What New Game do you want developed for the Amstrad if the option was there?

[MacDeath]

APB ?



Toobin too was "to bin"... shame as the vertical scrolling wasn't the hardest to implement and 256x256 sized screen is great as well for such game.



hey, were is my 4th colour ?

[Puresox]

There are plenty of games in the Amstrad's catalogue that the Amstrad can do and run fine in the limitations of 64k and 128k. Really don't think that were really looking at things to compete with modern technology.And I think most of the games that were crap on the Amstrad compared to the other systems was more to do with  it being the last in the queue.
What was the size of Subhunter? btw

[Axelay]

What was the size of Subhunter? btw

64K.  Bear in mind it's not directly comparable to a commercial era title because it uses modern compression a lot.  The game would still be more or less 'achievable' without it, but you'd be looking at some of the 'usual' things like most of the graphics reduced to 2bpp mode 0 (expanded prior to a level so no speed impact), perhaps a few less animation frames, less music and possibly lower resolution,smaller or absent end game screen and/or title logo graphics.

[arnoldemu]

I would say look towards mobile games and web games, some of these are achievable on the cpc but adapted for cpc's display and inputs.

[sigh]

I voted original idea and other (sports/racing/smooth vertical scrolling shoot em up/1 on 1 fighter/rpg/top down racer....the list goes on).
However - something that I think that the CPC could really do with, is a good music game. But for that, we would need a good music and sound creation program to begin with.

[Optimus]

I would generally focus on the 128k, but the 64k is a good challenge.
Problem is, in the current game I work I downgraded to 64k but I don't think I have enough space for double buffering. Therefore, it might have flickering sprites. Unless I somehow time it with the refresh, although I am less than a VBL already.
But I plan to finish this 64k version and in parallel update and release also the original 128k version and maybe a GX4000 cartidge version.
The interesting thing of the GX4000 is the extra cartidge area. In my current project it's possible with some relocation of my data to keep double buffering. And there is a lot of extra space for additional levels and all that. GX4000 cartidge space is very interesting.

[Gryzor]

After seeing a discussion on Twitter based on this thread I decided, after a good long thought, to give my 2c. Maybe no one cares, but hey, lots of others did it before me


So, in essence: being absolute is STUPID. There, got it off my chest.


The best comment I saw on Twitter (sorry, forgot who posted that) was that this is a question posed by people who don't develop games (but the same person went on to post a second, silly comment about how "no developer intentionally limits their audience", forgetting the countless of occasions where people decided to code for a more advanced platform with a smaller user base). I think that a developer himself is motivated internally mostly and foremost and such a debate can be detrimental to the process. However, the discussion has been quite interesting insofar as it doesn't degenerate to a sort of fanaticism about pure/expanded configs.

Advocating in an absolute manner for "enhanced" titles is stupid:
-it may be more difficult for coders and those coders who feel comfortable with 64/128k may feel demotivated and intimidated.
-indeed some people won't be able to play the title on their real hardware.
-coding for limited platforms is an art in its own and should not be discounted.
-saying that 90% of CPC users owns a mem expansion is probably way too much (that said, probably tons of people do have one indeed).


Advocating in an absolute manner for "pure" titles is stupid:
-why should everyone go for the lowest denominator? Sure, many people may not have expansions and whatnot, but is that a reason to restrict our horizons? It's not like expansions are expensive either these days. We have a wonderful base hardware and we are lucky to have an abundance of excellent, cheap add-ons. Sure, some people cannot afford even these - but so what? I, for instance, couldn't get the RTC because of the capital controls imposed in Greece. Would that mean I'd hold anyone a grudge if they developed, say, a Little Computer People-like, RTC-dependent title? Hell no. I'd welcome it with open hands. Heck, many users here don't even have a real CPC, what does that mean?
-so I guess people should only code with the 464 in mind? Because even making a game that can run on a 464 but takes advantage of the extra 6128 memory would require a drive to be played on the 464 (or are we talking about two distinct versions?).


