Rick Dangerous Style Game in Development

It may be sneered at by some, but the AMOS based game development environment "Backbone", seems to be gaining a bit of a following.

A number of projects are currently in development using the package, (see last Wednesday's blog post, for example) and yesterday (7th Jan) yet another title was announced.

Here's English Amiga Board member and game developer amiman99 with some details and footage of his creation in action;

"Here is a preview of my game made with Backbone, Cammy's textures are heavily modified for the game and music is taken from Sound Terrific MOD compilation (author is unknown).

More levels are coming up.

Naturally, I'll be blogging about the progress of this title on the blog, as and when updates surface. However, if you'd like to follow this yourself, you can find the relevant EAB thread here:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=66632

The Official EAB Top 100 Amiga Games 2012 - Results Delayed

Way back on the 1st of October last year English Amiga Board moderator Graham Humphrey, began collating votes for the Official EAB Top 100 Amiga Games of 2012.

The rules stated that you could only nominate a maximum of 10 games, with your first place title receiving 10 points, and the one in tenth place receiving just 1. Voting would close at 23:59 UK time on 31st October, with any votes sent in after that date being discarded.

With the date for nominations passed things have been rather quiet in the thread. That was until EAB member lifeschool, posted the following message as a gentle prod;

"Bump.

I know it's a mammoth task to make this list Graham, so no problem if this has been put on hold, but I'm certainly still interested to find out the top games, and the worst games".

Graham has been quick to respond, and gave the following update;

"[I'm] still writing it... I've bitten off more than I can chew with various projects but it is being written. I will definitely finish this off but no timescales. Glad someone is waiting for it though!"

Looks like you'll have to wait that bit longer. Once the 2012 results are posted I'll give you a heads-up on this very blog, so don't panic.

Lemon Amiga's Top 10 Amiga Games You've Probably Never Heard of - Pt 3/3

(I must apologise for the delay in getting this blog post completed. I thought I'd set it to perform a scheduled submit, but it looks like I didn't. Whoops!)

Over the past couple of weeks the Lemon Amiga team have submitted a number of videos to Google's YouTube, highlighting some of the best Amiga games you've probably never heard of.

I've found the hour long videos to be excellent resources in helping to showcase numerous classic Amiga titles that, for one reason or another, have completely passed me by.

If you've missed out on the first two videos, you can find Amiga Gamer blog posts, along with links to them, below:

Part One
Part Two

The third and final part in the series has recently been released, bringing this current Amiga archaeological journey to an end.

Here's what the Lemon Amiga team have to say about this last segment;

"In this bumper edition, we check out the final three categories in our compendium of the Top 10 Amiga Games you've hopefully never even heard about.

I know most Amiga users will get a kick out of these, although there are still a few games (Foundation?) that are still common enough to recognise.

Each of our top 5 categories play for 30mins, and at the end of each section we'll see the game I think deserves the award for the virtually unknown gem in the pack. I've saved a few good games (and a few bags of tripe) for last.

Thanks for watching these films, and I hope you get as much enjoyment out of these as I do watching them back".

So, what made the Lemon Amiga team decide to put these videos together in the first place? Well, wonder now more, as here's the explanation;

"In the middle of July, 2012, I decided to run my own competition on the Lemon forum. I chose F1GP - and the whole thing (after a few hickups) went well.

A few weeks later I got to wondering if F1GP was the only polygon 3D F1 racer on the Amiga? I'd seen Grand Prix Circuit from my C64 days, and Revs, Indy 500 of course on the Amiga, and well.. not much else. In my search I found out about a mythical 'Alien' Grand Prix. I then discovered the full game was known as Virtual Grand Prix, and found it as a CD on the internet. The game was a B#STARD to get going; an absolute PIG! I wanted to love it but the game was just not giving.

A week later I discovered the patch and gladly upgraded it to 1.0D - where the handling of the vehicle, plus the workability of the Monza track, made me think WOW - I need to get this out to people.

Weeks later I started my long trawl through archives in seach of things I'd never heard about before. Yes, you guessed it, ALL of the games in these videos were all games I'd never even heard about before (except Virtual Ball Fighters, Generic Species and Foundation - which I'd seem in mags). Now just the simple matter of installing them all (Shadow Of The Third Moon was another PIG!), and having a go at them one by one.

These are my very first goes you can see in these videos. Nowt taken out. ;)

Then I put them all into groups and did all this 'Top 10' stuff. So now you get it.

These games were all brand new to me - so if I'm not playing so well, it's because I've thrown myself in at the deep end".

I've really enjoyed the three videos produced by the Lemon Amiga team, and I hope that my blogging has at least encouraged a few more people to hop over to their YouTube channel and check the clips out.

Here's hoping the team decide to put something else together before too long.

WIP - Action Adventure created with Backbone

In my first blog post of 2013 I bring news of a new Zelda-like game currently in development.

Designed by English Amiga Board moderator, viddi, this Backbone created project is already showing much promise, and looks to be one title worth keeping an eye on.

At present, only a German language version is in the works, so those unable to speak the lingo will need to fire up Google translate.

A work in progress video of the game in its current form can be found below.


To follow the progress and join in with the discussion of this currently un-named title, point your web browser over to: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=67208

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!