Comments on: 3D Gaming Coming to the Palm Very Soon

3DAGames is about to release the first of a line of 3D games for all Palm and compatible machines. The first product is called 3D Star Fighter Pilot, which is virtually finished, and is currently just passing through final testing. The plan is to have it on sale by Thanksgiving. Pricing is not yet available.
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The link doesn't work.

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 3:50:57 PM #
Too bad the site isn't working. I'd like to see more about the upcoming 3d games.

RE: The link doesn't work.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 3:53:49 PM #
It works fine for me.

RE: The link doesn't work.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:11:42 PM #
Yea, works fine. I'm not even a game player, but I have to say it looks very cool.

RE: The link doesn't work.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:50:58 PM #
At first, the link didn't work for me either, but I hit the refresh button and it loaded just fine.

RE: The link doesn't work.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:51:18 PM #
Hey Ed!

Could you please remove the www from the link. The link works without it (3dagames.com/), but (www.3dagames.com/) is not being recognized by the server.

Muncho's Grass-yer-az

RE: The link doesn't work.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:51:49 PM #
Yeah, it doesn't work for me either. If you go to www.safeweb.com, you can see the URL fine, however.

RE: The link doesn't work.
jackie_bebe @ 11/14/2001 7:12:25 PM #
try it with a .net

it works.

This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:39:49 PM #
My Atari 2600 was almost better than this - And my C64 was MUCH better.

RE: This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 5:03:40 PM #
Your C=64 had a 320 x 200 screen. Do you think that could have something to do with it?

RE: This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.
CKMOOSE @ 11/14/2001 6:34:52 PM #
Zap! 2016 is a top scroller and much less processor intensive.
This 3-D engine is new. It will get better. It's a good look at what's to come.
Have a little patience.

RE: This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 10:06:18 AM #
Nice to see we are adding bloatware apps (and I include games when talking about the Palm/Palm-like devices) to the platform. ...and I thought I had a BUSINESS platform all these years!

BTW... this is a Palm device you know... not a GameBoy! Don't expect too much.

RE: This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.
skoty @ 11/15/2001 10:11:49 AM #
First of all, there are a ton of business apps out there for you. Rest assured, you have a business device. In order for the PalmOS to be more widely accepted, they need to cater to everyone's needs not just businesses. With all the news that's been going on lately about Handspring and Palm setting up there Enterprise partnerships, I would say that they aren't dropping the ball on being a business related device.

Also, as stated in the root of this thread, based on the picture, this game doesn't look very exciting. Very simple graphics, etc. The thing I want to point out is that this is just the beginning. Notice the shaded surfaces in the graphics giving them a 3D like appearance. That is the big breakthrough here, not the game. Now that someone's got 3D imaging software that runs on the PalmOS, it's just a matter of time before they put out some really intense 3D games. Keep in mind though that they'll never match up to what you see on PCs because of the nature of the screens they're being displayed on.

This article really is great news for the big time gamers amoung us.

RE: This sucks. Zap2016 blows it away.
ardiri @ 11/15/2001 11:14:54 AM #
Zap! 2016 is a top scroller and much less processor intensive.
This 3-D engine is new. It will get better. It's a good look at what's to come.
Have a little patience

um.. zap 2k was not exactly "less processor intensive".. they had a lot of cool features such as parallax scrolling with multiple layers (which, chews processing time).. not to mention that 160x160 @ 16bpp is a nice chunk of memory (more memory = more time required) this 3D engine *aint* new - people can port code from other platforms quite easily, the trick is to get it running at an acceptable speed. try porting a game like doom :) we have done all our work in m68k asm, and, its a pain in the backside to debug - and, you take advantage of the limitations you have :) luckily - not too many palm developers know how to write m68k native asm *g*

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

Other games!

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 4:51:45 PM #
I want a version of Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot on a handheld. Any developers up to that?


RE: Other games!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 5:14:13 PM #
Try Kyle's Quest...

RE: Other games!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 5:22:08 PM #
No, I'm talking like all out, MMORPG style playing. Not just a little Zelda clone. I know I'm dreaming, hopefully it won't be too far off. For now I just need a laptop and some 802.11.

RE: Other games!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 5:45:25 PM #
Is Lordinium anything like what you want?
www.lordinium.com

Lordinium is nice but...
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 10:30:52 AM #
I didn't really figure out what I was doing in the game before the demo ran out.

