This poll is very simple. I want to know what kind of Classic Amiga hardware specs people think that a game should be designed for.

I know the choices are limited. Please pick the option closest to what you think.

I ask that ONLY ACTIVE USERS of Classic Amiga hardware answer this poll, thanks

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@ChrisH

Hi Chris, my choice would be:
AGA 68030 16MB RAM

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@ChrisH

OCS, 512 kB RAM.

My vote is for 68030, 4 to 16 MB Fast RAM and AGA.

Last edited by pavlor on 28-May-2012 at 08:20 PM.

@ChrisH

Despite the fact my main A1200 is an PPC/060 with 256MB RAM...

I chose an A1200 with 020 and 4 to 16MB of RAM...

Simple reason being there were many brilliant games that fitted into this category that proved you don't really need any more than that to create a top notch game on the Amiga...

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Assuming you are creating a new game and assuming you want the widest audience possible, I would suggest a configuration that you know runs well under emulation.

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@ChrisH

I voted 030/040 with 4-16 Megs of Fast RAM even though my A1200 has 80 Megs of Fast RAM.

Contrary to what Big Ben the Aussie would indicate, I'd say making something run on CGX/P96 qualifies it as being a next-gen system so I voted vanilla AGA for graphics.

Now I only have to find somebody to service my A1200! (I just moved into a new apartment where I have all of my computers set up, only to discover that my A1200 won't work quite right.)

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Member of Total Chaos team.

With an abundance of 68030 cards running around, I'd aim at that sort of computing power as minimum, AGA graphics with the ability to select RTG screenmodes and some reasonable level of RAM expansion.

That should fall into the unexpanded FPGA Arcade's specifications too (OK, the CPU is a soft 68020, but it will achieve 68030 levels and soon have RTG).

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@ChrisH

I think the games for Amiga Classic, can be designed for 030/040, 16/32MB/32MB. AGA..

You know, back in time, something maybe led to disappear the platform was the games companys just made 1MB Amiga Games and wasted many Amiga Capabilities with that 1MB poors games.

If they were perhaps more demanding, Amiga would have had more games Comercial life.

Anyway, nowdays if is about new games development, must be using acelerators and memory powers..

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I forgot... and NO Video Cards.. Just with Amiga Native Video Modes.

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@ChrisH

I have a better idea, design a game that runs on the NEW UltimatePPC accelerator for Amiga's.

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@ChrisH

i'd say a 030 ,AGA + 16mb minimum is a great starting point and thats where most of the demographic stands... or atleast used to back in the early 2000's.

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I hope all future SW productions run on as many Amigadevices as possible.

Last edited by KimmoK on 29-May-2012 at 12:21 PM.

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@ChrisH

A500 with 0.5MB of slow fast.
Kamel

There's thousands of examples of what can be done with a low spec amiga (in amiga terms, obviously all amigas are low spec in modern terms), so to each his own, but I dont find the same sort of thing yet again, only probably of lower qaulity due to the lack of money, or a commercial team all that interesting.

Would be nice to get some more games that are representative of what the hardware can do when expanded, as unfortunately despite the fact the vast majority of amiga users have '030 + fast ram minimum there's very few titles that utilise it. Personally I find it a shame that the amiga was so under-utilised. Bit of a reverse of what sometimes happens in the pc world,...... people think, "oh, it can do nice things with X specs", so they dont bother trying anything more ambitious.

@fishy_fis

While i get the point about making things to take advantage of expanded Amigas, I reckon the trouble with that is the "bigger" a game gets the more is suffers from lack of gameplay and actually being enjoyable...

This tends to be in most cases it seems because the authors only really concentrate on adding extra gfx & sound and the gameplay gets left behind in order just to create something big (bloated) that may look great but sucks in terms of gameplay...

Of course there's nothing to stop anyone making a game using the most expanded Amiga specs possible but if you want to either try and sell it or just make it PD, you've got to really make it for what the average use may own if you really want a lot of people to use enjoy your creation...

I've always hoped someone would create "Zelda" style RPGs for the Amiga as those are my favourites but there's little chance of that and making them myself would be kinda pointless as I'd know the entire storyline and all the game secrets and there'd be no point in playing it then...

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@all

First of all what type of game, if you can created whit out hardware dependencies, then do so, if you can’t try to make that part of code optional somehow.

I don’t care if its AGA or Picasso96, I just hope that its system friendly, and can open at least 640x480 resolutions (that’s what fake AGA is on AmigaOS4.1, 320x200 is promoted and often end up in a ugly split screen effect, so please check bytes per row, should be found struct BitMap)

If you have joystick then try to support lowlevel.device for sound try to support AHI.
For timing use timer.device do not use hardware timers.

If you’re using the EClockVal don’t assume it’s the same on AmigaOS4.1 as on classic, programs, demos and games runs many times faster than they should.
And remember if you think about Vblanking then please don’t read registers directly, use timer.device.

If you just making side scrolling game then might as well just make it for classic, if you making some more interesting then please make some effort.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 29-May-2012 at 02:04 PM.

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@ChrisH

It isn't that simple. Are you sure that don't ask, what is the most/preferred hardware configuration among active classic amiga users? Because, otherwise, building a game's hardware requirement, will heavily depend on it's genre: For example, a first person shooter would require the fastest possible 68k cpu combo plus a GFX card. A very fancy arcade soccer would require the maximum AGA chipset plus a 020 whereas an ECS (+ 68000@7Mhz) could also be proven sufficient. Furthermore, what visual standards you will try to achieve, Dune II or Napalm's? Still, I *believe* that a modest to good classic amiga gaming configuration would be an AGA machine with a 030 accel.

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@Franko

Completely off topic, but I only just noticed your avatar has the same sort of illusion happening to that spinning ballarina that does the rounds online in that it spins both ways.... takes me back to the days of doing spinning enemies in SEUCK as a teenager :)

As for Zelda, I agree, and while its a gamestyle that fits with the amigas hardware it's actually a genre that could benefit from a modestly expanded amiga.
Ive started engines myself a handful of times (still have them in waiting), but its darn hard to get people to help with audiovisuals and having to make even placeholders is a little demotivating.

Last edited by fishy_fis on 29-May-2012 at 02:03 PM.

@NutsAboutAmiga

Not sure you understood what ChrisH said but...

OS4.1, 320x200 problems with mode promotion, AHI support etc... etc... are not what he was asking about...

He clearly stated and asked about "Classic Amiga Hardware" and gave a poll on what he's looking at, sp why try and make it about "NG "stuff when it's clearly a "Classic" project...

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@fishy_fis

Seems to depend when the avatar catches your eye, sometimes it seems to be spinning perfectly (like it should) other times it seems to flip back and forth in opposite directions, optical illusion I guess...

I've started various projects too over the years meaning to write my own RPGs but never got very far with them, as like I say it seems kinda pointless creating my own game that there would be no fun or point in playing in the end... catch 22 i suppose...

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