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Id Software

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Re: Id Software

#81

Post by pjmlp »

pjc50 wrote: post #76
wowtip wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder sometimes, what could be built using today's tech if it was focused like Amigas back in the day with a single hardware spec and a dedicated OS just for that platform. Without regard to backwards compability in OS, like BeOS at the time. What would a revolutionary Amiga 1000 look like in 2018? With modern hardware and latest OS/system ideas. Gaming consoles could be considered examples of this, but they are k…

The three distinctive features of the Amiga: - revolutionary custom graphics hardware - better sound hardware than competitors - pre-emptive multitasking Therefore, if I was attempting something like this today, I would: - make the graphics preeminent in the system. In other words, keep the graphics card and throw away the legacy CPU. Let it drive PCI devices. - on its own, doing that makes it much harder to program,…

And you left out the way libraries worked, GUI modes, pro-tracker and AMOS?!? :)

Re: Id Software

#82

Post by jcalabro »

wowtip wrote: post #58
kar1181 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the comments below observe, I think the types and number of experiences built on the back of new (to mainstream audiences anyway) technology were transformative. In 92 the Amiga 1200 came out, a wonderful computer with great hardware but unfortunately it never made it big. Four years later in 1996 mass market PCs were coming out with Pentium processors, 3dfx accelerators, high resolution bitmap displays, internet…

I wonder sometimes, what could be built using today's tech if it was focused like Amigas back in the day with a single hardware spec and a dedicated OS just for that platform. Without regard to backwards compability in OS, like BeOS at the time. What would a revolutionary Amiga 1000 look like in 2018? With modern hardware and latest OS/system ideas. Gaming consoles could be considered examples of this, but they are k…

This talk from Casey Muratory of handmade hero might be of interest https://youtu.be/kZRE7HIO3vk

Re: Id Software

#84

Post by robohoe »

a008t wrote: post #80
pizza234 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a strictly technological view of videogames is very restrictive. For a variety of reasons, in the last decade (or in the last couple), videogames matured as a narrative medium, which is a radical difference from the 90s. One could argue that, from an whole - including artistic - perspective, 2010s are the golden era. I don't think there is a golden age, though. There are still radical improvements to come in…

Video games have gone Hollywood. Largely because of improvements in graphics, game budgets have gone way up and studios are afraid to take risks. Hence you get mostly sequels, online cash cows, linear on-rails shooters/cinematic experiences that are easy to sell. Content is expensive to produce so studios are afraid of "wasting" it. Yet I was still discovering hidden things in the original Deus Ex 10 years after I fi…

Maria 1 was the Grand Theft Auto of 2002/03.

Re: Id Software

#85

Post by aktau »

ksec wrote: post #79

There used to be sort of an Engine War in the late 90s and early 00s, Id tech, Source Engine, Unreal. Now ID is basically gone. And it is interesting both Valve and EPIC manage to create a platform, valve created Steam, and EPIC made Unreal almost like de facto standard. ( Yes I know there is Unity ). I wonder why ID didn't continue to compete with Unreal in the middleware engine. Why Valve decide to leave what was a…

I wonder why you said that Unreal (I assume for the first, single-player, Unreal) was a mediocre engine. AFAIK it was competitive with Quake II and released only a couple of months later. Care to detail?

Re: Id Software

#86

Post by philbarr »

kchr wrote: post #54
ddtaylor wrote: post #52

Here is the famed "Fast Inverse Square Root" trick: https://github.com/id-Software/Quake-III-Arena/blob/dbe4ddb1... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root

Thanks for lifting this up!

My favourite part of the wiki page is:

  i  = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 );  // what the fuck?

Re: Id Software

#87

Post by lsadam0 »

wowtip wrote: post #58
kar1181 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the comments below observe, I think the types and number of experiences built on the back of new (to mainstream audiences anyway) technology were transformative. In 92 the Amiga 1200 came out, a wonderful computer with great hardware but unfortunately it never made it big. Four years later in 1996 mass market PCs were coming out with Pentium processors, 3dfx accelerators, high resolution bitmap displays, internet…

I wonder sometimes, what could be built using today's tech if it was focused like Amigas back in the day with a single hardware spec and a dedicated OS just for that platform. Without regard to backwards compability in OS, like BeOS at the time. What would a revolutionary Amiga 1000 look like in 2018? With modern hardware and latest OS/system ideas. Gaming consoles could be considered examples of this, but they are k…

> ...a single hardware spec and a dedicated OS just for that platform. Without regard to backwards compability in OS, like BeOS at the time.

I would argue the closest mainstream machines currently available that meet this requirement are Macs and iOS devices. Sure, there's a handful-ish amount of different configurations, but they do not vary greatly. Backwards compatibility certainly isn't much of a concern in macOS.

Re: Id Software

#88

Post by cubano »

kar1181 wrote: post #50
DEADBEEFC0FFEE wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious that you think it was a golden age.

As the comments below observe, I think the types and number of experiences built on the back of new (to mainstream audiences anyway) technology were transformative. In 92 the Amiga 1200 came out, a wonderful computer with great hardware but unfortunately it never made it big. Four years later in 1996 mass market PCs were coming out with Pentium processors, 3dfx accelerators, high resolution bitmap displays, internet…

I always dislike it when the Amiga 1200 is mentioned as a forerunner to modern computing and the wonderful, albeit buggy, Atari 1040ST, released in 1985, is totally forgotten about

Using the Motorola 680000 with 32 bit internal/16 bit external buses and color bit-mapped graphics, my ST, hardware wise, totally blew away all other PCs from a technical POV and it just annoys me when the Amiga gets all this love the and the ST gets none whatsoever.

Re: Id Software

#89

Post by tgb »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #10

For some of the history of that time, I suggest checking out "Masters of Doom : how two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture", by David Kushner. The book is 15 years old (!!!) at this point, but I think it's still a compelling read.

I hate to play the role of the grouch, but I read it after constantly hearing about it and think it's definitely worth reading, but the book just isn't that good. The writing was poor and it tried to force narratives on events with a heavy hand. The actual history in it is cool but mostly lacking technical details which would have made it more interesting. It's worth reading if you already find Carmack interesting but keep your expectations low so you're not disappointed like I was. It's a fast and easy read though so it won't take long to try it regardless of who's opinion you listen to.

Thinking about how much Carmack has been up to since that book was written is super cool.

Re: Id Software

#90

Post by the_af »

pjc50 wrote: post #76
wowtip wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder sometimes, what could be built using today's tech if it was focused like Amigas back in the day with a single hardware spec and a dedicated OS just for that platform. Without regard to backwards compability in OS, like BeOS at the time. What would a revolutionary Amiga 1000 look like in 2018? With modern hardware and latest OS/system ideas. Gaming consoles could be considered examples of this, but they are k…

The three distinctive features of the Amiga: - revolutionary custom graphics hardware - better sound hardware than competitors - pre-emptive multitasking Therefore, if I was attempting something like this today, I would: - make the graphics preeminent in the system. In other words, keep the graphics card and throw away the legacy CPU. Let it drive PCI devices. - on its own, doing that makes it much harder to program,…

> keep the graphics card and throw away the legacy CPU

If you throw away the CPU, how do you run general purpose programs (of which games are one type)? If the graphics card can run them, why are you not calling it a CPU?

The Amiga had a CPU :) Never owned one, but I understand a key feature was that graphics were very easy to program (mapped to main memory, or so a friend who owned one told me).

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