Alpha Waves, the first 3D platformer ever
How 3D graphics worked when there were no graphic cards
- Track: Retrocomputing devroom
- Room: K.3.401
- Day: Saturday
- Start: 15:00
- End: 15:30
Alpha Waves is the first 3D platform game ever, according to the Guiness Book of Records.
Initially developed on Atari ST, it was then ported on Amiga and on the IBM PC. The technology later gave rise to Alone in the Dark, a major game that launched Infogrames in the big league. This is the history of that game.
The game was initially developed on Atari ST, representing 17000 lines of 68K assembly code. It was later ported on Amiga and on the IBM PC, and was the first and only assembly program game that Infogrames ever ported to another CPU. The technology developed for that game later inspired Frederick Raynal to develop Alone in the Dark, a major game that launched Infogrames in the big league.
This talk is the history of that game by its developer. It will cover:
General principles of paleo-3D
How to draw polygons in software. Fast.
Computing 3D transforms using mostly additions
Music, graphics and other stuff
Funny stories and trivia around the game, including the stints of Infogrames in Artificial Intelligence and the arch-genesis of Alone in the Dark
Speakers
 |
Christophe de Dinechin |