<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP --> <!--X-From-R13: "Ybfgre, Dncu" <exbfgreNbevtva.rn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 15:25:50 +0000 --> <!--X-Message-Id: c=US%a=_%p=EA%l=MOLACH-980109152535Z-218929#molach,origin.ea.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00137.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00139.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00165.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00170.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00138">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00138">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00138">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 09:25:35 -0600</LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Thursday, January 08, 1998 5:17 PM, Vadim Tkachenko[SMTP:vadimt#4cs,com] wrote: > Speaking about UO, do they have any plans to support Java client end? > > See, I loved Ultima Underworld (both I and II) a while ago, and now I'm > unfortunately (for UO, I'm happy :-) working under UNIX (Linux/Solaris), > and as far as I remember they provide only Win95 front-end... Hmm, how to keep this on topic? ;) Java is too slow to handle what we do in a graphical sense. We draw a 640x480 screen in 15 bit color with one bit for an alpha channel for translucency effects. The terrain is bitmap tiles unless it is sloping, in which case we texture map and Gouraud shade it and the adjacent flat tiles as well (the latter in order to provide smooth shading). On top of that, most machines under Win95 have problems with display speed once a lot of players get on screen, because our characters are built out of displaying the naked body plus every equipped item, in overlay ("paper doll" style) permitting visual cues of equipment, plus differentiation of characters. The animations will slow down display even further. We do onl partial screen refreshes, of course, but the larger the area of the screen, the slower it gets. Java adds a pile more overhead. It will be interesting to see how Java evolves, but it's not quite ready for massmarket use in games proper (though there has been some great success at using it for a client for chat areas, game selection, etc). More business realities: there's a Linux version. It's only available in-house. It's faster than the Win95 version too. :P There's also a Mac version that was never finished, despite being close. Why were they not completed? There's a question as to whether we could make back the cost of the box and CD with a Mac version--and I would LOVE to see it done, because I like Macs and own one. And the Linux version raises issues of tech support and distribution that a large corporation doesn't want to deal with. *sigh* -Raph </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00170" HREF="msg00170.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> JC Lawrence <claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00137.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] OT: DCOM and RMI</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00139.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00165.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00170.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00138"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00138"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00219" HREF="msg00219.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, The Eternal City <a href="mailto:eternal#eternal,eternal-city.com">eternal#eternal,eternal-city.com</a>, Mon 12 Jan 1998, 19:29 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00168" HREF="msg00168.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Sat 10 Jan 1998, 03:38 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00217" HREF="msg00217.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, The Eternal City <a href="mailto:eternal#eternal,eternal-city.com">eternal#eternal,eternal-city.com</a>, Mon 12 Jan 1998, 19:06 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00165" HREF="msg00165.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Sat 10 Jan 1998, 03:19 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00138" HREF="msg00138.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Fri 09 Jan 1998, 15:25 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00170" HREF="msg00170.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Sat 10 Jan 1998, 04:16 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00140" HREF="msg00140.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Fri 09 Jan 1998, 15:49 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00185" HREF="msg00185.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, Raph & Kristen Koster <a href="mailto:koster#eden,com">koster#eden,com</a>, Sat 10 Jan 1998, 17:27 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00215" HREF="msg00215.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP</A></strong>, JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Mon 12 Jan 1998, 18:48 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>