Amiga PD's Dangermouse - Progress Update

Those who regularly follow the blog will no doubt be aware that the title currently being worked on by Christian of Amiga PD is an adventure based on the legendary 80s cartoon series, Dangermouse.

Due to his workload, development has slowed somewhat, but progress is stil being made, and with some spare time over the holidays we've been treated to a few work in progress updates.

Christian's been spending the past few days screen-grabbing a mass of images to accompany the 400-odd text descriptions he's put together as part of the adventure, and keen to show how good the grabs are, he's uploaded a selection for our viewing pleasure.

Update One:
http://www.amigapd.com/4/post/2012/12/dangermouse-game-update1.html

Update Two:
http://www.amigapd.com/4/post/2012/12/danger-mouse-game-more-pics.html

Update Three:
http://www.amigapd.com/4/post/2012/12/danger-mouse-game-extra-pictures.html

To keep up-to-date on this project as well as Amiga PD news and updates, log in to Facebook and 'like' the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/amigapd

Quake 2 Coming to AGA Machines

Clearly making the most of the Christmas break, English Amiga board member NovaCoder, has just announced that he's working on yet another amazing project.

This time the coding wizard has decided to set his sights on converting the legendary Quake 2 over to AGA systems. It may sound difficult to believe, so here's the man himself to explain;

"Another day, another port

This is the daddy and that I've wanted to port for ages, after porting both DOOM and Quake I thought it was about time I gave it a bash.

Details:

Based on the awesome Yamagi Quake 2 Port

Yamagi Quake II is an enhanced client for id Software's Quake II. The main focus is an unchanged single player experience like back in 1997, thus the gameplay and the graphics are unaltered.

Over 1000 bugs were fixed and an extensive code audit done, making Yamagi Quake II one of the most solid Quake II implementations available.

Other than most ports Yamagi Quake II is full 64 bit clean, so it works perfectly on modern 64 bit processors and operating systems.

Yamagi Quake II is supported on FreeBSD, Linux, and Windows (XP or higher) and AmigaOS 3.

Features:
- Anisotropic filtering.
- Compatible with most mods (as long as their source is available).
- From scratch rewritten savegame system.
- Full 64 bit support.
- Ingame soundtrack playback via OGG/Vorbis.
- IPv6 support.
- Mature and stable codebase.
- No gameplay and graphic enhancements, but optional support for retexturing packs.
- Support for unlimited screen size / resolutions.
- Widescreen support.

Things that won't be implemented:
- Gameplay and graphic enhancements.
- r1q2 network protocol.

Just got it running on my virtual Miggy.

Video 1

Video 2

Hopefully it will be a 2013 release (I'm a little bit busy at the moment though)".

(Quake 2 running on a virtual Amiga setup)
If you'd like to follow the development of Quake 2 AGA, point your browser over to http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=67125

Lemon Amiga's Top 10 Amiga Games You've Never Heard About Pt 2/3

Back on the 18th, I took a look at Part 1 of Lemon Amiga's Games You've Never Even Heard of YouTube video, and urged you to take a look. Why? Well, there were some real rarities amongst the collection of titles they'd covered, and it was highly likely that the video would direct you towards a number of decent looking titles you'd never played back in the day.

In today's post I'm pleased to announce that part two is now up and ready for your viewing pleasure. In this latest video the Lemon Amiga team cover mouse-driven adventures and puzzle games.

Running at just over an hour in length there's a lot covered, and many games do possibly receive some rather too in-depth coverage. That said, it's already helped me to add three more titles to my "must track down" download list, and one I urge you to have a look at just because it looks so impressive. The titles in question are;

At 16mins 34secs - TeenAgent by Dynamix/Metropolis (1991)
A nice Lucasarts style point and click adventure. If you're after something to get stuck into and get the old brain matter going, this should be right up your street. According to a review on the Lemon Amiga web site, the game can be completed in around three hours. So, if you want something to while away a wet afternoon then this would be perfect.

