tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54171976287720671902024-02-21T04:45:16.273+00:00Amiga GamerRob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-73205075462132507692016-02-10T08:36:00.000+00:002016-02-10T08:36:54.830+00:00Finally, a Hands-on With Karateka!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MRIU-tlEG1lJ7yj1EH9nW61QsUtz8quZvRr_exoGx9SKpBe2OXLv3vV0cMwCU6x5-lRlmdOABiN7m0nQ3cI29ty74fHk_OgDSg-ExM0tN5Gv8ONy_ZsvcKOdgNrKWaiyqYLW-n9zDRxk/s1600/Karateka_Coverart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MRIU-tlEG1lJ7yj1EH9nW61QsUtz8quZvRr_exoGx9SKpBe2OXLv3vV0cMwCU6x5-lRlmdOABiN7m0nQ3cI29ty74fHk_OgDSg-ExM0tN5Gv8ONy_ZsvcKOdgNrKWaiyqYLW-n9zDRxk/s200/Karateka_Coverart.png" width="140" /></a>It was back on the 2nd of February that English Amiga Board member meynaf, announced that he'd managed to port the Atari ST version of Jordan Mechner's martial arts game, Karateka, over to the Amiga.<br />
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I'd been meaning to post details regarding this release for over a week now, but I wanted to get the game installed and tested on my Amiga before I did so. Finally, I've had the chance!<br />
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For those not familiar with the game, the objective is a simple one - enter the castle, fight past the guards using your martial arts skills, and rescue the princess. To do this you must walk from left to right, battling adversaries and obstacles, as you make your way to the final battle - a one-on-one with Akuma, the kidnapper of the princess.<br />
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According to the Karateka entry on Wikipedia;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Karateka was developed by Jordan Mechner while he was a student at Yale University as a side project between his classes. In learning to program on the Apple II, he had written a clone of Asteroids and a modified version he titled Deathbounce. He submitted Deathbounce to Brøderbund, which they declined. They provided Mechner with a copy of Choplifter, then one of the top selling games from Broderbund. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Mechner recognized from this game that he could pursue original game concepts instead of having to remake existing titles.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Using some of the graphic features that Choplifter provided, Mechner focused on a karate-themed game as a result of numerous factors which included his ongoing studies as a film student, his involvement in several film clubs at Yale, and having recently taken lessons in karate at the time. He also drew inspiration from Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock print art, and the cinematic works of Akira Kurosawa, early Disney animated films, and silent pictures; he claimed that such works "convey such powerful emotion and atmosphere without a word being spoken".</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>One of his goals was to combine cinematic techniques with game elements to create, at that time, a novel experience; from this, Mechner programmed some of the screen wipes used in Seven Samurai as game elements. In reflecting on the game, Mechner stated that he did not consider the game as a "fighting game", but instead that of "a story-based game where the gameplay mechanic is fighting" </i></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyZN6fLStf9hlv9lr6q5dIB4ZrNprAVt2FxLT4uKoQ8mNrDhlVVz8H4itwFjDlz_7GKT8sYO_rlJsp0TzH75a8jlv51tGTDyM999iq8-ko_q5VhNOpwYsthqeU7RUW03zIgbjOTN1p3Y5/s1600/File_001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyZN6fLStf9hlv9lr6q5dIB4ZrNprAVt2FxLT4uKoQ8mNrDhlVVz8H4itwFjDlz_7GKT8sYO_rlJsp0TzH75a8jlv51tGTDyM999iq8-ko_q5VhNOpwYsthqeU7RUW03zIgbjOTN1p3Y5/s200/File_001.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amiga screenshot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The game certainly looks like an early Disney-style animation, and even today, the graphics look really stylish. The limited number of colours used work well, and the characters are extremely well animated and well drawn.<br />
<br />
I tested this out on my Amiga 1200 (68030 @50mhz), and it ran beautifully. I notice the docs state that this game may run on a 68000, but it will likely need to be an accelerated system to run properly.<br />
<br />
The game can be played with either joystick or keys. I opted for the joystick option, and found the controls to be extremely responsive. Using a combination of the fire button and holding different directions a number of moves can be performed. I have to say that the enemy AI isn't brilliant. The majority of enemies can be defeated by you either standing still and performing the ankle kick, or tip-toeing towards them and then carrying out the move.<br />
<br />
Gameplay is also very repetitive, with guard after guard lining themselves up for battle. These scraps are broken-up with short cut-scenes, but it's not enough to make the game particularly exciting. I can see that back in the day this game, with the sheer quality of animation, would have been groundbreaking. Today, I struggled playing for more than a couple of times, and ended up putting something else on.<br />
<br />
That said, this is a real piece of gaming history, and if you've not played it, you really should give it a go. Meynef has done a superb job of converting this over to the Amiga platform, and he should be congratulated for his amazing efforts.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiSAaYzenApFGLZ2CMh_PEpzAFSSRsyiatNEq_tkRfkfCrTMxLY9tq30n6Iyr07_HZMTZ0Pf5cf_1Lo5j4_V1SDCGzhJa62gRihgIM5F90S8o5MrenaH0ofaKyditUkQ5F96gsIU7BDzV/s1600/File_000.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiSAaYzenApFGLZ2CMh_PEpzAFSSRsyiatNEq_tkRfkfCrTMxLY9tq30n6Iyr07_HZMTZ0Pf5cf_1Lo5j4_V1SDCGzhJa62gRihgIM5F90S8o5MrenaH0ofaKyditUkQ5F96gsIU7BDzV/s200/File_000.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amiga screenshot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you'd like to follow the Karateka ST to Amiga development thread then follow <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81442">this link</a>, which will take you to the relevant location on the English Amiga Board.<br />
<br />
Those of you keen to get this up and running on your Amiga can download the executable and documentation <a href="http://meynaf.free.fr/pr/karateka.lzx">here</a>. This runs nicely from hard drive. You can also download a booting ADF <a href="http://eab.abime.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=47267&d=1454438312">here</a>.<br />
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Have fun!Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-70621687062803544412016-02-09T08:18:00.001+00:002016-02-09T08:18:11.856+00:00Amigaville - Issue 4 Out Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been many a year since you've been able to pick up an Amiga magazine off the shelf of your local newsagent. I still have fond memories of cycling down to our local to pick up the latest copies of Amiga Power, CU Amiga, Amiga Format and Amiga Shopper back in the day <i>(I didn't buy this many magazines every month, I might add!)</i>.<br />
<br />
While the team at <a href="http://www.amigafuture.de/viewtopic.php?t=38889">Amiga Future</a> magazine (now celebrating a whopping 18 years!) do a fantastic job with their magazine, there's definitely room for another publication covering the scene.<br />
