I have to ask something interesting

MethodGit · 03 October 2005, 22:47

Having viewed many of the demos on bippym's Amiga Flashback DVD (of which I must say cheers to bippy for selling me a copy!

) I have started to wonder something important and intriguing.

Why did games developers never really take full advantage of the A500's REAL capabilities? I mean to be truly wowed by some of the special effects you witness, and then become totally shellshocked as you realize this was all made possible on the same sort of basic machine I used to possess and therefore isn't some kind of AGA-exclusive trick, it beggars belief that many game-related teams chose instead to toss shovelware upon shovelware onto our innocent heads and generally make the Amiga overall look like a really crap machine compared to the 16-bit consoles and the PC's eventual improvements to gaming in the early 90's with the psuedo-3D material etc. =( Sure, you got many great and memorable Ami games, but how many of them used similar effects to what you usually expect in group demos?

Or did many demos, I start to suspect, use all kinds of hacks and compression techniques to get the results they want?

BippyM · 03 October 2005, 22:50

To achieve these affects would leave no room for an actual game, they generally used ALL of the a500's power for just that!

Jerry · 04 October 2005, 16:46

Also, only few effects fit games well. How wrong it is to build a game around a bunch effects is demonstrated in today's gaming industry. I for one like good gameplay a lot better than fancy effects... Though I agree that there are some cool effects in some great 16-bit console games. But these were beyond the technical possibilities of the a500.

Galahad/FLT · 05 October 2005, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

Also, only few effects fit games well. How wrong it is to build a game around a bunch effects is demonstrated in today's gaming industry. I for one like good gameplay a lot better than fancy effects... Though I agree that there are some cool effects in some great 16-bit console games. But these were beyond the technical possibilities of the a500.

Not so... Brian the Lion demonstrated that it could do a favourable copy of some of the Super Nintendos 'exclusive' effects.

Jerry · 05 October 2005, 20:06

Don't know much about Brian the Lion as I never really played it. Mr. Nutz had some of those console effects if I remember correctly and some of them look a lot like routines used in Arte/Sanity. Anyway, what I meant is that though it's possible to use such effects in a500 games it's a lot more work than creating these effects on a console like eg snes with it's dedicated rotation/resize and what not hardware.

03 October 2005, 22:47	#1
MethodGit Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Streets Age: 39 Posts: 2,731	I have to ask something interesting Having viewed many of the demos on bippym's Amiga Flashback DVD (of which I must say cheers to bippy for selling me a copy! ) I have started to wonder something important and intriguing. Why did games developers never really take full advantage of the A500's REAL capabilities? I mean to be truly wowed by some of the special effects you witness, and then become totally shellshocked as you realize this was all made possible on the same sort of basic machine I used to possess and therefore isn't some kind of AGA-exclusive trick, it beggars belief that many game-related teams chose instead to toss shovelware upon shovelware onto our innocent heads and generally make the Amiga overall look like a really crap machine compared to the 16-bit consoles and the PC's eventual improvements to gaming in the early 90's with the psuedo-3D material etc. =( Sure, you got many great and memorable Ami games, but how many of them used similar effects to what you usually expect in group demos? Or did many demos, I start to suspect, use all kinds of hacks and compression techniques to get the results they want?

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03 October 2005, 22:50	#2
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	To achieve these affects would leave no room for an actual game, they generally used ALL of the a500's power for just that!

04 October 2005, 16:46	#3
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Also, only few effects fit games well. How wrong it is to build a game around a bunch effects is demonstrated in today's gaming industry. I for one like good gameplay a lot better than fancy effects... Though I agree that there are some cool effects in some great 16-bit console games. But these were beyond the technical possibilities of the a500.

05 October 2005, 20:06	#5
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Don't know much about Brian the Lion as I never really played it. Mr. Nutz had some of those console effects if I remember correctly and some of them look a lot like routines used in Arte/Sanity. Anyway, what I meant is that though it's possible to use such effects in a500 games it's a lot more work than creating these effects on a console like eg snes with it's dedicated rotation/resize and what not hardware.

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