#Amiga Game Support?
26 messages in this thread
It's good to hear you say things could change. With the shakeup about
to happen with Pentium, Power PC, and Alpha, things just might change.
It's never going be on par with MS platforms, but level with the Mac
might just be an reacheable goal if handled right.
Richard -> via the Amiga 1000 AutoPilot
Richard,
This didn't occur to me until this afternoon, but there IS a precedent for
Sierra reinstating support for a platform that, at one point or another, looked
too unprofitable.
At one point, we withdrew support for the Mac. Mac game sales were languishing
badly (not just for Sierra, but for most domestic game companies) and we just
couldn't justify the expense of the reprogramming. But we resumed Mac support
quite awhile later, when Apple became more aggressive and released all the new
Mac systems that brought Macs into many more homes.
I have my fingers crossed that CBM does it right with the AGA systems (and that
the public responds in kind). It could make all the difference.
-Josh
Josh,
Normally I would just expect CBM to stumble along as in the past, but
they show a little life. On the technical side, they seem to be on the
right track. It's the selling side that needs help. I am hoping that too
will fall into place with the right people in place.
Richard -> via the Amiga 1000 AutoPilot
Josh,
I would like to applaud the fact that you are here in the amiga forums
trying to keep a pulse on what is happening (that is what you are doing
here right?) for SOL. The fact that you are dropping us (temporarily I
hope), but continue to post here is encouraging and makes a bitter pill a
little easier to swallow.
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
Steve,
I'll be honest — I've not been here much. It wasn't until Peter and I
messaged in the GAMAPUB Forum (and there were quite a few other Amiga-ites
who've also left messages there in the past few weeks) that it occurred to me
to stop in here (I've been here before, but not for a long time). But I'll
make a point of stopping in on a more frequent basis than a couple of times a
year. <g>
I should point out that I'm NOT Sierra's "official" online rep. But I do work
at Sierra, and have for a long time; I've been involved with a large number of
products there and I'm a fierce company man (even though my opinions do NOT
always jibe with the official party line!).
–Josho
If I may be allowed, it's nice to see your presence here as well, but one
things is gnawing at my little head… this announcement of dropped Amiga
development, is that as of NOW, I mean, is there anything that's just
finishing up that will offered to us RSN?
Did you guys do EOB III? I'm not sure if you did or not. I'd love to see
it on my Amy.
Miguel ——– AP, AP, and away!
Miguel,
Actually, the news about dropping Amiga is many weeks old, I'd guess a couple
of months. As far as I know, there's nothing at Sierra that's in the works
that was in any way about to "make it in under the wire" or anything like that.
Dynamix, TSN, and Brightstar all operate somewhat independently from Sierra's
adventure game division. I'm unsure if Ken's decision about Amiga support
affected all four publishing groups or just the Sierra label; therefore, it's
possible that Dynamix might still have something up its sleeve for the Amiga.
Bob? Since you're lurking, care to answer this one?
–Josh
Well, if I could ask another question: is it possible for an outside
developer to "license" one of your game engines (I'm thinking of EOB) and
use it to create a game for a platform you are not working on?
For instance, let's say I have a great game idea for the new AGA Amigas
and I can develop it quickly with your EOB game engine. I pay for
development and everything except some marketing costs which you donate a
coupla bucks to (since your Sierra label will still be used on the package
somehow). How kosher is this kind of deal? Since you're not in the Amiga
market, there's no chance of in-house competition and there would be a
clause written that states if you re-enter the Amiga Market, you can etc.,
etc..
I'm really curious.
Miguel ——– AP, AP, and away!
If you're referring to Eye Of the Beholder, it was written by Westwood &
Associates, and released by Strategic Simulations Inc., NOT Sierra.
Erik Flom
Miguel,
Er…I hate to say it, but EOB isn't one of ours. 😉 We *do* have a
stable game engine — relatively stable, I guess — but as far as I
know, it's never been licensed to an outside source for redevelopment
on another platform.
I'm sure that, like any competent business venture, it's never out of
the question, just because it hasn't been done. But if you want EOB
– Amiga, you'll have to talk to SSI!
Yikes! Do I feel stupid! Of course… <running to a corner of the room
and putting on his Dunce cap!>
I guess you could substitute Leisure Suit Larry or Kings Quest… (trying
to save face!)
Ah, at least the gist of the question has been answered!
(Sheesh, was that dumb dumb dumb!)
Miguel ——– AP, AP, and away!
