Why a new Amiga game in 2013? Your opinions.

[Marcuz]

I was curious on your reasons why a new Amiga game in 2013 could be interesting.

I'm assuming there's people who would not care in the least or would find the idea terrible, and people on the other hand who would be very interested in it.

So I'll be more specific: I'm NOT talking about a game found completely preserved and not previously released, maybe a chapter one, maybe a sequel to your favorite game, made in 1992 and only now resurfacing through AGTW, that would be invested of a different kind of attention.

I'm talking about a game that whoever would develop now and release with a 15 euros or the equivalent in dollars, pounds, etc, price tag, a sum that I guess is somehow middle ground between low cost productions and blockbusters, like games that get out for current platform from indie developers.

Why to you would such a game be interesting on Amiga, (I' could say on any retro platform, but let's limit to this one)?

Just out of curiosity.

[TCD]

I'd happily pay that much money for a well made platformer, shoot 'em up or run-and-gun game that I can't really find anymore on recent systems (I don't play on cellphones). Given the game has to be made to match my expectations and since I'm a spoilt brat it needs to play in the league of Ruff 'n Tumble, Turrican or Apidya. Otherwise I don't see much sense in creating a new game except for very innovative ideas on a classic concept, but still I'd like to see decent graphics and sturdy controls plus a non-earache soundtrack. I think some developments for the other systems like Gunlord show that it's not impossible to revamp a classic genre and give people that love to play those something new

P.S.: For a really well made game I'd even spend more than 15 Euro

(thank you Marcuz for creating a proper thread )

[leathered]

I think creating games for the Amiga has to come from love for the machine. Most people I know don't really understand that, they think amiga owners must all be without jobs and nothing better to do. The game would have to be very good to convince me to shell out for it, and in the main I'd prefer registering for shareware, but people got to eat and I definitely want to see more Amiga games.

[Marcuz]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

I'd happily pay that much money for a well made platformer, shoot 'em up or run-and-gun game that I can't really find anymore on recent systems[/SIZE]

Ha! Now, that's interesting, in reasoning abot it, I didn't consider that specificity to a developing platform could be also the fact that a particular genre is so well connected that it would make more sense instead a new game in that genre than a game that is less special to it.
Thanks TCD!

Originally Posted by Lielo

I think creating games for the Amiga has to come from love for the machine.

Would you define that love based on "what was like to play on Amiga in your youth" so nostalgic reasons or on other specificity that would makes Amiga of value now, for instance what TCD says above, or something else, like coding reasons, or versatility of the machine that could be exploited by a new game?

[Kenan]

Well made game, works on my 2MB 1200? Yeah, I would pay for it, why not?
Unless it's some puzzle game of course..Not much of a fan of those.

[BippyM]

From a financial perspective the Amiga is dead and buried, and I personally wouldn't pay more than a couple of pounds for a new game.

Maybe I am being selfish but newer machines, phones, handhelds can do it all and better IMO.

If someone is doing a game, like Lielo rightly points out, it has to come from a love of the machine, and not for financial gain, that would be completely pointless, and should have no bearing on the motivation of the developers to complete a game!

Just my tuppence!

[OlafSch]

Originally Posted by bippym

From a financial perspective the Amiga is dead and buried, and I personally wouldn't pay more than a couple of pounds for a new game.

Maybe I am being selfish but newer machines, phones, handhelds can do it all and better IMO.

If someone is doing a game, like Lielo rightly points out, it has to come from a love of the machine, and not for financial gain, that would be completely pointless, and should have no bearing on the motivation of the developers to complete a game!

Just my tuppence!

the positive word of the day

[alkis21]

Because:

1) I love retro-style games like 2D platformers and shoot'em ups

2) Very few of those are made for the PC

3) I only enjoy playing them with a joystick

4) Most retro-style games these days are made for handheld devices, and playing a platform game on a touch screen is about as much fun to me as playing chess with my earlobes.

So yes, I'd love one for the Amiga.

[daxb]

Because an accelerated (030+) AGA + some fastram system has potential for an enjoyable game that let you amaze. Even an improved sequel would be possible. I agree the meaning that it should be done of fun and not of cash. Money should be just a bonus and you shouldn`t care about people non constructive comments. You never can satisfy everybody.