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Currently up to issue 4 is <a href="http://www.amigaville.com/">Amigaville</a>, a PDF only Amiga magazine covering both gaming and the more serious side of our favourite machine.<br />
<br />
Now, as this is a gaming blog I'll skip past the serious stuff and move straight over to the gaming coverage, which in this issue features reviews of:<br />
<ul>
<li>Pacmania</li>
<li>Prince of Persia</li>
<li>Heroquest</li>
<li>Deluxe Galaga</li>
<li>Castlevania</li>
</ul>
<div>
The above spans eight colourful pages, featuring a selection of screenshots, detailed reviews, and the author's own scores at the end, which, I have to say, are pretty harsh. Prince of Persia gets a lowly 62%, and the legendary Deluxe Galaga limps away with a mere 75%, for example.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving on, and the main game-related feature article "From Doom to Gloom: The World of First Person Shooters on the Commodore Amiga", covers pretty much what you'd expect from the title.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Spanning three full pages, this section takes a brief look at some of the Amiga's best known first person shooters. Documented in release order, you can see how the genre evolved on the Amiga over the course of time.<br />
<br />
The whole issue spans a very respectable 36 pages, and this is even more impressive when you consider that, aside from the excellent front cover (produced by GreyFox), the entire magazine has been put together by one person, Brian Hedley.</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
Issue four costs a mere £2 to download, while issues 1 to 3 are free. You may want to <a href="http://www.amigaville.com/category/downloads/">check those out </a>before diving in and parting with what would cost you about half a pint of beer.<br />
<br />
Pop over to the <a href="http://www.amigaville.com/">Amigaville</a> web site for more information, and if you like what Brian's doing, please leave him some feedback. Brian's currently on the look-out for people to contribute articles to future issues. If you'd like to assist then get in touch with him.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzNJ5tKjKok0ldnybXMumD5HnmW5PgSNfiHrB3KfB2XpJ17bAO5WWIPQYE0bFS5ct_ySsnvko7T_NVVNBV3anBX16ekdGzZ8ybyP3OZvafmXXaZMsJVrEBKHNbasDDC6J4ULOp9_qyAmh/s1600/Magazine_Cover_2_page_spread_Preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzNJ5tKjKok0ldnybXMumD5HnmW5PgSNfiHrB3KfB2XpJ17bAO5WWIPQYE0bFS5ct_ySsnvko7T_NVVNBV3anBX16ekdGzZ8ybyP3OZvafmXXaZMsJVrEBKHNbasDDC6J4ULOp9_qyAmh/s400/Magazine_Cover_2_page_spread_Preview.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-70220436125999293602016-02-06T12:27:00.000+00:002016-02-06T12:27:14.199+00:00Knightlore Ported to the Amiga<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnoL0kctyIRq75qz0FItG_8TAbZmA12AzJoN9JfWmnHRoO8vXps0kIkrnJjabZ9r_d1CNpfkU3RIKmaMnngyWRDntVzG81BkYuwDc3__QTmXW3JwiM4WbkbzfCh0jfuFeHjzYL01gwN2h/s1600/Knight_Lore_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnoL0kctyIRq75qz0FItG_8TAbZmA12AzJoN9JfWmnHRoO8vXps0kIkrnJjabZ9r_d1CNpfkU3RIKmaMnngyWRDntVzG81BkYuwDc3__QTmXW3JwiM4WbkbzfCh0jfuFeHjzYL01gwN2h/s200/Knight_Lore_cover.jpg" width="140" /></a>Posting over on the English Amiga Board a few days ago, user SyX announced that he'd stumbled upon a blog detailing the porting of Ultimate's Spectrum classic "Knightlore" over to the Amiga. Not only that, but the work was now complete and the game was available for download.<br />
<br />
Here's Syx;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I have discovered a nice blog about reverse engineering and the blogger, tcdev has made a port of ZX Spectrum Knightlore to Amiga, the first beta is available there.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
The guy is having a few problems with his amiga port and i have redirected him to our forum.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
The blog is <a href="http://retroports.blogspot.com/">http://retroports.blogspot.com</a>, and the entries about the amiga version are the two last."</i></blockquote>
The author has revealed this his Amiga port is <i>"done and dusted"</i>, and he's now working on converting the game to the Neo Geo...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"It's been a whirlwind exercise the last few days, and it's entirely possible (even probable) that my Amiga code is absolute rubbish. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It runs on AmigaOS 3.1 and - presumably - higher. There are still a few kinks but my goal wasn't - at least at this point - to have a polished commercial-grade product."</i></blockquote>
I've installed the current version of the game on my A1200 tower (030 @ 50mhz) and the speed was excellent. Knightlore for the Amiga is still very much in a work in progress state, however. There's no sound, the graphics are black and white, there's no joystick option, and there are some bugs. On only my first go I picked up the boot item, then dropped it, with the intention of picking it up during a jump, only to find that it vanished. I've also had Sabreman dropping through the floor and re-appearing at the top of the screen!<br />
<br />
It looks like the developer will be revisiting the Amiga conversion with the aim of tidying it up, as a recent post to the EAB explains;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I am (now) interested in tweaking the Amiga port to get it to a point where it can be released to the general public as a shrink-wrapped playable game, rather than a proof-of-concept which is how I would describe it now.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I would also welcome anyone else having a go at enhancing the graphics, and would happily advise/assist in that process. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In the mean-time I'll post a few technical questions on this board in the appropriate forums and hopefully get the assistance I need."</i></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_VGgdx04OUvtbZ_hxDCe9KcCHyY9mO_eOgdJ5MkTc10a6WRN2LGDuTiJ5qn2T2fqnkWyLdYoCsR3QQUjbC5b-Im-FQwQSMngi_gTCVlZJiEZ4xADEpRiZ6G06d2ivvBsF34kvW9DzKh2/s1600/File_000.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_VGgdx04OUvtbZ_hxDCe9KcCHyY9mO_eOgdJ5MkTc10a6WRN2LGDuTiJ5qn2T2fqnkWyLdYoCsR3QQUjbC5b-Im-FQwQSMngi_gTCVlZJiEZ4xADEpRiZ6G06d2ivvBsF34kvW9DzKh2/s320/File_000.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knightlore Amiga version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The full blog post announcing the release and containing the download link can be found <a href="http://retroports.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/amiga-done-and-dusted.html">here</a>, while the main blog detailing more of the Spectrum to Amiga port and other conversions can be found <a href="http://retroports.blogspot.co.uk/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
As Microsoft now own the Ultimate Play The Game back catalogue I'd advise you to download the game as soon as you can. The games are "Distribution Denied" on the World of Spectrum, and it's possible Microsoft will request that this is removed.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-64386362866129814512016-02-02T09:48:00.000+00:002016-02-02T09:48:08.187+00:00Hewson to Start Making Games AgainAs one of the backers for the "<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robhwson/hints-and-tips-for-videogame-pioneers">Hints and Tips for Videogame Pioneers</a>" kickstarter, I look forward to the regular email updates sent out by Andrew and Rob Hewson. It's nice to be kept in the loop with regards to the progress of their book, and quite often the message will contain one or two other nuggets of information I'll find interesting.<br />
