EnigmA Amiga Run 1996 February/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 04 (1996)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1996-02][Skylink CD III].iso/earcd/games/vkscrnsh.lha/INFORMATIONs.TXT

Text File | 1995-10-03 | 13KB | 218 lines

VIRTUAL KARTING:
 Copyright Fabio Bizzetti 1995
 Published by --OTM Publications & Promotions--
 Design,Program,Graphics,SoundFX by Fabio Bizzetti
 Music by Ruben Monteiro

 Release date: 10Th October 1995
 Price £24.95
 AGA Amiga only.


IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE SCREEN SHOTS:
> It has been very difficult to grab them, so the quality is poor.
  The game looks considerably better.

SOME TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE TEXTURE MAPPING ROUTINES:
> The background is not scrolled like in every game for Amiga and PC, it is
  rendered; you can notice it near the left/right borders, it looks like the
  effect given by a video camera.
> The game does NOT use BlitterScreen or similar methods, it uses the fastest
  method possible (about 3 times faster than BlitterScreen). I can't give many
  informations about it, I can say only that every texture mapping algorithm
  that draws sequentially (horiz. OR vert.) can be translated into a planar
  algorithm with no loss of speed. VK uses an hybrid; everything is fine to
  get the best result possible. It is full screen 2x2 dithered to 1x1.
  There is no c2p conversion, no CPU cicles stealing, no blitter usage, no
  copper usage. No real chunky screen, Amiga has not it. Texture mapping can
  be done in a lot of original ways, not only the "academical" ones, there
  is no reason to try to do it in the way they do it on PC or Consoles.
  Amiga is the best of all: let's program it like it was an Amiga, not a PC.
> The 3D section is real texture mapping 2 axis rotation and X,Y,Z movement.
  25 frames/sec on unexpanded A1200.
> The 2D section runs 25/50 frames/sec on unexpanded A1200 and is ZOOM and
  ROTATE at the same time.
> The Flight section is the same as the 3D section but slightly rotated in
  the "Pitch" axis and full screen. Although it is full screen, it has no
  problem in giving 25 frames/sec on unexpanded A1200.
> Everything reach 50 frames/second if a small accelerator board
  (with FastRam) is found.
> The game has been written using my H.L.A. (High Level Assembly): an extremely
  powerful and flexile programming language not commercialized (and never,
  it contains my know how). The game would NOT be faster if written in 100%
  pure Assembly, it simply would have taken much more time to write it.
  The game is fully Hard Disk installable, however when played from floppys
  there is no disk swapping and the loading occurs only when you load a new
  Track or Kart.
  "Virtual Karting" has been thought like a "coin'op" game for standard A1200.
  On accelerated A1200 (or A4000) it looks much better (thanks to the 50 fps).
  I hope every (unexpanded) A1200 owner will consider to get a 50Mhz
  accelerator board: next games will need it or will be optimized for it.


ABOUT THE GAME AND PLAYABILITY:
> There is a reason why I love fast games (at least 25 fps): the playability.
  I don't like games that looks pretty but are slow. The action is the
  most important thing on a driving game, so I gave the priority to this
  aspect. "Virtual Karting" has a great detail too, but the speed of the
  game is something amazing. It means real action and playability.
> Intelligent computer karts.
> Very realistic kart simulation.
> 3 devious tracks. 100cc and 125cc karts to choose. Qualify section.
> Playable by Digital Joystick, Mouse or Analogue Joystick.
  The "Steering Wheels" that use Mouse or Paddle inputs are supported too.
> Selectable both Automatic and Manual gears.


ABOUT THE LONGEVITY:
> "Virtual Karting" has a lot of longevity, not only 3 tracks and 2 karts to
  study and drive at their best, but also 4 different heights of view in 3D
  mode and a 2D game as well. From easiest to hardest, but "hard" still
  means total playability, more realism. The kart's behaviour is always
  realistic, the "responsability" is of the player; the kart always gives the
  best realism and control possible with a joystick/mouse/analogue-joystick
  input device.