I, for one, would love to see titles taking advantage of recent developments. I long for a game that frees a coder from the limitations of old and allows his abilities and imagination to run wild without having to focus on how to compress the hell out of things to fit them.


But this, of course, doesn't mean I don't appreciate every single title that can run on a pure 64k machine. Or that I hold a grudge against the coder who doesn't take advantage of all my paraphernalia. We have few titles appearing on our platform and we must understand that people primarily code them for their own enjoyment - demanding things from them is ridiculous either way. You don't have an expansion and the new super RPG requires 512k? Tough luck. Either get one or shut up-because you can't keep up it doesn't mean nobody should. You do have every single board out there but the latest shooter is 18KB long and only available on cassette? Wow, what a first world problem. Go tell your mum, maybe she can code that bullet hell for you.


...


Apologies for sounding angry. I find the whole infighting mind-blowingly stupid. Come on, guys. This is not the place to get your complexes out. Be happy with what you've got and what is given to you.

[Lazy Dude]

meanwhile in darkened basement someplace a game may yet be developed!

[zeropolis79]

I'd like to see the Amiga classic Another World ported to the humble CPC...

Excluding the animated movie sequences, it looks like it could work.

[Joseman]

I'd like to see the Amiga classic Another World ported to the humble CPC...

Excluding the animated movie sequences, it looks like it could work.

uhohhhhh how can i forgot that!!!

Flashback the second part!!!!

! No longer available

or!!!

black thorne!!!

! No longer available

[TFM]

I'd like to see the Amiga classic Another World ported to the humble CPC...

Excluding the animated movie sequences, it looks like it could work.

But in this game the only thing which is cool ARE the animated sequences! 


@Gryzor : You win the price for using the word "stupid" the most often in one post. But you are right, a lot of people who never made a game talk very loud here. 

[Targhan]

Just a few words (instead of coding, damn ):
It took us FIVE YEARS to finish Orion Prime, with ONLY 128K to fill and a 800k disk. FIVE YEARS, and both myself and Sylvestre were quite experienced at what we were doing. So I really wonder how long it will take to the coders/artists wanting to fill 512 ram and a hard drive. That is what I talk about when I think about "realism". Using extra memory to avoid loading is a good idea however. But filling it with raw data is really, really a death trap in my opinion.

Some years ago, The Futurs' team worked on an adventure game called Aventury. They never stopped adding new ideas as soon as they were available, such as network. Well, it became too big and nothing was ever released, the project was cancelled.

I think that basing your game on what can be done is not a good idea. Instead, focus on what YOU WANT to do, what the game is about. Write as many things as possible on paper, scripts, maps, and so on, using fake graphics. Then only can you judge how long it will take to finish the game, and if you require alien technology.

[ZbyniuR]

It would be nice to see some little bit improved versions of old games like Gryzor with srolling, Dizzy and Lotus in 16 colors, SimCity and Lemmings on a bigger screen, etc. It could be a long list.

Or to convert fantastic games from Amiga like:  CannonFodder, FlashBack, Worms, TheSettlers, PushOver, Lotus3, Skidmarks, ChaosEngine (this recently appear on Spectrum), DesertStrike, Lemmings2, Syndicate, ThemePark, FirstSamurai ... etc. etc. Work for long years.

Or even from PlayStation like:  Driver, GTA, TombRaider, MetalGearSolid ... which exist on GameBoy, of course, as 2D.

Or it could be better to start from collect and make public a set of procedures that would make ease writing less able programmers, like:  display sprites, scrolling screen, using overscans, make menus, etc.
I know here on this forum are some brilliant programmers, but not all are like that, and why re-invent wheel all over again, after someone already did it perfect?  I think more reasonable is to make them life easier and encourage them to work even those who can't write it themselves start from zero.

Or to enliven whole community just start from something easier as competition for new better versions of start images to old games, for examples steal from other platform. In ZX Spectrum community this is quite popular form of activity.

[jbaudrand]

I really wish sigh will finish that promising beat them all.

[arnoldemu]

I really wish sigh will finish that promising beat them all.

it is still in active development.

