Why was Z never ported to the Amiga? - Page 4

gimbal · 10 February 2023, 12:13

It was like Christmas morning, every day.

TCD · 10 February 2023, 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimbal

Yeah that's completely gone now.

Well, a bit is left with the 'building shaders' at the start of most games

Megalomaniac · 10 February 2023, 20:41

The Settlers works really well on a 1 Meg A500, with lovely luxury extras on bigger Amigas. Aside from being a great game, it's probably one of the finest accomplishments in terms of making great use of multiple levels of Amiga hardware.

I started with cassettes too, so even the slowest-loading Amiga games felt fast to me initially, and Monkey Island 2 wasn't the only multi-disk adventure I played from one drive. Loading between or during levels was a bit more of an irritation though, with most great 8-bit games you loaded it once and that was that.

skan · 11 February 2023, 11:44

So I picked the Bitmap Universe book up again to have a look and to reply to the OP the simple answer is: they've never been seriously intended to release an Amiga version really.

It was a PC project right from the start back in 1990 or so (yeah, that took 5 years in the making) and they had one coder worling on the Amiga version at one point but they stopped him because he was "catching up too quickly" on the PC version and they moved him on the PC branch.

According to the book the Amiga version was aimed at 600 and 1200, but not 500 (?), the playable demo had close to no AI implemented, but it was mostly working.
What a waste.

Mr_Horizon · 13 February 2023, 05:13

It was really fun reading all your responses, there was way more tech & history discussion that I had hoped for!

Quote:

Originally Posted by skan

So I picked the Bitmap Universe book up again to have a look and to reply to the OP the simple answer is: they've never been seriously intended to release an Amiga version really.
It was a PC project right from the start back in 1990 (...) and they had one coder working on the Amiga version at one point but they stopped him (...) and moved him on the PC branch.

According to the book the Amiga version was aimed at 600 and 1200, but not 500 (?), the playable demo had close to no AI implemented, but it was mostly working.

Thank you very much for looking it up! So they considered the system a lost case and didn't dedicate resources to finish the Amiga version. There was a lot of back and forth in this thread, but the Bitmap Universe book seems to say that computing power was not the issue.

Quote:

What a waste.

I agree, it's a shame! Maybe I'll still play one of the ports one day.

skan · 13 February 2023, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Horizon

Thank you very much for looking it up! So they considered the system a lost case and didn't dedicate resources to finish the Amiga version. There was a lot of back and forth in this thread, but the Bitmap Universe book seems to say that computing power was not the issue.

Not computing power per se, but amount of chip ram as far as I can get it. I suppose that would have been the first Birmap Bros game that would have looked and played better on PC anyway...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Horizon

I agree, it's a shame! Maybe I'll still play one of the ports one day.

Well, I think the Playstation version with mouse support played on a CRT is the closest you can get to the original Amiga feeling!

gimbal · 13 February 2023, 09:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Horizon

but the Bitmap Universe book seems to say that computing power was not the issue.

for the state of the game that it was in at the time (with zero AI, as mentioned), that doesn't say anything about the finished project.

Reynolds · 13 February 2023, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

What's everybody talking about, it runs fine on my A4000?

Well, that's nice. Would be cool to see it in action, with the config it runs on.

skan · 13 February 2023, 10:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reynolds

Well, that's nice. Would be cool to see it in action, with the config it runs on.

This, but also trying to run the Mac version in Shapeshifter would be an interesting experiment.

Reynolds · 13 February 2023, 11:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by skan

This, but also trying to run the Mac version in Shapeshifter would be an interesting experiment.

Definitely. And it is more close to the original feel. I just need a playable version to give it a go...

Daedalus · 13 February 2023, 11:34

No doubt the Mac version would run fine. I played Settlers 2, Sim City 2000 and others on Mac OS on my Amiga back in the day. Must give Z a go next time I find myself with nothing to do...

sokolovic · 13 February 2023, 13:09

I can't fond the recquirements of the Mac version. It would probably give us a clue of the recquirements for an hypothetical Amiga native one.

Daedalus · 13 February 2023, 15:21

Well, I did quote the requirements as printed on the box, earlier in the thread. Minimum spec is a Performa or Quadra (the lowest spec of which is a 68030), 8MB, System 7.0 and a CD-ROM drive. It may well have run on a lesser CPU, but given 68030 Macs were commonplace at the time it probably made sense to quote the Performa/Quadra as a baseline.

sokolovic · 13 February 2023, 16:04

Thanks. I'm getting old (especially because I've answered to your post before

Whitesnake · 13 February 2023, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolovic

I can't fond the recquirements of the Mac version. It would probably give us a clue of the recquirements for an hypothetical Amiga native one.

The only evidence of a Mac version existing is a few lines on MobyGames, I haven't seen anything on the usual Macintosh websites or archive.org. Not even a redump.

This seems to reference two releases.

