How do developers make games for a computer that doesn't even exist yet? This was the universal question that most Amiga Flame readers e-mailed to me after the launch of Amiga Flame's new section 'Future Amiga NG Game Releases'. I thought that instead of me answering, I would put this same question and others to those who are making games for the Amiga NG.
I conducted separate interviews with Stuart Walker of Digital Images and Chris Kelley of Delsyd Software, however, asking them the same questions, you may find the answers below similar but it gives you a clear idea how they are making games for the Amiga NG and the problems they face.
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1. How is Digital Images and Delsyd Software making games for a computer that doesn't even exist yet, especially when according to the Digital Images web site you say that you are making a graphics engine, so your Amiga NG games will look like those usually found in FMV's?
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Stuart Walker, Digital Images
Currently, we are developing these games with PPC equipped Amiga's and are writing all of the code with C so that it can be as portable as possible. We hope to port the games straight over to the AmigaNG as soon as the developer systems become available. If we don't do this, the AmigaNG will launch with no games and people will just buy a console or a PC this Christmas. It is important that the AmigaNG has some good launch titles. We see no other companies doing this, so we are taking the first step.
Chris Kelley, Delsyd Software
That's a good question, and I have a very good answer for you. All of our games are being based on very portable code and api's, namely ansi c and OpenGL. With the small exception of sound hardware, our game engines can be easily recompiled for another system, as long as we follow strict coding rules. We aren't really developing for the NG right now, per say. We're working on the PPC/WarpOS/Warp3d version of our game The Last Patriot, but we plan to port it to the NG when development systems become available. We've had this information available on our web site for some time, but there has been a little confusion, so I'm glad you asked this question.
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2. What are the disadvantages of making titles for a computer that isn't available?
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Stuart Walker, Digital Images
There are many disadvantages, the main one being, that we don't know the capabilities of this computer, so we are having to make good estimates. It would definitely be a lot nicer to work with the AmigaNG's for real, but we really hope to find out a bit more about this machine including its capabilities at WOA.
Chris Kelley, Delsyd Software
As far as TLP is concerned, these would be porting issues. No one knows what hardware will be in the NG, or it's speed, so we're being realistic. Most of our NG games will be straight ports of the PPC versions, until we can get a feel for the NG system. When the NG development boxes are available, we might add some NG specific features to our games, but this, of course, depends on
how fast the NG will be compared to G3/G4 PPC Amiga's.
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3. Has Amiga (the company) offered any support regarding the development of your titles for the Amiga NG?
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Stuart Walker, Digital Images
We have had very little contact with Amiga over recent months, but we hope that we can work with them to release a good quality launch title.
Chris Kelley, Delsyd Software
Hehehe...Well, we have a developer number...that's about it. Every now and then, a different member of the Amiga staff sends us an email asking for information about our company. Other than that, we're pretty much in the dark... :)
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