On Thu, 19 Sep 2013 09:54:35 +0200 "PauloPinto" <pj...@progtools.org> wrote:
> On Thursday, 19 September 2013 at 07:24:19 UTC, Nick Sabalausky > wrote: > > > > That's essentially the same strategy behind the graphics > > hardware in > > most 8/16-bit consoles. Basically the ones from around SMS/NES > > and then > > up until 3D. You can identify them from the grid-based > > layouts (which were a huge improvement, for both gamers *and* > > developers over the "carefully time your opcodes to adjust the > > scanlines while they're being drawn" used by Atari VCS/2600 > > and, I'm > > guessing, probably the ColecoVision and SG-1000, which is what > > make > > them so amazingly affordable at the time). > > > > In DOS, a lot of CGA/EGA/VGA games used a similar approach as > > DOS-text-mode/NES/SMS/etc, but it had to be done in software. > > Obviously in those cases it didn't reduce the amount of data > > sent to > > the video card, but it did still reduce (significantly) the > > amount of > > HDD and RAM required to store the levels, and it somewhat > > simplified/reduced the amount of processing needed to render. > > > > (I've done a bit of old-school homebrew, and got my real coding > > start > > in DOS VGA gaming. Fascinating and incredibly fun stuff to > > develop for. > > I'd love to design/build my own tile-based console someday, > > just for > > the heck of it.) > > You are not alone. These guys are still in business selling > hardware just for that. > > http://www.xgamestation.com/ I wrote three of the demos and two of the drivers that are packaged with the Hydra ;) Still have my prototype unit sitting on my desk here. Unfortunately I don't have much (any) time for hardware tinkering these days :( Andre's old DOS-based gamedev books were key for me in going from "BASIC-hobbyist who once tried to learn C" to finally grokking C and doing more serious things.