Why is the homebrew scene on the Amiga not as impressive...

[jizmo]

It's the expecting someone else to do it attitude of the Amiga community that regularly comes across in posts like..

• Why hasn't anyone still ported gameX to Amiga? (but not me)
• We should do a remake of Second Reality on Amiga (read: someone else should)
• Amiga needs a faster version of Outrun (with me contributing as an idea man)
• Why is the homebrew scene on the Amiga not as impressive..

If one tenth of the effort put into forum posts was used to learn to code instead, Amiga homebrew would likely be up there with C64 one.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by saimon69

As someone that seen the interface 1 in action i wonder: there were limitations in size and speed of access?

You're thinking of the IF1 and Microdrives, which were terrible - 85k formatted capacity at the low end, slow to access (though faster than cassette tapes and with a software-controllable motor for seeking) and really unreliable.

The Interface 2 introduced ROM cartridges and 2xSinclair joystick ports. It was really popular, mostly for the joysticks, but the ROM cartridges - which replaced the lower 16kb with game code instead of the system ROM - never caught on. I suspect that had it instead just replaced the upper 32kb of RAM (the technology to do so was easily designed) it may have done better, but as it was with having no ROM in place when inserted, cart designers had to add-in their own keyboard/text/graphics support routines which ate into the 16Kb budget.

There were ten carts released and it then just vanished.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by Dunny

You're thinking of the IF1 and Microdrives, which were terrible - 85k formatted capacity at the low end, slow to access (though faster than cassette tapes and with a software-controllable motor for seeking) and really unreliable.

The Interface 2 introduced ROM cartridges and 2xSinclair joystick ports. It was really popular, mostly for the joysticks, but the ROM cartridges - which replaced the lower 16kb with game code instead of the system ROM - never caught on. I suspect that had it instead just replaced the upper 32kb of RAM (the technology to do so was easily designed) it may have done better, but as it was with having no ROM in place when inserted, cart designers had to add-in their own keyboard/text/graphics support routines which ate into the 16Kb budget.

So in short no bigger cartridges than 16k? Because THAT would be the strength of the medium - if not possible then those are badly designed

[Amiga Lifestyle]

Originally Posted by jizmo

It's the expecting someone else to do it attitude of the Amiga community that regularly comes across in posts like..

• Why hasn't anyone still ported gameX to Amiga? (but not me)
• We should do a remake of Second Reality on Amiga (read: someone else should)
• Amiga needs a faster version of Outrun (with me contributing as an idea man)
• Why is the homebrew scene on the Amiga not as impressive..

If one tenth of the effort put into forum posts was used to learn to code instead, Amiga homebrew would likely be up there with C64 one.

Don't forget that when someone completes a game

"Why doesn't this have 200 layers of parallax?"
"This doesn't take full advantage of the hardware"
"Nobody wants games like this"
"Why isn't this X instead?"

"Idea guys" are a scourge in every hobby scene.

[AestheticDebris]

Originally Posted by saimon69

So in short no bigger cartridges than 16k? Because THAT would be the strength of the medium - if not possible then those are badly designed

As originally designed, yes. Though various people over the years have grafted bank switching arrangements onto it to allow for larger cartridges.

[Bren McGuire]

being an idea man is not a problem if they can work with other people who can supplement their shortcomings i think there's a big need for people to collaborate more i see a lot of people trying to do everything themselves and burning out so actually an idea man is very much welcome as an addition to a team

C64 is a simpler platform with simpler graphics simpler sounds and simpler way to do things it is much easier to do-it-all alone

Originally Posted by jizmo

[*]Amiga needs a faster version of Outrun (with me contributing as an idea man)