<br />
The update that landed in my mailbox yesterday afternoon was a little different, however...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2X0vjbr0B01OE9S_IQxyz1k1d1gnSyt8yeU_EVtf4owldY_NdchFJK_rmP40tvt25UVxCPIH7pcTF1gpbEoUwLVzdABf4bjseP3agV9jQ5PB1lNw9FD2B2Dt12mY8UxavSH9jcHrzZcZ/s1600/92358-future-basketball-amiga-screenshot-hewson-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2X0vjbr0B01OE9S_IQxyz1k1d1gnSyt8yeU_EVtf4owldY_NdchFJK_rmP40tvt25UVxCPIH7pcTF1gpbEoUwLVzdABf4bjseP3agV9jQ5PB1lNw9FD2B2Dt12mY8UxavSH9jcHrzZcZ/s200/92358-future-basketball-amiga-screenshot-hewson-logo.png" width="200" /></a><i>"Hello, </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>We are delighted to announce that Hewson Consultants Ltd is going to be developing and publishing games again:
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-games-fund-winners-announced">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-games-fund-winners-announced </a></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>First and foremost we want to ensure all Kickstarter backers that this will have a positive impact on the delivery of the book, which is our number one priority. Rob is now working full time at Hewson having officially joined the company as CEO & Creative Director after leaving his position as Game Director at TT Fusion where he was working on LEGO games. As such he can now dedicate much more time to the book as we continue to work towards an Easter launch. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Andrew will continue as Chairman and Finance Director for Hewson Consultants and we are also joined by John Ogden as Technical Director. John has more than 15 years of games industry experience building bespoke game engines from the ground up. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>We wanted to share this news with you as soon as possible and we will have more information on the games we will be making and publishing in due course. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Again our first priority is to launch the book, which we can now dedicate more time to, and we will have more updates very soon. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Best Regards, </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Andrew & Rob"</i></blockquote>
According to the excellent Lemon Amiga web site, Hewson released an impressive <a href="http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/list.php?list_publisher=Hewson">19 titles</a> for the Amiga, before shutting down and then reforming under the name 21st Century Entertainment where they released <a href="http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/list.php?list_title=&list_box=&list_review=&list_document=&list_advert=&list_cheat=&list_video=&list_publisher=21st+Century+Entertainment&list_developer=&list_people=&list_genre=&list_sub_genre=&list_hardware=&list_disks_option=equal&list_disks=&list_year_option=equal&list_year=&list_license=&list_language=&list_relationship=&list_adult=&list_music=&list_score_option=more&list_score=&list_score_votes=&list_screenshots_option=equal&list_screenshots=&list_publisher_logo=&list_developer_logo=&list_min_players=&list_max_players=&list_simultaneous_play=&list_hol=&list_endings=&list_whdload=&list_exotica=&list_memo=&list_sps=&list_wikipedia=&list_youtube=&list_uvl=&list_amr=&list_atari=&list_c64=&list_sega=&list_dos=&list_sega8bit=&list_arcade=&list_spectrum=&list_amstrad=&list_mobile=&list_plus4=&list_msx=&submit.x=31&submit.y=13">a further 14</a>.<br />
<br />
I'd say it was unlikely that the new Hewson Consultants would release anything on the Amiga, but they do seem to be very supportive of the retrogaming community. Perhaps a small run of re-releases could be on the cards, though. We'll have to wait and see.<br />
<br />
I'll report back on further developments regarding this story as and when they surface.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-3967714588505794372016-01-16T17:49:00.000+00:002016-01-16T17:49:33.938+00:00Re-Starting the South West Amiga Group<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQ7yX7_0NzkqZL-Td-CZO7OVWnSFPIfIl3iDDKE7hl9E4u1Uzynr16XOFNOuBiyvkrpsFd9_nr4ivP_Lld26l1aRschoQLx2LP6yxggkX4m4WP1MGCJAwf0VeEELeVHcZfpd75pdXrvvs/s1600/title3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQ7yX7_0NzkqZL-Td-CZO7OVWnSFPIfIl3iDDKE7hl9E4u1Uzynr16XOFNOuBiyvkrpsFd9_nr4ivP_Lld26l1aRschoQLx2LP6yxggkX4m4WP1MGCJAwf0VeEELeVHcZfpd75pdXrvvs/s200/title3.gif" width="200" /></a><i>(I realise this post isn't related to Amiga games, but if it's a success, it could lead to Amiga users meeting up and playing games together on a semi-regular basis).</i><br />
<br />
Following the demise of Commodore back in 1994, the majority of Amiga user groups slowly dwindled in membership, and quietly passed into memory.<br />
<br />
The South West Amiga Group (SWAG), which served Amigans based around the Swindon, Bristol and Bath area was no exception. It limped along into the early 2000's before folding due to lack of interest.<br />
<br />
Seeing the continued success of the <a href="http://lincsamiga.org.uk/wordpress/">Lincs Amiga Group</a>, English Amiga Board member zerohour1974, recently kicked-off a thread to see if there was any interest in bringing SWAG back to life.<br />
<br />
At the time of posting this, four Amiga users based in the South West have expressed an interest, and a venue is being investigated.<br />
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If you think this is something you'd be keen to be part of then please respond to <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81071">THIS</a> thread over on the English Amiga Board.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-50086107597871712572016-01-09T16:58:00.000+00:002016-01-09T16:58:27.807+00:00ST to Amiga Conversion - Ranarama - Coming Soon!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCV91fHGFEK2kv3vMV9S4LkBQQi27nmyGw8k9_4WYXQp6-W2hTA94guJssRKgPdpF-UO_S6xUbxlR8nLXOb4ahnTYEwEr0i9g6X0tAsMqK2toDkPRm-tyEFMF2MMj-ab1AJuz9eA5DyPs/s1600/629248-ranarama___front_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCV91fHGFEK2kv3vMV9S4LkBQQi27nmyGw8k9_4WYXQp6-W2hTA94guJssRKgPdpF-UO_S6xUbxlR8nLXOb4ahnTYEwEr0i9g6X0tAsMqK2toDkPRm-tyEFMF2MMj-ab1AJuz9eA5DyPs/s200/629248-ranarama___front_1.jpg" width="166" /></a>Ranarama was developed by Graftgold and published by Hewson way back in 1987. Released on numerous platforms, this Gauntlet-like arcade adventure unfortunately failed to appear on the Amiga platform. Thankfully, this long-running situation may soon be rectified.<br />
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Taking a break from his ST to Amiga conversion of platformer Starquake, Galahad has been busy converting the ST version of Ranarama over to the trusty Amiga platform.<br />
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Here's a recent (6th Jan) post of his from over on the English Amiga Board;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Fear not, Starquake is not forgotten, and 'should' be ready for release at the end of this month.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
As a diversion from all things Starquake, and Christmas, and kids, and shouting, and building F*CKING Lego sets, I thought i'd take a look at Ranarama.
