Amiga, Commodore and creativity

[Azdul]

The RAD is a fairly simple device for the cartridge port of a C64/C128. It works together with a Raspberry Pi and can bypass the computers CPU to do some really heavy lifting and cool stuff while still using the computers VIC2 and SID chip (and the rest of the machine).This way you can run DOOM on the C64. The game runs on the Pi's ARM processor in 50 FPS, but you use the C64 for the keyboard, graphics and sound. It can play samples, and it also features up to 16Mb RAM expansion. How cool is that ?

GitHub RAD: https://github.com/frntc/RAD
RAD-Doom: https://github.com/frntc/RAD-Doom

That's cheating.

There were dark times when there were demos that work fine only on emulators with CPU at > 1000% setting. Nowadays demoscene frowns upon anything that requires accelerated CPU. Even in the 80's there were hardware expansions that turned original machine into glorified terminal - but gentlemen avoid anything that replaces CPU or graphics processor.

If you are not smart enough to write correct sequence of instructions that will achieve desired effect on original hardware - you can always run genetic algorithm that will generate it after 20 hours on 16+ cores.

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

Settle the World is a turn-based building and trading game with a focus on local multiplayer (up to four players on one Amiga computer).

You will have to found settlements, build roads, establish trade relations with your fellow player, explore the map and sometimes send soldiers to war.

The current version of "Settle the World" is the -Farm Update- from August 2023.

The latest version of the development is also available under Downloads, but it is not very well tested and may contain errors.
You can find more information here.

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There is now also a Quick Start Guide in English and German as a PDF.
This should make it much easier for you to get started with the game.

Quick Start Guide EN

Schnellstart Anleitung DE

Note:
The Quick Start Guide has become outdated with the release of the Farm Update and will be replaced step by step by the in-game help in the game in the future.
However, the Quick Start Guide still contains useful tips.

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We would be happy if you would follow us on Discord:

https://discord.gg/UJyZSJJqYg

Here we will share small infos and screenshots about the development of "Settle the World" on a regular basis.
Join us and bring your ideas and feedback into the further development of the game.
We are also always open for constructive criticism.



The game is still in development and many important core elements of the game concept are still missing.

For example, citizen happiness currently has no effect at all on gameplay. However, this is an important element to make the game challenging later on, especially in single player mode.


The game is developed for OCS/ECS PAL Amiga computers with at least :

• 1 MB free Chip-RAM
• 4 MB Fast-RAM
• A hard disk drive
• 680000 CPU, but at least a 68020 CPU or better is recommended
• Kick-ROM 3.x (testet with 3.1 and 3.1.2)

The game needs at least 1 MB of free Chip-RAM.
If there is not enough chip mem available when starting from the workbench, it is advisable to start the game directly without running the start-up sequence.


Settle the World is currently still in development.

• Game content can change at any time
• There are only a few sound effects at the moment.
• More in-game music will be added in the coming months.

You can use load Save Slot 1 to continue an advanced save game to test the game.

Note:
The game is not bugfree.
If you have colonists in your city that are not working even though they are assigned to a job, or are suddenly multiple, please save and reload the game. These errors should then be gone.

Copyright 2022/2023 Christian Wiegel
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

https://theotheoderich.itch.io/settle-the-world

 

[Sukhāvatī]

https://atari.com/products/atari-2600-plus

 

[Rincewind]

Two glorious 450+ page *TOMES* about the Amiga demoscene (vol.1 - OCS/ECS, vol.2 - AGA), and another 400+ page book dedicated to the art of scene logos. Now all 10% off until 26 Nov!

https://www.editions64k.fr/

I have found my Christmas present for this year

A third volume about the modern post-1997 Amiga scene will complete the series; it will come out in July 2024.

Volume 1 Demoscene the Amiga years 1984-1993​

Say « Boing » and fans of the Amiga think of the first demo, written in 1984 by Dale Luck and RJ Mical for a prototype displayed at CES, that used the machine’s unique hardware capabilities to create smooth animated 3D graphics with stereo sound. It was hugely important to the machine’s success, and captured people’s imagination – and a generation used the Amiga to express their creativity and ingenuity.

The Amiga demoscene thrived and evolved, and this book chronicles many of the scene’s favourites from multiple groups through interviews with their creators: coders, producers, artists, musicians from many countries are included. 450 full colour gloss pages in a quality hardback binding.

Demoscene the Amiga years reflects the making of the best demos as well as the history of the most emblematic and best known groups of the demoscene. Discover numerous pictures of demos through more than 450 pages as well as contributions of “sceners”. This book is the first volume covering the years 1984 to 1993 with about 90 demos amongst the most famous and popular ones.

 

[Jaesun]

The single most memorable experience for me in the good old Amiga 500 days: Demos

Those were such fucking amazing times to see an incredible blend of art and technology. Good times. <3 <3

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i dearly miss the last time i said "fuck, can a computer really do this?". i'm sick of repeating "fuck, all this hardware for *just this*?".