At 29mins 05secs - Wet: The Sexy Empire, New Gen, (1998)
A very polished looking, German language only point and click. I've no idea what's actually going on in it, but this has some really high production values. It's really only worth a quick look for non German speakers/readers, and I'd recommend you take a look at the clips on YouTube rather than going to the trouble of installing it.

At 36mins 06secs - Boppin', Accursed Toys (1992)
There's not much I can say about this apart from that it's a nice looking puzzler, and one I'm looking forward to firing up on the Amiga when I get a spare half hour.

At 41mins 03secs - Bubble Heroes, Arcadia Developments (2000)
I remember reading about this back in the day, but until I saw this I'd never seen it in action. It looks really nice, and reminds me a lot of something you'd find on the Neo Geo. Sure, it's a Puzzle Bobble rip-off, but it looks like it's been done really well, and it's a game well worth adding to the collection.

Check out part two by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su2KJ4weetY, or by clicking on the video below.


When part three becomes available I'll let you know in a subsequent blog post.

And with that, all that remains is for me to wish you a very merry Christmas!

Amiten's Amiga Homebrew Site Now Online

It's always nice when a new Amiga web site comes online, and in today's post I bring you news that English Amiga Board user Amiten, has set up a site to document the development progress for a number of titles he's currently working on.

Amiten is someone who clearly likes to keep himself busy, as at present he has no less than four Amiga games in development! I'm sure he'd make more progress if he stuck to one title, but perhaps working on multiple projects keeps him enthused.

Currently the site documents the development progress of the following games:

- Amivania (Castlevania clone)
- Fish (Looks similar to a game and watch title)
- Spacer Remake (side scrolling shoot-em-up)
- X Wars (side scrolling platform shooter)

Out of all the titles, it's Amivania that I'm most looking forward to, and it's the one game I wish Amiten would spend more development time on.


(One of the many work in progress videos)
Amiten's site is well worth checking out. There's some extremely interesting material on there already, and I'm sure more will be added over the coming weeks and months.

You can find the site at: http://www.amisoft.freeiz.com/

Nuxelia's Programmer Reveals All

Regular visitors may recall that towards the latter part of November I covered the unreleased Amiga platfomer, Nuxelia, in one of my blog posts.

With the game generating a fair amount of discussion over on the English Amiga Board, forumite vitux, attempted to track down members of the development team in an effort to discover more about this project.

Well, after a combination of investigative work and waiting for answers, one of the programmers, Erik Gustavsson, signed up to the EAB and yesterday (19th December) gave an in-depth lowdown of the game, which you can find here.

It's a fascinating insight into the development of this title, and exciting to read of the special effects the team managed to cram into later parts of the game. If you found the demo impressive it's likely the full game would have blown your socks off.

If you've yet to try the Nuxelia demo, you can see it running below.


(Nuxelia demo)
My thanks go to Erik for taking the time to tell the Nuxelia story, and to vitux, for tracking down Erik in the first place.

Another Amiga mystery put to bed.

Amiganitzu Released and Ready for Download!

I've been charting the development progress of Amiganitzu on this very blog for many weeks now, and I'll admit to enjoying the various video updates EAB forumite CarasGhant has been posting to YouTube on a semi-regular basis.

Well, you'll be pleased to learn that the waiting is over and with Amiganitzu now reaching version 1.0, a full release has been made available for download - just in time for Christmas!

The release notes are as follows;

"An Amiga clone of Paganitzu (shareware version) for the Amiga, plus 10 original levels. Should run on all 68k Amigas, Kickstart 2.0+ recommended.

If you encounter problems try increasing the stack size, default is 50000. If you are running this on WinUAE don't set the CPU speed to 'fastest possible', set it to A500/A1200 exact".

Below is a short clip showing version 1.0 up and running;



The full game can be downloaded from the Amiganitzu web site or from the Aminet.

Many thanks to AmigaPD for the heads-up on this release.

Lemon Amiga's Top 10 Amiga Games You've Never Even Heard About!

Here's something a little different for today's blog post.

