To: henriossi AT geocities DOT com
Cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE MADE A FUNCTIONAL GAME? (lots of us!)
Message-ID: <19970326.164220.7063.4.fwec@juno.com>
References: <33390DD0 DOT 3A53 AT geocities DOT com>
From: fwec AT juno DOT com (Mark T Logan)
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 16:44:05 EST

On Wed, 26 Mar 1997 13:51:44 +0200 Henri Ossi <henriossi AT geocities DOT com>
writes:
>      
>I've seen lots of pages, which tell about the great compiler DJGPP and
>how good it is, and OH, EVEN QUAKE was made with it!!
>And you get it from here and here and there...

You know, if that many people like it, is it possible that its a bad
compiler?
I find that unlikely.  Bad products get bad reviews, with occasional
exceptions.

>I say: SHUT UP!!

My mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say
anything
at all.

>I've made lots of stuff with Allegro and Djpp, and none of them work
>without flickering.
>The only fast language, which I have ever seen in my life, is the
>Borland Turbo Assembler.

Um, borland ain't all that great.  Besides, almost all assemblers are
equal,
since you control every instruction that goes into the output code.  Try
Nasm,
or AS if you don't mind learning AT&T syntax.

>If you really know a web site, which tells, how i can get even one 
>tiny
>little sprite drawn to the screen, and moving it without any kind of
>flickering, I woyuld be VERY pleased!!!

You say you can't get it to draw even one sprite without flickering?
Well maybe you should take the time to look at the allegro examples.
There are probably 5-6 of them which have sprites moving about
flawlessly,
and one which has about 25 triangles flying about, while doing breath
taking
palette animation!!!!!  You would do well to actually read code and
experiment
with programs before you assume that it can't be done on the basis that
you can't do it.

>You are all talking about the compiler, and forget the main thing,
>we use the compiler to make good little games.
>If no-one tells us, how to make them fast, and easily, only the big
>companies can produce their multimedia shit with the use of Windows 
>95.
>
>I have lots of ideas to great little games, they are all planned to 
>the
>end,
>but if I can't even draw a sprite to the screen, how in the hell can I
>get the screen scrolling, and draw 20 sprites more?

Um, what speed computer do you have?

>This should be fun, not frustrating shit with all the pre-made
>libraries.
>No wonder they call us nerds!

What's this 'us' thing?


||                Fwec AT juno DOT com
||  "If ya don take your meat, ya can't have any pudding!!!!
||    How can ya have any pudding if ya don take your meat?"
||   -Pink Floyd
||

P.S.  Your post was confrontational and offensive to many of us who have
had wonderful success with allegro and djgpp.  Not to mention you have
degraded Mr. Delorie and Shawn Hargreaves, who both deserve our thanks
and gratitude for pouring countless hours into wonderful projects that
they 
make no money from.  You would make a lot more friends on this NG if you
remain calm and open to both sides of the debate.  Attachted is code for
a
program where a little sprite moves around the screen.  Uses allegro and
runs fine on my 486DX2/66 w/ 8 MB ram.

----------   sprite.cpp  --------------------

#include <allegro.h>

int main()
{
 BITMAP *backdrop;
 BITMAP *sprite;
 BITMAP *buffer;
 
 PALLETE pal;
 
 int x, y;
 
 x = y = 0;
 
 allegro_init();
 
 buffer = create_bitmap(320, 200);
 
 backdrop = load_pcx("mysha.pcx", pal); // this is the picture of the
mouse that comes w/ allegro
 sprite = load_pcx("stdisk.pcx", pal); // just use anything you want for
this.
 
 install_keyboard();
 install_mouse();
 install_timer();
 
 set_gfx_mode(GFX_VGA, 320, 200, 0, 0);
 
 set_pallete(pal);
 
 while(!key[KEY_ESC])
  {
   blit(backdrop, buffer, 0, 0, 0, 0, 320, 200);
      
   draw_sprite(buffer, sprite, x, y);
   
   show_mouse(NULL);  
   
   vsync();
   
   blit(buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, 320, 200);
   
   show_mouse(screen);
   
   if( (key[KEY_LEFT]) && ( x > 0) )
    x--;
   if( (key[KEY_RIGHT]) && ( x < 320 - sprite->w) )
    x++;
   if( (key[KEY_UP]) && ( y > 0) )
    y--;
   if( (key[KEY_DOWN]) && ( y < 200 - sprite->h) )
    y++;    
  }

 destroy_bitmap(backdrop);
 destroy_bitmap(buffer);
 destroy_bitmap(sprite);
}