GRIND - INTERVIEW WITH JOHN TSAKIRIS (TSAK)
How long have you been programming the Amiga?
I've been involved with game development on Amiga since ~2008 as a pixel artist, musician and game designer. Apart from scripting and a general understanding of how the Amiga hardware works, I have little to no programming experience.
How did you get involved in the Dread project?
That's an interesting story. Back in 2019, me, Alex and Mike had just finished working on a first demo and teaser video of our Metro Siege project, which went public on the 30th of August. The very same day, strange rumours started circulating in the Amiga forums and social media, about yet another exciting project: something that looked like a Doom engine, running effortlessly on a vanilla A500! At first, the reaction of the community was complete disbelief and a lot of speculation. Then, the next day a new thread was opened on EAB and more information started becoming available, with the author of the engine (KK/Altair) joining the party to answer questions. Like the rest of the community, I was totally blown away when I saw the news, so I took an immediate interest in the project, following closely the thread for the next months to come.
During this time, a lot of details about the engine, the technology used and the project itself became public. KK started a series of new videos, explaining in detail his development process. While all the technical aspects were fascinating, I couldn't help but notice that the assets used were not exactly ideal and the project would benefit greatly from custom-made art, specifically tailored for the engine's resolution and colour count (up to that point KK was doing this work alone and with no help from any artist, using converted assets from the Free-Doom project). I took the initiative and made contact with him, proposing to use hardware sprites for the player weapons and showcasing how these would look. I started working on the weapon sprites soon after, later expanding on the rest of the assets, so just like that we started working together.
Why did Dread change to become Grind?
Several months after our first Demo release, KK was offered a new job which came with a non-compete clause: his contract was forcing him to disband the team, continue alone (with no external help or assets) and make the project non-profit. While the first Dread demo was just a tech showcase (made to invoke comparisons with Doom), our actual plan was for a final commercial game with all original assets and a Steampunk/Lovecraftian direction. In the months before and after the Demo release, we already had started working towards that goal. So when the news of KK's new job mandate arrived, in order to save all our previous work and to protect & secure the project and its vision, we decided to split it. KK passed to me the source code to continue the project as 'Grind', while he'd also continue solo on the open branch of the 'Dread engine' and a possible new, free title.
What has inspired the new look of Grind, and what other games have influenced it?
I've always been a major fan of Steampunk. And when we started talking seriously with KK about the prospect of a complete game, I thought it would be a great idea to go in that direction (especially since we wanted to move away from the generic space-marine theme). As for the 'Lovecraftian' part, that was his idea and I pretty much loved it, as the mix of the two gave us more room for artistic expression and also a great opportunity to get to the game's interesting narratives, lore, locations and enemies. As mentioned above all these early ideas were our guidelines in our roadmap to a finished game, which have now been passed to Grind.
As to what other games influenced Grind's looks, I think the connection to the Bitmap Brothers 'Chaos Engine' is indisputable. Malone's art has definitely influenced my own pixel art style, plus the two games share the same Steampunk theme, so any comparison doesn't fall far from the truth. The same can be said about 'Darkmere', especially in regards to the current level textures. The recently released Amiga title 'Aquabyss' (which I happened to also work on), being another Steampunk-themed game, also gave me the opportunity to both practice and get influence from. Moving away from the Amiga, Bioshock and Chasm are two big influences as well. And finally, Blood, while not Steampunk-themed at all, its pixelling style, colour palettes, atmosphere, tone and level design are massive pillars on which Grind draws inspiration from.
What weapons can we look forward to wielding in Grind and any original ideas there?
Due to memory constraints and preserving gameplay integrity, I plan to play it safe and continue with the same 4 weapon types we also had on Dread. Those being the Pistol, Shotgun, Chaingun and Missile Launcher. However, I also want to include secondary firing modes (via RMB), which will allow us to pack more attack options and expand the player's strategic possibilities. With the above said and if time and memory(RAM) permits, I would also not be against bringing something entirely new to the game, perhaps some unique extra weapon or more powerful replacements late game.
What are your favourite FPS games, on Amiga or other formats?
