When I was a kid, I owned a Spectrum + and +3. Arguably, 8 bit machines produced some of the most addictive, creative games. Why? Because these machines were equipped with limited graphics, memory and sound, every line of programming had to count.
The technology required to create these games was frustratingly elusive to the average user. Most computer books in the library focussed on Cobol and Fortran applications, or the application of computers in business. With the advent of the internet, and with improved library collection facilities, a larger variety of information is available.
As I mentioned earlier, the games on the 8-bit micros had their limitations. In some cases they were frustratingly slow, or didnt realise their full potential due to machine restrictions. If these games were moved to a larger machine, such as the PC, then maybe their full potential could be realised.
Through the development of DirectX, the programmer has been given a low level interface to PC hardware on a Windows Platform. The DirectX SDK (available for free from Microsoft) provides a collection of interfaces to communicate with the low level functionality of the graphics and sound cards.
The aim of this project is to convert a spectrum title, Dark Empire, to the PC and build upon it.