I say take a look, but an hour later it was ready for its first trial run......and bugger me, it was working first time.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> A few bug fixes later and a working joystick routine and the Frog is moving around the game.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
Still plenty of work to be done, but just an example of where we are right now."</i></blockquote>
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Once the initial excitement from EAB members had died down, talk then turned to the soundtrack. Could an Amiga 500 (the conversion is being coded to hopefully run on an Amiga 500) decode and play the original AY soundtrack in realtime?</div>
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Unfortunately, with the overhead involved in running the game code there simply wouldn't be enough CPU power left to play the original soundtrack. Thankfully, fellow EAB member musojon74 came to the rescue, and is now working on an Amiga version of the game music. You can check it out at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BAUo9-8mdab/">https://www.instagram.com/p/BAUo9-8mdab/</a></div>
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I'll upload further Ranarama related developments to the blog as and when they're announced. In the meantime, if you'd like to follow the chatter for yourself visit <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81011">THIS LINK</a> over on the English Amiga Board.</div>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-80695888802427492382016-01-03T15:44:00.000+00:002016-01-03T15:44:35.621+00:00The Dream of Rowan - WIP Demo Available<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yASkGmSa40tpMqEjPbLIm6yZy5R4Q5tuWd1Q29HbXAvKD_gWkGof-gG6yPIgSW5lwCgdhWbqRe3nfUGGpFl-fOEIMAOLMJvnZdWcj-jrTux70q65_cSz21gjFTm44z6oeve5D6OOzhtL/s1600/6793ff75d7d497b81fd453d781ba493d_original.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yASkGmSa40tpMqEjPbLIm6yZy5R4Q5tuWd1Q29HbXAvKD_gWkGof-gG6yPIgSW5lwCgdhWbqRe3nfUGGpFl-fOEIMAOLMJvnZdWcj-jrTux70q65_cSz21gjFTm44z6oeve5D6OOzhtL/s200/6793ff75d7d497b81fd453d781ba493d_original.png" width="200" /></a>The Amiga had countless side-scrolling platform games released for it during its commercial lifespan, and it would seem that a number of developers feel there's room for at least one more.<br />
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Currently under development by Amiten Software is "The Dream of Rowan". Coded in AMOS and AMAL (AMOS Animation Language), the project is, at present, up on Kickstarter and looking for your donations to help reach the EUR 4,000 total.<br />
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With EUR 1,741 raised at present, and only four days to go until the Kickstarter ends, the development team have released a work in progress demo version for you to download and try out.<br />
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Check out the main Dream of Rowan Kickstarter page <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1652472361/the-dream-of-rowan">HERE</a> for an overview of the project and a summary video, and find the demo download link <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1652472361/the-dream-of-rowan/posts/1441864">HERE</a>.<br />
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We do hope the Kickstarter manages to reach its target, but with only four days remaining it doesn't look promising.<br />
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Hopefully, regardless of whether the Kickstarter is a success, the game will still see a full release.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7khhzcw6SJeoHjl-GnxNCNwt_ZMygzLKBzV9p6SQNXqM8YVRloUuP57sC70VHn1wSt5CE2f_Srvpoe791nhJ7sf-KX_J-dZXz13WuSMBHKYUOFDBxt2FICFEeYXjLYg8CDFXbelE4szzi/s1600/d837f40770313dee7fbe8c269e8e5e6a_original.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7khhzcw6SJeoHjl-GnxNCNwt_ZMygzLKBzV9p6SQNXqM8YVRloUuP57sC70VHn1wSt5CE2f_Srvpoe791nhJ7sf-KX_J-dZXz13WuSMBHKYUOFDBxt2FICFEeYXjLYg8CDFXbelE4szzi/s400/d837f40770313dee7fbe8c269e8e5e6a_original.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-22238967550332206582016-01-02T15:41:00.001+00:002016-01-02T15:41:46.734+00:00A Roundup of Recent ReleasesIt's been over three months since I last updated the blog, and for that I must apologise. Once again a busy work and home life has meant that my time dedicated to the Amiga has been limited to playing a few games on my Gotek equipped A500, and rummaging through the excellent <a href="http://modarchive.org/index.php">Mod Archive</a>.<br />
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I'm hoping that in 2016 I'll be able to keep the blog updated on a more regular basis, but if that's not possible I'll post as and when I can. The blog is far from dead. It's just that at times it may go through a quiet spell or two.<br />
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So, what's been going on in the Amiga gaming world since I posted way back in September? Here's a brief whistle-stop look at some of the highs over the past three months or so.<br />
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<b><u>Elves Dreamland</u></b><br />
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Released in the run-up to Christmas 2015, Elves Dreamland is a flip-screen platformer that's been put together using the Jet Set Billy map editor.<br />
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The object of the game sounds simple - collect all 200 items to complete the game. Naturally, completing the task will be anything but simple.<br />
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With some really lovely colourful graphics, you'd struggle to spot that the Jet Set Billy editor has been used, such is the quality of the mod. Unfortunately, as the game runs the same code as Jet Set Billy, it still features one of the worst jumping mechanics known to man. You have to jump vertically, and then move left or right. It does take a bit of getting used to.<br />
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The jumping is my only niggle in what is otherwise is an excellent release.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHo5OOfwZZL27J7TRv8CMqPu-oU2H2UjpJH9vwttb_ULiC3kdLpa3oED1MEUOS-lP5X8t0_m4dTsl0yJQTuyYu4ZhafnsmTdVdXglSw2dkNoEJOH9stzhARcD0Al6t6Wwhyphenhyphen0Bsh4UTsUGg/s1600/elvesdreamland.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHo5OOfwZZL27J7TRv8CMqPu-oU2H2UjpJH9vwttb_ULiC3kdLpa3oED1MEUOS-lP5X8t0_m4dTsl0yJQTuyYu4ZhafnsmTdVdXglSw2dkNoEJOH9stzhARcD0Al6t6Wwhyphenhyphen0Bsh4UTsUGg/s400/elvesdreamland.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Try Elves Dreamland if Jet Set Willy clones are your thing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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If you'd like to try the game out for yourself you can <a href="http://nitta.sakura.ne.jp/xmas/elves-dreamland/elves-dreamland.main.html">download it here</a>, and if you'd like to see what the game looks like running, <a href="https://youtu.be/571W6Zhq8fU">check out this clip</a> over on YouTube.<br />
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Finally, if you fancy joining in the chat relating to this recent release, <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=80562">check out this thread</a> over on the English Amiga Board.<br />
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<b><u>Tales of Gorluth - Free Download</u></b><br />
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As Christmas got closer English Amiga Board moderator, and Amiga games creator Viddi announced that his Zelda-like RPG Tales of Gorluth Part 1, was now free to download.<br />
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Rated "The Best Amiga Game of 2014", the free giveaway was a nice Christmas present to the Amiga community, and at the same time a great way to drum up interest and pre-orders for Tales of Gorluth Part 2 (see trailer below).<br />
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To download part 1, go to the Tales of Gorluth web site, at <a href="http://www.talesofgorluth.de/">http://www.talesofgorluth.de</a>, and while you're there consider purchasing a physical copy of part 1 and pre-ordering part 2.</div>
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For more information, please visit the <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=80796">Tales of Gorluth Free Download</a> thread over on the English Amiga Board.</div>
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<b><u>WHDLoad Now Free to Download</u></b></div>
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It's not often I cover applications on this blog (I have dedicated a post or two to AMOS many moons ago), but WHDLoad isn't just any application. </div>
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For those of you not in the know, WHDLoad gives you the ability to install classic Amiga games to hard drive (even those that weren't originally hard drive installable), apply patches/cheats, and even improve compatibility.</div>
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Previous versions have required pay for registration, but as of version 18.2, which was released on the 23rd December, the program no longer requires a keyfile. If the application finds a keyfile on your hard drive it will continue to display your name on the splash screen.</div>
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With the application now available for free many in the Amiga community were concerned that this would mean that WHDLoad would cease to be developed. Developer Bert Jahn confirmed over on the Amiga.org web site that; <i>"Development will continue. There are no plans to change anything".</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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To download the latest version of WHDLoad, head on over to the official web site at <a href="http://whdload.de/index.html">http://whdload.de/index.html</a>. If you'd like to join in the thread relating to this latest release, then <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=80807">check out this thread</a> over on the English Amiga Board.</div>
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<b><u>Shokaku 68020 Amiga 30th Anniversary Edition</u></b></div>
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Here's something you don't see every day - a new Amiga release from Japan. </div>
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Entitled "Hanafuda", this game uses graphical representations of the Japanese cards of the same name.<br />
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The game is beautifully presented, and has been made to look like something you'd stumble upon in a Japanese arcade. Check out the footage below.</div>
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I have to admit that despite watching the demo I'm still at a loss as to how the game is actually played. Perhaps you'll have more luck.</div>
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For more information and download links, point your web browser over to: <a href="http://d.hatena.ne.jp/EXCEED/20151225">http://d.hatena.ne.jp/EXCEED/20151225</a></div>
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Hopefully developer Renya Iizuka will continue to develop games for the Amiga as it's clear that they're a very talented individual.</div>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-27329620616037384832015-09-21T08:18:00.000+01:002015-09-21T08:18:23.910+01:00New Game, "Jump, Block, Jump" Released<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's the start of a brand new week, and details of a new Amiga game have just surfaced.<br />
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Here's English Amiga Board member amiman99 with the details;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Introducing [a] new game from Amiman99, made with Backbone, called "Jump Block Jump!" </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The game plays similarly to other "run and jump" games popular on mobile platforms.