Rather than point you in the direction of a new game download or give you a heads-up on a forthcoming release, I'd like to highlight a YouTube video recently uploaded by the Lemon Amiga team.

The video in question is part one of a three part series, which aims to highlight some classic Amiga games you've never actually played.

I thought I was a pretty clued-up Amiga gamer, but there are titles here that I didn't know existed until I watched this.

If you want some new (well, new to you) games to play on your trusty Amiga over the Christmas period then this really is essential viewing.

Here's the background info accompanying the YouTube clip;

"[Here are the] Top 10 Amiga Games You've Never Even Heard About!

Yes, you read it right. Presented here is a showcase of some of the rarest, most unique and hard to find classic games for the Amiga computer. This Special features 65 (!!) Amiga games in total, and is presented in three 1 hour+ videos. The 'Top 10' are broken down into 10 genre categories, and this first video features the following 5 categories:

10. Platformers
9. Shoot Em Ups
8. Beat Em Ups
7. Run and Gun Platformers
6. 3D Adventures

That's 24 games, with at least 4 games featured in each catagory; so I'm sure you'll be able to find a game you've never even heard of among that lot!

For fans, see this also as a 'Fan test'. A genuine Amiga-head will probably know half of these rare titles. An enthusiast will know at least three or four, while the casual fan probably wont have seen any of these... Leave your comments below.

Part 2 will appear soon, and will feature:

5. Point 'N Click Adventures
4. Puzzle Games.

Then sometime before the New Year, Part 3 will feature:

3. 3D Shooters
2. Racing Games
1. Empire Builders

Thanks very much again for watching these...!

Happy Christmas".

The video runs for 1 hour and 15 minutes and is well worth your time. When parts two and three surface I'll let you know via the blog.

Now, enjoy...

Remainder Software's Development Update

You may recall that back in late November I gave a heads-up on a new game currently in development by Downfall developers Remainder Software.

Well, it looks like everyday life has got in the way a little, as this short update, originally posted to the Remainder Software Facebook page reveals;

"Hello everybody!

I thought you'd appreciate a quick update.

Work on our new title has been slow due to real life and illness but things have progressed recently. I've managed to add a control and jumping system and some very basic collision detection with platforms (there's a clue for you).

There's a hell of a lot more groundwork to be done before I have something presentable but things are happening. I will also give you more info when that happens too :)"

(Early concept artwork)
Although development has slowed somewhat, it's nice to see that the game is still being worked on, and if it's anywhere near the quality of their previous title, Downfall, you can be sure it'll be well worth the wait.

I'll have more news on this as soon as it surfaces.

Descent DXX-Rebirth AGA (v0.57.3)

The DXX-Rebirth project is dedicated to two First-Person Shooters from the nineties: Descent & Descent 2

DXX-Rebirth is a Source Port of the Descent and Descent 2 Engines for Windows, Mac OS, Linux (most *NIX systems), offering OpenGL graphics and effects, advanced Multiplayer, many improvements and new features.

Now, thanks to the god-like coding efforts of NovaCoder, it looks like these games may be on their way to an AGA machine near you.

Here's the man himself with a few more details;

"I couldn't get very far with Hyperion's Descent port so I decided to just do my own.

So after 3 attempts to port this (and 2 months work!), here's the first video -> Descent DXX-Rebirth "

Before you get too excited, NovaCoder points out that at the moment he's currently busy working on NetSurf AGA, so he won't be able to give this port much time at present.

For further information on the DXX Rebirth Project, point your web browser over to http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/.

If you'd like to follow the progress of the Amiga version(s), I'd recommend following this thread over on the English Amiga Board.

I'll post further news on this as and when it surfaces.

The Hall of Light - The First Ten Years (2002-2012)

While "Spec-chums" have the long-running World of Spectrum to cater for all their Speccy based needs, and C64 owners look to Lemon64 for their fix, those with an Amiga haven't been quite as well catered for over the years.

This situation began to change 10 years today, when a number of Amiga fans came together to launch what is now known as The Hall of Light - one of, if not THE, largest Amiga game reference archives on the internet.