On Amiga, I'd say Alien Breed 3D, Gloom, Breathless and Genetic Species. I think each has its own appeal, strengths and weaknesses but if I had to choose one, that would be Genetic Species. Compared to the other three it probably has the weakest engine (90-degree walls, no elevation, single wall heights, no outside areas) but also the best visuals, presentation, depth, gunplay and overall polish. As for the PC or other platforms, I've played pretty much all the classics and they do all score high marks in my book. My favourite one is definitely Blood, followed by Exhumed on PSX.
Who else is involved?
At the moment I'm doing all the GFX, SFX, gameplay and map design work, while BSzili takes care of the Amiga code (and also helping with the ST version as well). Coder Kabuto from Titan is preparing the Mega Drive version and there are several other coders and artists who contribute and I'm in contact with (f.e. musician DMA-SC, who has provided music for the ST version so far).
How long has development taken so far and an estimate of how much more to do?
As 'Grind' the project has been in development for exactly 1 year so far [at the time of the interview].
While Dread took us around 1 year to get to the first Demo plus 10 months up to the date of the split. KK also spent several years prior working on his engine. So depending on how you want to measure or where you set the starting point, it's between 1 to +3 years of development so far.
As to how much more, it depends. I'm trying to keep the project grounded and minimal and while we've made amazing progress so far, there's a lot of work that remains. My current goal is to have the game as close to release as possible by the end of 2024. Depending on how much progress has been done by then (and what is left to do), we'll review and re-evaluate our goals and priorities accordingly.
Are you working on any other Amiga projects?
Yes, I'm still engaged with the Metro Siege project and I also help Erik (aka Earok) with Scorpion-related stuff occasionally. When time permits I try to engage and be helpful to other fan projects in the community as well. For example, I recently worked on the music for the Rastan project and I'm also doing the Arcade graphics conversions for the upcoming OCS port of 'Flying Shark' by Magnus (coder of 'Scourge of the Underkind'). Having said that, the vast majority of my time and main focus is now with the Grind project.
How can people support Grind and get involved?
Anyone who wants to help with the funding of the project or is interested in getting frequent & detailed updates on the game's development can do so by becoming our Patron :
Fans who'd like to follow the latest news on the game, as well as participate in our community and talk directly to the developers, can join our Grind Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/QXGQbkRCxN or check our EAB thread: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=115890
Coders, artists or map designers who want to contribute or propose a cooperation can mail us at admin@pixelglass.org (or send us a PM on any of the above platforms).
NEWS BYTES
AMIGA: Superb shoot ‘em up Reshoot Proxima 3 (RG238’s interview) is now released: https://bit.ly/rp3-amiga
AMSTRAD CPC: Check out the great entries to CPCRetroDev 2023 at https://bit.ly/cpcdev2023
ATARI: VHZX Games released the Game of the Bear puzzle-platformer trilogy (first two on 2600, third game on 7800) and Ninjish Guy in Low-Res World (also 2600) via https://vhzc.itch.io/
BBC MICRO: Bop7 by Tom Nash is based on mobile game Drop 7: https://bit.ly/bop7-bbc
COMMANDER X16: Jimbo released a trilogy of his PETSCII conversions – Portal, Space Invaders 2, and Side-Scrolling Platformer (see Databurst) - at https://jimbo.itch.io/
MEGA DRIVE: TheRoboZ (RG243) released the demo version of Mega R-Type with three levels, two ships and extra options. https://bit.ly/mega-rtype
PC ENGINE: Check out strategy RPG Strife Sisters (pictured above) with cartridges available at https://strifesisters.com/
PICO-8: The ambitious Half Life demake Pico-Life from Taxi Comics is free to play in your browser - https://bit.ly/pico-life
PLUS/4: TCFS, Csabo, Murphy and Unreal cast a spell on Halloween to convert Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back - https://bit.ly/cauldron2-plus4
VIC-20: Marco Giorgini crammed a Rogue-style game into just 3.5K (but it requires a disk drive): https://bit.ly/roguish-vic20
ZX SPECTRUM: Solve a mystery with Fusillo Productions in Area 51: The Roswell Incident for 48K machines: https://bit.ly/area51-zx
ZX81: Jonathan Cauldwell’s Amidoh – based on Amidar, of course – requires 16K but supports Quicksilva character and Chroma add-ons. https://bit.ly/amidoh-zx81
CHAMPION CODER - ANDY VAISEY
[Name]
Andy Vaisey
[Info]
From: Wales
Format: Amiga, C64
Previous game: Chiller 2, Lost Realms of Murkasada 2 (C64)
Working on: Spheroid (Amiga, C64), Chill3r (C64)
After revealing Chill3r (RG252), Andy is back showing the Amiga puzzle game Spheroid.
