Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker

Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker is a computer game by veteran programmer Archer MacLean, released by Virgin Games in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC (later for the Sega Mega Drive). <nowiki>'</nowiki>Whirlwind' Snooker is a highly realistic snooker simulator. Although the game was not the first to simulate snooker (or pool) in 3D, it made full use of the processing power and graphics capabilities of 16-bit home computers and was praised for its then ground-breaking realism and easy-to-use interface. Many remarked that the game was the closest thing to being on a real snooker table which existed at the time, and it could be used by a player to refine real-life snooker skills.

Development and technology

The game took MacLean several years to complete; the billiard ball physics alone taking several months of programming. One of the reasons why the game runs as quickly as it does is the way in which each is played. The next shot is effectively pre-played while the is being &ndash; the position and movement of each ball being calculated frame-by-frame and kept in a list in memory. Each frame of the next shot is then displayed by rendering each ball from this list, frame-by-frame, instead of rendering it in real-time. MacLean also explained that a closed...
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