It requires precise jumps and some memorisation. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The game contains 11 levels and it's playable on Amiga CD32 and other 020 Amigas. [Due] to the fact that Backbone's speed depends on CPU speed, it is recommended to play the game on stock CD32 and plain A1200.
I have play tested the game on CD32, A600 030 25MHz, and A1200 030 50MHz. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The game was primarily tested on A1200 030 50MHz and the feel of the game is perfect, so if you are for a challenge try it on faster machine.<br />I'm providing 2 versions, one ISO for CD32 and second for other Amigas"</i></blockquote>
The game can be downloaded via the following links:<br />
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CD32 ISO: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/8w0v6o3xuun6509/JUMPBLOCKJUMPR7.ISO?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/8w0v6o3xuun6509/JUMPBLOCKJUMPR7.ISO?dl=0</a><br />
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LHA: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/qeu5psbkhzpxwkc/jumpblockjumpR7.lha?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/qeu5psbkhzpxwkc/jumpblockjumpR7.lha?dl=0</a><br />
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If you'd like to join in the discussion for this game then pop over to <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=79766">this thread</a> on the English Amiga Board.<br />
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<br />Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-71090316871230088292015-09-16T08:32:00.002+01:002015-09-16T08:32:40.818+01:00Dylan The Spaceman Demo Now Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Things have been pretty quiet in the Amiga games scene over the past few weeks, but thankfully I now have something to report!<br />
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As work continues apace on the Dizzy-like arcade adventure "Dylan The Spaceman and the Smelly Green Aliens From Mars", author Chris Clarke has decided that the time is right to release a public demo.<br />
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Here's Chris with further details;<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"[The game] should work [on both the] Amiga 1200 and Amiga 600 - there will be a version for Amiga 500 but it needs different in-game music - or you need to have at least 2 meg in your trusty Amiga 500"</i></blockquote>
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To download the demo, read through the demo feedback, or provide feedback yourself, check out the following thread over on the English Amiga Board:<br />
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<a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1041301#post1041301">http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1041301#post1041301</a>Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-68930684657613831112015-08-16T10:03:00.000+01:002015-08-16T10:03:13.818+01:00Dylan The Spaceman - Demo Coming SoonIt's been a fair old while since Chris Clarke updated the Amiga PD web site blog, as most of his free time has been spent working on both "Dylan The Spaceman" and his recently released shoot-em-up "Kingdoms of Steam".<br />
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Chris tells us that work has resumed on Dylan, and that he hopes to release a playable demo in the not too distant future.<br />
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Having played a work in progress version of this game I can tell you that you're in for a real treat. The game is already shaping up to be something very special, and easily up to the standard of the Codemasters budget titles of old.<br />
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To read Chris' latest blog post <a href="http://www.amigapd.com/home/dylan-the-spaceman-update">CLICK HERE</a>.<br />
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<br />Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-2768918449820810732015-08-13T21:22:00.002+01:002015-08-13T21:22:22.173+01:00Mutant League Hockey Sees Full Release!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEx6prfM_A7h_RjJlsa_7_LCLFgFW2Opoc5kwpGW-hzEWJyUNkqNOPf3YXmi_yai9DiV80rM7bhPRwFxXZLoXuiSQMMX_xawcVsymrOUDpzcPI2OcGM6pKUBPn_Ltg-GiPHq5q5sL4eRc/s1600/0000000000000000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEx6prfM_A7h_RjJlsa_7_LCLFgFW2Opoc5kwpGW-hzEWJyUNkqNOPf3YXmi_yai9DiV80rM7bhPRwFxXZLoXuiSQMMX_xawcVsymrOUDpzcPI2OcGM6pKUBPn_Ltg-GiPHq5q5sL4eRc/s200/0000000000000000.jpg" width="200" /></a>It was way back in January of this year that the Amiga Gamer blog featured unreleased Ocean / EA sports title <a href="http://amigagamer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/unreleased-amiga-conversion-mutant.html">Mutant League Hockey</a>.<br />
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Back then the long forgotten title had been unearthed by the original programmer Adrian Brown, and he was attempting to get the game up and running into a fully playable state, ready for release.<br />
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Well, some 7 months on the game is now available to play, and it's courtesy of Galahad of legendary cracking group Scoopex.<br />
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Check out the <a href="http://www.indieretronews.com/2015/08/mutant-league-hockey-unreleased-amiga.html">Indie Retro News</a> page which has further details about the game including those all important download links.<br />
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Could this be <b><u>the</u></b> Amiga release of 2015? It's certainly looking that way!Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-74255526260845958282015-08-06T12:00:00.000+01:002015-08-06T12:00:02.298+01:00Rock-Hard Platformer Sqrxz 3 Lands on the AmigaIf you like your side-scrolling platformers to be challenging then Sqrxz 3 will certainly test your skills to the very limits. It's unforgiving in a very oldskool kind of way.