NOW AVAILABLE AT: https://andyvaisey.itch.io/spheroid
How long have you been programming the Amiga?
Pretty much since I got an Amiga 500, back in 1988! I have gone through various languages including but not limited to AmigaBASIC, AMOS, Blitz Basic 2, C and 68K assembler.
Although I have a few of my own applications and simple games on my disks (including a paint program for kids, a drum machine, a Breakout clone, a fruit machine simulator and so on), I never actually had the confidence to release anything into the wild, or indeed 30 years ago had the contacts or means to release and spread software.
However, if the answer to the question needs actual releases as proof, call it 18 months!
What inspired Spheroid?
Long story! The seeds of Spheroid were sown around 1988 in SEUCK on the C64. I made a simple maze of coloured blocks that you moved a metal ball around, with some blocks being ‘safe’ and some causing you to ‘die.’ Being SEUCK, it was all very rudimentary.
That idea transferred over to the Amiga in around 1990 when I bought AMOS and went through several design changes, improvements, and additions, including a swap to AMOS Pro so I could use the compiler. Once the main game engine was complete, I stopped around 1993(ish) as I was knee-deep in A-Levels, but intended to continue after my exams were out of the way. However, for various reasons, including going to university, I never continued.
In 2022, I finally got around to resurrecting my A1200 to see what remained of anything on the hard drive. Amazingly, it booted first time and straight away I imaged the hard drive to preserve everything on it. Mounting this drive image in WinUAE, I find the Spheroid AMOS source and all the assets sitting in a drawer on my ‘Work’ partition. However, the code won’t run as 30 years ago I was halfway through refactoring it (I had used AMOS procedures for all the subroutines without realising there was a limit to how many times procedures could be ‘GOSUB’d’ before a crash) and I now didn’t have a clue where I had got to, or what needed to be finished to make it work. Never leave code for 30 years and expect to resume without issues!
Not wanting to waste the game design or assets and not wanting to continue in AMOS, I spent a couple of days relearning Blitz Basic 2 (the game does not need the raw speed of 68K) and began coding the game from scratch, with the main game engine coming together in a few days! During those coding sessions, I added additional game elements not in the original AMOS version. However, some of those graphical and sound assets remain as they were pixelled and sampled over 30 years ago!
What is your development environment?
I use a real Amiga 1200 which has a 1230/16Mb card, a 4GB CF hard drive, an Indivision scan doubler/flicker fixer for HD video output, an internal Gotek floppy drive, an external Cumana floppy drive, a CD-ROM drive connected via a Squirrel interface, a Technosound Turbo sampler and a few other bits and pieces connected as required.
This system is ‘mirrored’ on my dev laptop in WinUAE with the exception of having 1GB of RAM of FAST RAM! To be honest, I do not really like running my real system for too long these days, even with recapped circuit boards and new power supplies. Therefore, most of the coding, pixelling and composing is done in WinUAE, with regular testing done on the real hardware.
Software-wise, to develop Spheroid I used Ultimate Blitz Basic 2.1+ for code, Deluxe Paint IV and Personal Paint for graphics and OctaMED Pro 5.01b for the music. Sound effects were grabbed 30 years ago with a Technosound Turbo sampler using AudioMaster, which also handled the sample editing as required. Along the way, I also used ReOrg, DOpus, IconDeluxe, VirusZ and BlacksEditor.
How did you design the levels?
Originally, the first few levels were designed straight in Deluxe Paint, cutting and pasting the tile images to build up the level. Once the level was on screen, I just needed to note the positions of the different types of tiles and then manually type the information into data statements in Blitz Basic. A bit laborious!
