The Byte Before Christmas by JL Enterprises
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Hi there everybody. Well, this is my first attempt at writing a demo and I'm
actually surprised with the results. Sure, it's short. Sure, there's no
fancy vector graphics. And sure, all of the graphics suck, but I think it is
something that I can be proud of. I've spent just about a whole week working
on this project. To me, this seems like a relatively okay amount of time, but
I'm sure there are folks out there who can punch out a demo like this in a
couple of hours. Of course with me, there's this great limiting factor that
really decreases my productivity greatly. I believe it's known to many as
high school :)
Now, for those who are technically minded and want to know something about
this demo: It was written completely in Turbo Assembler, with many data
tables and such, calculated by small programs written in Microsoft QuickBasic.
The Ultrasound music routines are the same as those used in GusMod 2.11
(stored in that MUSIC210.INF file) except the version I used isn't compressed.
GoldPlay was used to get sound for the other devices. (I think this is the
first time a program has been released that used two different music systems
and combined their use together the way I have). Each section of the demo
was coded separately into different EXE files and each has all data included
directly into the EXE. Each EXE was then compressed with PKLITE to reduce
their size. Note that most of them have been reduced by over 75 percent
because the graphic data is very redundant. All files needed for the demo
was then combined into a single library file. The files can then be accessed
normally even though they are stored in this single file through a method
which I call the JLib File Host Environment. This environment is created by
the BYTEB4.EXE file, which actually loads and runs a program called
LOADER.EXE which has the device selections and then in turn runs each of the
parts of the demo! BYTEB4.EXE is based off a program of mine that is called
JLIBHOST which can create this environment for virtually any program without
any modifcations of the program at all!
Also, I'm sure everyone can tell, but you may have noticed that just about
all of the graphics were rendered in 3D-Studio. Now don't get all up tight
about it. Yes, I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no artistic capabilities
on the computer at all. (Look at the Santa in the last part!)
Well, that's enough for now. I'm going to release most of my source in a
week or two so that all those people who can't do something that I can will
be able to learn. I believe that one of the better ways to learn is through
example. It's through that same way that I learned how to do this!
I can reached via Snail-mail at:
Jeff Lawson
1893 Kaweah Drive
Pasadena, CA 91105-2174
USA
or through E-mail at:
haroldf@rcf.usc.edu
also via phone at:
(213) 258-5604
or (if previous line is busy):
(213) 258-4264
Although I'm not asking any money for it, I'm aware that there are people who
like to send money anyways. If you happen to be one of these types of people,
feel free to contact me! :)
Thanks for downloading this!
[ back to the prod ]