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Jan 4, 2001, 7:27pm

Not the same thing at all. Games where you can "level a mountain just by
shooting at it" have that opportinity predefined within the level. AW places
no such restrictions on the user, where they can build a mountain, delete
it, replace it with a park bench, stick a pole in the middle of the park
bench, build a house around the park bench and pole, delete the pole, etc.
etc. etc. ... ad infinitum.

As for games were you can build ... you can only build those things that are
supported within the game and interaction with these "objects" is also
restricted to what is supported within the game. AW provides an environment
where there are very few rules, and therefore handles any activity in a
generic manner. In the games you mention, the restrictions placed on the
player represent the "fixed" aspects. You can only do what the game supports
which falls well short of a user's capabilities in AW.

It is hardly surprising that these games perform so much better than AW due
to the assumptions and subsequent shortcuts that can be made within the
processing BECAUSE of these restrictions. With the generic nature of AW's
concept, everything must be handled in a "correct" manner ... and that takes
processing power. Here's an example (of the point - don't take it too
literally regarding AW). Imagine a ten-pin bowling alley. The rules are
strict here - if the ball hits the pins at a certain point, from a certain
direction, the fixed starting position of the pins can be relied upon and
the after-effects of the strike can be rapidly rendered BECAUSE of this
fact. Now imagine the same bowling alley in AW ... where the pins can be put
anywhere. Each object (e.g. the ball, the pins, etc.) must be handled
discretely and all the impacts individually calculated and rendered before
moving on to the next point in time (e.g. frame) because there are no
assumptions that can be made. There is a massive overhead in handling
real-world, flexible environments where rules are few and far between
compared to those where the bounds of interaction are so limited.

Grims



[View Quote] I've seen games where you could level a mountain just by shooting at it.
I've seen games where you could build structures while playing, whole army
bases, and shoot them to pieces. You can even play them multiplayer. And
they all ran faster than AW. Now tell me how the "worlds" of those games are
more fixed than those in AW?

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