Here are the homebrew extras for issue 236 of Retro Gamer, including links to the games mentioned and extra interview content.
Hardware hacker Eran Feit – Atari 2600 motion controls: https://bit.ly/atari-hands
Scorpion Engine
English Amiga Board thread https://bit.ly/eab-scorpion
The engine and example games can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/scorpion-github.
Duckstroma (ABNarwhal)
https://narwhal.itch.io/duckstroma - free demo, paid download of full Amiga game
Super Delivery Boy (Neeso Games)
Maria Renard’s Revenge (DomKid)
https://z-team.itch.io/maria-renards-revenge - demo (A1200 or CD32)
Erik Hogan interview:
Q: How long have you been programming for Amiga?
I think about four or five years, though I still honestly feel like a beginner. I primarily code in Blitz, though parts of the Scorpion Engine (in particular, almost all of the blitter code) is coded in pure ASM to squeeze a little more performance out, and conversion to ASM is an ongoing process. When I started in Blitz on Amiga, I was already proficient in later versions of the language that were released on PC (Monkey, Blitz 3D and Blitz Max), so it was fairly straightforward for me to get into the groove of making an Amiga game.
Q: What made you start work on a game engine?
There were a couple of reasons. One is that John Tsakiris, who I've collaborated with on many projects, suggested we could help out with a conversion of Patrick Nevian's action RPG series "Tales of Gorluth" from Backbone into a faster, more modern Amiga game engine. The other is that John and I required an easier development system for our long-term RPG shooter project AlarCity, we had developed a couple of prototypes of that game that I was fairly pleased with, but development was extremely difficult because every part was hard-coded, and the process didn't allow us to rapidly prototype and test ideas. While those two projects were the starting point of Scorpion, and they're both intended to be finished in Scorpion, the engine has evolved to support the development of all kinds of games.
I use Unity in my day job, and I've always liked how Unity allows programmers and artists to work together - a programmer can script components, and then the artists and designers could use those components to create levels on their own independently. When I was in my early teens, I was hooked on "Klik N Play", which made the development of games as fun as playing the games themselves. Scorpion itself is based around lessons I've learned from both of those game development platforms.
Q: Was it important to target the unexpanded Amiga?
Targeting an A500 with 512K of chip ram and 512K of slow ram was important because for many Amiga users, that's the Amiga they have, that setup was capable of playing almost every non-AGA game. The Scorpion Engine can be used to create games for that target, so long as everything is carefully planned - the number of bitplanes, the number of objects on the screen at once, whether hardware sprites are used, whether multiplexing tricks are used, whether it's in 50HZ or 25HZ mode and so on. For some Scorpion developers, they do take into account those limitations in order to craft a game that runs well on a typical A500. For others, they don't want to restrict how their game looks and plays, so they craft games that require an 020 processor and fast ram.
Q: What are the main functions that make the Scorpion Engine ideal for writing games?
Scorpion is designed around three key principles.
- Performance. There's always going to be some overhead with a game engine versus hardcoding everything in ASM, but optimization is important and an ongoing process.
- Flexibility. The scripting language built into Scorpion is powerful enough to add almost any required gameplay feature one way or another.
- Modern tools and ease of development. The current version of the editor runs on modern Windows computers and can use PNG files for art created with any modern art package, as well as levels using the popular "Tiled" map editor tool. The editor itself is designed so that it can be used proficiently by both technical and non-technical users.
Q: What features are available to AGA machines? Scorpion has always supported 24-bit (16 million colour) palettes, which automatically degrade to 12-bit (4096 colour) palettes on OCS machines. Fairly recently, we've added the ability to have larger sprites on AGA, larger number of bitplanes (up to 256 colours), as well as some AGA-specific palette tricks for sprites. Q: What have been your favourite projects so far based on Scorpion Engine? That's a little tough to answer! I believe the largest and most impressive Scorpion Engine in the world at the moment is Mixel's "Creeping Me Out: Hex Night", which is an expansive Metroidvania game. The demo released a year ago was twenty minutes in length, and that's only a tiny fraction of what the game is and what it'll eventually become. Of my own projects, I rather enjoyed working on the sample game "Amigo the Fox" (itself a conversion of the homebrew DOS Mario game from the 90s). From games that have been finished and launched, Green Beret by Dante Mendes is an excellent full-length conversion that runs well on lower-end Amigas, and took third place in the AmiGameJam competition. Q: What games are you looking forward to, or what style of game would you like to see someone tackle with the engine? Other than Mixel's game above, there's the platformer Duckstroma by Ultranarwhal, owl-em-up Morci by Czorny, Ruff N Tumble clone Lost Asylum by Raptor games, platformer Super Delivery Boy by Neeso games, the hack-and-slash Primal Blade by Dante Mendes, amongst numerous ports by developers like AcidBottle and DomKid, there's just too many to list. I'd like to see someone make a cute and light RPG platformer in Scorpion. Something like Shantae, or Touhou Luna Nights. Q: What are your current plans for adding features? I'm taking it one step at a time, trying to get an update out the door every month or so with at least one major new feature. The current plan is to add export support for Windows and Mac (using the FS-UAE emulator and the copyright-free AROS ROMs), as well as the A500 mini. The Scorpion Engine Patreon allows backers to vote on upcoming features, so I'm also using that to guide my priority list. Q: The engine is currently free to use in freeware – will you be working towards a paid version for commercial use? The engine is technically free both to use and to sell, but my preference would be that - if you make money from Scorpion, that you help us by backing the Patreon. The Supporter, Gold and Ultimate editions are available through the Patreon with different splash screens, and the Ultimate Edition features the ability to use your own splash screen. Publishers intending to do a large boxed run should get in touch with us directly to discuss a special arrangement. Q: Where is the best place to get help and advice with developing in the engine? The thread on the English Amiga Board under the "Amiga Games Factory" section has always been the best place to get help with developing Scorpion games. The community is large, very friendly, and with an increasing number of Scorpion Engine veterans willing to help out any newcomers. There is also a Discord server that's currently very new, the link to join that is available on request.
