[About] [Why I did it?] [What you can learn?] [Conclusion] [Final Note]
Aren't you frustrated when you download 3D games and demos created with other 3D game 'creators' only to discover that it runs slow as syrup on your PC? One of my main objectives with my first 3D creation done with Jamagic was to create a silky smooth game, and it was possible without much effort. I was amazed by the fact that Jamagic has a more powerful set of instructions for 3D animations. Those integrated functions makes the creation of 3D games a dream.
- Can Jamagic do generic 3D games or just 'Doom' clones? You bet! Some 'game creation' systems only 'shines' with 'Doom-clones' games. Many of them aren't good for generic purpose 3D or 2D games.
- Can music modules (.MOD) makes your 3D game slower? It doesn't seem to be a problem for Jamagic and a properly configured sound card/drivers. By the way, the music Module used in this game is only a part of a larger 'dancing mix' composed by Giovanni Cardona in 1993 on an Amiga computer.
- Many 'object oriented' principles can be found in this game.
- By looking at my code, you can see how to enable/disable certain resources, depending on availability. For example, if the mod plug-in is not installed, it will be disabled, but this will not hurt the game play. If you have it, fine, if not, fine too.
- You too, can achieve fast and 'smooth' movements in your 3D games if you use the integrated object movements and collision detection functions. To achieve a smooth movement for the player object, an invisible object is actually reading the mouse coordinates and a second visible object is 'following' this invisible object, using Jamagic's Follow() function. This function can be 'fine tuned' so any rough movement caused by the invisible object that is reading the mouse coordinates can be easily smoothed by this function.
- This game uses relative addressing to position objects on screen. Many of the graphics shown, like titles, banners, can be automatically centered and/or resized depending on game's window size.
This game has a decent speed even on slow systems. If your PC is not giving you this experience, play with the sound options. Maybe your PC, sound card or drivers can't handle the sound output properly. Try disabling the 3D sound first, then by selecting a lower screen resolution (320 x 240).
Note that some video cards works better when you switch your desktop to 16 or 32 bits colors for faster 3D display.This 3D game looks and plays great on laptops!
This game was coded while Jamagic was in beta stage (and while I was learning the language) and only some minor fixes, like function name changes was done following the official release. Results can be achieved by other means or the code can be improved.
Copyright 2001 by Giovanni@Cardona.com Do not use any material from this web page without prior permission.