At 1998 Apple were well into PPC G3 @ 233MHz or higher.

gimbal · 13 February 2023, 17:17

Well you can see it on the site of this Ticktock Games limited that is mentioned above as well:

https://www.ticktockgames.com/?page_id=183

2011 iOS version, 2012 for regular Mac and Android platforms and the 2013 release was apparently an iOS "Realtime Multiplayer Edition", interesting. And then in 2014 the Steam version.

From DOS to iOS to Mac/Android back to iOS and then Steam. What a journey.

Aardvark · 14 February 2023, 05:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Well, I did quote the requirements as printed on the box, earlier in the thread.

That was response to Sokolovic's query of Mac Colonization system requirements, was it not? I would be very surprised if commercial Mac game released in 1998 would still be 68k.

skan · 14 February 2023, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitesnake

The only evidence of a Mac version existing is a few lines on MobyGames, I haven't seen anything on the usual Macintosh websites or archive.org. Not even a redump.

This seems to reference two releases.

At 1998 Apple were well into PPC G3 @ 233MHz or higher.

Same here, cannot find much info anywhere. And it was released in UK only?!?

Yeah Apple went full PPC BITD, but many apps/games were still "fat" executables (68K+PCC) until 2000 at least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aardvark

That was response to Sokolovic's query of Mac Colonization system requirements, was it not? I would be very surprised if commercial Mac game released in 1998 would still be 68k.

Settlers2 was fat exe, f.i.
I remember I still had many Fat games and apps on my iMac G3/400 back in 2000/2001.

Reynolds · 14 February 2023, 08:05

I wonder if it is only me who thinks about Cannon Fodder immediately if a screenshot from Z pops up?

gimbal · 14 February 2023, 09:47

I mean it's a birds eye view game with tiny sprites. Cannon Fodder does not hold a monopoly.

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10 February 2023, 12:13	#61
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 43 Posts: 7,112	It was like Christmas morning, every day.

10 February 2023, 20:41	#63
Megalomaniac Registered User Join Date: Sep 2022 Location: Eastbourne Posts: 1,213	The Settlers works really well on a 1 Meg A500, with lovely luxury extras on bigger Amigas. Aside from being a great game, it's probably one of the finest accomplishments in terms of making great use of multiple levels of Amiga hardware. I started with cassettes too, so even the slowest-loading Amiga games felt fast to me initially, and Monkey Island 2 wasn't the only multi-disk adventure I played from one drive. Loading between or during levels was a bit more of an irritation though, with most great 8-bit games you loaded it once and that was that.

11 February 2023, 11:44	#64
skan Dream Merchant Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Dreamlands Posts: 530	So I picked the Bitmap Universe book up again to have a look and to reply to the OP the simple answer is: they've never been seriously intended to release an Amiga version really. It was a PC project right from the start back in 1990 or so (yeah, that took 5 years in the making) and they had one coder worling on the Amiga version at one point but they stopped him because he was "catching up too quickly" on the PC version and they moved him on the PC branch. According to the book the Amiga version was aimed at 600 and 1200, but not 500 (?), the playable demo had close to no AI implemented, but it was mostly working. What a waste.

13 February 2023, 11:34	#71
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,416	No doubt the Mac version would run fine. I played Settlers 2, Sim City 2000 and others on Mac OS on my Amiga back in the day. Must give Z a go next time I find myself with nothing to do...

13 February 2023, 13:09	#72
sokolovic Registered User Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Marseille / France Posts: 1,533	I can't fond the recquirements of the Mac version. It would probably give us a clue of the recquirements for an hypothetical Amiga native one.

13 February 2023, 15:21	#73
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,416	Well, I did quote the requirements as printed on the box, earlier in the thread. Minimum spec is a Performa or Quadra (the lowest spec of which is a 68030), 8MB, System 7.0 and a CD-ROM drive. It may well have run on a lesser CPU, but given 68030 Macs were commonplace at the time it probably made sense to quote the Performa/Quadra as a baseline.

13 February 2023, 16:04	#74
sokolovic Registered User Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Marseille / France Posts: 1,533	Thanks. I'm getting old (especially because I've answered to your post before

13 February 2023, 17:17	#76
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 43 Posts: 7,112	Well you can see it on the site of this Ticktock Games limited that is mentioned above as well: https://www.ticktockgames.com/?page_id=183 2011 iOS version, 2012 for regular Mac and Android platforms and the 2013 release was apparently an iOS "Realtime Multiplayer Edition", interesting. And then in 2014 the Steam version. From DOS to iOS to Mac/Android back to iOS and then Steam. What a journey.

14 February 2023, 08:05	#79
Reynolds Alien Breeder Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Szigetszentmiklos / Hungary Age: 47 Posts: 1,117	I wonder if it is only me who thinks about Cannon Fodder immediately if a screenshot from Z pops up?

14 February 2023, 09:47	#80
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 43 Posts: 7,112	I mean it's a birds eye view game with tiny sprites. Cannon Fodder does not hold a monopoly.

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