Mixel (Michael Dawes) interview:
Q. How long have you been programming Amiga?
Just under 2 years. Though I used to attempt it as a kid in AMOS. (and fail spectacularly)
Q. What made you choose to use Scorpion Engine?
Ease, power, and how helpful Erik has been! I’d tried a lot of similar “easy” systems, over the years like Klik & play, Power Game Factory, etc, but none for Amiga. I wasn’t originally planning on making Amiga games at all, just making things that looked like Amiga games. I'm really just lucky Scorpion started evolving when it did, as I realised I could make Amiga games as easily, if not more easily than PC ones, which was really appealing!
Q. What are your favourite features?
Too many to list! But the way it uses Tiled and PNGs, allowing you to use faster, modern workflows (I draw a lot of my graphics on an iPad!). Also, the scripting language is incredibly easy to use. Before Scorpion, the most complicated language I could use was HTML. It’s about that easy. In terms of creativity though - the parallax system is so much fun to tinker with and can be bent in really fun ways to achieve striking results.
Q. What would you add to the engine?
Mouse support is what I’m looking forward to most.
Q. What are your favourite games or demos created with the engine so far?
Probably Ultranarwhal’s Duckstroma and Neeso’s Super Delivery Boy - and I'm amazed by some of the stuff Dante Mendes is doing. His Castlevania port is probably my most anticipated project.
Q. How much more do you have to do on Creeping Me Out?
I’m over half done in terms of content. Most optimistic scenario - I complete it in late ’22 but it’ll most likely be some time in ’23. I have a lot of levels, boss fights and weapon upgraded to make still!
Q. Can you describe what the game is about and how it will play?
It’s a single-player plot-driven action platformer with big exploration-heavy levels. You control a pair of friends trying to save their town from an ancient curse. It handles somewhere between Turrican and Castlevania 3, with lots of secrets, alternate paths, etc.
News Bytes
Mega Drive: Final Fight Ultimate trailer at https://bit.ly/md-ffultimate
Amstrad GX4000: Blinky’s Scary School https://bit.ly/blinky-gx4000
Atari XL: A brilliant new conversion of Moon Cresta from Gary Ryan, requiring the VXBE add-on. https://bit.ly/mooncresta-vbxe
PICO-8: Downstream Dream https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=48081
Zoo Keeper https://pahammond.itch.io/zoo-keeper
Tutankham https://pahammond.itch.io/tutankham
VIC-20: Get More Diamonds requiring 35K expansion https://reset64-magazine.itch.io/get-more-diamonds
ZX Spectrum: Jonathan Cauldwell released a preview video of Arcade Game Designer 5, the game creation utility for 128K Spectrums. https://bit.ly/agd5-preview
Mazania: Mage Rage Part II https://snagultoof.itch.io/mazania
Paleto Jones 2 - https://bit.ly/paletojones2
Amiga: REDPILL Game Creator updated to v0.910 https://bit.ly/redpill0910
Various: Hyperblast, the sequel to horizontally-scrolling Amiga shoot ‘em up Inviyya from Tigerskunk, is planned to release on Amiga and Neo-Geo. https://tigerskunk.itch.io/hyperblaster
Silly Venture 2022 Summer Edition: marking 50 years of Atari in Gdansk, Poland from 12th-14th August, with game coding competitions across multiple formats. https://sillyventure.eu/en/
Champion Coder - Jon Cortazar
[Info]
From: Spain
Websites: https://www.relevovideogames.com/
Format: MSX
Recent games: Relevo’s Snowboarding, Ninja Savior, Invasion of the Zombie Monsters
Developing: Los Tempos del Fuego, British Bob vs. Mr Cracksman
Jon Cortazar of Relevo is an enthusiastic fan of the MSX.