 

[Rincewind]

If you guys wanna re-live that magic, start watching modern post-2000 C64 demos that only require stock hardware plus an 1541. They're insane, out of this world. Whole *teams* of 50+ old-school scene wizards work on modern ones, often 10+ people for years. They still do it do for me, every single time, what magic they can squeeze out of that little 8-bit beige box from 1982 that run on *less* than 1 MHz.

Start with VICE, then move on to real hardware plus CRT, which makes the experience more real and even better

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i want to see modern computers squeezed like that.

 

[Rincewind]

i want to see modern computers squeezed like that.

Although I'm not sure how much it *actually* squeezes the hardware, I adore this modern Windows demo from 2015 by the prestigious Fairlight. It's all one big love letter to the Amiga. At the very least, it gets me in the mood due to it's very cool "oldskool meets modern" nature

 

[Rincewind]

Okay, this 1st prize winner from Assembly 2018 also does it for me. Spot the Amiga references!

When you call your demo "Number One" because you know full well you'll *WIPE OUT* the competition hard CNCD & Fairlight delivers every time.


This 100% brings me back to those Amiga glory days when were were watching demos like Arte! on an A500s in the early 1990s at parties and laughing at the PC guys watching in awe...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Another cool thing about the demo scene - every platform gets to join in.

Tiki 100 hardware specs

Specifications for the basic Tiki-100 model:

• CPU: Zilog Z80 running at 4 MHz.
• Memory: 64 KB of RAM (main memory), 32 KB of graphical memory and 8 KB of ROM.
• keyboard: A n-key rollover mechanical keyboard integrated into the computer case
• Graphics: PAL-compatible, based on discrete TTL components. Bitmap graphics with a 256-color palette, supporting 3 different resolutions with 256x256x16 colours, 512x256x4 colours or 1024x256x2 simultaneous colours. The has no text-mode as it used bitmapped graphics only. However, terminal emulators provided options of 40, 80 or 160 by 25 characters, each option using one of the three modes. All of the graphics modes have hardware vertical scroll.
• Audio: An AY-3-8912 polyphonic sound generator
• Storage: One or two integrated 5¼ inch floppy disk drives
• Interfaces: Two RS-232 serial ports, One Centronics printer port

Software included:

• TIKO, a CP/M 2.2-compatible operating system
• A version of the BBC BASIC programming language interpreter
• A COMAL interpreter

Optional expansions:

• A harddisk controller, replacing one of the floppy disk stations with a 8MB harddisk.
• A bespoke network-hub that allowed up to 16 computers to connect in a network, sharing disks and printers. The server was a Tiki-100 with harddisk, running the MP/M operating system, serving up to 3 different printers simultaneously.

8/16 upgrade
An 8/16 upgrade was possible, consisting of a secondary CPU card with a 4 MHz 8088 processor. With this upgrade the machine is capable of running TIKOS (a CP/M-86 clone) and MS-DOS 2.11, with RAM being expanded up to 736 KB. Although running MS-DOS, the expansion does not provide PC-compatibility. When programs are running on the 8088, the Z80 CPU is serving as an I/O processor, handling disk I/O, graphics etc.

The demo:



Speaking of school computers, this one's running on the BBC Micro:



Sorry, wrong Commodore here...

 

[Luzur]

Okay, this 1st prize winner from Assembly 2018 also does it for me. Spot the Amiga references!

When you call your demo "Number One" because you know full well you'll *WIPE OUT* the competition hard CNCD & Fairlight delivers every time.


This 100% brings me back to those Amiga glory days when were were watching demos like Arte! on an A500s in the early 1990s at parties and laughing at the PC guys watching in awe...

Swedish steel delivers, as usual

 

[ds]

Speaking of Swedes, A Mind Is Born from 2017 is really impressive to me. While it may not look like much, generating both video and audio that doesn't make your eyes and ears bleed with only 265 bytes is really something:

i want to see modern computers squeezed like that.

The problem with that is that as computers get more powerful you get diminishing returns for what more you can get by pushing the hardware compared to normal programs. This is even more true without size limitations where you can pre-render/compute as much as you need. That's why modern PC demos tend to focus more on the artistic parts rather than pure technical excellence. That's not to say that many newer demos aren't technically impressive.

Anyway, here's the winner from Revision 2023, Mechasm by Fairlight:


Also, quoting myself for anyone who is in a demo-watching mood:

Comodore 64 demos

Edge of Disgrace by Booze Design (2008, Comodore 64) (youtube)

Starstruck by The Black Lotus (2006, Amiga / Atari) (youtube)


Second Reality by Future Crew (1993, DOS) (youtube)

DOS demos

Panic by Future Crew (1992, DOS) (youtube)

fr-071: sunr4y by Farbrausch (2011, 4kB, Windows) (youtube)

4kB Windows intros

elevated by Rgba & TBC (2009, 4kB, Windows) (youtube)

fr-030: candytron by Farbrausch (2003, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

64kB Windows intros

Chaos Theory by Conspiracy (2006, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

Insert No Coins by Razor 1911 (2010, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

fr-080: Strobo-plus-32767: pacemaker by Farbrausch & Stroboholics (2011, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

We Have Accidently Borrowed Your Votedisk by Razor 1911 (2011, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

Hartverdrahtet by Akronyme Analogiker (2012, 4kB, Windows) (youtube)

Gaia Machina by Approximate (2012, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

The Scene Is Dead by Razor 1911 (2012, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

Offscreen Colonies by Conspiracy (2015, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

Darkness Lay Your Eyes Upon Me by Conspiracy (2016, 64kB, Windows) (youtube)

VX2 by Spectrals (2020, Windows) (youtube)

more demos

we cell by Kewlers (2004, Windows) (youtube)


1995 by Kewlers (2006, Windows) (youtube)

Track One by Fairlight (2006, Windows) (youtube)

Beyond the walls of Eryx by Andromeda Software Development (2007, Windows) (youtube)

Masagin - Nvision 08 Invitation by Farbrausch & Neuro (2008, Windows) (youtube)

Rupture by Andromeda Software Development (2009, Windows) (youtube)

fr-063: Magellan by Farbrausch (2010, Windows) (youtube)

fr-081: .frOzen by Farbrausch & Rebels (2011, Windows) (youtube)

Pirates of the 777 seas by Razor 1911 (2011, 80kB, Windows) (youtube)

Spin by Andromeda Software Development (2011, Windows) (youtube)

Glenz vector from Hell by Razor 1911 (2013, Windows) (youtube)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Cracktro by Razor 1911 (2016, Windows / Linux) (youtube)

fr-099: Aphelion by 5711 & Farbrausch (2020, Web) (youtube)
View in your browser here: https://kebby.org/aphelion/

Would have embedded all videos but there is a limit for that even in spoiler tags.

 

[Rincewind]

ds Yeah one of the ressons why I appreciate 64k, 4k and smaller intros on the PC these days. Still loving .the .product, apoemtoahorse, and debris from Farbrausch.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

The problem with that is that as computers get more powerful you get diminishing returns for what more you can get by pushing the hardware compared to normal programs.

when i was already a grown man, we had benchmarks to showcase the power of newer hardware. and they also (and too) as artsy as you can get. still, they were a pleonastic style exercise and pushed hard on any latest trick in order to con you into buying the latest bloody expensive shit. no game has ever compared to any benchmark inside 2, maybe even 3 generations. exception confirming the rule: crysis, still the best looking game.
besides, computers computing power grew exponentially, but games complexity *shrank* as much. last time i've actually felt technology being pushed, it's probably been with elite 2, even if for just finding a way to fit all that stuff on less than a single floppy. something similar happened with "space engine", but it doesn't count not having any gameplay.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Booze Design - Edge of Disgrace - C64 Demo

 

[Luzur]

Eye of the Beholder 4 - Fan sequel to an incredible Dungeon Crawler (WIP)!​

I was just about to finish for the day with so much writing already done, when an eye opening picture appeared in our Dungeon Crawlers Facebook group. That picture showed the words ' Eye of the Beholder 4 ', and according to the site where it came from. Eye of the Beholder 4 is the next episode of the classic masterpiece series by a fan based developer, taking place 100 years after the Assault of the Myth Drannor and 300 years after the death of Xanathar the great beholder!


As you can probably tell after all the previous articles I've done over the Eye of the Beholder games, I'm just a little bit excited. Both EOTB 1 and 2 were one of the greatest rpg's ever made, and it was also developed by one of the greatest developers : Westwood Associates later known as Westwood Studios, released in the early 90's and published by the great Strategic Simulations, Inc. However apart from Eye of the Beholder 1 and 2, of which I'm currently playing through again right now, many were disappointed with Eye of the Beholder 3 as not only was it not by the same people, but it was more action oriented.


This sequel however looks to take all the best bits of Eye of the Beholder and make a number of graphical improvements across the board. In fact, many new tilesets have been shown from marble walls, to spider banners and sharp teethed doors. But the biggest change of all, is the UI, with two characters at the bottom, a compass, spell runes and overall window placement.


So it certainly looks impressive from my stand point, but there is a big concern over this Eye of the Beholder 4 sequel and it was also brought up in our very own Facebook group by Stig, and that was this; " Unless the people making this have secured the legal rights to use the Forgotten Realms setting, this project will be very very short lived ". So from this moment on, we are unsure if this game will ever see the light of day, especially as they may at some point be looking for Indiegogo funding. So keep your fingers crossed!

Further details you can follow the developments HERE, visit the WEBSITE or our Dungeon Crawlers Facebook group.


at Wednesday, February 24, 2016

https://www.indieretronews.com/2016/02/eye-of-beholder-4-fan-sequel-to.html?m=1

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]

 

[Luzur]