ABOUT PIRACY AND THE AMIGA GAMES MARKET:
> The Amiga games market has suffered year after year, not only after the
  bankruptcy of Commodore. Either the Christmas period, the most important
  period for the Amiga games to sell, has seen shrinking the number of
  games year after year, even years before the bankruptcy of Commodore.
  Escom has not changed this tendence yet, and I think it will be hard if
  they continue to sell old Amiga 1200 as it was (obsolete) in 1992, with a
  price that would haven't let the Amiga 1200 to be competitive years ago.
  I think Amiga will survive only because -some- developers still want to
  write software for Amiga and not for PC. My publisher, OTM, was the
  only one that didn't ask for a PC version too. This is very important for
  me, since PC keyboard is not that one I want under my fingers..
  BUT if the kids called pirates will think that it's still intelligent to
  pirate games, you'll see the real death of the Amiga and the few developers
  will go to PC or will not release nothing more. There are charges to
  produce a game, neither OTM nor me are "greedy", the only greedy people
  are the pirates. Think twice when you pirate an Amiga game, game-demos and
  coverdisks (and some test in the shop) are there to let you understand if
  a game is worth or not to be bought. Amiga situation is the same of Atari ST
  some time ago. Now Vista PRO is on PC and no more on Amiga (it has been
  abandoned on Amiga, surely not because Amy is crap) and now PC has also our
  Scala (MM100) Multimedia!! Pirates should PAY the developers and companies
  now, to give back what they have stoled in the past years KILLING the Amiga.
  Long live the Amiga, not only because "it is the only multitasking personal
  computer"...you know, it's OUR computer.  8)
  I really think "Virtual Karting" can be the begin of the demonstration of
  what a "humble" Amiga CAN DO but, you know, nobody likes to release games
  if stupid and criminal kids called "pirates" kill the market. I would
  prefer to keep my games and programs for me and for some friends.