Here's the press release from one of the Sqrxz developers, phx;<br />
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<i>"Sqrxz 3 is a (extremely hard) jump and run puzzle game for any Amiga with 1 MB RAM. The ADF image can be downloaded here: <a href="http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz-3/">http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz-3/</a> (for free, of course). It is my personal favourite of the series with brilliant graphics by Simon Butler and a dozen of great soundtracks by Alexander Wiklund.<br />
<br />But we also created a physical release, with a small printed box (inside and outside), a small booklet with instructions (20 pages) and a labeled DD-disk with the game. The so-called "deluxe version" can be ordered for at least 9 Euro from us, to cover expenses. Any higher amount is allowed and takes effect as motivation for future games.<br />
<br />Note that these 9 Euro cover all expenses, i.e.: DD-disk, printed box, booklet, package materials, postage, shipping, ... everything. The game and our time is free.<br />
<br />There is just a single drawback: to keep it simple for us we will only accept orders from the EU. This has the advantage that the postage is low enough and the same for everybody and, most important, that you can pay with a SEPA bank transfer.<br />If you are interested, write me (frank at phoenix dot owl dot de) an email with the subject "Sqrxz Order". <b>Do not forget</b> to include the address, where you want to receive the package. After some time you will eventually get a reply with more details, like the account number of our team leader (Shahzad Sahaib) in Austria. When the money arrived, Shahzad will send the game to you. But you have to fold the box yourself!"</i></blockquote>
Check out the game below in a longplay compiled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeqNStN7fmFq6Xy38zRudUg">Hipoonios</a>...<br />
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For more information, and to download the game, head over to <a href="http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz-3/">http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz-3/</a>. Note, the YouTube video on the Sqrxz web site is the PC version.</center>
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Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-24641809914903732322015-08-06T08:10:00.000+01:002015-08-06T08:10:37.021+01:00Tales of Gorluth II - Pre-Order and TrailerYes, it's been yet another long break between blog posts. Unfortunately life gets in the way, meaning that recently I've had very little time to devote to playing games on my trusty Amigas. I've been keeping up-to-date on all things Amiga 30 related, but I'm now in the process of catching-up on what I've missed in the Amiga games world.<br />
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First-up, and announced towards the back-end of July, was the news that Tales of Gorluth II is not only under development, but is also available for pre-order.<br />
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The original, voted as the best Amiga game of 2014 by many, was an ambitious Zelda, Link to the Past Clone, put together using the popular Backbone development system. While the sequel is also being put together using Backbone (meaning you'll really need an 030 Amiga or higher to play at a decent speed), developer Viddi reports that his new engine is faster.<br />
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Check out the trailer below, and listen to the fantastic music that accompanies it.<br />
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Along with the development announcement a limited to 200 copies Gold edition pre-order scheme was launched. Demand for this has been so great that all pre-order slots for this tier have now gone. Thankfully, a Silver edition is now available.</center>
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For more information visit the Tales of Gorluth web site at <a href="http://www.talesofgorluth.de/">http://www.talesofgorluth.de/</a>, where you can also pre-order the Silver edition.</center>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-21648046628067979002015-06-19T08:31:00.003+01:002015-06-19T08:31:48.909+01:00New Shoot-em-up, "Kingdoms of Steam", in DevelopmentAlthough busy working on his Dizzy-like-adventure "Dylan The Spaceman", Chris Clarke has taken time out from developing this game to begin work on a side-scrolling shoot-em-up, provisionally titled "Kingdoms of Steam".<br />
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Here's Chris;<br />
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<i>"As well as a Dizzy Game Maker - Reality also has a horizontal Shoot Em up creator - had a quick look at this, using some background tiles from the Dylan the Spaceman game and some quickly drawn Steel Empire type / inspired sprites, I have a working demo level - perhaps this will be included as a bonus game with the CD release of Dylan the Spaceman. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Shoot em up construction kit isn't as good as the Dizzy game maker but better than SEUCK - the only two major flaws are - no in game music - an the enemy and background tiles are limited to 16 colours - whilst the main player ship can use a different 16. Also you can't change the speed of the scrolling."</i></blockquote>
Check out the screenshots below...<br />
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All being well, Chris hopes for a two level demo to be released towards the end of June, at which point he'll continue to work on completing "Dylan The Spaceman". If there's enough interest in "Kingdoms of Steam" Chris says he would work on turning this into a full three level game.</div>
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Chris has been kind enough to send me a beta release of the game, which, if I get time this weekend I'll fire up on the trusty A1200 tower and try out.</div>
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In the meantime, you can keep up-to-date on all things "Dylan" and "Kingdoms of Steam" related by visiting Chris' <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amigapd?fref=ts">Amiga PD Facebook Group</a>.</div>
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Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-91100612517909174892015-06-18T08:37:00.000+01:002015-06-18T08:37:20.382+01:00New Amiga Adventure "Star Wars: Escape From Mos Eisley"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Those of you who grew up playing classic text adventures such as The Ship of Doom and The Hobbit, may be interested to learn that a new text adventure has just been released for the Amiga.<br />
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"Star Wars: Escape From Mos Eisley" is described by its author, Umpal as <i>"Nothing special"</i>, and is his first Amiga release.<br />
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The game was originally announced on the Amiga.org forums, and so far discussion in the thread seems to be more concerned with copyright than the game itself. This isn't totally surprising when you consider the problems the author of <a href="http://amigagamer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/homebrew-amiga-game-brings-out-lawyers.html">Smurf Rescue</a> encountered with his Amiga homebrew release.<br />
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If you'd like to find out more about the release (or join in the discussion) <a href="http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69361">check out this thread</a> over on the Amiga.org Forums. You'll also find a download link there.<br />
<br />Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-75335122184901128322015-06-18T08:15:00.001+01:002015-06-18T08:15:20.484+01:00Lemon Amiga Takes a Look at Liquid Kids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For around half a decade from the mid 1980s, Taito were one of if not <u>the</u> kings of arcade platform games. Rainbow Islands, Rastan Saga and The New Zealand Story were just some of the classics released by the Japanese company during this time, and these games are still enjoyed by gamers today.<br />
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Spotting an opportunity, UK based Ocean Software would licence many a Taito title for conversion to the various home computer platforms of the day. All three of the above titles, for example, were snapped up by the gaming giant, and saw release either under the Ocean or Imagine brand.<br />
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Among their numerous licenses was a 1990 Taito release by the name of Liquid Kids. A colourful side-scrolling platform affair, this was ported to the Amiga by arcade conversion specialists <i>(check out the quality of their Toki and Pang conversions) </i>Ocean France.<br />
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I remember looking forward to the release of Liquid Kids for the Amiga, and then, after months of waiting, reading in an issue of Amiga Power magazine that Ocean had decided the market had changed and that it would no longer be publishing the game despite it being pretty much complete.<br />
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A number of years later I recall swapping a few emails with Paul Carrington of Vulcan Software, who'd seen a post of mine on Usenet relating to the unreleased Amiga game. Paul was asking for more information on the title and was considering contacting Ocean with an idea of releasing it on his own Vulcan Software label.<br />
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However far <i>(if at all)</i> discussions got with Ocean we'll probably never know. One thing I do know is that the game vanished from trace until 2003 when Galahad of Fairlight got hold of a copy, fixed umpteen bugs, spelling mistakes, disk routines and <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=11020&highlight=liquid+kids">much more besides</a>.<br />
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Finally, after almost a decade and a half, the Amiga version of Liquid Kids was available to Amiga users.<br />
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So, why am I talking about a game that surfaced on our favourite platform some 12 years ago? Well, one of the recent Playguide and Review videos by the Lemon Amiga team is this very game, and I had a feeling that this may have been a title that had passed a good number of Amiga users by.<br />
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If you're one of these people, check out the Lemon Amiga video below, and then continue down for a Liquid Kids download link.</div>
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If the above has whetted your appetite for this game you can download the WHDload version for your Amiga via <a href="http://www.whdownload.com/games.php?name=a&sort=0&dir=0&search=liquid%20&searchButton=Search">this link</a> on the WHDownload web site.</center>
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While I feel the Amiga version of Liquid Kids isn't up to the same standard of polish as some earlier Ocean France arcade to Amiga conversions I still think it's worth checking out and spending some time on. It's a fun little game, and it's a real shame that it failed to see a commercial release back in the day.</center>
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Have fun!</center>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-83727096835374918932015-06-15T07:31:00.001+01:002015-06-15T07:31:04.927+01:00A Quick UpdateIt's been well over a month since I last updated the blog, and for that I must apologise.<div><br></div><div>A combination of work and holidays have been to blame, meaning my time for tinkering around on the Amiga has been sorely limited. That said, I have been lucky enough to have been invited to play test a work in progress version of forthcoming arcade adventure "Dylan The Spaceman", which is shaping up to be something rather special indeed.</div><div><br></div><div>I'll be reporting more on Dylan over the coming weeks, and at the same time hope to find more opportunities to keep the blog updated.</div><div><br></div><div>Happy gaming!</div>Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-86356503109112889482015-04-03T12:09:00.000+01:002015-04-04T16:15:00.236+01:00Legendary Amiga Coder, Edgar Vigdal Passes Away<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edgar Vigdal</td></tr>
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Browsing Facebook this morning I sadly learned that a couple of nights ago legendary Amiga programmer Edgar Vigdal passed away.<br />
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Posting via the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WarbladeMkII?fref=nf">Warblade MK 2 Facebook group</a>, Simon Quincey left the following message;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Edgar Vigdal passed away two nights ago, we suspect of cancer. I'm not sure i need to provide more details even if i get them... </i></blockquote>
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<i>One of Edgars close friends has given us this information earlier this evening and right now Kev and I are quite shocked and very saddened by the news.