Here's CodyJarrett to explain how the project got off the ground in the first place;

"Surprising as it may seem, [today] sees the tenth anniversary of the Hall of Light's public launch. The website went live on Saturday 14th December 2002 although work had been happening behind the scenes and offline earlier that year and before.

The HOL evolved from an earlier idea for a game database which was called the EAB's Amiga Game Database (AGD). There was already a website called the Amiga Games Database but it seems that RCK just picked a descriptive working title.

I had been working on a separate offline list of Amiga games which was prompted by Amiga Power's "Absolute Power" guide (http://amr.abime.net/issue_24 and http://amr.abime.net/issue_27). Amiga Power's guide attempted to list every Amiga game ever and it later became a book called, you've guessed it, The Official Guide to Every Amiga Game Ever (although it did miss out quite a lot of games!)"

CodyJarrett continues...

"My Amiga list aimed to provide screenshots for all the games listed in Amiga Power's book and I created lots of the so-called Double Barrel Screenshots (DBS) with a titlescreen on the left and an in-game screen on the right. It also featured some Amiga Power mini-reviews. The list turned into a set of HTML pages which was viewed locally or from a CD but was only ever a personal project.

It was called Those Were the Days and looked horrible. I also did screenshots for non-Amiga platforms.

Shield your eyes!"

To read the complete story charting the early days of The Hall of Light, including a selection of images from a decade ago, point your web browser towards the following thread over on the English Amiga Board: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=855102#post855102

The above article provides a fascinating insight into just how far the project has come in just 10 years, and is well worth 5 minutes of your time.

Amiga Version of Sqrxz 2 Now Available for Download

The waiting is over, and for us game-starved Amiga owners Christmas has come early!

Sqrxz 2, the sequel to the original hair-pulling, joystick hurling platformer is now available to download from the Sqrxz web site. In fact, the Sqrxz team have been so kind to us Amigans that they've gone to the trouble to release versions for several classic Amiga platforms/set-ups: CDTV CD32, Floppy Disk and HD Install.

Here's the Retroguru press release;

"We divided 50 floppy disks of Sqrxz 2 amongst the visitors and 17 floppy disks of Sqrxz 1, which makes a total of 67 floppy disks.

Our Retroguru table with an Amiga 500 (provided by Mark!) allowed everyone to test the game live. Most people failed within the first three screens, but this was to be expected. Interestingly a very young girl managed to play past the half of the first level, which was hardly achieved by any other player.

Next possibility to catch a real floppy disk with the game is tUM 2012.

Feedback and donations are welcome anytime :)

Please kindly understand that it’s not possible for us to send out the game on floppy disk via snail mail. It just eats too much money and time."

To download the game, point your web browser over to:
http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz2-about/sqrxz2-download/

Amiganitzu - Reaches Version 9.5

I've covered the progress of Amiganitzu a number of times here on this blog over the past few months, and it now looks like development is almost complete.

Now up to version 9.5, the game has come on leaps and bounds since the early YouTube clips were posted up. This latest release even adds a choice of copper bar backgrounds, which can be turned off if you find them a bit too much.

English Amiga Board member, Spud, commented that the game was "Copperbar-crazy", with author, CarasGhant responding with "Yeah I went a bit overboard, hence the off option".


(Amiganitzu version 9.5)
All being well, the full game should see a release before Christmas. Watch this space, as I'll have a review just as soon as I get my hands on it.

Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death

Due to be unveiled tomorrow, (8th Dec) at the 4th Retro Market in Vienna, is the Amiga 500 port of retro-styled platformer "Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death".

Those who played part one will know just how unforgiving, but at the same time, playable the first title was. Part two will no doubt continue the hair-pulling tradition, so brace yourself for one steep learning curve/cliff!

The press release from http://retroboerse.de/ (which I've amended slightly so the English translation reads better) is as follows;

"The Retro Market Vienna presents to you, in cooperation with game developer Retro Guru, [the premiere of] a brand new classic Amiga game.

