Possibilitys and limitations with SPUTM and GrimE?

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Kizo
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Possibilitys and limitations with SPUTM and GrimE?

Post by Kizo »

Hi.
I'm trying to find some information about the support and limitations for SPUTM (v5 to be exact) and GrimE.
I'm supposed to write an essay about a comparison between The Secret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and Grim Fandango, focusing on what new kind of puzzles and gameplay-elements are used in Grim Fandango, that wouldn't be possible in the same way with SPUTM.

Some examples could be:
animtation-support?
interactive environment?
maximum amount of objects on the screen at the same time
iMUSE
etc. etc.

(I've browsed trough this place)

I haven't really found anything about GrimE, except...Wikipedia......

I'd really appriciate any help I can get.
Thanks!
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sev
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Post by sev »

Those are uncomparable. At all.

SPUTM is Basic-like custom language. GrimE is an extension over Python language.

SPUTM is all 2-D and designed to work with little resources, GrimE is full 3-D and eats tons of memory.

SPUTM was born in 1987 and GrimE at around 1997. I.e. there is a 10 years of technological span. Uncomparable.

You'd better compare SPUTM v5 (MI2) and SPUTM v8 (COMI), or even HE SPUTM v10 (Freddi Fish 5). Those are more correct comparisons.

As of puzzles. There are no restrictions. I.e. take a look on what Humongous Entertainment done with SPUTM. Network play with accurate physics calculations, all in 16bits gfx (MoonBase Commander, Backyard Soccer 2004), arcade games like SPY Fox in Hold of Mustard, Reversi, Calah and other logic games in Pajama Sam: Games to Play on Any Day, Putt-Putt's Fun Pack. Even drawing and label-printing programs like Freddi Fish's One-Stop Fun Shop.

Do not neglect those games just because they're intended for childrens. Technology behind them is more complex that any of LucasArts games, and perhaps, they're most complex among all games supported by ScummVM. Only M4 engine games look more sophisticated.


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clem
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Post by clem »

sev wrote:arcade games like SPY Fox in Hold of Mustard, Reversi, Calah and other logic games in Pajama Sam: Games to Play on Any Day, Putt-Putt's Fun Pack.
don't forget the car-bombing minigame in Sam and Max (oh, and whack-a-rat, but that didn't have much AI) - I loved that! :)
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john_doe
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Post by john_doe »

sev wrote:GrimE is an extension over Python language.
One correction: It uses Lua as scripting language, not Python.
sev wrote:Only M4 engine games look more sophisticated.
Hehe :)
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clone2727
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Post by clone2727 »

john_doe wrote:
sev wrote:Only M4 engine games look more sophisticated.
Hehe :)
:lol:
fingolfin
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Post by fingolfin »

Well, I wouldn't say they are uncomparable at all. And the HE examples are not valid in this context, either, as this was clearly a question about comparing the SPUTM version used in MI2 with GrimE as used in Grim Fandango. So there certainly are limitaions in that SPUTM version (like for example colors).

Anyway, Kizo is supposed to compare Grim Fandango and MI2, "[...] focusing on what new kind of puzzles and gameplay-elements are used in Grim Fandango, that wouldn't be possible in the same way with [the] SPUTM [version used in MI2]".

This is of course a rather vague questions. What does "same way" mean ? The fact that Grim is in 3D but MI2 in 2D would immediately render many things impossible, for example. No deep knowledge about the engines is necessary to find that one. I'd say there are more things one could come up with here, but as long as the question is not clarified, it's moot to try to do so, I guess :).
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