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<i>Edgar and I would talk night after night for hours at a time, often into the early hours of the morning. We became close friends over the many years doing this, skyping till our ipad batteries were flat, sharing jokes and trading our latest music finds... And recently we had agreed that finally i was going to visit Norway so we could actually meet for the first time this May and i'd stay with him and his family... I'm going to miss those chats.
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<i>This is a rather sudden shock for all of us and i'm really not sure what else to say.
My thoughts and deepest sympathies go to Siv, Marta, Rebekka and Markus and all the rest of the family.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>RIP Edgar my friend."</i></blockquote>
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Like many of you reading this blog I have many happy memories of playing Edgar's creations on the Amiga. <a href="http://deluxegalaga.monroeworld.com/main.htm">Deluxe Galaga</a> was one of my favourite Amiga games, but I also enjoyed <a href="http://www.warblade.as/amiga.asp">Deluxe Pacman</a>, and more recently <a href="http://macdownload.informer.com/pixie/">Pixie</a>, which was about one of the only games I played on my Mac.<br />
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I never had the pleasure of meeting Edgar in person, but I did swap a couple of emails with him. I always found him to be a perfect gent and extremely helpful.<br />
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If you get chance over this weekend, fire up one of Edgar's creations and hold up a joystick/pad as a celebration of his life, and then settle down to this <a href="http://www.amigapd.com/interview-edgar-vigdal.html">wonderful interview</a> Amiga PD conducted with him a couple of years back.<br />
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Rest in peace, Edgar. You'll be sorely missed.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-9419515658643602662015-03-12T08:06:00.000+00:002015-03-12T08:06:09.970+00:00Rick Dangerous The Other Levels - New Game in Development<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz55yS5N6ZdNiULqQXPizC-1aU8BqwikJgkI3ByEKYLURlt6WduG3YX0Y4rue_v5wKB-h-9ckCxFE73PRLncsbD8SU05Vds6oonz9UcXFznZY7D-a12QePp-Iw20QNWHAD9iwdQWK3bDv/s1600/ricky.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz55yS5N6ZdNiULqQXPizC-1aU8BqwikJgkI3ByEKYLURlt6WduG3YX0Y4rue_v5wKB-h-9ckCxFE73PRLncsbD8SU05Vds6oonz9UcXFznZY7D-a12QePp-Iw20QNWHAD9iwdQWK3bDv/s1600/ricky.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
2015 is shaping up to be a promising one for the Amiga game scene, as in today's post I bring news of yet another new title that's currently in development.<br />
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Using the Backbone games creation system, "Rick Dangerous The Other Levels" is an unofficial sequel to Firebird's Rick Dangerous 1 and 2.<br />
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Presented as a side-scrolling affair as opposed to the original flip-screen method used in the original titles, "The Other Levels" looks to be a more run and gun game rather than placing you in the position of being a laboratory rat, whereby you'd regularly get killed without warning, remember where it was you died, and then progress that tiny bit further on your next go, as Firebird's titles did.<br />
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There's clearly a lot more development work required on this title before it can be fully released, but you can see the current dev build in action below. <i>(Note, it's not my reflection you can see in the monitor)</i><br />
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If you'd like to try out an early build of the game for yourself then check out <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=77387">this thread</a> over on the English Amiga Board.</center>
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As with all games in development, as soon as details of any notable progress are released I'll post the updates on the blog.</center>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-88701810752849918272015-03-10T08:27:00.000+00:002015-03-10T08:27:13.434+00:00Dylan The Spaceman - Coming to an Amiga Near You Soon!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6sDa8igwrnrdBzKjL_1rQ05wR4E4jYeVD_xCm1KzazuA90hXwDoMmSuzRADG0a2UUs84rLr__y1siSLVgAoQlPWQT-zuluguVecFCDLQg44XWVit9wLLSKu8KSAkNFv1f3g7s33Q91x3/s1600/10405676_884933214883182_2720720461157676267_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6sDa8igwrnrdBzKjL_1rQ05wR4E4jYeVD_xCm1KzazuA90hXwDoMmSuzRADG0a2UUs84rLr__y1siSLVgAoQlPWQT-zuluguVecFCDLQg44XWVit9wLLSKu8KSAkNFv1f3g7s33Q91x3/s1600/10405676_884933214883182_2720720461157676267_n.png" height="156" width="200" /></a></div>
I've been meaning to cover this for some time, but for one reason or another I've not found time to do it... until now.<br />
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This originally started out life as a Dangermouse themed arcade adventure, but the subject matter soon changed following the fallout from the <a href="http://www.amigagamer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/homebrew-amiga-game-brings-out-lawyers.html">Smurfgate</a> saga.<br />
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The change has brought with it a set of never before seen characters and environments, and a new mascot to the Amiga platform, Dylan The Spaceman.<br />
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Created by Chris Clarke, who is using the Reality construction system, Dylan The Spaceman is a Dizzy-style arcade adventure, where objects collected in one location are used to progress in another.<br />
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Chris has been dishing out regular progress updates for the project on his active <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amigapd">Amiga PD Facebook page</a>. Here you can check out all the latest work in progress screenshots along with developer notes Chris uploads.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRS0BimcnVbLe9r90euaQY1WyHRMLCH06PNzlzFiyHbTmrPd3kdL-g3sXByxe9B5rP6v-w7TYdOmGcj8bxu5ppkvGKBin04PFDKdqxYyCtroLCYB3ZFUbJYP6bUcuPfROzbdiQHBrZ9bX/s1600/11045304_880223308687506_8123835226375843881_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRS0BimcnVbLe9r90euaQY1WyHRMLCH06PNzlzFiyHbTmrPd3kdL-g3sXByxe9B5rP6v-w7TYdOmGcj8bxu5ppkvGKBin04PFDKdqxYyCtroLCYB3ZFUbJYP6bUcuPfROzbdiQHBrZ9bX/s1600/11045304_880223308687506_8123835226375843881_n.png" height="250" width="320" /></a>Development of the game seems to be progressing well, and at present the game is pencilled-in for a Summer 2015 release. Chris is keen to get the game up and running on as many Amiga platforms as possible, and a work in progress version has already been successfully tested on the CD32 games console.<br />
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This really looks like a game to keep an eye out for, and could be one of the Amiga gaming highlights of the year.<br />
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I'll have further updates on Dylan The Spaceman as and when they surface.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-65571587654402541682015-03-08T11:48:00.001+00:002015-03-08T11:48:25.359+00:00Starquake Amiga Conversion WIP and Footage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Programmed by Stephen Crow, and originally released by Bubble Bus Software way back in 1985, Starquake was a fast-paced, sprawling arcade adventure.<br />
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Three years later saw the Atari ST version released in 1998, with an Amiga version was planned for release in 1991. Unfortunately, for whatever reason this failed to see the light of day.<br />
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This situation looks like it may soon change, as Fairlight's Galahad has been busy working on converting the ST code to run on the Amiga platform. Check out the version 1.0 work in progress footage below.<br />
