PC/Computing - September 1996
https://archive.org/details/pc-computing-magazine-v9i9/page/n103/mode/2up
What I'm listening to today: "Sommarhack 2024 Invitro", 505 & mOdmate
"Sommarhack" is an Atari demoscene party happening next year in Sweden. The event announcement came itself in the form of a short Atari ST demo, which you can find on YouTube under the name "300 Days to Go". The demo incorporated this original track, made in maxYMiser music (that's the tracker made by gwEm). It's effortlessly funky, and has absolutely the filthiest chiptune bassline I have ever heard.
I see Patman did a retro history of CarnEvil a few weeks back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQBbHiyx9sw
This was an interesting one to emulate in MAME. It was part of the initial round of Atari/Midway 3Dfx games I added. For years I had always poo-pooed the idea of supporting them because they needed so much new infrastructure and complex emulation.
But I eventually talked myself into doing Killer Instinct, which forced me to add both hard disk support and a dynamic 64-bit MIPS recompiler. Once I had those two pieces in place, the only major missing piece for these games was the 3Dfx, so I figured why not. Around that time I also discovered the full specs for the original Voodoo Graphics online, so I had everything I needed to proceed.
And to tie it all back to recent LucasArts stuff: the interaction of the 3D models and the pre-rendered backgrounds is highly reminiscent of Grim Fandango/EfMI. I never looked closely enough to figure out if they had just encoded a Z buffer with the video, or if they took the EfMI approach of rendering crude invisible dummy geometry to populate the Z buffer before rendering the visible models.
If you're in the US and you've also been idly wondering why "I don't like to drive at night" has become such a common thing to say in the past few years, stand near to a modern LED streetlamp and block it with your hand. In about two thirds of a second, the whole road brightens up as your pupils open.
You're not just getting old; between over-bright streetlights, over-bright headlights of oncoming cars, over-bright instrument clusters, over-bright porch lighting, nobody can see in the dark anymore.
Just in the last decade we've made it much harder and more dangerous to drive at night. Oh, and we also gave up the stars.
solitaire, deck selection prompt, windows 95 (1995) https://mobygames.com/game/windows/microsoft-windows-95-included-games/screenshots/gameShotId,896813/
Half Life 1 is temporarily free on steam and got a big 25th anniversary update, so claim it if you don't already have it
35 years ago today some unknown genius released V 1.0 of my favourite Mac program ever: "Cheshire" (see image description for what's happening in the screen capture).
Get "Cheshire" here: http://felix.bernoully.com/cheshire (at your own risk; needs a Mac OS Classic environment)
#OTD #CheshireCat #AliceInWonderland #retrocomputing #oldmac
He/him. Puzzle-Adventure Hybrid with RPG Elements. Supports 3D Acceleration. He Is Essentially What He Believes. Just in case, π, LGBTQ+ π, DOS π, ππ©π.
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