RE: Lordinium
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/4/2002 7:05:12 PM #

While the demo is way to short, the Full Version is great. You'll lose days playing it...

Don't think they can do much

dhchung @ 11/14/2001 8:19:40 PM #
with a 33MHz processor and a 160x160 resolution. Don't expect too much for a "3D" game....

don't forget to leave a few hundred kb in your 8mb only palm

RE: Don't think they can do much
popko @ 11/14/2001 8:32:01 PM #
I agree. Current Palms are too limited in terms of screen res as well as horse power ... so maybe the next gen OS and hardware will do much better. For now, PocketPCs is the king of handheld gaming(IMHO, they even beat the ones on GameBoy Advance).

That was a fact. But please do keep in mind at the same time the cost of PocketPCs ... lets just hope when Palm OS based next gen device come out, they will stay as cost effective as they do now.

RE: Don't think they can do much
teq @ 11/15/2001 4:37:48 AM #
Hmm... I agree on the screen resolution, but not on the horsepower. Do you remember the game "Virus"? (That was way back in the days of the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST.) It was one of the first decent 3D-Space Shoot'em up that I can remember. It ran quite well on the Atari ST - which only had a 8MHz 68000 CPU. So it should be possible to implement something similar on a 33MHz Dragonball Hardware...

teq

****** Pilot 5000 => Palm Pilot III => Palm Vx => M505 - I´ve had them all and loved each one of them.

RE: Don't think they can do much
EdwardGreen @ 11/15/2001 8:06:02 AM #
Yeah the 8Mhz ST could do some great solid 3d stuff at 320x200 in 16 shades. I'm sure a 33Mhz Dragonball should be able to match its performance!

Dreadling has already done some basic texture mapping (shame its such lo res textures and not in colour), but Deity looks great.

Early next year should see some 66Mhz Palms, before the ARM based units arrive. With VFS to handle storage we could see even more great games soon.

-
kHiTeDev

RE: Don't think they can do much
kisrael @ 11/16/2001 11:32:10 AM #
Yeah, my first 386 16mhz had some decent 3Dish games. Thunderstrike? I think was one of them (maybe the name is wrong) but had you flying over a reasonably detailed landscape. And "contiuum" would scale pretty nicely...

Anyway, interestingly, you're going to see more and more games that won't run on older palms. Which is too bad, backwards compatability has been one of the real strengths of Palm...if you used your 512K very carefully, you could still run some of the latest apps on some of the original hardware.

RE: Don't think they can do much
Alan @ 11/17/2001 7:39:57 PM #
Hello, thanks everyone for your posts. :)

I just wanted to answer some more questions if I can, about the game and the engine?

The file size for 3D Star Fighter Pilot is around about 160k.

Also, the engine and the current game have been designed to work on machines with PalmOs3.0
or above.

As for screen resolutions, it currently runs at 160x160 but I am working on extending
this to other resolutions as well. That said, it does already work on a Handera330,
but currently at the 160x160 resolution. I would like to see my engine support the higher
resolutions, and in theory it could run at other resolutions. It will just take some more
development time to get it all sorted out. For my first game, it will run at the standard
screen resolution, but I have already got a few emails from people saying they would really
like to see a high resolution version produced as well and I am going to continue looking
into how to add this feature to the engine.

I am also adding a post (near the end of this forum) to give some more info on black and
white machine support to hopefully answer some more questions?.

Thanks again everyone :)

bye,


Alan from 3DAGames.


The unHoly Palm

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 8:24:06 PM #
Well... I wish someone at Palm would comment on this. Doesn't this game go exactly against Palm doctrine? As Palm users we don't multimedia. We don't ned it. The Palm is a business platform, not a gaming device. What are these writers doing comming up with a 3D game? Isn't this considered Bloatware? My gosh... could this mean that the Palm is headed into the direction of where PPC is today?

Like it or not.... Palm is going there. Now if only Palm can see that far into the future and stop telling all it's users what they don't need when the Palm community is writing software in that direction.

RE: The unHoly Palm
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 8:33:23 PM #
Like it or not. Palm can go anywhere (but PPC can't.) But you better get out of here.

Not the first 3D

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/14/2001 9:22:28 PM #
Ed, what about Tank?

Tank is wireframe 3D!!!
right?!

Eduardo

RE: Not the first 3D
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/2/2002 8:14:57 PM #
what about 'dreadling' - the doom-like clone (ok - more like castle wolfenstein 3d - the very first 1st person shooter for the desktop) thats been available for palm for over a year?

