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2) There are some good programs available to create nice tiles.
3) such games are normally not published by big publishers, but there are several budget-publishers who publish those games for 10-15$. developing a hit is nearly impossible for lone programmers, you can make (with a bit of luck) some $$$, but developing a real hit is hard. a raiden clone won't be a hit today, maybe you'll sell some copies, maybe not.
cu
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Skullpture Entertainment
#40842461
When you factor in the vram needed for all the other gfx (ships, etc.) you may be in a bit of trouble. It really depends on your target machine.
//what you could do is write a memory manager thingy that only keeps the surface as long as it's used (that's what i do [it was thrown in there in a few minutes (cuz i despartely needed something...)) and deallocates it after an X amount of 'no usage' time.
Good luck on the game... shooters kick ass 
~Queasy.
nuFAN suggested that I could use an app like ProMotion to make background tiles. How can I do such a thing when I am artistically challenged? Is there anybody out there on the Net who provides such a service?
if you have two, then you really have to think about it.
If you upgrade, my rule of thumb is always to get the cheapest card on the market. That way I know my game will work on the lowest common denominator.
As for the tiles... sorry, i can't help you there... I make the tiles in photoshop. I suggest you try to learn to make the gfx though.. it'll help you in the future when you need more art, but can't find an artist.
CU
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Skullpture Entertainment
#40842461
NuFAN, you said that you have some background tiles and that you're willing to share them with me. What I'm looking for are background tiles suitable for use in a vertical shoot-em-up where the scrolling background shows land and other stuff below. If you don't know what I mean, look at Apogee Software's classic hit Raptor: Call of the Shadows or one of those types of games in the arcade.
For Queasy: Is it possible that the 640x480x16 mode is slow because of the cheap material Packard Bell uses to build their systems? Would getting a 3D accelator help (I already have one with only 1MB of Video RAM).
Well, I apologize if any of that sound like crap but I've had a few drinks 
Anyways, if you can't find anyone, then I'd be glad to help out with the gfx. I'm not that good, mind you, but I get away with it.
Contact me on ICQ: 42406817
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If I had just 1 wish, I'd ask for a big enough ass for the whole world to kiss - Eminem
Getting any video card with more memory will help. I currently develop on a p200 w/ 2mb of ram. When i ran it on a p166 with 4 mb ram (same S3 virge/dx video card, just more vram), it ran many times faster. Just think... by creating a simple flipping chain, you've already eaten up MORE than 1mb of vram. You'd be doing sysRam to vRam blts!
I am thinking of using a particle system for explosions in my game. Is that a good idea? If it is, how can I implement it (I am using CDX class library in my game)? If not, what should I do?
Second, how can I implement pixel-perfect collision detection using CDX? I can't find such a resource anywhere on the Net.
Third, does anyone out there have some good BMPs of cool ships and planes that I can use in my game, hopefully as bosses? NuFAN says that he has some background tiles I can use. Can you please send them to me, NuFAN?
