Amiga scene desperately needs two things.

[donnie]

If you look at every other major retro computer/console there is a huge community developing games for it. Just look at c64. The games coming out today are better than the ones that came out in its prime.

I am pretty sure amiga is the second most popular retro computer. There really should be a lot more for the amiga today.

I feel the amiga scene is hampered by two major bottlenecks.

1. A cheap and easy to use sd/usb-cartridge for amiga 500 expansion side port. With cf-hdd and usb/sd slot for file transfer.

Something that you can just plug in and download some games and play. Like every other machine out there.

2. A cheap and good version of the cd32 controller. This to encourage future games to be made with more than 2 buttons.

The entry cost into the amiga scene is extremely high. Both in cash but also in research. Both a600 and a1200 go for more than 300 euro today. At the same time you can get an 500 for 70.

It is just unreasonable to think the amiga scene could ever grow if the entry or get back to cost is above 400 bucks or more.

[mcgeezer]

High quality = high price.

[DamienD]

The Amiga scene is more than just "real" hardware these days...

Given the high / accurate quality of say "WinUAE", a lot of people emulate and developers use this also

[donnie]

winuae is great. Most retro computers/consoles have excellent emulators.

There are those who like to tinker with hardware upgrades so they can play quake 1 in 5 more fps, play around with new os features maybe even play mp3s.

Then there are those who just want to play turrican like they remembered it.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by donnie

Then there are those who just want to play turrican like they remembered it.

Buy one of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mayflash-Dr...lash+megadrive

and dig out your favourite D-Pin Joystick, an install of WinUAE and a legit copy of Turrican and you're good to go. You'll need some Kickstart roms too.

All in all about £40 max.... cheap as chips.

[ajk]

Those points don't seem that high priority to me... if the ACA500 is too expensive there is the Gotek option which, while not quite as nice as a hard drive setup, is perfectly usable and very cheap. And two buttons is fine for a lot of stuff

We don't see a lot of advanced Amiga games releases these days simply because that is a difficult goal to achieve. It requires extraordinary skill and commitment to make a game which could surpass the top games from back in the day. Much more so than with the 8-bit systems.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by ajk

We don't see a lot of advanced Amiga games releases these days simply because that is a difficult goal to achieve. It requires extraordinary skill and commitment to make a game which could surpass the top games from back in the day. Much more so than with the 8-bit systems.

I developed games on Amiga, and I agree with that assessment. It really does take a while to develop one game, and if it's just you, all that time in DPaint to do the graphics really makes up a lot of the time.

[Amigajay]

The Amiga scene is fragmented more than my pc hard drive, this will only dwindle more each year unless the bone heads who own the copyrights come together and put something together to grab some of the retro pie that is driving sales, and get more people back and interested in the Amiga again.

A ultra low cost mini amiga that brings nostalgia whilst at the same time is enabled to download and play any new game, like a nes mini or spectrum next combined, but lower cost with no fpga onboard, so whilst the purists may shudder, software emulation is the way to go without paying higher costs, Armiga got some points right but it needs to be more consumer friendly and have a mini keyboard for obvious reasons

Price low, around £149 max, £99 would be the ideal price to get impulse buyers, but realistically i wouldnt know if thats possible.
Cheap dual core cpu to keep cost low, built in wifi to download from a ‘online store’
Afaik no android emulator has 2 player support, base on raspberry pi software?
Licensed with kickstarts and workbench
Needs to have licensed Amiga name on case, box etc
Built in 50-100 games, mix of now freeware, some pd, would be interesting to see what could be obtained for minimum cost or free.
Game options, tv modes etc pad controls
Save states etc

I mean technically you could use a rpi3 saving any work and cost on the circuit board designs, again its not for Amiga purists, its for old Amiga gamers in their 40-50s that want to sample Amiga games again along with getting new interest in the Amiga from new young gamers.

Maybe as John Lennon once sang i’m a dreamer, but the Amiga is being left behind in the retro scene with various other machines getting mini versions, flashcards etc ive numerous times had people say why isnt there an Amiga mini, or how can i play Amiga games without all the hassle of a setting up an emulator on a pc (Amiga emulation is far from easy for newbies) faffing around with a raspberry pi and setting everything up, not everyone wants to do that, people just want to plug and play and its just another reason why the Amiga gets forgotten as a gaming platform in todays world.

[donnie]

Look at c64. Its more alive today than in the 80s. The quality AND quantity of what is getting produced is just insane.

I never owned a c64. I have no nostalgic feelings towards it. I barely even seen one in real life. And I just bought one. Because there is so much cool stuff being made. These games work on a standard c64. You dont need super cpu or anything.

There are millions of a500 out there. In peoples attics. That people cannot use because there is no simple way of getting software on it.

A simple flashcart with a built in floppy emu and a cf-hdd, maybe some ram. Would be absolute killer.

[ajk]

@donnie

But there are simple ways. What exactly is wrong with the ACA500 and/or Gotek (or HxC) drive? They are in the same price range as the 1541 Ultimate and SD2IEC for the C64, respectively.

[frank_b]

We need to kickstarter and buy the company that owns the rights to the ROMS and SW. Release it as open source.

[ajk]

The situation with the Kickstart and Workbench is of course not ideal, but it's hardly cost prohibitive. The license from Cloanto is, what, 10 euros? That is essentially nothing compared to other costs involved in tinkering with retro hardware.

There are already open source options (AROS) which could be brought up to 100% compatibility if this was a real problem, but it just isn't.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by donnie

1. A cheap and easy to use sd/usb-cartridge for amiga 500 expansion side port. With cf-hdd and usb/sd slot for file transfer.

It is just unreasonable to think the amiga scene could ever grow if the entry or get back to cost is above 400 bucks or more.

I've been working to squeeze 2 SPI ports on the TF530. If you're not familiar with the TF530 its an open source Amiga 500 Accelerator. The SPI ports should let us get a NIC and MMC card on the A500 eventually. Once this all settles down I'll get a kickstarter and a production run done.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by donnie

I am pretty sure amiga is the second most popular retro computer. There really should be a lot more for the amiga today.

Ok, so what are YOU going to do about it? Posting on forums isn't the way to get things moving forward.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by britelite

Ok, so what are YOU going to do about it? Posting on forums isn't the way to get things moving forward.

Perhaps he doesn't know where to start? Or hasn't got the time? Or both?

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Perhaps he doesn't know where to start? Or hasn't got the time? Or both?

I get tired of people demanding things. The Amiga scene is a bunch of people making stuff they want in their own time. People tend to put a commercially critical eye on the stuff that’s coming out and take it personally if you don’t want to make “their thing”.

If someone wants something so bad then they need to make it themselves. That’s why my stuff is GPL...

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by donnie

A simple flashcart with a built in floppy emu and a cf-hdd, maybe some ram. Would be absolute killer.

There's a lot's of external hardware that can do what you want, or most of what you want:
- vampire v2
- aca500 and aca500+
- kipper2k A508IDE Fastmem with IDE
- terrible fire
- witcher
- Hc508

And probably even more that I don't know.

Also, people who code stuff for the Amiga says that it's harder to code on Amiga (or much more time consuming), then on C64. And I understand them. Nobody can afford to quit job and work 6-8 hours per day, for free. Kudos to people that still finds time to code pure enthusiastically.
You can always pay coders if you have money and want something exact to be done, or you can start a kickstart campaign, and, if successful, start some cool project.

Anyway, I don't see that Amiga scene is that dark. 3 years a go, half (or most) of the above accelerator cards weren't on the market. Things are moving, and I am happy for it.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Perhaps he doesn't know where to start? Or hasn't got the time? Or both?

Both are poor excuses. If you don't know where to start, then make a post asking for help, or use google. If you don't have the time, then you're not in a position to demand that other people use their time to do something for you.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by britelite

Both are poor excuses. If you don't know where to start, then make a post asking for help, or use google. If you don't have the time, then you're not in a position to demand that other people use their time to do something for you.

Agreed. Everything else is basically demanding control over other people's free time. To quote a famous Harry Enfield sketch.. "I am not your slave".

[Foebane]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should do what the guy asks just because he asks it, but we should at least be paid handsomely for it. And to be honest, he should be creative himself. We were, and in fact, some of us still are.