Not as Impressive as *this*:

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 12:50:45 AM #
I saw some really *awesome* screenshots on a Japanese website of a new game ardiri.com is working on. You gotta check it out: http://www.ardiri.com If you are interested in 3D games, surf over there right now! (I just hope the frame rate is decent)

RE: Not as Impressive as *this*:
ahecht @ 11/15/2001 2:49:23 AM #
looks like an updated Raygin (which is another 3D game for the palm)

RE: Not as Impressive as *this*:
bas @ 11/15/2001 3:32:30 AM #
trust me.. this is not an updated raygin...
I've played with the engine and it is smooth.

RE: Not as Impressive as *this*:
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 11:39:59 AM #
Where could we get to 'try' the engine? Any links to demos?

3D game

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 4:28:44 AM #
It might be 3D, but it's very ugly, isn't it??

RE: 3D game
popko @ 11/15/2001 5:33:21 AM #
yeah sure it is. this is doom (even worse in my opion) graphics in 2001. but hey, as long as the fps are good, i'm sold. why? lots of readon and geforce 3 owners run max payne in low-res to get the max fps possible.

now if doom can be ported, why can't duke nukem 1/2/3 be ported? even better: x-com, c&c, warcraft can all be ported.

3d games/apps

ardiri @ 11/15/2001 10:58:38 AM #
wireframe 3D gaming? *yawn*.. sure, it may look nice, but, there has been heaps of wireframe stuff out for quite some time.. my first palm app was a simple 3D cube (source code available).. there are a number of 3d games around.. 3d tetris, raygin (old), dreadling (wolf 3d clone) and games like void and tank (wireframe tank game).. now this.. it looks ok, but, is just an extension to a game like "tank" (they fill polygons and have color) not anything special really :) [if you know 3d stuff] - they also only use half of the screen for rendering (160x100). i'll still download and mess with it.. one part of a game is to display it right, the second is to provide a control mechanism that works :) we'll see how they have done this when they release the product. also, the use of a "black" background on non color units will kill them. the grayscale screens smear when you use black.. you wont be able to see much with these graphics.. it'll look great on TFT screens.. :)

we have just announced screen shots of our latest creation (as mentioned above) - which, is a doom type implementation of a 3D engine.. z-ordered lighting, ability to look up and down.. and, multiple levels.. its been in development for a while, but, we decided to release the screen shots anyhow.. you can see the screen shots on www.ardiri.com - and, it runs as nice as it looks *g*

:)

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

RE: 3d games/apps
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 11:18:52 AM #
Looks very nice, when is it coming???

RE: 3d games/apps
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 12:11:03 PM #
Aaron: You should be more supportive of other developers/projects, you always post a negative response to just about every innovative game out there.

I think it's great that they're building a 3d game, and this is the first game they've released. Everybody starts somewhere. Look how far you've come from donkey kung to lemmings. I say it's a great start and can't wait to see how they progress.

RE: 3d games/apps
ardiri @ 11/15/2001 4:50:15 PM #
Aaron: You should be more supportive of other developers/projects, you always post a negative response to just about every innovative game out there.

the problem is that it is not exactly "innovative" or new to the Palm.. and, when most developers start out with their "first" apps/games on the palm.. they dont setup a website that says:

"Adding a new dimension to mobile entertainment"

to boast like they are the first of any kind to do it on the Palm.. 3D gaming has been on the palm for a while now, this is NOT new stuff.. till harbaum wrote a 3D engine like this a long time ago, but, got bored with it so he never finished it.. i even believe he released the source code to it too, cannot remember from memory.

its great new developers are appearing, a lot of good developers out there :) ludi games have also done a lot of great titles (rayman, siberian strike), however, get bad reviews due to the size of the applications :( somone is always going to complain somewhere.. palm apps should never be > 256Kb in my opinion.. thats just too big!

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

RE: 3d games/apps
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 7:06:31 PM #
You're right he did
http://bodotill.suburbia.com.au/space/space.html

Most PC games are using 3D graphics but 3D apps on the palm are lacking, my point was that it's nicer to see a trend toward 3D, it's not much to look at now, but I'm sure they and other developers will improve the quality of apps to come.

I'm with you for prc size though, though it's getting tough to put out a nice hi-res 16bit graphical game under the 256k limit.

Anyone have a idea if apps programmed for ARM processors will end up compiling larger than 68k code?

RE: 3d games/apps
Davy @ 11/15/2001 9:33:34 PM #
Aaron, please tell me you have a color version of that coming. Dreadling was cool, but the grayscale really killed it. In the new age with color, it'd really be great to gave color "Not-Resembling-Doom"

-Davy

Serious Sam for Palm?
Davy @ 11/16/2001 12:25:08 AM #
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2D351B2

If they can deliver one-hundreth of the graphic from the PC version, that would be the coolest game on the palm, bar none. Plus, it's color. Cool stuff,

RE: 3d games/apps
Alan @ 11/17/2001 7:44:55 PM #
Hello, its great to see Serious Sam is coming out for the Palm. :)

When the PC version was released, I rushed out on the first day to get it. The engine
the Croteam have created is very impressive. I spent ages in their technology demo
walking about to see what it could do. They have put a huge amount of work into it.

The Palm version also looks VERY promising. From my own speed tests I have been doing on
the Palms and from what little I can tell from the first few screen shots of their game,
its very likely that their game will run really well on the Palm. :)

Bye,

Alan from 3DAGames


Apply this to business?

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 3:45:43 PM #
I've been wanting a simple CAD package for the Palm and no one has developed one yet. I realize that it couldn't be fancy, but it would be nice to be able to do something with more accuracy than I can get with all the current drawing apps. If .dxf and .dwg files could be converted for it, that would be even better.

Is there a possibility that this technology could be used for that? Just because a technology was developed for fun doesn't mean that it couldn't be used for business.

I've often heard that VCR technology advanced so rapidly because people wanted to watch adult videos in their homes. The technology advances have been positive for all of us. Just about every business also has a Televisiona nd VCR in their conference room.

Just my $.02.

RE: Apply this to business?
ardiri @ 11/15/2001 4:57:32 PM #
tinygl and minigl i believe were done for this purpose.. do a search for them on sourceforge.net and palmgear.com :) one showed an aeroplane model and the other a human face. not exactly fast, but, would work well with CAD applications - not to mention they were designed based on GL (3D language spec).

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

What do you mean 3D Gaming Coming to the Palm Very Soon??

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 5:09:44 PM #

3D games of some sort have been availible for Palm OS for at least 2 years. How insulting to those pioneering developers!!

RE: What do you mean 3D Gaming Coming to the Palm Very Soon?
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/15/2001 5:45:53 PM #
There's alot of debate over whether those qualify as *true* 3D. Anything that looks like vector graphics isn't real 3D in my book. Maybe I'm just a snob.

In reply...

Alan @ 11/15/2001 10:11:10 PM #
Hello all, thanks for your posts. Its been interesting reading. :)
I would just like if I can to answer some of these points and questions.

(1) The 3D engine runs at full screen resolution. (Not 160x100)
It needs to be full screen, as some graphics do fill the whole screen.
(Like for example, flying through a particle explosion).

(2) It is most definitely not a wireframe (or vector) engine/game. Wireframe
uses "wires" (lines) to display the "frames" (edges) of the 3d models, hence
the name. Wireframe is just line drawing. This engine uses filled polygons,
(as can been seen in the screen shots); with real time surface lighting.
Wireframe cannot do surface lighting, as it has no surfaces to light. :)

(3) A black background on non color unit will not "kill" a machine whatever
software is running on that machine. Palm would not have been able to sell
the machines if this ever happened.

(4) Its not the first ever Palm 3d game. We all know of games like
Tank Pilot, Raygin, Dreadlings etc. Its the first 3d game of a series
of 3d games by 3DAGames for the Palm machines. Months have been taken
working to create a general purpose, full 3d engine, and now 3DAGames
plans to specialise in just 3D games for PDAs (as its name implies).
So from now on, we hope to bring (over time), more and more 3d gaming
to the Palm. So the press release email heading was "3D Gaming Coming"
"to the Palm Very Soon" and it does not at all say, "First 3d Game Ever"
"for the Palm". This is just a misinterpretation. Also, when a PC game
says "3D game for the PC", people don't say, "hey, that's not the first"
"3D game for the PC". Also, 3DAGames are one of just a few companies
to *so far* specialise in just doing 3D games for PDAs, but again,
even here, 3DAGames is not "The" first. There are other companies.
So please, be fair here. There's room for everyone. :)

Anyway, I hope this clears up some questions?. :)