ABOUT YOU:
  If you are an Amiga owner that knows how the Amiga is different from PC,
  you should do 3 things and then you'll be able to ask me the promise
  "Make games for Amiga better than they do on Pentium PC". The 3 points:
1) An accelerator board is really indispensible; a 28Mhz 020 + 4Mb FastRam
   without math coprocessor could be enough, although I consider as standard
   a cheap 50Mhz board + 4mb FastRam. Get it if you wanna see incredible
   things (VK is not included) on AGA Amigas. PC games will seem crap.
   You'll see that an accelerated A1200 is another computer, unexpanded
   A1200 is the past.
   The problem that will be solved isn't only the speed of the A1200, but
   the bottleneck of ChipRam and the lack of memory for texture mapping /
   realtime raytracing methods (coming soon) and CPU power. Moreover, a
   50Mhz board helps the frame rate: I really think 25 frames/sec is SLOW.
   Well, the mad is not me ;) just watch the "Daytona", "Ridge Racer" and
   the other coin'ops, if they were 8 frames/sec it would not be the same
   thing ("Daytona" seems to me 60-70 frames/sec!). "Virtual Karting" is
   already a fast driving game (thanks to the 25 fps), and it reachs only
   about 100 Kph! If you get an accelerator board, you can pretend 50fps
   from games, that means you can drive at Mach 1 (if you're able!) still
   understanding WHERE you are going..  If you play it 4 frames/sec, it
   will be like you were watching some diapositives or a game on a
   PC486DX2-67.000000001Mhz.
   Anyway, VK has a cheat mode that will show it as the fastest racing game
   ever! Adrenaline required, and 50fps recommended for clear gfx and fun.
  On Virtual Karting a "fast" accelerator board (50Mhz 68030) computes more
   than 320 (3 hundreds+20) frames/sec, if it was a standard, VK would have
   had 5 times more details at 50 frames/sec speed WITH walls/buildings.
   Buy the 50Mhz board and you'll get the new AGA Amiga games generation
   that will let you laugh at Pentium PC games. DO IT!
  NEVER consider PCMCIA ram expansion because it would slow down your
   unexpanded A1200!!! and never buy only FastRam, if so get at least a
   28Mhz 68020 board, but think twice: the 50Mhz should be the standard for
   many years to come. With a 28Mhz board you will "suffer", with a 50Mhz
   board you'll enjoy incredible (and, mostly, ORIGINAL, not adaptions
   from PC, like "Doom" or others..) games on Amiga, that PC will try
   (sigh!) to copy. With crap or null results.
  The 50Mhz board is useful for everything, obviously not only for games.
  I am getting a 68060 on my A1200 to work better, but although I will give
  benefits to the users that have it too, I will advice as best choice a
  50 Mhz 68030. Not more, not less. It's cheap now, and it is worth the money.
  If Amiga is not upgrated by Escom / Amiga Technologies, it doesn't mean
  that it doesn't need to be upgraded. Do it by yourself, and you will never
  need to abandon the hobby of computer (that is leaving or buying a PC).
  Please note that I don't "complain" about the AGA chipset, it can do a
   lot of funny things for the years to come.
  A last note about the accelerator board: a lot of people say that the math
  coprocessor gives benefits to games; this is really funny. I think it is
  not sufficient to imagine that it -should- to say that it does. The FPU
  gives "benefits" ONLY to the programs that explicitly use it, directly
  or through the O.S. I don't think any game needs the math coprocessor, they
  would be slower indeed. The FPU is NOT faster than the CPU in integer math,
  that is the most used in any games and most utilities, the FPU is faster
  only in floating point math. This means high-end utilities or some
  scientifical programs that needs it. Not games indeed.
2) A (small or not,new or used) hard disk is indispensible too.
   It's cheap now. You'll see how many benefits hard disk can give to
   programmers like me (please -forgive- me about the lack of modesty!).
3) If you use a program or play a game, then buy it.
   Don't buy things you don't like!! BUT buy software you need or like
   (use), or you'll not get software anymore. Sad but simple enough.
If you respect these 3 points, I can do promises (this means I will keep
 the promises):
A "Daytona" style game with height modeled textures is already possible on
 unexpanded A1200, but it needs extra memory to have detailed scenarios
 and thus it's better to have also a faster CPU when you get the FastRam.
A "Descent" like graphic engine is nearly completed. Works with unexpanded
 A1200 too, giving 16.6 fps fullscreen. The final version will give 25 fps.
These are the "copies" of PC / Console games, now there is the list of mine:
A new "raytracing" style method never seen on PC or Consoles: it's FAAST
 but requires fast CPU and FastRam, it's like "Flight Unlimited" but i.e.
 you can see the mountains reflected in the lake. Needs about 120 CPU cicles
 per pixel (16000 pixels fullscreen). 25 frames/sec on my 50Mhz 030 board.
 This is what we need to laugh at PC games.
LAMER DETECTOR ALGORITHM:
If you think I am a liar, like some lamers thought about VK and me the past
 months on the Internet, then you have the proof you're a lamer too.  =;)
 It's simple and works with unexpanded brains too.  =8)
You've seen a list of "work in progress", that will be reality if the 3
 points will be reality too and I'll have feedback from you (registration
 cards include space where to fill your Amiga configuration, etc..),
 however there is already a new game nearly finished from me. Published and
 promoted by OTM.
Its name is "StarFighter", will be ready in some months (hopefully in 1995).
 It will still run on unexpanded A1200 but will overwork accelerator boards
 and hard disk. It ALREADY has a lot of features that no PC or Console game
 has, like RAY TRACING space routines (25fps on unexpanded A1200, it's a
 semplification of the above raytracing method), a "Doom" like section
 (I hate "Doom"! this is NOT a clone, it's simply an old idea) into their
 biggest spaceship, 25 fps on unexpanded A1200, a lot of action of course!
 Other graphic engines (game sections) under final development.
 Everything has a great detail, faster CPUs will show 50 fps and (perhaps)
 more objects on the scenarios, but there are already enough! It's all.
Please don't think I wanna make big money, I got a LOT of requests to code on
 PC and PlayStation and I REFUSED. ONLY PC and PlayStation are for big money.
 I wanna show how much Amiga is GREAT, and people at OTM are extremely cool
 and concerned to the Amiga, but obviously as long as the Amiga market exists
 and is promising for further games. There are charges to produce and promote
 a game, and who make the game deserves the (on Amiga small) earnings, not
 the pirates.
Neither me nor OTM are greedy, only pirates are (THEY do big money), I hate
 what pirates did to the Amiga. It seems like our computer is sh*t for a lot
 of journalists, the PC/Amiga (no more Amiga/PC!) magazines review 20 PC
 games and 1 Amiga game only to keep Amiga readers buying their s**tty mags.

Long live the Amiga; it's the best of all.


Written by the maker of VK, Fabio Bizzetti (Maverick/RamJam in the scene)