
>> as there is less money to be earned that way.
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Patrick> The shareware version doesn't make any money.  I know your
Patrick> talking about mac software in general, but the shareware
Patrick> version could be produced and distributed as sort of a
Patrick> "trial run".  I don't know why ID decided to release Doom
Patrick> as shareware on the IBM because the game got such high
Patrick> reviews, and it's higher quality than a lot of commercial
Patrick> games.  Even without the shareware version, people would
Patrick> flock to the stores to buy it.

Id released the shareware game because they have decided that it's
easier to make money by releasing the actual game as shareware, and then
sell the add ons. (Actually somewhat similar to Apple's approach to
Newton: don't make money on the base unit, just the add ons.)

So, Id's $$'s put into making the shareware game is the same as $$'s put
towards marketing a software game as in other companies. Personally, I
think Id's approach is a little bit more expensive, but a LOT more
effective. (How many people DON'T want the add ons after they've
completed the shareware version?)

So, Id would basically have to make a completely new investment of $$'s
and this expense could only be justified with a comperable return as the
DOS version. This is not very likely. Furthermore, the whole thing would
be difficult for ID because as best as I can determine DOOM uses very
low level VGA graphics calls to get it's wonderfull graphics performance
(probably the single most outstanding feature of the game). In the
Mac world, basically everyone uses Quickdraw. Quickdraw GX won't be out
for a while, and it'll have minimal market penetration at first due to
it's hideous memory requirements. Either way, both graphics libraries
are VERY different from VGA.

Id would also suddenly have to deal with a co-operative multitasking
environment and event driven system. It'd be a lot of work and I'm sure
that they are happy taking in the money as is.

However, there is hope for Mac users, see below.

>> As for comparisons between the Pentium and the Power PC, I don't
>> think there is any relevancy to the MAC - PC war in that because
>> the Power PC was designed to run on many platforms(DOS, System 7,
>> Unix, OS/2, AIX,...).  Best to compare the Pentium to the top Mac
>> only machine, and the Power PC to the Pentium and the top Mac
>> machine, respectively.
>> 
>> Berch?  This .sig is my .sig, This .sig is my .sig. from the word
>> 'this', down to the word that.
>> 

OK. On the PowerPC performance thing. The performance rating was for
Windows programs because SoftWindows will use natively compiled Windows
graphics calls. VGA graphics routines are a lot lower level, so
the performance increase is a lot lower unless one somehow has a VGA
graphics card installed. The PowerPC is really designed to run only a
few environments natively: AIX, MacOS, WorkplaceOS, Solaris, and Windows
NT as far as I can tell. Other environments will be "emulated" through
software. This means a pretty serious performance hit (at the very least
1/2 the performance).

BUT THERE IS HOPE FOR MAC USERS! There is a game for the Mac called
Pathways Into Darkness. I played with the demo version and it reminded
me a lot of DOOM/Wolf3D. I was using a Mac IIsi (20 MHz 68030 with
graphics stored in the system's very slow RAM) and as long as I used
low-res the performance was quite fine. Quickdraw allows for higher
resolutions and colour depths, so low-res mode is fine, high-res mode is
beautifull. The game has a lot of the same features as DOOM: shadows &
lighting effects, auto-mapping, tons of different weapons, heavy NAZI
influence, etc.

One feature I *didn't* find with PID was variable elevation. The
auto-mapping is a lot nicer though: very legible and it looks like some
kind of ancient map.

All in all it seems like a pretty good alternative, and proof to me that
Quickdraw is a pretty capable graphics library, and that there are
indeed cool games for the Mac.

--Chris
--
Christopher Smith
cbs...@boomer.uwaterloo.ca
cbs...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
DC 3527
(519) 885-1211x3581