CURRENT FEATURES OF THE GAMES MASTER SYSTEM



These are just some of the major features that have so far been
implemented.  Note that not all new features and changes have been
documented here.  For the complete low-down on all features of GMS check
the developer information files.

   NEW!
*  Fast blitter functions for drawing BOB's, copying for screen buffers,
   3 different screen clears, auto background saving and clearing for
   BOB's.  Also includes Pixel and Line drawing functions, and support for
   list's for very fast mass-drawing operations.

*  Full sprite support, and that is:  All available sprite dimensions,
   colour table offsets, 16 colour sprites, width-doubled sprites, full
   animation support, lo-res, hi-res, and superhi-res support,

*  Sound support includes:  Support for sound priorities, intelligent
   dynamic channel play-back, channel modulation for special effects, IFF
   support.

   NEW!
*  Proportional colour fading, functions are: PaletteMorph, ColourMorph,
   PaletteToColour and ColourToPalette.  Support for setting speed and
   colour ranges.

*  Full support for raster/copperlists, with effects such as:  ColourLists,
   Mirror, Flood, Screen and Sprite Splitting, and Palette Changes.

*  Allows you to support all different kinds of input devices (joysticks,
   joypads, mouse etc) through just one simple function call.  This enables
   you to support devices that don't even exist yet.

*  User preferences program to allow full configuration of a game's
   functionality.  This includes configuration for:  Game/Task Priorities, 
   Choice of networking, Mode Promotion, Joystick Config, Music
   Redirection, and more.

*  Stable memory allocation and a freemem routine that will not crash your
   machine if you have written over your memory boundaries.

*  Smart Saving and Loading of files, with automatic packing and depacking.
   Packer support covers files crunched with XPK (external), PowerPacker
   (internal), and RNC methods 1&2 (internal).

*  250k+ of assembler, E and C sources, demonstrating all uses of the
   library.

*  All games and demos can multi-task with no significant drop in speed or
   performance.



                           FEATURES IN PROGRESS 


*  Structure pre-processor for compiling structures at run-time, would
   make GMS the first games system to support up to 100% user editing of
   game data while retaining stability.

*  Chunky 2 Planar that won't bother wasting time with conversions or
   copying if chunky mode is available in the hardware.  Various routines
   for different systems will be user selectable.

*  A Debug.GPI that can output game data across a serial connection or to
   a custom window as the game runs.   Will also include memory display,
   search and editing and possibly a disassembler all in one interface.

*  Networking support across modems, null modems, and TCP/IP.

*  The Reko.GPI by Gerardo Iula, for the use of REKO cardsets.  Also he
   is working on the Anim.GPI for animation effects.

*  The Vector.GPI (saving the best till last).  With texture mapping,
   various shading, shadows, etc.  The level of detail and the effects used
   will be entirely user selectable.