Message-ID: <011901bdb41d$7ecc2040$494e08c3@arthur>
Reply-To: "Arthur" <arfa AT clara DOT net>
From: "Arthur" <arfa AT clara DOT net>
To: "DJGPP Mailing List" <djgpp AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: Re: Graphics level
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 21:19:15 +0100
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>Has anyone had any experience with writing allegro games at 640x480x16? I
>was wondering if it would be possible to have this screen mode with a
static
>screen(i.e. not scrolling) with about 12 or so animated objects on top of
it
>(sized up to about 80x80 or so). If this isn't feasible for a P133 for
>instance, I'll use 256 colours, and if this is necessary, does anyone have
>any good tips for palette use, my previous attempts have been somewhat
>wasteful (allocating each type of gfx (e.g. background, player sprite,
enemy
>sprite etc..) a certain colour range which it has to stick to).


Is it possible to do 640x480x16? Yes, so long as you have a graphics card
with enough memory (about 1MB should do it) which most cards have.

Is it possible to have 12 objects on screen at once? Should be no problem
for a P133. Those of us in the G'98RGT team are currently in the process of
programming a game in 640x480x16. We plan to have quite a few more objects
than 12 on screen at once. Our minimum spec is any Pentium (although since
there is no Pentium specific code, it should run on any system with enough
video RAM to handle the resolution). What you are suggesting could be done
on a 386 with a good graphics card. A Pentium would hardly feel the
pressure.

BTW, palette allocation is not all that hard. If you have a good art
package, it will tell you how many colours it used for each image. You
should also be able to create a user palette which you can use for each
graphic you make. PSP does all this, but so do several other packages. The
hard bit is keeping each image in sync with the palette...

James Arthur
jaa AT arfa DOT clara DOT net