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Along with a link to the above YouTube footage, Galahad commented that;</center>
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<i>"The encoder for WInUAE i'm using makes the game look like arse, its 100% stable and the graphics don't look like they are under water.</i></blockquote>
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<i>On Amiga the character moves smoothly, not taking 30 pixel leaps across the screen, oh and you can see everything properly, looks like I applied a Vaseline filter to the output."</i></blockquote>
I'll post further updates regarding this project as and when they surface. If, in the meantime you'd like to read-up on the progress so far then check out <a href="http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=74573">this thread</a> over on the English Amiga Board.Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-18203151660274917612015-03-01T18:13:00.002+00:002015-03-01T18:13:39.656+00:00From Bedrooms to Billions The Amiga YearsIt seems like only two minutes since Nicola and Anthony Caufield's "From Bedrooms to Billions" project, telling the story of the UK video games industry from 1979 to the present day, was finally completed, but already the pair are looking towards their next production.
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Entitled "From Bedrooms to Billions The Amiga Years", this newly proposed 90 minute documentary aims to;<br />
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<i>"explore the influence of the Commodore Amiga and how it took video game development, music and publishing to a whole new level and changed the video games industry forever!"</i></blockquote>
As with "From Bedrooms", the "Amiga Years" production is being financed through Kickstarter donations. Check out the promotional video below.<br />
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Nicoloa and Anthony's plan is to release the film in January 2016. Clearly this is a much shorter timescale than that taken to produce the original "From Bedrooms" production. Nicola and Anthony explain why this release will appear much sooner than the original did;<br />
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<i>"From Bedrooms to Billions took more time due to the huge amount of research, contacting and sourcing of archive and interviewees. However for The Amiga Years! we have a huge head start on that due to how much work has already been done so we aim to film all our new interviews by September 2015 with an intensive post-production of 16 weeks to follow".</i></blockquote>
For more information, and to sign-up/donate to this project point your web browser over to the "From Bedrooms to Billions The Amiga Years" <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1195082866/from-bedrooms-to-billions-the-amiga-years">Kickstarter page.</a>Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-57671564393498363282015-02-15T12:10:00.003+00:002015-02-15T12:10:59.462+00:00Results of the 2014 Amiga Games AwardFor the past few few years the Obligement web site have been running their <a href="http://obligement.free.fr/hitparade/award2014.php">annual Amiga Games Award,</a> which aims to chart the most popular games released in the previous 12 months for either Amiga OS 68K, Amiga OS4.x, Morph OS or AROS platforms.<br />
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Each of the four charts are kept separate, meaning that there's no overall winner across all formats, and as this blog concentrates its coverage on the classic Amiga platform I'm only interested in the Amiga OS 68K chart.<br />
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In third place was the much-discussed (and pulled from download) "Smurf Rescue", by Mikael Persson. I must admit to not having tried this, as links to download this title were swiftly removed once Peyo's solicitors got involved.<br />
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In second place was "<a href="http://wayneashworthart.com/Amiga.html">Renegades Deluxe 2014</a>", a remastered version of Wayne Ashworth's original two player shooter, originally released way back in 1995. As with the initial release this is a two-player only title, so you'll need someone to play with.<br />
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Finally, in first place is the only commercially released game in the chart; "Tales of Gorluth: The Tearstone Saga". This Legend of Zelda-like RPG pushes the Backbone game creation software to its very limits. Featuring over 5 hours of gameplay, 64 colour graphics, and over 40 pieces of music, this is one of the most ambitious games released for the Amiga in many years.</div>
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Minimum specs for Tales of Gorluth is an ECS Amiga with a 68020 CPU, 2MB of graphics RAM and 1MB of FastRam. Recommended CPU is a 68030.</div>
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The game can be purchased for £10.99 from the <a href="http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=1200">Amigakit web site</a>.</div>
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We're now well and truly into 2015, and it'll be interesting to see what games will be released for the Amiga this year. With the recently released "Solomon's Key 2" now available for download we're off to a very strong start. Here's hoping the trend continues!</div>
Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5417197628772067190.post-68891382715075269892015-02-09T21:51:00.000+00:002015-02-09T21:51:32.472+00:00Fire & Ice: Solomon's Key 2 Released!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in April 2013 <a href="http://amigagamer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/solomons-key-lands-on-amiga.html">I reported</a> that the Atari ST version of Techmo's platformer puzzler, "Solomon's Key" had been converted to the trusty Amiga. The team did a smashing job porting over the ST version, and it played brilliantly. <i>(If you've not yet installed it then you really should do so at once!)</i><br />
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Fast forward almost two years, and I was pleased to see that a couple of weeks back the prequel, "Solomon's Key 2: Fire and Ice" had been released for the Amiga, having been converted from the humble Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version.<br />
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Released by Techmo back in 1993, the object of the game is to extinguish all fires on each level in order to proceed to the next. To do this you need to either melt ice blocks or kick them into the raging infernos.<br />
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Here's hukka with the details;<br />
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<i>"I have released my Amiga remake of the underrated NES puzzle platformer Solomon's Key 2 aka Fire'N Ice. Written in 100% assembly and should run on any setup.
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<i>Features include [a] built-in level editor and saving/loading [of] your progress. Some features from the original are missing: levels containing lava or enemies; some cutscenes and sound effects; final boss battle.</i> <i>Still, the game can be completed normally and bonus worlds are included.</i> </blockquote>
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The game can be played using either the keyboard, normal joystick or 2-button joystick/gamepad (tested using Megadrive pad).
This version will run from Workbench.</i> </blockquote>
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More info and ADF download: <a href="http://hukka.yiff.fi/sk2/">http://hukka.yiff.fi/sk2/</a>"</i></blockquote>
Check out the game in action below, and then get yourself over to hukka's Solomon's Key 2 page to download the brand spanking new Amiga version.<br />
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Rob Hazelbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15244885434815418816noreply@blogger.com0