Re: Direction of Linux games...

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Since I got (justifiably) shot at for my 1980's fixed frame rate code,
I should explain that as a professional flight simulator engineer, I'm
*VERY* aware of the issues.

Tux isnt' like that because it started life as a demo for PLIB, progressed
to a simple hack for my kid to play with, and eventually grew into a
full-blown game which deserved to be GPL'ed.  As several people have
correctly explained, if you don't build that stuff in from square #1,
it's nearly impossible to retro-fit it.

Having fully variable frame rate is *NOT* without problems though.

Many games of the Tux genre want to make gaps that you can only
*just* jump across if you push the jump button at the exact
right moment and at the exact right place...things that *look*
like you might be able to reach - but which are annoyingly just
out of reach unless you pick up a box to stand on or something.

When frame rates are relatively low (eg 20Hz to 30Hz), it'll be
VERY hard to ensure that some object can *DEFINITELY* not be
reached, no matter what the speed of the graphics/CPU it, yet
DEFINITELY can be reached when standing on a small box.

In a fixed rate system, it's really easy to ensure.

...plus it was my first game...

I agree that this is a pretty lame excuse - but it bears
consideration.

So, you all get my grovelling apology - and I *promise*
to do better next time.  I *still* got five stars on
the Games tome though...technically that makes Tux as
good as Quake - HA!

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1@airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker@hti.com      (work)