GRIND : a Doom-like, first person shooter for a500!

[Tsak]

Grind is a first person shooter, set in a dark and foreboding Steampunk/Lovecraftian world. The game is a continuation (and spiritual successor) of the Dread project, powered by the amazing Dread-engine and offers unparalleled visuals and performance, even on vanilla 1mb a500 machines!

Grind is currently in its second year of development and is planned for a commercial release. Here's a list of scheduled features and part of the work that lies ahead:

• At least 16 levels for the main campaign plus secret and multiplayer maps (the game already supports PvP deathmatch via serial cable btw).
• Level design with lived-in locations, visual storytelling and loads of attention to detail.
• Story driven progression.
• Menu and in-game music.
• More and better quality SFX (includes adding ambient sounds and enemy growls).
• 4 Steampunk weapon designs with additional secondary attacks via RMB.
• Extra polishing on enemy models plus new, low and higher tier enemy classes.
• Other needed additions to the engine (ranging from missing features like saving and level progression, to bugfixing and working out incompatibilities with various setups).

Footage:

The following video capture is from the latest released "Darkward east v0.3" Patreon-only binary, running on a1200+4mb fast (recommended for max performance):
[ Show youtube player ]

And here is footage running on a real 1mb a500 (minimum required):
[ Show youtube player ]

The current active team:

-John Tsakiris (Tsak): managing this project and also responsible for the gfx, sfx, Amiga music, game and level design.
-Amiga coder Bszili is helping with the game's logic, along with all tasks outside the core engine and is also managing temporarily the ST version.
-Coder Temisu is currently looking at dynamic assets loading and also doing maintenance on the complete base, engine and tools.
-Amiga coder Remz (author of 'Hamulet') is tasked to bring to the game Music support, as well as help with extra engine features, bugfixing and additional engine optimizations.
-Kabuto (from the demogroup Titan) is preparing a port of the game for the Mega Drive.
-ST musician DMA-SC is currently providing music for the ST version.

Honorable mentions:

-Legendary coder and author of the Dread-engine KK/Altair, although not directly involved with the project, is also present, overseeing the game's development and progress, providing feedback and moral support, as well as valuable insight on the inner workings of his engine!
-Coder Alex Brown (Alpine 9000) is also on-board for extra help (while Metro Siege still remains his main focus and priority).
-Artist Pixel Shade has made various gfx contributions in the past, (which still remain in the game) and is in contact with the team.

Links:

For those who want to know more about the history of the project, the 'new amiga 500 doom like! ' thread, documents in detail the past development of the Dread-Engine and the beginnings of Grind.

-Support Grind on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Grind_Amiga
-Visit Grind's Pixelglass page: https://pixelglass.org/#grind
-Join Grind's Discord server: https://discord.gg/QXGQbkRCxN

[roondar]

I'm still amazed at this engine and just how well it runs. And now it's gotten even better with a great steampunk vibe. Very nice, looking forward to the release

[TCD]

Is the demo version a 'timed exclusive' to Patreon?

[Karlos]

Is anyone else thinking Chaos Engine 3D ?

The pixelling is superb. I have to day, the statusbar face really reminds me of the Quake ranger though.

[Snoopy1234]

Originally Posted by TCD

Is the demo version a 'timed exclusive' to Patreon?

Basically. The Patreon site states executable downloads are available for tier 2 and above supporters. I signed up not only for a cause but to have access to the demo executable release(s).

[TCD]

I meant if older demo versions eventually will become available also for non-Patreons.

[hooverphonique]

Fantastisc work by everyone involved!

[dreadnought]

Glad to see this taking a more concrete shape.

I'm curious what the story is with KK/Altair (I haven't checked the megathread in a long time), I thought he was keen on releasing the game himself. Too busy with other things? Also, does it mean the engine is up for "licensing" and we might see other games based on it?

Originally Posted by Karlos

Is anyone else thinking Chaos Engine 3D ?

Definitely an influence, even if only subconscious

[TCD]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I'm curious what the story is with KK/Altair (I haven't checked the megathread in a long time), I thought he was keen on releasing the game himself. Too busy with other things? Also, does it mean the engine is up for "licensing" and we might see other games based on it?

You can read about it here: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php...83#post1572183

[Bren McGuire]

this game looks great i hope for its release some time within my life time

[vroom6sri]

If this game had been conceived "back in the day" I could imagine every Amiga magazine going nuts over it. I should think they'd each have had a devoted section every month giving updates and probably new demos. It's truly remarkable.

[The Brave Ant]

Looks like chaos engine graphics, I like them, or like a The Bitmap Brothers video game, like Gods, seems good.

[derSammler]

Originally Posted by vroom6sri

If this game had been conceived "back in the day" I could imagine every Amiga magazine going nuts over it.

True. But we should make no mistakes here. Even if this is running on a stock A500, the knowledge about how to do it was not there "back then". It's nothing that could have existed at the time, even if the hardware was there.

[BSzili]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Glad to see this taking a more concrete shape.

I'm curious what the story is with KK/Altair (I haven't checked the megathread in a long time), I thought he was keen on releasing the game himself. Too busy with other things? Also, does it mean the engine is up for "licensing" and we might see other games based on it?

Definitely an influence, even if only subconscious

The Dread engine along with its tools is already open source:
https://github.com/Krzysiek-K/Dread-source-drop

[DanyPPC]

This is a masterpiece for A500, I'm waiting for the final version to be played on my lovely Amy

[CodyJarrett]

I posted video and screenshots on Twitter/X:

https://twitter.com/AmigaAbime/statu...16849220403516

[Shoonay]

Holy shit this looks awesome.

Originally Posted by Karlos

Is anyone else thinking Chaos Engine 3D ?

This.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Karlos

Is anyone else thinking Chaos Engine 3D ?

Briefly, and then I think of Earthworm Jim 3D, Simon the Sorcerer 3D, Swiv 3D, Monkey Island 4.

Let's not go there anymore. The Chaos Engine was awesome because of its lightning fast 2D action. Emphasis on the lightning. I want more of that.

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by BSzili

The Dread engine along with its tools is already open source:
https://github.com/Krzysiek-K/Dread-source-drop

Sort of, this repo comes without a license so you still need permissions (the default copyright laws apply in this case, meaning that you retain all rights). But I guess being open like that doesn't stop anyone from copying parts of the code anyhow
And there's also the free SDKs.

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by CodyJarrett

I posted video and screenshots on Twitter/X:

https://twitter.com/AmigaAbime/statu...16849220403516

Nice

Originally Posted by Karlos

Is anyone else thinking Chaos Engine 3D ?

It's probably Chaos Engine 3D meets Darkmere 3D for me .

Originally Posted by Karlos

The pixelling is superb. I have to day, the statusbar face really reminds me of the Quake ranger though.

I should say your eyes don't fool you. The face was indeed heavily inspired by the Quake guy

Originally Posted by gimbal

Let's not go there anymore. The Chaos Engine was awesome because of its lightning fast 2D action. Emphasis on the lightning. I want more of that.

I'd love to hear if people think the game (with what is already shown) manages to capture this or if it feels lacking.