Amiga Game Development Contest

[Shatterhand]

I mean, can anyone tell us one original game that is genuinely made to work with higher Amiga specs

The Dream of Rowan, Acorralado, Elfie the Unicorn, Agent Lux, Vampire: Curse of the Night, Easter Egg, SuperTed: The Search For Spot, Max Knight, Boxx 2, Boxx 3, Crazy Priest Tanks Furry.... all of those games are ECS games that asks at least a 020 to run (some of them asks an 030). None of them look any better than any normal ECS 68000 game.

Even Barbarian+ it's not clear it will work full speed with just an 68000.

And I don't know about Heroes of Gorluth, but all Tales of Gorluth games ask at least a 020 even though they are ECS games.

Though you are right, there are more people aiming for the "classic" hardware than people doing unoptimized stuff or using game-making programs nowadays.


EDIT: Now I see you consider an ECS 020 or 030 game not a game asking for a "High Spec amiga". I must say I was talking anything above a 68000 for an ECS game and 68020 for an AGA game, and I'll take a guess and say that's what Akira was talking about. Though I understand people are also talking about 040, 060 games, PPC games, Vampire games, etc.

Just to be clear, IMO we should aim for the "classic" configurations. OCS/ECS 68000 1mb (or 512 kb) and AGA 020 2mb.

[britelite]

Just wondering, how many of you discussing what configurations games should be made for are actually involved in making games yourself?

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by britelite

Just wondering, how many of you discussing what configurations games should be made for are actually involved in making games yourself?

Does it matter?

For me it's simply,

OCS/ECS A500/A600...
AGA A1200/CD32...
Anything else...

You can still target the OCS/AGA with the likes of Redpill/Backbone/Blitz.

Annual event sounds good and I'd love to help out - it might need to be in England though

[alpine9000]

Originally Posted by britelite

Just wondering, how many of you discussing what configurations games should be made for are actually involved in making games yourself?

I think quite a few people are. Here are some games I have coded in the past 2 years and their configs (for trackloaded versions):

• Blocky Skies - OCS/512, Dual PF, 50fps
• Else We Get Mad Demo - OCS/512, 32 colors, 25fps on OCS/7mhz
• Else We Get Mad - OCS/1MB, 32 colors, 25fps on OCS/7mhz
• Climby Skies Demo - OCS/512, 32 colors, 50fps
• Worthy - OCS/1MB, 32 colors, 50fps

You can see I tried to stick to OCS/512, but with 32 colors and a complex game it's really hard (for me at least).

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by swinkamor12

AGA computers cost too much.

Eh? Because they cost more than an A500, people shouldn't code for them? What about all the people who already have AGA machines? My AGA machines don't cost me anything because I already have them, and their extra capabilities over and above ECS machines are ripe for exploitation.

Very strange logic you have there...

[britelite]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Does it matter?

There's quite the difference between people actually involved in making the games discussing suitable platforms, compared to people not directly involved insisting on their preferred platforms.

Of course it also depends on the tone of the conversation. Personally, seeing people complaining about "unoptimized" games while never having done anything themselves makes me a sad panda. We're not teenagers anymore and it's hard to find the time and inspiration to get things done, so we really should be thankful that there are still people who are willing to create anything at all. Trying to apply artificial restrictions only discourages the creative people.

EDIT: And regarding the game competition, how about only having one category the first time you organize it (possibly limiting it to 68k, so that the games can be run at least in WinUAE), just to see if you get enough entries. Then if the compo proves to be a success, then you can split it up into different categories the next time it's organized.

[Lord Aga]

^
This.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by britelite

There's quite the difference between people actually involved in making the games discussing suitable platforms, compared to people not directly involved insisting on their preferred platforms.

Of course it also depends on the tone of the conversation. Personally, seeing people complaining about "unoptimized" games while never having done anything themselves makes me a sad panda. We're not teenagers anymore and it's hard to find the time and inspiration to get things done, so we really should be thankful that there are still people who are willing to create anything at all. Trying to apply artificial restrictions only discourages the creative people.

EDIT: And regarding the game competition, how about only having one category the first time you organize it (possibly limiting it to 68k, so that the games can be run at least in WinUAE), just to see if you get enough entries. Then if the compo proves to be a success, then you can split it up into different categories the next time it's organized.

Sorry I must have missed Trachu's posts.

I agree with parts of this, I think the pure gamers should have a say though and be part of the judging - otherwise you end up with very technically good but boring games.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

I agree with parts of this, I think the pure gamers should have a say though and be part of the judging - otherwise you end up with very technically good but boring games.

Yes, the gamers should definitely be the ones judging the games, but not necessarily the ones defining the rules, especially the technical ones.

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by britelite

Yes, the gamers should definitely be the ones judging the games, but not necessarily the ones defining the rules, especially the technical ones.

It should be a mixture of both i.e everyone should have an input, doesnt matter if you agree with everyone, maybe a poll or such like to determine the categories?

Saying gamers shouldn't have a say, is like saying developers shouldn't have a say because some would just up the limits to suit their game.

Demos are put into OCS/ECS and AGA categories, should be the same for games imo, but i agree with Mcgeezer

1) 1MB OCS/ECS
2) 2MB AGA
3) Non stock category for people unable to place into the above ones

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

Saying gamers shouldn't have a say, is like saying developers shouldn't have a say because some would just up the limits to suit their game.

There's a difference between demanding the developers suit YOUR needs compared to letting the people actually doing the developement come to an agreement on a suitable compromise regarding limitations.You see, just because you want games for, let's say 1MB A500, doesn't mean people will just adapt to your wishes, more likely they'll just skip the competition entirely.

And currently, not even knowing how many people would participate, splitting the compo up in several categories might just end up with 1-2 games in each category.

Demos are put into OCS/ECS and AGA categories, should be the same for games imo, but i agree with Mcgeezer

Demos are not the same as games, as all that matters in demos are visuals and coding tricks. And OCS+AGA demos mostly compete in the same competitions anyway.

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by britelite

There's a difference between demanding the developers suit YOUR needs compared to letting the people actually doing the developement come to an agreement on a suitable compromise regarding limitations.You see, just because you want games for, let's say 1MB A500, doesn't mean people will just adapt to your wishes, more likely they'll just skip the competition entirely.

And currently, not even knowing how many people would participate, splitting the compo up in several categories might just end up with 1-2 games in each category.
Demos are not the same as games, as all that matters in demos are visuals and coding tricks. And OCS+AGA demos mostly compete in the same competitions anyway.

Who is demanding stuff to suit their needs?

I dont agree, people who want to code on the Amiga will do so regardless, they wont ‘skip’ or even enter a competition at that stage if they are just learning to code on one imo, coders are mostly out off by communities of people moaning about what they should and shouldn't do with a game, not about a category in a competiton!

I do agree though if the competition has very few entries than yes its not worth having categories.

[Aladin]

Backbone game:

Max Knight (2017 Pixel Nation)
http://hol.abime.net/6223

Vampire Curse Of The Night (2016 Chipmunk)
http://hol.abime.net/6130

Marco Gregorio's Adventures (2014 amiman99)
http://hol.abime.net/5963

Tales of Gorluth (2016 AMIworx)
http://hol.abime.net/6201

Boxx 3 (2017 Lemming880)
http://hol.abime.net/6195

Easter Egg (2016 Amiga Fans)
http://hol.abime.net/6164

...

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

Who is demanding stuff to suit their needs?

Quite a lot of people in this very thread.

I dont agree, people who want to code on the Amiga will do so regardless

Will they though? This very thread makes me not want to code (games at least) for the Amiga.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Aladin

Backbone game:

Your point being?

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by britelite

Quite a lot of people in this very thread.

Will they though? This very thread makes me not want to code (games at least) for the Amiga.

Apologies i didn't read the whole thread so missed those comments.

As i said, people who want to code will do so because they want to make a game, demo whatever for themselves, those who feel annoyed by comments on any forum,bbs will most likely start and stop at some point, its the same with anything in life, do something for yourself and you will most likely finish it, do something for on the words of others, you most likely wont.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

As i said, people who want to code will do so because they want to make a game, demo whatever for themselves, those who feel annoyed by comments on any forum,bbs will most likely start and stop at some point, its the same with anything in life, do something for yourself and you will most likely finish it, do something for on the words of others, you most likely wont.

I pretty much agree, and this is why I think it would be stupid to impose any artificial limitations to a game competition. Just have one big compo and thus have as many people as possible participate. IF, and ONLY if, the compo starts to grow too big, then you might want to split it into categories.

[Aladin]

Originally Posted by britelite

Your point being?

I find it ridiculous not to accept backbone games on the pretext that they are not optimized for a stock machine.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Aladin

I find it ridiculous not to accept backbone games on the pretext that they are not optimized for a stock machine.

I wholeheartedly agree with you there

[Shatterhand]

I've made 2 Amiga games, was coding a third one, gave it a break for personal issues, plan to get back at it later in the year.

I think people may create games whatever way they want. But in a competition I believe there must be a difference between people aiming for classic vanilla hardware and people aiming for upgraded systems.