Sqrxz 2 - Two seconds until death [will be demonstrated live] on an Amiga 500 and [will made be available] in limited quantity [...] as free disk version to visitors. [...] Virtual disk images for all [will] follow immediately after the event".

(Sqrxz 2 Trailer - Note, this is not the Amiga version)
I'll be posting a review of the game just as soon as I get my hands on it. In the meantime, you can find more information about "Sqrxz 2 - Two Seconds Until Death" by pointing your web browser at: http://retroboerse.de/wien.htm (German language)

Sqrxz 1 - Amiga OCS v1.2 is out!

There's two bits of exciting news to bring you in today's post. The first is that a gamepad supported version of rock-hard platformer, Sqrxz, has now been released, and is available to download from the sqrxz web site.

The second snippet is that all being well, Sqrxz 2 should finally land on the Amiga next week!

Not a bad early Christmas present, eh?


Here's Retroguru;

"We are happy to announce Sqrxz Amiga OCS v1.2 – please go ahead and find it in our download section!

As many people mentioned the wish to play with a gamepad, Frank Wille spend a lot of efforts to make this possible. Furthermore we now offer a CDTV/CD32 image of the game.

Look forward for the release of Sqrxz 2 Amiga OCS v1.0 next week!"

For more information and to download version 1.2, point your web browser over to: http://www.sqrxz.de

My thanks go to the Commodore is Awesome team for the heads-up on this.

Classic Christmas Game and Demos

With the big day getting ever closer I thought I'd use today's post to have a look at some of the Christmas themed games and demos the Amiga has played host to over the years.

I've no doubt that I've missed a number of titles out, so please get in touch if you know of any. If I get a good enough response I may look into producing a follow-up article.

Don't be shy, drop me a message!


ATR: All Terrain Racing Christmas Edition

What better way to start today's article than the special coverdisk demo of ATR: All Terrain Racing, which was released on both Amiga Action #67 Disk 1 and Amiga Format #67 Disk 2


(I couldn't find YouTube footage of the Xmas version)
Holiday Lemmings 1993

This was first released in 1991 as gift to fans who attended events, with an additional 4-level demo being released in 1992. Finally, this saw a full commercial release in 1993.

According to the Hall of Light entry, the box reads CHRISTMAS LEMMINGS, whereas the in-game screen reads HOLIDAY LEMMINGS 1993.

Going back to the mention the demo given away to fans, I remember picking my copy up from the Psygnosis stand at the first ever Future Entertainment Show, which was held at the soon to be demolished Earl's Court.

I also remember that if you were mad enough you could have your face and hair painted to make you look like a Lemming. Those who were dafter still you could slip on a velcro costume, jump on a trampoline and hurl themselves at a sticky wall. Madness!


(Holiday Lemmings 1993)
Holiday Lemmings 1994

If, by Christmas 1994 you'd still not had your fill of all things Lemmings, then you were probably one of those who bought (or copied!) Holiday Lemmings 94.

This version is really more of the same. Lots more levels, and it also includes all 32 levels from "Holiday Lemmings 93".


(Holiday Lemmings 1994) Robocod

Released in time for the Christmas 1991 shopping season, Robocod was Vectordean's follow-up to extremely polished and often overlooked James Pond.

Swapping water for a full bionic suit, Pond could now leave his underwater home and explore the world outside without fear of gasping for air.

Given a very respectable 87% in the November 1991 issue of Amiga Power, with the reviewer declaring "One of the best games we've ever seen", it came as no surprise to see this subsequently being ported to almost ever computer and console platform known to man.

It's still a fun game today, but the lack of save option means it's pretty much impossible to complete unless you have a massive amount of time to put aside or can leave your Amiga on indefinitely.

If you do enjoy the Amiga version you may want to track down the Playstation conversion, as this features regular save points and CD music. Personally, I prefer the music on the Amiga version, but that's just me.


I'd recommend tracking down any of the above titles and playing them on your Amiga. They may be old, but they're still lots of fun, and with Christmas just around the corner, surely your trust Miggy deserves a bit of seasonal cheer, too.