Miguel,
Haha…no harm done!! You got LEISURE SUIT LARRY all right, you'd never
believe some of the names they call it sometimes when they're not sure of the
name…(LEISURE TIME LARRY, LEISURE LARRY, LARRY'S LEISURE SUIT…)
–Josh
Josh,
I never purchased Leisure Suit Larry (or it's sequels) cuz I'd played it
before — when it originally came out under the name of Softporn
Adventure. LSL (I) was the identical game with graphics.
-sja
Josh, out of curiosity, in the case of the Mac, about how long after the
release of the lower priced color Macs did it take for Sierra to decide to
resume product development? And after the decision was made, how long did it
take actual product to reach a lot of dealer's shelves?
Believing that I do that FUN software is the real reason for spending one's own
money on a computer, and that "productivity" software merely helps to
rationalize the purchase, I feel plenty disappointed at not being able to
indulge in Eco Quest or any of the other new titles. Yet, I'm also wary of the
risk of unloading one's system too soon–I did this with my Mac II and shortly
thereafter got a rude surprise when MORE GAMES starting hitting the market,
including Space Quest IV! Wasn't until the other month that I finally got to
play SQ4 and LL5 on my new Amiga 1200. I have been pretty much buying all of
the older titles when I find them, but my stockpile is drying up!
Jeff,
I don't remember exactly when the decision came to drop Mac support, and then
to resurrect it again, but I believe it was between 1-2 years. After the
decision was made to support it again, it probably took about 6 months to get
product back on the shelves (albeit with certain restraints, such as: color
Macs ONLY, hard drive required, and so on).
Won't an AGA upgrade enable you to play MS-DOS VGA software on your current
system? I know, it ain't an ideal way to play, but…
–Josho
You might want to note that Amigas can use either the AMAX or Emplant to
run MAC software. The Emplant let's you run MAC software at full or
faster speed than a real MAC with equal processor and it is in color and
multitasks with the Amiga OS.
-Jonathan
Jonathan,
So it would be reasonable to assume that Mac versions of games, provided they
adhered to the rules, would run quite nicely with Emplant…? Digitized audio
and all?
–Josh
Yes, I have yet to try a game that didn't work. I am currently having fun
with Falcon.
-Jonathan
"Won't an AGA upgrade enable you to play MS-DOS VGA software on your current
system? I know, it ain't an ideal way to play, but…"
That would be news to me. First time I've heard of such a thing, but then, I
have only been fussing with Amigas for the past couple of months. I don't think
I'd be willing to spend $30 (much less $60) to play games using unenhanced PC
sound, however (and I assume this would be the case, since I've never heard of
an IBM emulator for ANY system which also emulated Sound Blaster). I'm willing
to wait in order to play the games the way they SHOULD be played–what's a
couple of years? I do anticipate getting a higher-end RISC Mac in '94 or '95,
so if the Amiga games are not back on track by then, maybe I'll see what Sierra
has to offer for PowerPC/Mac–you folks ARE thinking of that one, right? 🙂
Josh,
The Amiga AGA system is very unlike VGA in the sense that the 8-bit / 256
color mode is a _bitplane_ system, not a chunky-pixel system. That means
that the gfx techniques used for VGA aren't, in general, appropriate for
AGA use. Individual pixels must be written to 8 locations in memory, while
masking previous information so it isn't affected; the overal efficiency
is over 15 times lower under the AGA architecture for pixel-level
techniques. Whole bitmaps are (relatively) easily moved using the Amiga's
blitter, but that's a whole different programming style – and emulation of
VGA under AGA means that things get "corner turned" to amke them work…
read slow, not simply "not ideal". CBM knew that this architectural
dichotomy would result in this problem (and others) but elected not to
include corner-turning hardware in the AGA design.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Yeesh, I had just assumed that C= would have supported the more common
chunky pixels used by both the IBM & the Mac in the AGA chipset, but I
guess they 'knew better', eh?
Thanks,
Erik Flom
It's a cost and complexity issue also – that may (or may not) have entered
into the decision(s).
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
It's too bad that they couldn't implement some kind of 640x480x1Byte/Pixel
mode, if only to make life easier for people trying to port stuff over to
the Amiga. (Oh, that's right . . . No one's porting stuff anyway, so why
try to encourage them. :^(
Thanks,
Erik Flom
I'm running a couple of MAC games from Sierra on my Amiga. I use the
Emplant which runs a MAC emulation of the MAC IIx at full speed in color
and multitasks with AmigaDOS!
-Jonathan