The motion smoothness dialog

This dialog is opened from the File menu. It has an informational Updates Per Second field and a Motion Smoothness field that you can edit. The Motion Smoothness index number changes how smoothly and slowly your critters seem to move. A high value of the Motion Smoothness is like running in slow motion, a low value is like running in fast forward.

The informational Updates Per Second field on the Motion Smoothness dialog shows the current number of game updates per second. This should be the same number that you see in your status bar. The Motion Smoothness dialog can't change the updates per second; the only way to change the updates per second is to change the size of the game window or the settings of your system graphics.

The Motion Smoothness control has a number that you can set between 1 and 10. These are artificial index numbers that have nothing to do with the numerical value of the Updates per Second. Lower smoothness values produce faster, jerkier motion. Higher smoothness values produce smoother, slower motion.

The default Motion Smoothness value is 5. At the default Motion Smoothness of 5, the simulation time per processing step matches the actual real time that elapses between updates. The games based on the Pop Framework are designed to function best with Motion Smoothness 5.

The reason for having a Motion Smoothness control at all is that if you have a slow machine, then there will be a long time step per update, which entails a longer simulation time step, which entails a greater distance step in each critter's update. This will produce unpleasant, jerky-looking motion. Therefore, if you have a slow machine, it is advisable to select a higher Motion Smoothness index.

Another time you might want to increase the Motion Smoothness is if a game seems to run too fast for you. If you have a fast machine and would like to see the critters acting very hyper, you can select a lower Motion Smoothness.

If you change the Motion Smoothness setting, this new setting stays in effect even if you use the Game menu to select a different game.