So, the question is why not a new Amiga game?

[twenty90seven]

I'd like a new top down racer, in the style of Nitro or ATR...kind of like Retro Racing on the iphone, but with more variations in levels and a bit of a progression/story like Nitro where the landscape was slowly being destroyed. And I would happily pay for it.

[BippyM]

Okay I shall re-phrase what I have said as I didn't explain properly.

It is 2013, the Amiga has been dead for well over a decade (Commodore went down 19 years ago!) and is kept alive by a very small community. Whilst I would love to see a commercial quality release, at a very affordable price let's be completely honest, this post is to gauge financial interest before a game has even been thought about and considered. The whole point of this thread is to gauge interest on anyone who would be willing to pay, so determine if it would be worth doing. Hence it is financially motivated.

If you love the Amiga and want to make a game, then make the game out of love and fun, release a decent demo and if there is demand then sure sell it, but to me 15 euro's (around £12.70, $19.50US) is far too expensive and is bordering on commercial pricing. I am sorry but simply not worth it. If you want to make money in game development learn JAVA or whatever and release to the hundreds of millions of mobile customers, you'll at least get a little reward for your efforts.

As for those knocking my post. I am simply being realistic and honest

[Retroplay]

The C64 scene is alive and blooming with new AAA titles (Knight 'n Grail, Hyperion (this is gonna be sooo friggin awesome), Soulless etc), so why not for Amy too ?
We could use some Castleroid/Metroidvania style arcade adventures.

If we're talking about a classic 680x0 Amiga game, I'm not talking about souped up Amigas with 030+ or PPC, preferably for OCS/ECS but with AGA enhancements if running on A1200/A4000 I would defo be happy to pay for the goods.

Here's a teaser for C64 Hyperion *drool*.

[Marcuz]

@bippym, but also in general:
no, I get that the majority, like bippym and other think the platform buried if not for retrogame, I do, I for one I'm tied to the myth of amiga games, like many of members in a retrogame board on internet for nostalgic reasons.

But I want here to consider the actual reason why, if any, a new production would or could be interesting. In other worlds: is there something that could be do on Amiga that cannot be done on a modern platform or that simply would have added practicality value on Amiga instead of on other platforms?

And I'm saying a price because I don't mean something a fan like you or me would cook up in his own free time, but something a producer would use his own day job time to do, so, something that would follow the same rules that a game produced in 1992 would do. [edit: because, apparently someone does, strange as it may seem, and also because I do believe that in some way little, symbolic or else, work has to be payed].

So I find interesting answers like Alkis's too, because I'm thinking there are two options mostly: either retrogaming fans are biased, (not judging that badly, here) or in fact there's difference in current gameplay and Amiga gameplay other than the obvious appearance, imho.

[OlafSch]

Originally Posted by bippym

Okay I shall re-phrase what I have said as I didn't explain properly.

It is 2013, the Amiga has been dead for well over a decade (Commodore went down 19 years ago!) and is kept alive by a very small community. Whilst I would love to see a commercial quality release, at a very affordable price let's be completely honest, this post is to gauge financial interest before a game has even been thought about and considered. The whole point of this thread is to gauge interest on anyone who would be willing to pay, so determine if it would be worth doing. Hence it is financially motivated.

If you love the Amiga and want to make a game, then make the game out of love and fun, release a decent demo and if there is demand then sure sell it, but to me 15 euro's (around £12.70, $19.50US) is far too expensive and is bordering on commercial pricing. I am sorry but simply not worth it. If you want to make money in game development learn JAVA or whatever and release to the hundreds of millions of mobile customers, you'll at least get a little reward for your efforts.

As for those knocking my post. I am simply being realistic and honest

I had contacted former amiga-developers and there is interest. One problem is that many indy developers use off-the-shelve game engines (some are opensource, some are commercial). So when we want more games we need at least some of these engines. If people just need to recompile their software they will. To get exclusive new games optimized for f.e. A500 needs a lot of "love" and there is no chance to motivate commercial developers to do it. So you want games you need to make it easy (and thus cheap) to support the platform. Very simple (and realistic and honest too )

[TCD]

Originally Posted by bippym

It is 2013, the Amiga has been dead for well over a decade (Commodore went down 19 years ago!) and is kept alive by a very small community. Whilst I would love to see a commercial quality release, at a very affordable price let's be completely honest, this post is to gauge financial interest before a game has even been thought about and considered. The whole point of this thread is to gauge interest on anyone who would be willing to pay, so determine if it would be worth doing. Hence it is financially motivated.

I really doubt that Marcuz wants to earn big $$$ by creating an Amiga game I rather took it as a 'philosophical' discussion as what would make you buy a new game. The C64, Neo Geo or Dreamcast are dead too, but there are commercial games released for them that use the hardware to the max. Those are made also because people love to make them, but they also aren't afraid to ask for some money for them. As I said: The game has to be at least decent and hopefully astonishing to raise my interest, but I think it's realistic that you could sell such a game even for a dead platform.

Originally Posted by OlafSch

I had contacted former amiga-developers and there is interest. One problem is that many indy developers use off-the-shelve game engines (some are opensource, some are commercial). So when we want more games we need at least some of these engines. If people just need to recompile their software they will. To get exclusive new games optimized for f.e. A500 needs a lot of "love" and there is no chance to motivate commercial developers to do it. So you want games you need to make it easy (and thus cheap) to support the platform. Very simple (and realistic and honest too )

And exactly those games nobody needs... They are just 're-cooked' games from other platforms and make little to no sense on the Amiga.

[OlafSch]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

I really doubt that Marcuz wants to earn big $$$ by creating an Amiga game I rather took it as a 'philosophical' discussion as what would make you buy a new game. The C64, Neo Geo or Dreamcast are dead too, but there are commercial games released for them that use the hardware to the max. Those are made also because people love to make them, but they also aren't afraid to ask for some money for them. As I said: The game has to be at least decent and hopefully astonishing to raise my interest, but I think it's realistic that you could sell such a game even for a dead platform.



And exactly those games nobody needs... They are just 're-cooked' games from other platforms and make little to no sense on the Amiga.

I talked about "commercial" development. I personal prefer to have exclusiv games too but for that you need a lot of idealism at the moment.

[TCD]

I honestly don't see the point of porting games over that exist for other platforms already and especially not if I'd have to pay for them. That's just my personal view of the situation, but given that not even the tools to port games over exist like you said makes this approach less viable IMO. If NovaCoder gets SDL working we'll see a lot those ports for sure and time will tell if there's any real interest

[Marcuz]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

I really doubt that Marcuz wants to earn big $$$ by creating an Amiga game I rather took it as a 'philosophical' discussion as what would make you buy a new game.

Right! I suppose that I should have more clear, in light of the occasional thread by devs sponsoring their games by using the question "how many of you would buy etc."
I'm not developing a game for Amiga, I was just curious on your reasons anout the topic.

My reason is that, lacking a specific reason making a game concept or game-play perfectly suited for a particular machine (as long as that machine is not so rare that would keep recipient of the game from it, because the goal there is always to reach your public), well that game could be made for current platforms too.

What makes me curious was and is what can be considered a game concept or game-play perfectly suited for Amiga that would overcome the price tag, and I read here very good insights!

[edit]So much so, that for instance, a Monkey Island 3a would actually, following the reasoning, make me spend money on it more happily on Amiga than on PC, not because of nostalgia reasons, but because 16 colors Scumm graphics to me never were better and better suited to a game than they were to MI1 on Amiga. But maybe that's a stretch of logic.

[lordofchaos]

I wonder how many ex amiga developers are still out there and willing to get back in the saddle to work on a new Amiga game? I don't think theres anything wrong with a developer wanting to make some cash from it as long as the passion is there also..I agree with Cyberdruid about porting existing games over to the platform, seems like a waste of energy to me. Personally speaking I would have no problem at all paying for a new game on the Amiga if the quality was there..In terms of timing, I don't think theres ever been a better time for a new Amiga game, retro is back in a big way with developers intentionally downscaling there games to look the part...

Kickstarter project for an Amiga game? I can dream can't I? :-)

[TroelsDK]

I would defo support any new game for a standard A500!
Doesn't have to be a brilliant new idea, just well done. I also dream that the game developers from back in the day, get back together and make another gem. But I guess it's takes way too much time, and I don't think it will happen... But I sure hope it does!