Other languages for the amiga
 

I have admitted defeat with 68k asm for the moment, I am not learning it fast enough to have anything to show for my final project in 3 months :banghead

My new plan is to write a small game in some higher level language and then try to convert chunks into asm, at least that way I will have something visual to show and I will have messed around with some asm.

What language would anyone recommend I use, one that is easy to swap out chunks with asm. Im thinking C just because I know it already, but I dont know if its easy to inegrate asm with. Anyone have any suggestions?

Integrating with asm depends on the C compiler/linker, but is possible and not too hard but GCC inline asm format is ugly :/ VBCC might do you well, and comes with a good commandline assembler.

You could give E a go, which is a popular language on the miggy.

Blitz Basic and Amos are the most popular ones. Blitz is the faster and more efficient of the two, and Amos has the bigger user and code base and in my opinion seems more complete and easier to get started with. They both have excellent graphics support and are great for making simpler games with. C is far easier to convert to assembly than Blitz or Amos, but for graphics you would have to make use of an external library, or learn how to use the graphics routines in the AmigaOS, or hit the hardware directly.

The versions you would want to download are Amos Professional and Blitz Basic 2.

I hadn't thought to mention those, but good to point out. Note that if you already know C I doubt you want to go back to basic again :-)

BOO! HISS!

Oh well... can't say you can be blamed if making a game is your aim and you have a fairly tight deadline.

I'd agree with Leffman - BB2 or AMOS is the way to go. With BB2 I understand you can use inline asm code but I'm not sure if you can do this with AMOS.

I used AMOS literally once when I was about 16 years old - I needed to make a program for a piece of school coursework for my Computer Studies exam and, being me (ie. very lazy ;)), hadn't coded *anything* at all for it until the Sunday afternoon before it was due in Monday morning. AMOS came to my rescue that day - quite easy to use if I remember correctly. I made a program for printing cassette tape (anyone under 25 remember those?) inlays. Got an A on the coursework too. :D

As for BB2 - never used it at all and don't really intend to either but loads of people love it - I think I'm right in saying that it's still produced and updated and there's evolutions of it for the PC.

Me? I'll stick to asm. :great

I havent completely given up on asm, just putting it aside for the moment, it is just a lot more time consuming than i initially thought, it might even be easier to learn if im just converting small lumps of code.

Are the graphics routines in the AmigaOS hard to use in C? Is there any documentation on it?
What C compilers are available for the amiga?

Ill take a look into Amos as it seems to be the most popular, anyone know any good reading material on it, or sample code?

E lets you do inline assembly as well I`m sure, might be wrong as haven`t used it for ages

Yeah it does allow inline assembly.

C is easy. E is easier and it lets you inline your assembly code easier also.

Amos is simple but not so easy if you're trying to integrate assembly code with it. For Amos questions refer to the AmosPro Manual. The Amos Factory website is helpful also although it isn't always reachable.

Depends what you wish to do. A "small game" could be a small shooter with scrolling, or a workbench-based thinking game. For the first I doubt that using the OS libraries makes much sense. The result will be disappointing. It also depends on the target hardware.

In any case you need some experience to decide which OS routines fit best to your problem.

When your target hardware is strong enough, it might be easiest, for the short amount of time you've got, to look into SDL or similar game-friendly libraries. Or, as already suggested, try it in some BASIC dialect.


There are always the autodocs, which discribe any OS function in detail. And lots of example sources on the net. You could also buy books about it, but that's 20 years ago.


Lots. But actively maintained are only vbcc and gcc. SAS/C has probably the best 68k codegen of all, if you manage to get a copy. StormC was the last supported Amiga compiler with a GUI, but the codegen was really bad, until they switched to gcc. vbcc is compact, easy to install and a real Amiga compiler. gcc is somewhat bloated, but useful for porting Unix stuff and supports C++. Other compilers have no longer any importance (hope I didn't forget one).

I have put a complete installation of Blitz 2.1 in the Zone, with the Blitz Support Suite installed, as well as lots of games that include source code. Might be worth a look?

I have decided on C as it is apparently one of the easier ones ot inline asm into, and it probably the only language that will be of use to me when i finish college, as it is still used by lots of games companies, so I might aswell get more experience with it.

Anyone know where I can download gcc for the Amiga?

You prabably want a cross compiler? See here

Is there no version of gcc that will run on the machine itself?

If you intend to program in C - why not have a look at GameSmith.

It includes an additional library and routines for handling graphics and screens with C and Assembler.

Comes complete with an old version of GCC (I think it's GCC) and assembler.

Works a treat for small stuff and comes with a few example programs that show you what can be done with it.

If you can get hold of a copy of the manual (350+ pages) it demonstrates all the different routines. (I'm in the process of scanning this in and turning it into a PDF file).

Dave G :cool

Anyone know where I can download gamesmith?

It's currently in 'The Zone!'

Dave G :cool

Cheers for the gamesmith download.

Anyone know where I can find some tutorials for this.

I have installed gamesmith using the emulator to a folder on windows that is emulating a hard drive. On the emulator there is a file called Citas which seems to be some sort of programme for dealing with images, and a folder called tutorial which appears to be empty, but when i open that folder in windows it has some c code which seems like it contains everything i need to know from a coding point of view.
I just have no idea how to compile and run it.

CITAS is the animation creation program that allows you to create animated sprites etc and then use them in your C/Assembler programs.

You need an editor to load the C source files into and look at them.

If you went through the proper install a basic (not in the language BASIC sense) editor should have been installed. I can't remember what it was called at the moment.

The only tutorials I've ever seen are those included with GameSmith. Even if you search Aminet you will only find the same ones :(

My pdf of the manual is nearly complete - I could send you a copy when it's done but it's bluddy huge!!!

Dave G :cool

There dosent seem to be any editor.
There are quite a few files that are invisible on the amiga that i can see in the windows folder. Maby i did something wrong when installing it that caused the icon files not to copy over. Should I be using it via the command line?

I would love a copy of the manual. When its done will you put it in the Zone, or should i pm you my email address so you can send it that way?