Amiga Games and DMA slots

sandruzzo · 04 November 2022, 09:25

Are there any Amigas' games that are using all available dma slots?

roondar · 04 November 2022, 09:48

Theoretically I suppose it's possible to create programs that literally fill every DMA slot available, more so if you have an Amiga with Fast RAM. In practice though, I don't think it's possible to guarantee this is the case for all frames you're running.

And perhaps more importantly: does it really matter?
Isn't it more important that a game play well and if possible do this while also looking/sounding good than that it reaches some theoretical performance cap?

I love Amiga techno-theory crafting, but it seems to me that the goal of making a game should primarily be centred around primarily the gameplay and secondarily the art design (for both GFX and sound/music). Technical trickery can and often does play a role in this, but if you ask me... Surely, the goal of making a game should be making a good game, not one that ticks some tech box or another.

sandruzzo · 04 November 2022, 09:52

@roondar

Indeed gameplay is the most important thing, but as Amiga "lover", we love to see this machine pushed and pushed more! I think that going from 90% to 100% dma slots usage could even help gameplay, since developer can do more, and maybe implementing more gameplays' features

When we did Steel Saviour on PC HW we were able to add features to gameplay since we had more power from latest gfx chips

[ Show youtube player ]

mcgeezer · 04 November 2022, 10:07

It always depends on what you want to do.

Having a good artist who understands the Amiga is very important and if programmer and said artist work in tandem you can get some pretty exceptional results, just look at shadow of the beast - an example of style over substance if there ever was one.

In all honesty, the last thing I worry about is how many DMA slots I have left... until I need to worry about it. As an example look at the intro screen of Devil's Temple with the huge moving sprite - that wasn't an easy thing to achieve at 50fps and so I had to look optimising the hell out of it.

sandruzzo · 04 November 2022, 10:14

@mcgeezer

You're right, but having more power in your hands, can helps gameplay as well

04 November 2022, 09:25	#1
sandruzzo Registered User Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Italy/Rome Posts: 2,344	Amiga Games and DMA slots Are there any Amigas' games that are using all available dma slots?

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04 November 2022, 09:48	#2
roondar Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 3,423	Theoretically I suppose it's possible to create programs that literally fill every DMA slot available, more so if you have an Amiga with Fast RAM. In practice though, I don't think it's possible to guarantee this is the case for all frames you're running. And perhaps more importantly: does it really matter? Isn't it more important that a game play well and if possible do this while also looking/sounding good than that it reaches some theoretical performance cap? I love Amiga techno-theory crafting, but it seems to me that the goal of making a game should primarily be centred around primarily the gameplay and secondarily the art design (for both GFX and sound/music). Technical trickery can and often does play a role in this, but if you ask me... Surely, the goal of making a game should be making a good game, not one that ticks some tech box or another.

04 November 2022, 09:52	#3
sandruzzo Registered User Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Italy/Rome Posts: 2,344	@roondar Indeed gameplay is the most important thing, but as Amiga "lover", we love to see this machine pushed and pushed more! I think that going from 90% to 100% dma slots usage could even help gameplay, since developer can do more, and maybe implementing more gameplays' features When we did Steel Saviour on PC HW we were able to add features to gameplay since we had more power from latest gfx chips [ Show youtube player ]

04 November 2022, 10:07	#4
mcgeezer Registered User Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Sunderland, England Posts: 2,702	It always depends on what you want to do. Having a good artist who understands the Amiga is very important and if programmer and said artist work in tandem you can get some pretty exceptional results, just look at shadow of the beast - an example of style over substance if there ever was one. In all honesty, the last thing I worry about is how many DMA slots I have left... until I need to worry about it. As an example look at the intro screen of Devil's Temple with the huge moving sprite - that wasn't an easy thing to achieve at 50fps and so I had to look optimising the hell out of it.

04 November 2022, 10:14	#5
sandruzzo Registered User Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Italy/Rome Posts: 2,344	@mcgeezer You're right, but having more power in your hands, can helps gameplay as well

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