If you're interested?, I hope to have a playable demo of it ready very soon
and I hope this will also answer some questions, but if you would like?,
I would be happy to answer any of your questions. You can email me at:
info@3dagames.com

Bye everyone,

Alan from 3DAGames


RE: In reply...
ardiri @ 11/16/2001 6:18:48 AM #
(3) A black background on non color unit will not "kill" a machine whatever
software is running on that machine. Palm would not have been able to sell
the machines if this ever happened.

you mis-interpreted what i was meaning. the grayscale LCD units are known for "smearing" black information when it is moving. maybe you should try your grayscale version on an old III or IIIx unit, and then, try it without the black background.. you'll find it'll look better with a white background. it was just a word of advice from a fellow developer - who has seen these problems a long time now.

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

RE: In reply...
Alan @ 11/17/2001 7:30:48 PM #
Different engines for different types of games...
(And setting the record straight)...
Aaron Ardiri, for one company to do to another company what you have done is very wrong. In your
posts about wireframe, you say "[if you know 3d stuff]" implying you do know what you are talking
about. Therefore you very clearly know the difference between simple wireframe engines and solid
polygon full 3d engines with real time lighting. You also therefore must very clearly know the
different purposes and the differences between a Doom style engine and a full 3d engine. And while
I see this week, (since I first sent out my press releases), that a few Doom style engines are about
to come out on the Palm, there are *still very few* solid polygon full 3d engines on the Palm and
you must know this as well. (And yet you insult my game before you even wait to see what my game can
do). And as you imply you know 3d, then you also know that the Doom style engines are not designed
or suited to doing a number of other different types of games, for example, Flight Sims etc..

But instead of being fair and acknowledging the different purposes for different types of 3d engines,
you instead, insult my product and in doing so, me and my company, then go straight into a sales
pitch for your own product. This is very wrong. And as for your insulting comments about the
3DAGames subtitle, I am still shocked at your attitude. Your sales pitch proves your true motives,
and it could not be any more blatant and insulting.

I also see from another post that I am not the first developer Aaron has been so deliberately
negative to. This is so wrong. In the eyes of the law, Aaron's company is clearly seen as a
competitor to all other games developers. And in the eyes of the law, Aaron and his company would
clearly be seen by the law to have something to gain (as his sales pitch shows) from his attitude
to me.

Aaron, in your last post, you imply you are only trying to help, "just a word of advice from a"
"fellow developer". Well, from what I have seen from your other posts to this forum, about me, my
game and my company, I have been repeatedly shocked by your words. I have never encountered this
kind of behaviour before, and from another developer of all people. Usually developers are truly
encouraging and even helpful to other developers because all of us know just how much time and
effort it takes to write each new game. (And this is on top of all the years we have all spent
learning how to write games).

We are each, in our own way, trying to develop games we like for the Palm, and we all spend months
doing so. The task is difficult enough, without having to put up with biased insulting attitudes.

Its just very lucky for you, Aaron, that I am willing to forget the matter. I would sooner do
without the hassle, and I have more important things to concentrate on, like finishing the game.

(Sorry everyone else who had to read this, but Aaron left me no alternative, I had to reply, to
set the record straight).

Anyway, bye everyone.

Alan from 3DAGames


RE: In reply...
ardiri @ 11/17/2001 10:55:11 PM #
(Sorry everyone else who had to read this, but Aaron left me no alternative, I had to reply, to
set the record straight).

you had an alternative.. you could have emailed me. my points are very valid. that serious sam app looks very promising too.. these types of things appear when you post stories like this.. its amazing what comes out of the wood work when new things are announced..

And in the eyes of the law, Aaron and his company would clearly be seen by the law to have something to gain (as his sales pitch shows) from his attitude
to me.

i dont think so, we dont develop 3d shaded games as you do.. thats not our interest, and, we are not a "company" so to speak, we are a group of independent developers who just want to enjoy the benefits of creating great games for the platform..

it was the market pitch that 3dagames pushed that probably caused more of an issue, but, maybe it wasn't your fault.. could have been the way palminfocenter.com portayed it.. even others were clear to point out that this was not the first of its kind on the palm (although, the article gave that impression)..

anyhow.. its another game.. whats the big deal? all i was trying to point out is that you should think about what effect you'll have on your consumers (and trust me, they'll nag and complain) in regards to the b+w issue.. thats what users are for :)

i said i look forward to playing it.. how can that be negative? your main problem will be in providing an adequate control mechanism for the game.. that, i, and almost everyone is waiting to see :) where is the demo? your news was posted to a public forum.. welcome to the press :) you'll get both negative and positive feedback.. thats part of the life :) and, you'll live and learn.

ps: we didn't post the first links to deity.. other users did.


// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

RE: In reply...
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 11:24:51 AM #
Aaron, I can't believe what you wrote. I am for one won't buy all your games (illegal or not).

Ending a misunderstanding...

Alan @ 11/17/2001 7:51:45 PM #
Hello everyone :)

There has been some question over the meaning of the 3DAGames subtitle,
"Adding a new dimension to mobile entertainment", so I just wanted to explain its meaning.

The subtitle's main purpose is to remind people that 3DAGames is aiming to make just 3D games for
mobile entertainment. The reason we needed a subtitle is that not everyone knows what a P.D.A. means,
so not everyone knows that the name, 3DAGames, implies we plan to make just 3D Games, for PDAs. (Even
one of my friends did not get the connection with the name at first, and he writes games for PDAs! :)

Also, "Adding a new dimension" is an expression I picked up from reviewers for films. So while it is
used to imply 3D, its also used to imply adding a new dimension to a game genre. The idea being, that
all new games produced by every games company around the world, all aim to add something new to their
respective genre. (And I guess we all hope and like games that we buy to add something new). Just as
a film can be described as adding a new dimension to its genre. But this is just a secondary benefit.
The main goal is just to try to explain to everyone what type of products 3DAGames aims to create,
and hopefully do this in an interesting way to read?. (Its by no means poetry, but its the best I
can do. I'm a programmer, if I were a poet, I would have starved to death years ago! :).

So anyway, the name 3DAGames does at times need a bit of explaining, (hence the subtitle), but still its
name does try to imply some meaning in itself, at least to give some hint of what types of games we aim
to make, so for anyone who has not heard of our company before, they can at least get some initial hint.
If the company name had been chosen to be some abstract name, then this would not have had any meaning.
So I think at least 3DAGames is better than having no meaning. Oh well, 3DAGames needed a name, and I
like it :)

Bye everyone :)

Alan from 3DAGames


Black and white screen support.

Alan @ 11/17/2001 7:57:04 PM #
Hello everyone, I'm back again :)

I just thought I would try to also answer some of the questions about black and white screen support. :)

One of the main devices that I have been testing and playing the game on, thought development, is my old
black and white only PalmIIIx (with PalmOs3.1). It plays fine on the machine. Its true that some very
old Palms can occasionally smear a bit of graphics, with a black background, whatever program is running
on them. However, even when this does occur, games are still entirely playable and lets be fair here,
its how games play that is the main thing. :) We all know the early Palms are now getting to be old
technology these days.

The 3DAGames engine can do inverse video (flying through white, instead of black space). But for screen
shots of a space game, it seemed to make more sense to show space as black, (and so far, only the very
first four black and white screen shots have been released, and only a few days ago). Also while a black
background can cause a little bit of smear on some very old Palms, it can actually be better than a white
background as the pixels can change from black to white faster than they can change from white to black.
This can cause moving objects on the white background screen to look a bit like ghosts. I am not sure why
the speed difference?, (I suspect it could be capacitance in the display?, but this is just a guess, (does
anyone know why?)). What I can say for sure is that when you play the demo of my game its very clear that
the 3D star field and the enemy ships are easier to see on a black background than on a white background.
Again however, its how a game plays, not how an old Palm looks which is important. And from the encouraging
and supporting emails that I am getting, I know that other people like the idea of being able to play
these types of games on their older Palm machines as well.

Also, the 3DAGames engine can even do real time surface lighting on the polygons on machines that only
have one colour to display. So a lot of effort has gone into supporting 1 bit displays, (as well as
also supporting grey scale and colour machines).

Anyway, I hope this clears up some more questions?.

Bye everyone :)

Alan from 3DAGames


RE: Black and white screen support.
ardiri @ 11/17/2001 10:53:08 PM #
provide and option for inverting, and, you'll keep everyone happy :) on some units it may work, but, there are a lot of "older" units where it will cause a lot of smearing - you dont need bad reviews about that :)

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

GET DRAGON BANE!!!

PIC mobile user @ 3/17/2002 6:01:00 PM #
Dragon bane is fantastic 3D with a new colour version out soon.
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