Feb 97 URLs
Volume Number: 13
Issue Number: 2
Column Tag: Uniform Resource Locators
Uniform Resource Locators
By Nicholas C. "nick.c" DeMello
Starting Points
If you're interested in touring the online world of Macintosh game programming, to get
started I recommend pulling in to Sean M. McDowell's Bitstop. Sean's Mac Game
Programmers' Bitstop provides links to the latest news and some of the most essential
sites for Mac game programming.
Mac Game Programmer Bitstop
http://www.undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca/~smmcdowe/Bitstop.html
SpriteWorld, the Sequel
Does your program use animation? If so, you probably know about Tony Myle's
SpriteWorld, one of the most prominent Macintosh freeware libraries for generating
sprite animation's. However, you might not have heard about SpriteWorld 2.0. This is
the latest major release of SpriteWorld brought to us by Karl Bunker
KarlBunker@aol.com and Vern Jensen Vern_Jensen@lamg.com. SpriteWorld 2.0
introduces new routines that allow you to scroll a large background across your
window without having to create a huge GWorld. Imagine what your about box could
look like if you made use of Nintendo quality scrolling backgrounds—
Version 2.0 also introduces new "tiling" routines, which allow you to layer sprites so
that a closer one passes in front of another sprite. With this release, SpriteWorld even
has it's own web site (I'm proud to tell you I was visitor #00000009.) Check out the
SpriteWorld pages for documentation, to download the libraries and source code, or
just to check out some very impressive demos.
Sprite World 2.0 Pages
http://users.aol.com/spritewld2/
Finding Answers
The best resource a starting programmer can have is a good book. Two of the most
popular reference books for Macintosh game programmers are Black Art of Macintosh
Game Programming and Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus. To help folks get
an idea of what each of these books has to offer the publishers have put brief
descriptions of the books online.
Matthew Xavier Mora is just beginning to build the "comp.sys.mac.games.
programming.book" pages - an HTML format book that will act as a tutorial for
Macintosh game programming. A more complete "HIT" format Mac game programming
FAQ maintained by Joshua Grass is called the Macintosh Game Programming Workshop.
Comp.sys.mac.games.programmer is the usenet forum dedicated to Macintosh game
programming, and the place to look for the comp.sys.mac.programmer.games FAQ -
maintained by Kyle Ellrott. Rec.games.programmer and comp.graphics.algorithms are
also useful resources, and folks can subscribe to Apple's Macintosh Games Developer
mailing list by sending email to with "SUBSCRIBE
mac-games-dev " in the body.
Black Art of Macintosh Game Programming Page
http://www.mcp.com/waite/waite/books.new/Black_Art_Mac_Game_Program/html/
bamgpcov.html
Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus Page
http://www.mcp.com/hayden/mac_game-gurus/
Comp.sys.mac.games.programming.book
http://www.best.com/~mxmora/c.s.m.g.p.b.0.html
Macintosh Game Programming Workshop
http://anytime.cs.umass.edu/~jgrass/MGPW/index.html
The Best of All Worlds
Some will tell you that the Mac can be all things to all people - including a Nintendo
system for those of us addicted to Mortal Kombat. If you doubt them, check out John
Stiles Macintosh emulators page. John lists twenty five platforms that can be emulated
with a Macintosh - everything from an Atari 2600 to a ZX Spectrum. Each of these
links takes you to a summary page describing what emulation programs are available,
listing important information, and providing links to related sites. For example, the
Apple II page begins with a link to an Apple II emulation FAQ; it compares the features
and stability of two Apple IIe emulators; provides links for downloading 68k and PPC
versions of Apple II+, Apple IIe, and Apple IIgs emulators; and wraps up with links to
Apple II software archives.
It is comforting to know that our favorite platform can generate a working
environment for testing Magic Cap utilities, a playground for enjoying our favorite
Game Boy programs, or even a shell for using TI-81 or HP48 calculator packages.
However, it can also provide us with a link to the past, allowing us to remember our
first experience with a TRS-80, Commodore 64, or an ancient environment called
"Windows.
Macintosh Emulators Page
http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~jstiles/emulator/