Pitfalls of Early Access

[BarracudaUAK]

My minecraft install is modded...

Played for about a week to get the hang of it, then modded it.

1.8.7 when I started playing, rolled back to 1.7.10 for a mod, and Minecraft is at version 1.9.X or 1.10 now... (I'm still running my modded world at 1.7.10)
Been a while since I played it... Been re-installing/updating the PC lately, so I have to re-do Java, Forge for Minecraft, etc.

As for graphics, both Early Access games, and Minecraft....

My first computer was a Tandy 1000RL, no hard drive, 1, 3.5inch Double Density Floppy drive (720KB disk, not the 1.44MB disk.),
16 color Tandy Graphics Adapter (TGA), which, for most games "Simulated CGA".
That's 4 colors, count 'em, 1. 2. 3. 4. @ 320x200 resolution on a 14 inch CRT. DOS 3.3, and Deskmate GUI on the ROM... (which by the way, both still work,
even the Keyboard and Mouse. When I had a mouse or keyboard stop working on a new PC,
and either no $ or means of getting to the store to purchase a new one, I would pull out the Tandy's and be able to continue using my newer PC,
until I could get a new one.)

So lower graphics aren't an issue, my only concern with lower graphics is if it runs at a lower frame rate than a game with "better" graphics...
I.e. game is basic 3d (maybe even 'sprites' for the entities) @ 1024x768 resolution running at 30fps, but something like Crysis running at 70FPS @ 1920x1080.
(This assumes that the games are the same level of complexity "behind the scenes".)

Barracuda

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by BarracudaUAK

My first computer (1977) was a Tandy 1000RL, no hard drive, 1, 3.5inch Double Density Floppy drive (720KB disk, not the 1.44MB disk.),
16 color Tandy Graphics Adapter (TGA), which, for most games "Simulated CGA".
That's 4 colors, count 'em, 1. 2. 3. 4. @ 320x200 resolution on a 14 inch CRT. DOS 3.3, and Deskmate GUI on the ROM... (which by the way, both still work,
even the Keyboard and Mouse. When I had a mouse or keyboard stop working on a new PC,
and either no $ or means of getting to the store to purchase a new one, I would pull out the Tandy's and be able to continue using my newer PC,
until I could get a new one.)

Barracuda

Eh, what's that you say there Sonny?

My first computer (1977) was a Tandy TRS-80, no Floppy drive (just a cassette tape for program storage)
That's 2 colors count em, 1 and 2, Black and White... Block Graphics and all CAP text screen (real bummer on the eyes)
Peripherals what's that? (unless you count the keyboard and cassette player)
No mouse or any sort of pointing device on the market at that time.


Had to modify the sucker with an after market upper/lower case graphics chip and then when I went to put it in, had to modify the motherboard too, because the morons had tied the 7th and 8th bits together going into the graphics processor. Some brilliant designer decided that lower case was never going to be popular, so they didn't need more than 128 alphabetic characters. LOL

Fortunately, back then that computer (The TRS-80) came with ALL the wiring schematics and the motherboard circuit tracing was easy enough to alter.

Really GRAY (haired) Lensman

[BarracudaUAK]

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

...
That's 2 colors count em, 1 and 2, Black and White... Block Graphics and all CAP text screen (real bummer on the eyes)
...

Really GRAY (haired) Lensman

While I never owned one, I have used/played on a PC with Monochrome graphics...
and played some games on my 1000RL that were monochrome.

The one thing I've really noticed in my many (many) years of using PCs, is that the limited number of characters for naming in dos (8), and the limited colors and resolution, meant that programers (I won't call them "game devolopers") had to be very inventive to make it believable.

I think that may be the main problem with newer games. They have so much RAM, and so many CPU cycles to work with, that they either don't know what to do with it all, or they try to fill it all up with unnecessary "fluff".
Which takes time and effort to code/model, and in the end, they haven't focused on the core of the program, streamlining as they go... so when they get to the "finished" product, their "debugging" skills, both in code, and in 3d modeling, sound, etc. leaves much to be desired.

More than a bit of a ramble there, but it's much easier to think/say than to type. And if I "reword" it for writing, what I'm trying to say will get lost in the mix...

Barracuda