[steve]

...make public a set of procedures that would make ease writing less able programmers, like:  display sprites, scrolling screen, using overscans, make menus, etc.
I know here on this forum are some brilliant programmers, but not all are like that, and why re-invent wheel all over again, after someone already did it perfect?  I think more reasonable is to make them life easier and encourage them to work even those who can't write it themselves start from zero.

This could be very helpful to aspiring programmers, this was also the intention behind the Firmware, which programmers did not use as the routines were not fast enough, but a new library of fast, customisable routines that could be incorporated into new software would be good.

[AMSDOS]

This could be very helpful to aspiring programmers, this was also the intention behind the Firmware, which programmers did not use as the routines were not fast enough, but a new library of fast, customisable routines that could be incorporated into new software would be good.

How about the amount of memory the Firmware took up? Heaps of Games were initially being written using Firmware, though according to you weren't fast enough.

[steve]

How about the amount of memory the Firmware took up? Heaps of Games were initially being written using Firmware, though according to you weren't fast enough.

This was simply what I read, I don't know exactly why the firmware went out of fashion, but my post was simply to say that a new library to help new priogrammers would be good, why start a fight over it?

[AMSDOS]

This was simply what I read, I don't know exactly why the firmware went out of fashion, but my post was simply to say that a new library to help new priogrammers would be good, why start a fight over it?

Not saying a new library is necessarily a bad thing, though the firmware takes up a chunk of memory, much of which isn't used & for a large game, benefits from it's own set of routines.

[steve]

I see the proposed library being a set of routines stored on disk which the programmer can choose to include in a program or not, so no unnecessary space taken up.

[arnoldemu]

I see the proposed library being a set of routines stored on disk which the programmer can choose to include in a program or not, so no unnecessary space taken up.

cpctelera??

[STE86]

sorry that never works in assembler.

ONE coder might be able to get away with that for himself or his close knit team, but to think that many disassociated coders could just include a binary to display sprites and have it work for all is just pie in the sky i'm afraid. Far too many ways of doing things on none hardware based machines and a myriad of different registers/methods that coders use in different ways.

also the last thing you need as a coder is a "wildcard" routine bolted in your code which you have no idea how it really works.

It comes down to this: If you need such libraries you dont have the knowledge to use them anyway, and if you know how to use them you dont need them because you can already write them. Catch22

if you want to go this route then what you should be aiming at is a database of example code and more importantly a well documented THEORY behind the code so aspiring coders could look up example sprite routines etc and adapt to what they need.

the c64 scene has a similar site: http://codebase64.org/doku.php

[arnoldemu]

sorry that never works in assembler.

ONE coder might be able to get away with that for himself or his close knit team, but to think that many disassociated coders could just include a binary to display sprites and have it work for all is just pie in the sky i'm afraid. Far too many ways of doing things on none hardware based machines and a myriad of different registers/methods that coders use in different ways.

also the last thing you need as a coder is a "wildcard" routine bolted in your code which you have no idea how it really works.

It comes down to this: If you need such libraries you dont have the knowledge to use them anyway, and if you know how to use them you dont need them because you can already write them. Catch22

if you want to go this route then what you should be aiming at is a database of example code and more importantly a well documented THEORY behind the code so aspiring coders could look up example sprite routines etc and adapt to what they need.

the c64 scene has a similar site: http://codebase64.org/doku.php

I tried to do this with:

Example Z80 assembly programs (was:ASM source code)

and

Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

[STE86]

forum based ones never seem to work, they get too big to be useful because you cant actively search them.

web based ones like the second are the way to go but IMHO you need to catagorise it "Sound" "Graphics>sprites" "graphics>tiles" etc, make it searchable and you're on to a winner.

that should basically be a community project by coders for coders (and aspiring coders)

there must be a wiki template do this surely?

[Joseman]

What I don't like about this poll is that, there are some generic options (ok)... but there are games listed there... some names even weren't mentioned here, and others that were mentioned here several times (different people) don't... what's the procedure to put some games on the poll and not others?