Thanks Tom for the update. Crash ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 11:29 AM Subject: [Audyssey] USA Games News 5/1/2008.
> > USA Games News > > May 1, 2008 > > > Introduction > > Greetings gamers, > I know it has been a long time since USA Games has said anything > official about our products and services, but I personally felt that a > news release was well over do. We have a lot going on, and USA Games for > the most part has spent the last three months in a period of research > and testing. We have experimented with a wide range of technologies, > looked into several operating systems, researched several devices, and > now have concluded our research. All of it was time well spent. > One of the major points of our research was the feasibility and the > practicality of creating accessible games for Windows, Mac, Linux, and > cell phones. While our researched results showed it was certainly > possible using Java, Python, etc it quickly became apparent that > creating accessible games on non-Windows platforms and devices is not > very practical. The game development tools are less advanced on Mac and > Linux, and we would not be able to deliver a game such as USA Raceway to > those platforms without dropping some of its selling features such as > support for force feedback racing wheels, virtual 3D audio support, > built in MS Sapi 5 support, etc. We felt the loss of these features were > simply an unacceptable compromise. > Besides the technical aspects of targeting non-Windows platforms and > devices we needed to look at the non-Windows user base. What we found in > looking at the Orca mailing list for Linux and the Mac Visionaries list > is that there are very few exclusive Mac or Linux users out there. The > majority of Mac and Linux users out there still use Windows as well as > Mac OS or Linux. I myself choose to use Linux for my home business needs > using apps like Open Office rather than MS Office, Evolution for > appointments rather than MS Outlook, etc. When I want to play games, > manage family photos, edit sound effects, watch dvds I turn to my laptop > which is running Vista. > Bottom line a lot of blind users out there are doing the same kind of > thing. Which forced me to conclude that from a strictly financial view > there isn't much money to be gained by targeting Mac and Linux directly > since most users still have access to Windows for this or that > application anyway. Yeah, I can understand the Mac and Linux users > desire to have Mac and Linux games, but it isn't currently financially > or technically appealing to a game company such as USA Games at this time. > During our research we did examine some cell phones owned by friends and > family members doing some initial testing for accessible games. The main > problem we discovered was memory. The cell phones we looked at didn't > have large amounts of memory so whatever we made would have to take that > into consideration. > Since we are mainly going to break into the First Person Action games > with our Genesis 3D engine we want to be able to have realistic virtual > 3D audio support. With the Windows DirectSound and XAudio2 libraries > that isn't a problem. The cell phones we looked at didn't have anything > remotely like that which wouldn't do for our current game projects. > Then, the cell phones we looked at had very small buttons. Different > button layouts aside the cell phones I personally examined had extremely > small buttons and touch pads. I'm not an expert on cell phones, but I > felt from an accessibility standpoint if cell phones buttons are going > to be so small and difficult to feel there is a lot of room for error > and difficulty in playing games with complex button layouts. Perhaps > there are other cell phones with better buttons, but the ones I examined > I didn't like. > In conclusion I felt simple games like Monopoly, Checkers, Text > Adventures, card games, and so on would work fine on a cell phone. If > the game was going to be a USA Raceway, Shades of Doom, or something > like that the cell phone is impractical for that kind of game. Since USA > games doesn't have an interest in writing text adventures, card games, > and board games we won't be targeting cell phones at this time. > Finally, one of the major reasons we started our research in the first > place is back in November 2007 Microsoft announced they were dropping > development support for Managed DirectX 9.0C. As all of our games are > based on that very technology we needed to know what alternatives were > out there for us. We also wanted to know, do to major changes in > DirectX, where the mainstream gaming market is heading. While we > currently are focused on delivering support for Windows XP and Vista we > would also like to think a little ahead and make sure we can support the > next Windows operating system, code named Windows 7, when it is released > sometime in 2010. Seeing what changes are currently going on in DirectX > it is pretty clear that a C++ developer supporting XAudio2 etc will > stand a better chance of long term support than anything else out there > at this time. > Another reason we were doing this research is when James North > originally announced Raceway he promised to deliver force feedback > support to raceway customers. He wrote an engine initially in Visual > Basic 6. He later upgraded it to Visual Basic .Net 2003 and discovered > that Managed DirectX has problems with force feedback devices. I wrote a > new engine in C# .Net and also had problems with force feedback devices. > As a result I was basically going to just tell the Raceway customers the > truth, I was having technical problems with force feedback wheels, and > was going to drop it. However, now that Managed DirectX itself is being > fazed out by Microsoft I decided switching to C++ and DirectInput for > Raceway will fix both problems at once. You will be able to get good > force feedback support, and I don't have to worry about Managed DirectX > being dropped any longer. > In the end after all my time, research, and hours of testing I have > finally came up with a really good design strategy for all of our future > games and projects. First, all of our new titles will be written in C++ > based on the standard Win32 API. There are many reasons why we picked > C++, but needless to say I am convinced it is the best long term for > everybody. Second, we will use the standard C++ DirectX 9.0C SDK as that > seams to be the best option for game development currently. Third, we > will be including Sapi 5 in all of our games as that has worked pretty > well for us. Despite some issues on end user systems Sapi 5 all and all > is a great gaming technology. > As a well educated software developer I feel I should have probably > looked into using C++ sooner, but like a lot of game developers who > does it for a hobby I wanted to take advantage of the simplicity, rapid > design, and deployment features of the .Net