The samples in this document are developed for Visual C/C++ MFC applications, but most of the material covered is pretty much MFC-independent; so don't worry too much if you don't know MFC. By David Joffe
This first article will concentrate on two of the most fundamental issues confronting you as a designer of real-time games: building the main game loop_the engine that drives the action_and timing events so that things proceed at a pace chosen by you rather than by the hardware or operating system. Along the way we'll also touch on the most basic form of input, the keyboard.
This article, the second in a series on converting MS-DOS games to the Microsoft Win32 environment, covers joystick and mouse input. The emphasis is on real-time games that require immediate data from input devices. The joystick routines are based on DirectInput™ versions 1.0 through 3.0_really just the extended services provided by the Windowsr platform itself. For the mouse, I'll look at the conventional Windows-based functions and then at the new services offered by DirectInput 3.0.
The third and last of the three part-series on converting MS-DOS games to the Microsoft Win32 environment introduces digitized sound effects, MIDI music, TrueType text, and animation with DirectDraw. It'll also touch on the subjects of installation and online documentation.