My thanks go to the team behind the excellent Amiga Hall of Light for providing numerous nuggets of info featured in today's post, and to Lemon Amiga for the thumbnail image.

New Game in Development - Amiga X-Wars

Over the weekend I've been reading about another new Amiga title that's currently in the works.

This one goes by the name X-Wars, and is based on the Star Wars universe.

Here's Amiten, the developer;

"Infiltrate a Jedi Empire. Land to steal the plans of The Empire against the rebellious troops".

Reading through Amiten's posts on the English Amiga board it looks as if the game will feature two distinct styles of gameplay.

The first part is a side scrolling, platform based shooter, which sees your character infiltrating a base manned by The Empire. Once this mission is complete you leave the planet, and it's here a space battle/shoot-em-up takes place.

Amiten continues;

"The idea is to have an addictive game with Star Wars characters, of which I am a fan, and of course, for our incredible Amigas!"

I wouldn't expect development on this title to rocket along, as Amiten confirms that it's only him working on it. Not only that, but he also has three other games currently in development!

Technical info:

- The game runs in lowres, EHB, 64 colour mode
- It's hoped that the game will run on any 68000 based Amiga with 1 meg chip RAM
- The game will most likely come on 3 or 4 disks

Amiten recommends that you run the game on a higher specification Amiga setup for a better experience.

"[A] 68060 will be [the] dream but not necessary. I think [a] 68030 will be fine! A harddisk [would be] much better [and] fastRam for music and SFX will be GREAT!

At the end [I will] develop [an] optimised WinUae Version with more bonus music or graphics animation, getting the high end possibilities [provided by] emulators, to experience a big Star Wars type game."

These all sound like pretty ambitious plans, but the game is already beginning to take shape. Take a look at the YouTube clip below, to see the game in its current state.


I'll bring you more news as and when I get it. In the meantime, you can follow a thread dedicated to the development of this game over on the English Amiga Board.

Get Festive With Your Amiga & Cornelius Saves Christmas

I hope you don't mind, but it's another blast from the not-so-distant past for today's blog post. Now, before you start grumbling, I'll explain.

First, it's the start of December, and I think a bit of festive fun with your trusty Amiga wouldn't go amiss, and second, here's a lovely little game that I feel hasn't received the attention it really deserves.

Going under the odd name "Cornelius Saves Christmas", this is a platform game created in Backbone, which was originally released for the First Annual Festival Amiga Game Making Competition, back in 2009.

Cornelius is a child, young enough to still be excited about Christmas and not blame his parents for giving him such a goofy name.

One day, on his way home from school, he overheard the owner of his town’s only big store saying that he wouldn’t be selling any Christmas trees or toys this Christmas.

Now, although Cornelius couldn’t understand everything the old man said, he did pick up that that an evil wizard named A. C. Countant, had forced the store manager to make the sorry decision.

Wasting no time, Cornelius decided to fight against the enchanted toys that were under the spell of the wizard and free all the trapped Christmas trees.

Cornelius Saves Christmas is similar to many platform games we used to play on the Amiga back in the day. Your task is to help Cornelius save Christmas by guiding him through 30 levels.

There are three worlds of 10 levels each, with different graphics for each world. Simply use the joystick to move him around and press fire to shoot at the enchanted toys. To complete a level and move on to the next stage, you'll need to destroy all the toys and make your way to the Christmas tree. You have 7 lives to complete the game.

As with most Backbone created titles the game has to be run from hard drive, and an Amiga 1200 with a bit of FastRam is recommended as the minimum spec, although it will work on less powerful machines.

Cornelius Saves Christmas is a fun and polished looking platform game, and shows what can be done using Backbone if the right person is behind the keyboard. If you want to see the game in action before you decide to download it, you can find a longplay of it below.


Finally, if the above has whet your appetite, you can download Cornelius Saves Christmas from the following location:

http://www.atropos-studios.com/External/CSC.lha

Have fun!