Framework. It only proves > once again slow and steady always wins the race. Which is a lesson I > will not soon forget. As they say, "live a little learn a little." > > Genesis 3D > > As most of you are ware by now for the passed few months we have been > working on a revolutionary new audio game engine named Genesis 3D. As I > have described it in greater detail in passed news releases I won't > repete that information here. You should be able to find more about it > in back issues of the Audyssey magazine or list archives. > At this point we have began the process of converting everything from C# > .Net to C++. Many of the course classes for creating characters, > weapons, math classes, etc have already been converted over to C++ with > little difficulty. We have also got Sapi 5 working in Genesis 3D though > we still need to expand the speech system to support all of the features > of the .Net version. All and all work is progressing pretty well. > Right now the only difficulty is getting DirectSound support working in > Genesis 3D. As we quickly discovered DirectSound support in C++ is quite > a bit more involved than doing in VB .Net or C# .Net. Microsoft has > DirectX utility classes that does most of the grunt work, but I'm not > all that happy with their utility classes so I am writing my own which > will take a while. Besides I think their utility classes were only > sample classes rather than meant for for real production use. Once I get > my classes for encapsulating DirectSound 9's core features I should be > ready to get started on porting STFC, Raceway, etc to C++. > Initially when I created Genesis 3D I only had FPS style games in mind. > Over the passed few months I have seen a need to be able to share and > tap into those core Genesis 3D classes for games like Raceway, STFC, > etc. So in the rewrite I am streamlining the engine support somewhat to > allow for side-scrollers, racing games, etc so they can all can be based > on a common and uniform gaming engine. After all Sapi support, keyboard > support, joystick support, Audio support, etc all is basically the same > for every game anyway. All that needs to be different is various classes > for characters, weapons, cars, jets, etc. Even those can be inherited > from higher level super classes in the engine. The engine just needs a > more pure oop design to be more flexible, and have the classes broken > down and arranged better. > > USA Raceway > > I really don't think there is much to report about Raceway as I have > basically mentioned the important news already. As stated earlier > Raceway, the .net version, is getting canned. I am starting over with > C++, and while Raceway fans might find that disappointing and down right > upsetting you will be getting a much better product for it. Especially, > when it comes to supporting racing wheels, joysticks, and other > specialized game devices. C++ just has the best support for those kinds > of devices currently. > Also as mentioned earlier Raceway is going to be one of the games based > off of the new Genesis 3D engine. Raceway, like a lot of my game > projects, were started long before Genesis 3D was started. So I was > constantly trying to integrate this or that feature from Genesis 3D into > the game after the fact. All That did was cause me to constantly spin my > wheels getting nowhere. Which probably makes me look like an idiot. > However, this time round I plan to get it right. I will write the engine > first, plan ahead for everything I need, and then quickly put the game > together. This way the majority of support will come strait out of the > core engine rather than the game itself. Assuming Sapi, joystick > support, keyboard support, etc is working in the engine it will already > be there natively in the game from day one. if there is any errors in > those features fixing the engine will fix all of my games at one time > which saves time and energy. > Here is how it works when you have a good engine ready to go. I open > Visual C++ 2008, and create a USA Raceway project. First thing I am > going to do is add the *.lib files needed to build the project, and then > tell it to import some source files such as Calculate.cpp, Calculate.h, > Options.cpp, Options.h, Track.cpp, Trac.h, Audio.cpp, Audio.h, etc from > the Genesis 3D engine. All of those components are written so > calculation, options, Audio, joystick support, etc suddenly is ready to > go with in five minutes of starting the project. it is a massive time > saver. Since they are imported from the Genesis 3D directory any changes > to those files, bug fixes, etc automatically get put into the latest > build without having to do anything more than do alt+b and press enter > on rebuilt project. > So while Raceway is a long ways from a final product I think what I am > doing now will make Raceway much easier to update, maintain, and of > course add features you were going to lose otherwise. > > USA Games Side-Scroller > > Over the passed month or so I been getting the occasional email about > our side-scroller project that once was Montezuma's Revenge, Montezuma's > Return, and Mysteries Of the Aztecs. To tell the truth we are still > considering ideas, story lines, and trying to balance what you paid for > with the need to release something in a timely manner. Michael Feir has > correctly pointed out that we can't just write something totally > different from the intended game, but on the other hand we can't write > the game you paid for do to copyright issues. So we are literally back > to square one with lots of ideas, but nothing to show for it yet. > Fortunately, as it will take us well into summer to get the Genesis 3D > engine working using C++ it will give us plenty of time to think about > what we will be doing for the side-scroller project. Perhaps by the time > the engine is ready for production use we will have a good story, > design, and some documentation ready to go for the new side-scroller. > One thing I have recently discovered is by writing the manual before > writing the game it helps fix the games features, commands, and story > line in your mind before even typing up any code. The object here is to > try and make the game match the documentation rather than make the > documentation match the game. So for this side-scroller by writing the > manual first I will have a pretty good idea of the game I am creating > before hand. > So that is what is happening with us. We are not going to offer dates, > announce schedules, etc until we have something nailed down. We are > going to work on the games in our free time, and when the games are > ready they are ready. Other than that if you don't hear from us I am > either too busy to work on them, or I am working on them but don't have > anything to report publicly. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the > list, > please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. 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