To the rescue came Ray Lejuez, a fellow member of my scene group ‘Arkanix Labs,’ who knocked up a simple level editor in Python. Although I still ended up manually typing the level data in, the actual designing became so simple and quick in the editor, with some real devious levels sometimes taking only 10 to 15 minutes to design!
In fact, the level editor was so easy to use, even my eldest Grandson got in on the act and designed a few levels himself, which are in the game! Being mean, I made him type in the level data manually too – he is learning to code, so it was all practice really! My youngest Grandson has been successfully testing and enjoying the levels produced! As he is only 4 years old, I am hoping that the game will appeal to a wide audience!
Do you have any other Amiga projects in mind?
Toni Galvez, who pixelled the loading and end screens for Spheroid, wants to do a sequel, with better graphics and other improvements. He also has a few other game ideas. I would like to back-port some of my C64 games to the Amiga. I think my episodic game, ‘The Lost Realms of Murkasada,’ would look, sound, and play nicely on the Amiga.
Since resurrecting and saving all my old stuff from the hard drive, I have numerous music mods I wrote back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Maybe I’ll do a couple of music disks with a nice menu front end.
Are you still planning a C64 Spheroid?
For sure, handled completely by me! Most of the graphics are complete and some of the game engine is done. All of the features in the Amiga version will be in the C64 port. I would say it is at 15-20% complete. I am not sure yet whether to use the same levels as in the Amiga version as they’re already designed or design completely new levels.
There will also be a PC port eventually, with code and music being handled by me and the graphics being handled by Toni Galvez.
DATABURST - REVIEWS
GRIDLOCK & JAM!
[Info]
Format: Gridlock (C64), Jam! (Spectrum 48K)
Credits: Chris Stanly & Megastyle (C64), Clive Townsend &Teknamic (Spectrum)
Price: Gridlock TBC, Jam €1.99 (digital) / €9.90 (tape with Gypsy Tarot bonus game)
[Score] 88%
DRAGONYHM
Format: Game Boy Color
Credits: Spacebot Interactive (Developer), Incube8 Games (Publisher)
Price: $14.99 (digital), $59.99 (standard), $99.99 (collector’s edition)
[Score] 90% - RETRO GAMER SIZZLER
PETSCII SIDE-SCROLLING PLATFORMER
Format: PET (32K, tested), Commander X16
Credits: Jimbo
Price: Free download
[Score] 82%
PROCESSING - PREVIEW
Developer Ninja Dynamics on creating Summer Island Battle Tactics (NES):
What got you interested in making NES games?
Well, I had an NES (*cough* cough Famiclone) as a kid and I've always imagined creating my own game. Fast forward 25 years, circa 2017, when I discovered that I could write NES in C, my old childhood dream got reignited. I've started to experiment and learning as much as I could about the hardware and whatnot. Micro Mages was a huge source of inspiration as well, which was released around the same time. I used to develop for Android, but I've completely dropped it in favour of NESdev. :D
Can you describe the type of game you are making, and what sort of gameplay is involved?
I'm creating a simplified version of a turn-based tactical RPG. My main sources of inspiration in terms of gameplay are the Front Mission and X-Com series, but I'm aiming to create a unique visual experience on the NES. The game takes place on a tropical island across several locations and times of day - battles take place at sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight. Sometimes I let the game write itself, so not everything is planned in advance. One thing I know is that the game will feature a cocktail bar - it will play an important role between missions. ;)
What tools or development environment are you using?
I'm writing the game in C (compiled with CC65) mostly using the 8bitworkshop online IDE. Every so often I make sure the game compiles my Linux VM, just in case 8bitworkshop goes down for some reason. For the graphics, I'm using NEXXT with some Python scripts and Photoshop. For coding assistance, I know I can always count on my buddy ChatGPT (GPT4) and the NESDev community.
How long do you think development is going to take?
If I manage to complete the game engine before the end of the year, I'd like to release it in the summer of 2024. I spend most of my time coding, but when I can, I really enjoy playing Micro Mages and From Below.
CHECK OUT THE DEMO VIA: