KGLoad - Amiga Games Frontend

killergorilla · 26 November 2007, 03:42

I am working on a game launcher for the Amiga, it's currently running in PAL 640x256 and is coming along quite nicely...

It currently looks like THIS!

AGA Version:

OCS Version:

AMIGrAve · 26 November 2007, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Yes, indeed I am!
Slowly however! Got these whdload things to do before I properly get my teeth in to it...

Looks cool !

Where do you fetch the right side informations from ? Textfile in each folder ?
What format is the screenshot in ?
What is the resolution of the screen here ?
Do you plan a filter search box ?

Retro-Nerd · 26 November 2007, 21:36

Looks at bit like this AGS frontend they've used for the WinUAE Kaillera packs.

killergorilla · 26 November 2007, 22:18

Ooh lot's of questions!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGrAve

Looks cool !

Where do you fetch the right side informations from ? Textfile in each folder ?

A central database file with all the info stored in it.
It's in plain text because it's manually editible, it's fast to read in and it's easy to parse the information.

Quote:

What format is the screenshot in ?

It's in iff format at the moment, 256 colours, 320x128 (* 2 = 256)

I may look in to gif somewhere down the line but png and jpg are going to be too slow to display on the fly.

Quote:

What is the resolution of the screen here ?

It's a hires screen - 640x256 (*2 = 512), it's the highest usable resolution you can get really.

Quote:

Do you plan a filter search box ?

My main aim is for the menu to be run solely from a joystick, I will add keyboard support, cd32 pad support etc. etc. once I'm happy with the features I really want to implement first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Looks at bit like this AGS frontend they've used for the WinUAE Kaillera packs.

It certainly does. AGS is written in AmigaE as well and I currently use it as the frontend for my A1200 (it boots straight in to it).

AGS is the best joystick frontend out there, but I began to get a bit annoyed with it's lack of features.

My main gripe being that the screenshots are too big, meaning you have a really, really thin game list, which means you can't display long gamenames without truncating them.

Plus I really wanted to make it a lot more flexible... (more on that another time)

ppill · 26 November 2007, 22:35

@kg

You're still looking for someone to do the graphics?
Is there a fixed palette?
How many colours can I use?
What type of overscan?
You want both hires and laced versions?

killergorilla · 26 November 2007, 22:40

Yeah I'm still looking for someone to do some graphics.

There is indeed a fixed (indexed) palette of 256 colours which I've already decided on.

It's standard hires, I'm not really looking for any type of laced version as I like my eyesight

ppill · 26 November 2007, 22:51

Could you upload it (palette) to the Zone in PPaint compatible format if possible?

killergorilla · 26 November 2007, 23:18

Done!

I think it should be ok.

EDIT: I've reuploaded it, if you've already downloaded it, then delete it!

ppill · 26 November 2007, 23:34

Grabbed and works. As for the areas you want to be filled with graphics is it Ok if I just halve the the pic you posted and use that as a template?

killergorilla · 26 November 2007, 23:37

Yeah that was the plan, although feel free to move them about a bit if you need more room, I've not 100% decided exactly where everything wants to go but that's a good general guideline.

I wanted some logo down the bottom right or something, with the name of the menu (which I've yet to decide)

AMIGrAve · 27 November 2007, 00:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by killergorilla

There is indeed a fixed (indexed) palette of 256 colours which I've already decided on.

Do you swap palette coper list between the front-end zone and the screenshot area or should the iff color palette be compatible with your front-end palette ?

BTW: I didn't knew about AmigaE. Sounds cool to mix OO language and asm. I tried to fetch information about AmigaE but a lot of tutorials links from google search were dead. I found this
http://us2.aminet.net/dev/e/E_V31a_ps_doc.readme
which I plan to read. If you know some good online resources still alive about AmigaE, I'm all ears !

killergorilla · 27 November 2007, 12:41

AmigaE is pretty simple to use if you've ever used C before, but unfortunately there are very few decent resources online (if any now).

Your best bet is to download the latest build of it as it has quite a few docs and a load of example code with it.

As for the palette, no I don't change the copper list, each iff screenshot needs to be of the same palette as the frontend.

I selected my palette by taking over 200 screenshots of varied amiga games, making them in to one large collage and then reducing the colours down to 256 selectively. I think the results are pretty good to be honest.

Bamiga2002 · 05 December 2007, 22:37

Damn this is great news KG, i will try the launcher ASAP

!!

keropi · 05 December 2007, 22:40

what? where? I want it!

Bamiga2002 · 05 December 2007, 22:50

Yea, where is it? Isn't on the Zone

. Btw. What Is THE ZONE??

Retro-Nerd · 05 December 2007, 23:00

I don't know what KG is doing exactly, but the Arcade Game Selector is here. Tried it with the Kaillera Packs with WHDLoad games, works fine for me.

http://www.paradroid.net/ags/

http://www.amigaclassics.de/kaillera/ger_beginning.htm

adonay · 05 December 2007, 23:44

These remind of those CD32 cds 200, 300, 444 and 800 menus... will it be possible to start From a own partition so that you can reboot into a Gameselector menu. Anyways look damn cool. It would be so cool if i just had another bootable partition and went right into a menu like this for pure gaming ....

rare_j · 06 December 2007, 16:21

Looks good KG.
I tried to do something similar to this using multiview... I had a shell script to search for all the slaves and list them into a huge multiview document as buttons... that bit worked really well...
The problem is the size of the list! In multiview once you've got a couple of thousand lines even in 4 colour mode it slows to a crawl, and on a real amiga the list took about half a minute to open.

Also, multiview doesn't scroll that well. It ended up being really clunky. It did work though.

Good luck with this!

killergorilla · 06 December 2007, 16:35

As you've noticed, it's not in the zone because I've not released it yet

It's very much like AGS but better laid out (IMO), and a hell of a lot more configurable (once I've finished).

It'll also come with a dir scanner to scan a dir of whdload games and automatically populate the games list with those that are available.

You can also easily add anything you like to the gamelist manually.

But all in good time....

Retro-Nerd · 06 December 2007, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by killergorilla

It's very much like AGS but better laid out (IMO), and a hell of a lot more configurable (once I've finished).

Any details, setable tooltypes/different WHDLoad version or something?

Quote:

It'll also come with a dir scanner to scan a dir of whdload games and automatically populate the games list with those that are available.

You can also easily add anything you like to the gamelist manually.

But all in good time....

Yep, the most important function for the best convenience. A fully working scanner is must.

killergorilla · 06 December 2007, 20:23

Yeah it's mainly going to be for my whdload packs, which is why I want to get them finished first, then I at least have a complete listing of all the games ready and waiting.

As for settable tooltypes and so forth, yep they should all be configurable.

Calgor · 07 December 2007, 07:53

KG, so what is currently the recommended extraction of the KG Packs that will be compatible with the frontend? (e.g. should all of the packs be extracted preserving directories into the same directory, so that you end up with 1 directory with thousands of subdirectories, 1 for each game).

Marcuz · 07 December 2007, 11:39

i second that question and i would like to know also, there is a filter for let in / out the list the games that you don't have? meaning that the the program does parse the directories?

does also a central database means that when you release a new pack you have also an updated database with screenshots to download?

lastly, wouldn't be cool if, at this point you (and whoever is intersted) produce a very light version of a workbench, hidden away the GUI autoloading ? like a lite - lite - ClassicWB?

keropi · 07 December 2007, 12:13

a much needed tool for whdload!!! even on the 1st shot it looks AWESOME!

Graham Humphrey · 07 December 2007, 12:23

Yes it does. Keep up the great work KG, I look forward to seeing the finished product!

killergorilla · 07 December 2007, 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by marco pedrana

i second that question and i would like to know also, there is a filter for let in / out the list the games that you don't have? meaning that the the program does parse the directories?

does also a central database means that when you release a new pack you have also an updated database with screenshots to download?

lastly, wouldn't be cool if, at this point you (and whoever is intersted) produce a very light version of a workbench, hidden away the GUI autoloading ? like a lite - lite - ClassicWB?

Some good questions mate...

Firstly, I plan on making the scanning search subdirs.

I personally have all of my games in one partition called GAMES. But if you had them in Games:A/ Games:B/ etc. then it would still pick up the games.

It'll be searching by the names from my whdload packs, so if you are using other whdload games with different namings you'll either have to manually edit the database files yourself, or rename all of your directories to match mine.

The initial release of the frontend will include a database with all of the games currently in my packs (not those which have been found to have errors), and will come with screenshots for each game - probably one title screen and one in game shot (HOL have given me permission to whore their supply).

Every time I release an update pack I'll be updating the database and screenshots so you can keep up to date that way.

As for making a very light version of workbench...

My main aim for this program is to turn my A1200 into an arcade machine that I can load any game from, just using the joystick. Obviously the frontend needs some files from workbench (setpatch, assign, execute...), but it doesn't need workbench as such.

I have my workbench partition setup as DH1: on my real A1200, if I do need to boot into it then I set it as primary boot in the boot menu.

So, you are more than welcome to run the frontend on top of workbench, or like I do with very little going on in the background.

The menu will run on a standard A1200/CD32.

It kills itself before loading a script so that there is more memory available to whdload.

If anyone has anything they'd like to see the menu do then write them down here.

Retro-Nerd · 07 December 2007, 16:40

Thanks for the detailed infos, KG. Yep, that's how a decent WHD frontend should work. A direct boot into the GUI is a nice idea, saves some ram too.

ppill · 09 December 2007, 19:39

So I had a go...
Fairly pleased with the result (will change the background later). I think it would look better if the list of games was centered. Tell me what you think.

Retro-Nerd · 09 December 2007, 19:46

The letters for Gamelist, Screenshot and Information are a bit overlarge, imho.

mr_0rga5m · 09 December 2007, 20:34

I think the screenshot is very good looking, i especially like those 'headings'.
Its all presented very clear.

kriz · 09 December 2007, 20:38

Its too big letters I think also. And why write "screenshot" ? Clearly you see it. Maybe the logo on top should be - WHD launcher or something like this.

I also would like it be more Amiga style logo, maybe a boing ball or check or something also... Just some ideas here.

Retro-Nerd · 09 December 2007, 20:40

Yep, the Gamelist and Screenshot sections needs no description, as kriz already said. Maybe you can use a nice logo or some Amiga game character pics.

Marcuz · 09 December 2007, 21:22

me too i think the letters are too big.

@KG thanks for the answers

however it would be nice an option that let the gui stay or be reloaded when exitin' a game i think...

ppill · 09 December 2007, 22:55

Thanks for the input. All windows are in fact self-explanatory so those headings will probably go or become somewhat smaller. Back to PPaint

I would like to include some logos (tick!) but the palette is pretty limiting.

How about suggestions for a name?

Graham Humphrey · 09 December 2007, 22:58

WHDLaunch? Not very exciting, I know.

Bloodwych · 09 December 2007, 23:06

I really like those orange fonts. Yes, perhaps they need to be smaller, but you should use that style at least for the name of the launcher.

As for a name, how about LaunchPad?

Retro-Nerd · 09 December 2007, 23:08

WHDLoader!!

ppill · 09 December 2007, 23:18

Simian's Selector

Retro-Nerd · 09 December 2007, 23:20

For the geeks: LorraineLoad.

Bloodwych · 09 December 2007, 23:40

Game Gallery!!!!! and if you don't call it that I'm going to cry.

26 November 2007, 03:42	#1
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	KGLoad - Amiga Games Frontend I am working on a game launcher for the Amiga, it's currently running in PAL 640x256 and is coming along quite nicely... It currently looks like THIS! AGA Version: OCS Version: __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time. Last edited by killergorilla; 12 December 2008 at 00:08.

26 November 2007, 22:40	#6
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	Yeah I'm still looking for someone to do some graphics. There is indeed a fixed (indexed) palette of 256 colours which I've already decided on. It's standard hires, I'm not really looking for any type of laced version as I like my eyesight __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time.

26 November 2007, 23:18	#8
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	Done! I think it should be ok. EDIT: I've reuploaded it, if you've already downloaded it, then delete it! __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time.

26 November 2007, 23:37	#10
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	Yeah that was the plan, although feel free to move them about a bit if you need more room, I've not 100% decided exactly where everything wants to go but that's a good general guideline. I wanted some logo down the bottom right or something, with the name of the menu (which I've yet to decide) __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time.

27 November 2007, 12:41	#12
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	AmigaE is pretty simple to use if you've ever used C before, but unfortunately there are very few decent resources online (if any now). Your best bet is to download the latest build of it as it has quite a few docs and a load of example code with it. As for the palette, no I don't change the copper list, each iff screenshot needs to be of the same palette as the frontend. I selected my palette by taking over 200 screenshots of varied amiga games, making them in to one large collage and then reducing the colours down to 256 selectively. I think the results are pretty good to be honest. __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time.

26 November 2007, 21:36	#3
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	Looks at bit like this AGS frontend they've used for the WinUAE Kaillera packs.

26 November 2007, 22:35	#5
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	@kg You're still looking for someone to do the graphics? Is there a fixed palette? How many colours can I use? What type of overscan? You want both hires and laced versions?

26 November 2007, 22:51	#7
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	Could you upload it (palette) to the Zone in PPaint compatible format if possible?

26 November 2007, 23:34	#9
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	Grabbed and works. As for the areas you want to be filled with graphics is it Ok if I just halve the the pic you posted and use that as a template?

05 December 2007, 22:37	#13
Bamiga2002 IK+ master Join Date: May 2004 Location: Finland Age: 32 Posts: 1,449	Damn this is great news KG, i will try the launcher ASAP !! __________________ **************************** got meself a CD32! Last edited by killergorilla; 28 July 2008 at 15:57.

05 December 2007, 22:40	#14
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: nowhere Posts: 5,016	what? where? I want it!

05 December 2007, 22:50	#15
Bamiga2002 IK+ master Join Date: May 2004 Location: Finland Age: 32 Posts: 1,449	Yea, where is it? Isn't on the Zone . Btw. What Is THE ZONE?? __________________ **************************** got meself a CD32!

05 December 2007, 23:00	#16
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	I don't know what KG is doing exactly, but the Arcade Game Selector is here. Tried it with the Kaillera Packs with WHDLoad games, works fine for me. http://www.paradroid.net/ags/ http://www.amigaclassics.de/kaillera/ger_beginning.htm Last edited by Retro-Nerd; 05 December 2007 at 23:09.

05 December 2007, 23:44	#17
adonay active amiga 1200 user Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Either Haugesund /Norway or Vaxjø Sweden Posts: 159	These remind of those CD32 cds 200, 300, 444 and 800 menus... will it be possible to start From a own partition so that you can reboot into a Gameselector menu. Anyways look damn cool. It would be so cool if i just had another bootable partition and went right into a menu like this for pure gaming ....

06 December 2007, 16:21	#18
rare_j Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: UK Posts: 283	Looks good KG. I tried to do something similar to this using multiview... I had a shell script to search for all the slaves and list them into a huge multiview document as buttons... that bit worked really well... The problem is the size of the list! In multiview once you've got a couple of thousand lines even in 4 colour mode it slows to a crawl, and on a real amiga the list took about half a minute to open. Also, multiview doesn't scroll that well. It ended up being really clunky. It did work though. Good luck with this!

06 December 2007, 16:35	#19
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	As you've noticed, it's not in the zone because I've not released it yet It's very much like AGS but better laid out (IMO), and a hell of a lot more configurable (once I've finished). It'll also come with a dir scanner to scan a dir of whdload games and automatically populate the games list with those that are available. You can also easily add anything you like to the gamelist manually. But all in good time.... __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time. Last edited by killergorilla; 10 October 2008 at 16:42.

06 December 2007, 20:23	#21
killergorilla I AM DINNERMAN! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 28 Posts: 7,217	Yeah it's mainly going to be for my whdload packs, which is why I want to get them finished first, then I at least have a complete listing of all the games ready and waiting. As for settable tooltypes and so forth, yep they should all be configurable. __________________ I'm totally gratified that people find Interceptor worthy of being downloaded and played after so many years especially in light of its rather rudimentary visual content by standards constantly increasing over time.

07 December 2007, 07:53	#22
Calgor Spitting fire Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Anrea Posts: 858	KG, so what is currently the recommended extraction of the KG Packs that will be compatible with the frontend? (e.g. should all of the packs be extracted preserving directories into the same directory, so that you end up with 1 directory with thousands of subdirectories, 1 for each game).

07 December 2007, 11:39	#23
Marcuz Wurk??? Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 34 Posts: 4,475	i second that question and i would like to know also, there is a filter for let in / out the list the games that you don't have? meaning that the the program does parse the directories? does also a central database means that when you release a new pack you have also an updated database with screenshots to download? lastly, wouldn't be cool if, at this point you (and whoever is intersted) produce a very light version of a workbench, hidden away the GUI autoloading ? like a lite - lite - ClassicWB? __________________ aheadfordinci - a painting a day... almost. Beautiful prints of my artworks at RedBubble!

07 December 2007, 12:13	#24
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: nowhere Posts: 5,016	a much needed tool for whdload!!! even on the 1st shot it looks AWESOME!

07 December 2007, 12:23	#25
Graham Humphrey Global Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 23 Posts: 7,363	Yes it does. Keep up the great work KG, I look forward to seeing the finished product! __________________ The EAB/Lemon Amiga Super League \| Round 2 - Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 \| Round 3 voting

07 December 2007, 16:40	#27
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	Thanks for the detailed infos, KG. Yep, that's how a decent WHD frontend should work. A direct boot into the GUI is a nice idea, saves some ram too.

09 December 2007, 19:39	#28
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	So I had a go... Fairly pleased with the result (will change the background later). I think it would look better if the list of games was centered. Tell me what you think.

09 December 2007, 19:46	#29
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	The letters for Gamelist, Screenshot and Information are a bit overlarge, imho.

09 December 2007, 20:34	#30
mr_0rga5m Tik Gora :D Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Round yo momma's Posts: 1,261	I think the screenshot is very good looking, i especially like those 'headings'. Its all presented very clear. __________________ BF++++++++++[>+++++++>++++++++++>+++>+<<<<-]>++.>+. +++++++..+++.>++.<<+++++++++++++++.>.+++.------.--------.>+.>. "Bill Gates is Microsoft. His wife has no comment." [16:38:45] <THB> why be hatin our cgi:irc brothers? [16:44:38] * THBollock has joined #abime.net [16:44:54] <THBollock> :) [16:45:39] * THBollock has quit IRC ("lol") [16:50:25] <THB> oh thats why Catflap <-- Imposter!! <cATFLAP> <-- The real deal.

09 December 2007, 20:38	#31
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way, Stavanger -\\|/- Age: 27 Posts: 1,787	Its too big letters I think also. And why write "screenshot" ? Clearly you see it. Maybe the logo on top should be - WHD launcher or something like this. I also would like it be more Amiga style logo, maybe a boing ball or check or something also... Just some ideas here. __________________ Mac Mini - MorphOS 2.4 -- It rulez !! _ Software: MOS 2.4 - Whdload - RDesktop - WookieChat - All Supported.

09 December 2007, 20:40	#32
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	Yep, the Gamelist and Screenshot sections needs no description, as kriz already said. Maybe you can use a nice logo or some Amiga game character pics.

09 December 2007, 21:22	#33
Marcuz Wurk??? Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 34 Posts: 4,475	me too i think the letters are too big. @KG thanks for the answers however it would be nice an option that let the gui stay or be reloaded when exitin' a game i think... __________________ aheadfordinci - a painting a day... almost. Beautiful prints of my artworks at RedBubble!

09 December 2007, 22:55	#34
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	Thanks for the input. All windows are in fact self-explanatory so those headings will probably go or become somewhat smaller. Back to PPaint I would like to include some logos (tick!) but the palette is pretty limiting. How about suggestions for a name?

09 December 2007, 22:58	#35
Graham Humphrey Global Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 23 Posts: 7,363	WHDLaunch? Not very exciting, I know. __________________ The EAB/Lemon Amiga Super League \| Round 2 - Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 \| Round 3 voting

09 December 2007, 23:06	#36
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 2,950	I really like those orange fonts. Yes, perhaps they need to be smaller, but you should use that style at least for the name of the launcher. As for a name, how about LaunchPad? __________________ Live Long and Procrastinate A500 Batman Pack Classic Workbench

09 December 2007, 23:08	#37
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	WHDLoader!!

09 December 2007, 23:18	#38
ppill CON: artist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Poland Age: 29 Posts: 957	Simian's Selector

09 December 2007, 23:20	#39
Retro-Nerd Amiga Contra...rocks!! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 38 Posts: 6,698	For the geeks: LorraineLoad.

09 December 2007, 23:40	#40
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 2,950	Game Gallery!!!!! and if you don't call it that I'm going to cry. __________________ Live Long and Procrastinate A500 Batman Pack Classic Workbench