it lets the light flow between the camera and the lens reducing contrast and changing colors. in bright light, as in the second photo, you can see individual rays.
I can't see individual rays, as such. Or do you mean just sometimes, as apposed to in that particular picture?
Oh, and do you know how ray-tracing works? It's a method of producing photo-realistic computer-generated scenes. The concept is the cool thing, in that the program imagines a ray of light (per pixel in the image that's being created) leaving the camera lens, not arriving at it. Now the ray refracts through or reflects off the objects in the 3D scene until it hits a light or leaves the scene, it's travels being used determine the colour of the pixel.
The reason for this approach is only a ray per pixel needs to be plotted. It's still very slow though, and it used to take hours or days to generate a picture on my Amiga in the mid 80s.
I bought my first Amiga in 1989 (I think), and while programming it would've been the natural progression for me, I found most of the programming languages available for it wanting, or too expensive. C for the Amiga then would've cost NZ$1000. (If my memory serves me right - it may not...)
Anyway, deciding to do something different, I instead bought Turbo Silver, (now morphed into Imagine), (NZ$252 - I still have the box), and so learnt how to ray-trace. The only example of my ray-traces on the net I know of is Snow Garden, found here
( ... )
i never knew programming langueges cost anything, unless they were programming environments like visual studio et cetera. times were hard in the 80th obviously. i wasn't anywhere near computers back in the early 90th. though, wait. my friend built a BK computer with the help of his father and we played some cool character graphics games on it! and then he bought a more advanced computer with cooler games, my favorite was called 'night creatures' i think - but what i find in google is a different vintage game. and there was a game where you assembled robots and sent them to fight other robots! there are a few games that made a great impression on me in my life, like the 'broken sword', but nothing compares with those few early games. why don't you try programming games for the pc? ps. if that's the sort of woods you have, i envy you
Programming languages can still cost you. ie: http://www.blitzbasic.com/ (Which I see from the FAQ is now an Auckland company again. They moved to the UK for a while. I think...)
Oh, and this was my first computer. And the first million-selling computer, too. Yeah, great times...
Yes, the early games were cool, due in part I think to them being assembled by a small team and with little history of how games should be to restrict them.
Oh, and did you ever play text adventures? I've just noticed the Infocom games are now online (using Java)...
the name of the game i mentioned must have been 'nightshade', on a spectrum computer. funny that watching a video of that game on youtube didn't ring any bells! i don't remember much from it except those spiral monsters - but in my head that game has a completely different feel
( ... )
it would be interesting to create a big text-based world with detailed descriptions of places and things, adding to it for years or even decades. and then maybe use it as a framework to create individual adventure games within it.If run online, the adding to it could also be done by the players, perhaps as rewards for completing sections of the game
( ... )
i played the trainer, but the absence of free input makes it lose all appeal somehow. also, the background should be black.
* just a logical extension of the genre.*
well, multiplayer with chat support is a chat room! that can be more appealing or useful to the masses, but - beware! - it will never create a cult following.
*to handle what happens to their character when they're not at the keyboard*
they should die after a while, like tamagotchi
*Did your early computer magazines have program listings in them - as in every month?*
i'm not sure about the listings - they had reviews of individual games by genre, news about upcoming games, and solutions.
*I noticed one of your photos there. I take it you put it there?*
yes, i put it there when i explored GE for the first time - on dialup! will write more a bit later
*i played the trainer, but the absence of free input makes it lose all appeal somehow.*
Old skool probably, in that it's no doubt restricted to mostly Verb-Noun couplets. ie 'get key' or 'hit troll' and so on. Infocom games weren't like that in the old days, which is why they were considered the top adventure-game software house.
I didn't mean chat support as such, but just the ability to 'talk' to the other players in the game. ie SAY "Hello!" or SAY TO VRIAD "Give me the key or I kill you!" Just a natural part of the game, but one that makes chatting possible.
*they should die after a while, like tamagotchi *
Not if they've paid for online time, they shouldn't! A fun examination of online game economics here...
Reply
Reply
Oh, and do you know how ray-tracing works? It's a method of producing photo-realistic computer-generated scenes. The concept is the cool thing, in that the program imagines a ray of light (per pixel in the image that's being created) leaving the camera lens, not arriving at it. Now the ray refracts through or reflects off the objects in the 3D scene until it hits a light or leaves the scene, it's travels being used determine the colour of the pixel.
The reason for this approach is only a ray per pixel needs to be plotted. It's still very slow though, and it used to take hours or days to generate a picture on my Amiga in the mid 80s.
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Anyway, deciding to do something different, I instead bought Turbo Silver, (now morphed into Imagine), (NZ$252 - I still have the box), and so learnt how to ray-trace. The only example of my ray-traces on the net I know of is Snow Garden, found here ( ... )
Reply
i wasn't anywhere near computers back in the early 90th. though, wait. my friend built a BK computer with the help of his father and we played some cool character graphics games on it! and then he bought a more advanced computer with cooler games, my favorite was called 'night creatures' i think - but what i find in google is a different vintage game. and there was a game where you assembled robots and sent them to fight other robots! there are a few games that made a great impression on me in my life, like the 'broken sword', but nothing compares with those few early games.
why don't you try programming games for the pc?
ps. if that's the sort of woods you have, i envy you
( ... )
Reply
Oh, and this was my first computer. And the first million-selling computer, too. Yeah, great times...
Yes, the early games were cool, due in part I think to them being assembled by a small team and with little history of how games should be to restrict them.
Oh, and did you ever play text adventures? I've just noticed the Infocom games are now online (using Java)...
http://www.xs4all.nl/~pot/infocom/
If you've never tried one, Zork 1 is probably as good a place to start. Infocom were considered the top adventure-game house.
If I wrote a game today it'd be an online one. The browser's the platform now.
Yes, that's our 'bush'. Though I assume that's a pic from FiordlandLooks kind of samey from up above ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
http://www.rinkworks.com/adventure/*
i played the trainer, but the absence of free input makes it lose all appeal somehow. also, the background should be black.
* just a logical extension of the genre.*
well, multiplayer with chat support is a chat room! that can be more appealing or useful to the masses, but - beware! - it will never create a cult following.
*to handle what happens to their character when they're not at the keyboard*
they should die after a while, like tamagotchi
*Did your early computer magazines have program listings in them - as in every month?*
i'm not sure about the listings - they had reviews of individual games by genre, news about upcoming games, and solutions.
*I noticed one of your photos there. I take it you put it there?*
yes, i put it there when i explored GE for the first time - on dialup!
will write more a bit later
Reply
Old skool probably, in that it's no doubt restricted to mostly Verb-Noun couplets. ie 'get key' or 'hit troll' and so on. Infocom games weren't like that in the old days, which is why they were considered the top adventure-game software house.
I didn't mean chat support as such, but just the ability to 'talk' to the other players in the game. ie SAY "Hello!" or SAY TO VRIAD "Give me the key or I kill you!" Just a natural part of the game, but one that makes chatting possible.
*they should die after a while, like tamagotchi *
Not if they've paid for online time, they shouldn't! A fun examination of online game economics here...
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment