An idea for continued games development... using Amiga

[kamelito]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

I've been running some ideas around my head for the past few weeks.

I want to get back into games programming, but I really can't be arsed, and I simply don't have the time to learn a new language when recent developments mean I might not have to.

The Amiga is seeing a bit of a semi-revival as a few of its games get converted to phones and the like pretty much as they were.

Obviously people consider the Amiga games to still look and sound good enough to only offer minor enhancements, which got me to thinking.

My idea is thus: I know Amiga programming, and could likely program something on the Amiga far quicker than I could in Java or anything else. So instead of programming in Java, why not program as if I was doing a game for the Amiga, written on Amiga, and take advantage of the Amiga Emulators on Android and Iphone/Ipad to create a transparent layer where the emulator has no user input whatsoever, other than to be told what Amiga 'rom' to load so that the game can be started and played?

After all, that is pretty much how Java works, so instead of jumping through hoops learning new languages, utilise the emulator cores to take advantage of the programming, graphics and music we all know already.

Any thoughts?

The idea is good, but IMHO it should be a starting point for quick to market results. A second part could be, still doing the coding and such on the Amiga and have a tool to translate 68k to ARM, and have blitter/copper stuff handled by a core library. Hence you've the advantage to code the Amiga way and also to be capable of doing more than what an Amiga can do. More bobs, colors on screen to start with.

kml

[IFW]

I'd say go for something that an ECS machine couldn't handle - if you want to sell it
You could use two versions; one with nice video effects for 2d/3d accelerated machines, and you can still fall back to plain or simple effects on Amiga.

[frikilokooo]

I vote for a Cabal clone,I love the arcade version but not the Amiga version.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by IFW

I'd say go for something that an ECS machine couldn't handle - if you want to sell it
You could use two versions; one with nice video effects for 2d/3d accelerated machines, and you can still fall back to plain or simple effects on Amiga.

Well initially the plan would be to escape some of the Amiga limitations, so being able to acccess any memory via custom chips, adding extra sound channels and the like, but that would come later should the initial batch of games prove to be successfull.

What I do know about programming on these devices, is theres MILLIONS of competition, so i'd rather not waste initial setup time developing some super killer system if the games simply aren't up to being bought.

Check out the initial enthusiasm for the games, if they prove to be commercially successful, then progress to improving beyond what a normal ECS Amiga could be expected to do, or at the very least, work around some of the limitations of the hardware.

[gimbal]

Seems like you're onto an excellent idea here. Why develop a retro game for current gen platforms when you can develop it for the retro platform directly and emulate on current gen platforms? I wish I could, its probably a lot more fun to do!

Its also quite "easy" to do such games in high level abstracted platforms such as Java or .NET, but that would make it either very difficult or even impossible to get those games to function on other devices such as Apple devices and the like. Emulators are generally available for more platforms than the Java or .NET runtimes. And if you want to make a buck nowadays, you want to target as many platforms as you can :/

[Konrad]

@IFW
Look at the games released for phones...Angry Birds for example: No special video effects, cute but not really great graphics, and still really successful.
Now look at games like Lionheart, Turrican 2/3, Apidya...IMO ECS restriction are more than enough for creating good games for phones (graphics and sound wise)

You don't need games with overwhelming graphics and effects to be successful on mobile platforms. Angry Birds and IREM's release of R-Type prove that case for me.
I like galahad's idea, so let's try to not make the project too difficult before it has even started .

[T_hairy_bootson]

The amiga mouse does not translate well to touchscreen in the emulators I have used.

[kamelito]

Basic can be an option too.
http://www.glbasic.com

kml

[Vairn]

@Galahad: It wouldn't be hard to give you an emulator, which does what you require, mine has no real GUI ATM anyway, all It needs is a cfg file.

I also wonder if you can put copy protection in it which makes it require the emulator, so if someone does rip it, it wont work

I think it is a brilliant idea too.

[Jason_]

This is a very clever idea. The amiga emu as a VM is a lot smarter than you think insofar as games/entertainment development.

Now that the KS replacement project is well on its way, you can rest easy regarding amiga IP insofar as booting/emulation.

You should seriously consider developing a business plan and taking this bigger than a few games in your spare time. I really think this is a brilliant idea that could be VERY lucrative on top of iOS and xbox live, which both now have active development insofar as an amiga emu. XBOX is particularly interesting! There are over 30 million XBOX subscirbers; just 1% of that market means a lot of money.

[Amiga1992]

Convince this guy:
http://toucharcade.com/2010/12/09/ex...em-with-video/

[TCD]

LOLz @ thumbs covering half of the action
Just me 2 cents of course

[Amiga1992]

I know, it's tremendously stupid. But that's an iPhone flaw. What can you do?

[TCD]

Maybe this : http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=722490#post722490
Dunno if it'll be available for the 4 as well.

[Amiga1992]

Not bad! I didn't know about that.
Surely is a must. But most people won't have it.

[Mequa]

How is RTG support on mobile versions of UAE? It might prove useful for these kind of projects, as it would provide 2D graphics beyond the "classic" Amiga chipset.

Another thing might make this more feasible on mobile devices, if anyone has the time to write one:
An Amiga-compatible 680x0-to-ARM JIT compiler, integrated with an ARM build of UAE.

Also, for basic A500 emulation on slower mobile devices, let's hope someone picks up the C rewrite of Fellow. There's just the CPU emulation to go. (Fellow's custom chipset emulation was already rewritten in cross-platform C, and still greatly outperforms UAE's, albeit with less compatibility.)

[ant512]

Originally Posted by Mequa

Fellow's custom chipset emulation was already rewritten in cross-platform C, and still greatly outperforms UAE's, albeit with less compatibility.

A program that produces incorrect results twice as fast is infinitely slower.
-- John Osterhout

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

some enterprising chap would probably simply hack the Iphone/Android/Ipad games so they would work on Amiga

oooooohhhh, Putty Squad anyone?

[Exit]

@galahad , if you target at real amiga's and make an extended version of the game for the souped up amiga's and emulator...then you have a wider audience

but for a game choose a genre that appeals to most amiga freaks..

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Exit

@galahad , if you target at real amiga's and make an extended version of the game for the souped up amiga's and emulator...then you have a wider audience

but for a game choose a genre that appeals to most amiga freaks..

Much as I would love to support Amiga first, I would have to go with simple economics.

Iphone/Android/Ipad would be first, with Amiga to follow.