From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E08DD55E for ; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:46:48 +0200 (CEST) Received: from ptb-relay01.plus.net (ptb-relay01.plus.net [212.159.14.212]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j6RJkldx018379 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:46:48 +0200 Received: from [80.229.56.224] (helo=chetara) by ptb-relay01.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1Dxrrb-000320-3L for caml-list@yquem.inria.fr; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:46:47 +0100 From: Jon Harrop Organization: Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Games Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:44:42 +0100 User-Agent: KMail/1.7.2 References: <20050726013444.GA32493@xmunkki.org> <1122484910.6768.133.camel@localhost.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <1122484910.6768.133.camel@localhost.localdomain> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200507272044.43231.jon@ffconsultancy.com> X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 42E7E4A7.001 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 interfacing:01 elegantly:01 ocaml:01 ocaml:01 bindings:01 discs:98 presenta:98 ...:98 frog:98 wrote:01 suited:01 opengl:01 caml:02 graphics:02 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.3 (2005-04-27) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.0.3 On Wednesday 27 July 2005 18:21, skaller wrote: > Just an aside-- but this is why > most games are utter crap. The developers have no idea > how to develop high level code, so they focus on weenie > details of graphics, and as a result we have stunning > high performance motion interfacing to the most banal > rubbish I have ever seen. As time goes by things just > seem to get worse. I would have put that much more elegantly but, basically, I agree. > I sure hope using Ocaml can help to fix this problem, > and allow the real game programmers to focus > on game design -- the way they did in the days > of Zork when all that pretty embellishment just > wasn't possible. Never heard of Zork. Apparently you could get it on 8" discs. Have you seen Darwinia? I have actually been thinking about writing an "OCaml for Games Programming" book. I think there is a lot of scope for interesting and unusual material in such a book and I think there are lots of possible examples which would demonstrate the power of OCaml for general purpose programming whilst also making wicked cool games. The downside is mainly the lack of state-of-the-art OpenGL bindings. I think there is ample market for a games programming OCaml book but it would be difficult to sell it at a low enough price (again, I think it would really benefit from being full color). So I'm now thinking that it might be better suited to educational software rather than a book. Not least because on-screen 3D graphics would really help to explain things. When we finish it, Presenta should be ideal for this... -- Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. Objective CAML for Scientists http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists