Tiny Galaga

[roondar]

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

My entire issue with this thread is the hostility and animosity some Amiga fans show toward others who don't run *their* OS version or *their* hardware, not game compatibility. It smacks of fanboyism and/or outright jealousy.

Please understand that this is in no way aimed at you personally, but I've had the exact reverse feeling for quite some time now: that people show some hostility and animosity towards those developers who don't program for (or using) their OS version/hardware.

In fact, this is kind of how the posts in this thread about the game not working read to me. I do understand this is subjective though and I also agree with you that there should not be hostility towards those who do run something other than the basic machines (though I'm not so sure there was much of that here). I'm just trying to show it goes two ways.

[Weaselrama]

Originally Posted by DamienD

That's simply not true.

You got "slammed" (in your words) for exepecting this small game to run on anything other than a classic Amiga OS (KS 1.3 / 2.x / 3.0 / 3.1) and standard hardware.

Also, conidering you emulate; being lazy and not just setting an A500 configuration and inserting a disk; which would have taken you all of 5 seconds...

I expected NOTHING. No where did I complain that the game wouldn't run or should have run on my setup. I merely said "too bad it doesn't run." I'm really not that stupid. I'm also not lazy. I wish my answer would have run as follows:

"I don't have enough interest in this game beyond thanking the developer for his work to answer your questions or make even the most insignificant of changes to try to get it running. If it wasn't raining, I'd be outside trying to get all the work I need to get done because I have guests coming in June."

OR - You could have saved time by saying, "You should file a bug report and mention your setup unless you're running anything else but stock hardware and OS X.X, then don't bother." Instead, you launched into a diatribe regarding OS versions and hardware of which you obviously don't approve.

Oh yeah - also, the developer said it should run on "any amiga" but I'd by lying if I said I even noticed he wrote that until someone else called it out...

[DamienD]

My last post about this in this thread...

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

OR - You could have saved time by saying, "You should file a bug report and mention your setup unless you're running anything else but stock hardware and OS X.X, then don't bother." Instead, you launched into a diatribe regarding OS versions and hardware of which you obviously don't approve.

I love the way you jump to conclusions... where exactly have I said that I disapprove of people using various OS / hardware???

To be honest, I couldn't care less what OS / hardware you use...

My post to you stated that this nice little game works on "classic" Amiga OS / hardware, simple; and also that you can't expect developers to be testing on 3.5 / 3.9 / 4.0 / 4.1 and various suped-up hardware.

You talk about WHDLoad in one of your posts:

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

So far, there hasn't been a single WHDLoad game which hasn't worked on my "exotic" system although I doubt there's anything exotic about it, that is, compared to configurations that utilize hardware emulation such as the Pi or Vampire stuff.

You do realise that all these WHDLoad games have been extensively patched / modified to allow them to run on any Amiga OS / hardware.

This is not a simple task; and again you can't expect all game devs to have the skills / knowledge or hardware to go through this complex / advanced process.

Try running the original games (non-WHDLoad versions) on your OS / hardware and see what happens...

[Weaselrama]

If you're going to quote me, don't cherry pick. I wrote:

"The only thing I have to go on therefore is my experience as a user. So far, there hasn't been a single WHDLoad game which hasn't worked on my "exotic" system although I doubt there's anything exotic about it, that is, compared to configurations that utilize hardware emulation such as the Pi or Vampire stuff.

However, I cannot say whether the person responsible for the WHDLoad configuration did what Ross did to make the game compatible across a variety of hardware and OS configurations. When I first downloaded the WHDLoad components, I tried my hand at creating my own WHDLoad conversions and they worked - all I did was follow the instructions. The ones that failed didn't fail to run - they failed to convert using the tools. Thanks, I had my fill of that and started acquiring WHDLoad games like everyone else does..."

In short, I fully acknowledge that WHDLoad games are very likely tweaked, as Ross tweaked this game, and I got really lucky with the few I converted myself until I realized how painful running those conversions actually are. Hell, trying to get WHDLoad working to even be able to run those conversions, tracking down the KS versions, etc., is painful. I went on to say I also acknowledge that I'm fortunate all or most things work in my particular setup. I take a little bit of credit for that because I've been thoughtful about what commands and libraries I update and because I tend to research particular issues and see what others have tried.

[Weaselrama]

Originally Posted by roondar

In fact, this is kind of how the posts in this thread about the game not working read to me. I do understand this is subjective though and I also agree with you that there should not be hostility towards those who do run something other than the basic machines (though I'm not so sure there was much of that here). I'm just trying to show it goes two ways.

No, I agree. I've read a LOT of threads in which people endlessly complain about what the developer did and did not do. This is why, if you read my comments, I go out of my way to thank these developers for all the time and effort they put into providing new apps and games to the community whether they work on my setup or not. There were people on this thread who said the game should have worked on their setup - I wasn't one of them.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

If you're going to quote me, don't cherry pick. I wrote:

"The only thing I have to go on therefore is my experience as a user. So far, there hasn't been a single WHDLoad game which hasn't worked on my "exotic" system although I doubt there's anything exotic about it, that is, compared to configurations that utilize hardware emulation such as the Pi or Vampire stuff.

Only the 1st part I quoted above is relevant... the rest is jibberish and not required.

Anyway, let's move on now please.

[khayoz]

@pink^abyss

Thank you!
Looks and play great!

[E-Penguin]

Originally Posted by Steril707

ps: We can be thankful that we still have people like Ross who know about how to get a new game compatible with almost any hardware config.

Probably off topic but I'd love to know what the problems (and solutions!) are when trying to create such a universal game

[Minuous]

My point is, that the Amiga is a shit platform to code games for because of all these existing configs. A large reason for why the scene of coders who actually do something on it is still so small compared to other, more unified platforms.

The Amiga was always intended to be expandable, this doesn't make it a "shit platform", just because some coders can't or won't write correct software. What would be more likely to cause it (or any other platform) be perceived as a "shit platform" would be if new software for it fails silently on most configurations because it makes unsafe assumptions about the hardware and software environment, especially if such assumptions are not listed anywhere and the program is claimed to work on any machine.

@E-Penguin:

See Chapter 1 of the RKRM: Libraries book, especially the section "General Amiga Development Guidelines".

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Bah, I went ahead and created a disk anyway... if someone makes a trainer, I'll then redo







Attached for anyone that wants it

The image taken from WinUAE? Are you emulating with scanlines? Looks good!

Incredible work @pink^abyss and Co! Impressive that its such a small file which delivers hours of gameplay! Graphics looks nice - does remind me a little bit of Gameboy or NES - presumably similar resolution to latter.

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by Minuous

The Amiga was always intended to be expandable, this doesn't make it a "shit platform", just because some coders can't or won't write correct software. What would be more likely to cause it (or any other platform) be perceived as a "shit platform" would be if new software for it fails silently on most configurations because it makes unsafe assumptions about the hardware and software environment, especially if such assumptions are not listed anywhere and the program is claimed to work on any machine.

You are right, but still, that part that most people have nostalgic feelings for (demos and games) relied on the hardware, not the software/OS.

Personally, when it comes to games I still see the Amiga as a home computer like the C64.

It's just a lot more complicated to code for in that regard.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

The image taken from WinUAE? Are you emulating with scanlines? Looks good!

Yes and yes to both your questions

[hexaae]

Originally Posted by pink^abyss

The missing characters on A1200 in the title screen are fixed. Update:
http://www.abyss-online.de/static/do...TinyGalaga.zip

Love it!
...A version WB friendly with Quit key to exit, and P = Pause?
BTW, it freezes when you launch it from a Picasso WB screen. Need to switch to native screenmode before launch. Can you add a small fix to initialize native screen mode?

EDIT: oh! I just realized LMB will quit the game to WB!

[S. Campbell]

Scruffed up a little disk box.

[S. Campbell]

Alt version reflecting monochromatic theme:

[lesta_smsc]

Great box art! That could be implemented as intro lol.

[S. Campbell]

And a final alt reflecting the inverted colours:

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by Weaselrama

Of course there isn't. It's too bad we run into that attitude occasionally on EAB, sadly. There are a few 3.1.4 fanboys that will make similar statements such as I ran into the other day here to the effect of, "...3.1.4 is the most popular version of the Amiga OS. No one ever adopted 3.5/3.9 and very few people run it." I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist of it. Utter claptrap, sheer nonsense and in fact, the list of applications that specifically require 3.5/3.9 is a rather long one. We just have to accept that there are folks who seem to like to imagine that whatever they run *must* be the most popular version.

I believe the majority of us did choose to avoid 3.5/3.9. I have no doubt that 3.1.4 is more popular.

[hexaae]

Ok, here is a full icon package. The game icon is based on the nice work by S.Campbell above, adding a pencil effect, pixelized and scanlined to look more retro



(see The Zone)

EDIT:
just added also a slightly bluish variant (far right) because the game itself actually uses a sort of duotone bluish-black palette:

[coldacid]

Oh my god this is amazing. S. Campbell, hexaae, great work!