Calling all amiga coders/gfxrs/etc... [crazy :P] Amiga Game Project!

[IFW]

CT:
There is one fundamental flaw with your picking of/on my game: it's been released a decado ago (actually 11 years), not it will be released within few months years from now on...
That is the point: we are not some zealots pretending to be stuck in a gravity hole "where time stood still"
Anyone seeking that can find it on other miggy forums out there.
We are into nostalgia, progression, cool stuff, but not continuing where we left off a decade ago.
You can come up with a better game design then what was possible a decado ago - no matter who did it - simply because here you are not restricted by finanical, management, deadline and mass market considerations.

btw: do a "where time stood still" (I did not say Cadaver, because the bmaps will kill you and the project) style isometric arcade/adventure at least speed won't be an issue unless the programmer is really stupid

[Codetapper]

Amongst all this talk of how pointless it is to write these games, there are a few other issues to consider:

1. Fun! I love programming in assembler! To me it is great fun to fix up old games and often end up rewriting buggy parts. I get a lot more enjoyment out of doing something on the Amiga than from making a program/game at work (games using DelphiX). I could redo many old games on the PC very easily but there is no fun in it for me!

2. Nothing beats playing a game with a real joystick on the Amiga! I have thousands of MAME roms and although they are quite fun, I'd prefer to play them on the Amiga with the old style joysticks. However my 50Mhz 030 runs MAME at about 2 frames per second on even the oldest games so they are unplayable. I'm sure there are other people that would like to play some classic games on the Amiga that were never ported (maybe they don't own a decent PC, or have a crappy one or something).

I read a really good website by some coder who also said he liked to program on older systems which had limitations because the fun is in trying to push the machine to it's limits. Having a system that can do everything removed the need for skill or elegance, and I agree totally with that. My former boss was one of the most incompetant programmers I have ever seen yet a fast PC disguised his incompetance to most people. Seeing Sonic running at 50Hz on an Amiga looking like the original would be a great achievement and I hope the project comes to fruition!

[IFW]

Honestly there is no challenge - technically, not game play wise - to make Sonic for a stock (!) a1200 as the latter is the faster and better hw machine, so it's nothing much of an achievment.
If you really just seek challenge make it work on a stock (!) a500 now that is challenge, as an a500 has weaknesses and strengths vs mgd (slow bitmaps vs fast character/tile maps for one, but 4096 colours palette vs 512 colours and so on).
But It seemed this project is not a "geek demo compo", but making of something that anyone would love to play, a new Amiga (preferably Amiga only!) game...

Well... never mind.

[Dastardly]

Originally posted by FromWithin
Nope, the reason is because very very few publishers will take the risk on an original product.

Of course you are right, but I wonder how different things would be if game developers were given freedom to do whatever they want. These developers are creating games to earn money and I think most of them will create whatever will sell the most i.e another fancy looking FPS WILL sell. So while I do think there would probably be a bit more creativity if they had the freedom, I do wonder how much.

[khephren]

Would rather see an original game and than a rehash of an idea a decade old

"start simple, think big!"

A contradiction in terms. a big project is never simple as you'll find out. Trying to keep a team of creative people together is a job and a half. You'll be bogged down problems, you'll start arguing over petty things and it'll be abandoned within a month.

[killergorilla]

Originally posted by khephren
"start simple, think big!"

Sylvester Stallone is both simple and big.

[Antiriad]

Well, if Akira wants to port Sonic i would support him wholeheartedly.

Puyo Puyo wouldnt be so bad either. Hell, there werent any decent Gradius ports to the Amiga was there?

[IFW]

Since it now seems mandatory to copy an existing game in this project...
...how about doing a decent uptodate version of something like Antiriad? (the game not our beloved EAber)

[Antiriad]

Id LOVE to do a 16bit version of The Sacred Armour of Antiriad as one was never done - unlike Palace's other classic Barbarian for instance (probably because the game was from 1986 not 1987).

Hell, you could probably integrate the comic into the game intro too.

Still, im biased

[IFW]

Now that would be fun, as you can actually make it much better.
Petition, Anti

[the wolf]

Originally posted by Akira
The wolf: that's good stuff mate! Too bad you can't help us

Well, I can try to do something, but I promise nothing!
Maybe some additional gfx...don't know... another problem is the lack of free-time...

On my first post, some messages above, I re-edited the link, because it doesn't linked directly to my project page!

[Steve]

Originally posted by IFW
Since it now seems mandatory to copy an existing game in this project...

Personally I'd love to see the classic C64 game's "Hyper Sports" and "Track & field" ported to the Amiga. I loved those wonderful button bashing games. An A1200 version would just kick so much ass.

[Dastardly]

If a remake was going to be made my vote would go to the C64 classics Mad Nurse or Mr Angry.

2 very fun and addictive games and not too ambitious to start with. For anyone who hasnt played Mad Nurse GO TRY IT its hilarious! lol@electrocuted babies

[Amiga1992]

C heck out this website, it is interesting, and kind of works on the same thought pattern.

http://www.cronosoft.co.uk/

[IanS]

Making an Amiga game is a good idea, but already everybody is bogged down in politics without anything having been agreed. Perhaps this is one of the reasons so many projects get shelved, and so many "good ideas" turn out to be utter crap in the end. Too many cooks spoil the broth. If this isn't going to be a commercial project, rather just a showcase of the Amiga's talents, there are two points to consider. (IMHO)

1) It doesn't matter what the subject is... any game will do, but...

2) It needs to be done in a way that pushes the hardware to it's limits. Otherwise it's just going to be an average "wannabe".

You could write a game of Pong, as long as it looks and sounds impressive, at least better than any other pong game. (silly example, but you know what I mean!)

If you want people to say "Wow, an Amiga can do that?", you might as well write a demo... that's what demo's are for.

If you want a game that people will play and play again, it needs playability (which doesn't require good graphics or sound) AND it needs exceptional graphics and sound... because virtually every type of game already has lots of clones or derivatives that feature one or both of the above in varying amounts.

I'm in now way artistic graphically, and my coding is both high level and crap, but I really hope that Akira gets this off the ground and shows that it can be done. So Akira, this is your project... choose an idea and stick to your guns. Don't deviate from that path until it's done. If you then don't like it... go back and redo bits of it, but make sure you don't get pulled in all directions by other people's "good ideas" (You'll end up with a big mess if you do). I'm sure you'll find people who will help you create your project, even if they think you should be doing another Doom clone instead.

By the way, I'd REALLY like to see 'Serious Sam' on the Amiga... even my little 33Mhz Sony Clie has a version!


Good luck and keep us posted.

[the wolf]

Originally posted by IanS

If you want people to say "Wow, an Amiga can do that?", you might as well write a demo... that's what demo's are for.

If you want a game that people will play and play again, it needs playability (which doesn't require good graphics or sound) AND it needs exceptional graphics and sound... because virtually every type of game already has lots of clones or derivatives that feature one or both of the above in varying amounts.

Hmm... I don't get the point. I think the main goal of Akira (and anyone involved on this possible future project) isn't to push Amiga hardware to the limits, but to bring a new life to a "dead" computer (commercially speaking), and make something new, maybe it could be the usual shoot'em'up, platform, beat'em'up...
who cares?
With the effort of many people we can imagine to be a big developement team, and make something impossible to think years ago.
Remember it's not so easy to make a game from scratch. And making it good, playable, with marvellous graphics and sound it's almost impossible...
We don't need a Quake XXXII - Amiga Super Enhanced Version WithRealBloodSquirtingOutOfYourMonitor, but only a good playable game.
It must be enjoyable. Because it's *our game*.
(IMHO!)

[Amiga1992]

Originally posted by IanS
Good luck and keep us posted.

wow, I'm about to fall off my chair... IanS supporting ME?

Thanks mate


By the way, The wolf is kind of right. I have not thought about pushing the hardware to the limits, otherwise, as you said, I would go for a demo. I want to give some new fresh air to the Amiga, maybe in the way these guys I posted above do it, and those who make MSX games. Sonic, as IFW said, surely doesn't push an A1200 since it's a better machine than a Megadrive, but I'd say it's a very enjoyable game to have.

I'm playing with the variables here, and I'm not quitting at all. Not sure what's gonna start it, but I want to get it going and I already have some super cool people who offered help.

[Antiriad]

at the end of the day, its your baby Akira.

[cv643d]

I think the idea is excellent...

Im sitting here with over 1000 cd's with various information (games/roms/movies/mp3. I cant promise I will play the game everyday coz Im swamped with stuff attacking me from every angle, but at least I promise I will try it out for 2 minutes and then archive it on yet another CD.

Hmm why not release it commercially, someone should be interested in publishing it. A fresh new commercially 68k game would be cool. Then some old crackergroup could re-open and release it. And this would span other homedevelopers making games for publishers and new crackergroups and the scene will be reborn... what a thought.

[Amiga1992]

Originally posted by cv643d
A fresh new commercially 68k game would be cool. Then some old crackergroup could re-open and release it.

The C64 scene got this kind of activity. Games get comercially released and cracking groups still do the rounds on these things.

This is a very nice thing, I really admire the C64 scene because it's still quite similar in philosophy to the old one, and they keep producing cool stuff.