Q. When did you start programming for 8-bit machines?
When I was 8 my father brought an MSX home. In those early days, my parents bought us lots of books and magazines with BASIC listings, some of them being games. So my brothers and I started to write them and shortly after we started making our own little games. Later on, in 2003 I attended a RU MSX fair in Barcelona and nostalgia hit strong, so when I came back home, I started pixelling some projects and learning Z80 assembler.
Q. Why did you form Relevo?
I joined the MSX homebrew team Karoshi Corp led by Eduardo Robsy in 2003 and took part in 10 games in around 5 years, some of them in the gfx department and some others creating practically every aspect of the project. In 2009 I started Relevo with the game La Corona Encantada for MSX and ZX Spectrum, with the vision of exploring different platforms with ad hoc teams per project, and a couple of years later Relevo was founded as a limited company that focuses on modern platforms, although we still keep our retro productions alive.
Q. What is your development setup for retro games?
I cross-develop on a PC running Windows. For the coding part, I use Notepad++ and asMSX assembler and on the graphics side, I use Adobe Photoshop with PCX2MSXi and lots of custom tools for bitmap conversion. Music and SFX are handled by excellent tools WYZtracker and WYZPlayer.
Q. You support the MSX – why do you like this format?
I love it because is the one with which I drew my first pixel and wrote my first line of code. But it is not just about nostalgia, I also love how the system manages graphics the console way, with tile-based graphic modes and hardware sprites and the general look and feel of the Japanese MSX games.
Q. Invasion of the Zombie Monsters is an impressive multi-format release, how did that come about?
Right after releasing La Corona Encantada, which was a homage to the classic Spanish platformers for the Spectrum, I wanted to make something more impressive and decided to go with a scrolling run 'n gun game. Taking Dinamic's A.M.C. as a reference for the engine, I started to make stress tests on MSX to optimize it as much as possible and finally we get the game done in about 5 months for both the MSX and ZX Spectrum, launching in RetroMadrid 2010 with cool physical editions produced by Matra just like we did with La Corona. The Amstrad CPC version came 3 years later: it started as an exercise to explore that particular computer, but it became a great port thanks to the cooperation and support of great developers for the Amstrad scene. Also, just like legendary illustrator Azpiri was part of the development of La Corona Encantada, this time Gominolas, excellent music composer of lots of Topo Soft games back in the 80s, joined Invasion of the Zombie Monsters with an awesome soundtrack.
Q. Does your love of 8-bit influence your games for modern machines?
Absolutely. One of our first titles for smartphones in 2012, British Bob Jumping Craze, is a casual adaptation of our MSX platformer British Bob, covered in Retro Gamer 74. Our first game for consoles, Baboon! (PS4/PS Vita) is based on an early concept we did for MSX. And our latest project that has been recently funded on Kickstarter, Bullfighter NEON, is a love letter to early Neo Geo future-sports games. I mean, although we can't make games for retro platforms for a living, the retro roots of Relevo are always present somehow in our products, being they for vintage platforms or not.
Q. What are you currently working on for retro machines?
Although nowadays we are focused on developing other projects for modern platforms, we have a couple of active projects for retro machines: the comeback of our beloved gentleman is the first of them, this time on a crossover with a thief that's part of Relevo's retro Universe. British Bob VS Mr Cracksman is a fun action platformer that will be released in 2023 for the MSX. Our second project is the sequel of our first title, La Corona Encantada, announced years ago and delayed for different reasons. Right after the new British Bob, we will focus on finishing this one, as we really want to do it, and also fans are asking for it for ages.
Q. Are there any retro/indie companies you admire, or would like to work with?
Imho anyone making new things for retro machines has my respect. It is hard and you use your spare time for this kind of creation, so kudos to everyone reading this and making homebrew for vintage platforms. Anyway, if I must point out a few I'd say Retroworks and The Mojon Twins in Spain, and internationally Zosya Entertainment for the awesome use of the ZX Spectrum, and Sarah Jane Avory for her amazing C64 productions.
Q. What would be your dream project for retro machines?
Mmm... it's hard to tell. A 2D fighter in the style of Street Fighter 2 would be definitely one of my choices. A retro game that's connected somehow with a game for modern machines could be a fun experience to explore too. Too many ideas and too little time!
Q. Have you thought about making physical copies for sale?
Indeed all our retro games can be downloaded for free on relevo.itch.io but we always create physical editions thanks to our producer Matra. As of today all of our physical products are sold out, so users will need to wait for new games or possible remakes of old ones.
Q. Will you try to expand on to other retro formats?
Yes, if I find time to do it. I already have a working version of our MSX game Ninja Savior ported on the classic Gameboy but as of now, it lacks music. I'd also love to explore other Z80-based machines such as the Sega Master System, and more complex machines such as de Sega CD or the Neo Geo. Time will tell!
DATABURST
Miner 2019’er
Format: C64 - PAL & NTSC (also with C64 Mini/THEC64)
Credits: Psytronik (Daniel Avery, Jason Page, Mike Robertson, Trevor Storey)
Price: Digital $4.99 / Physical from £9.99-£39.99
[Score] OVERALL: 69’er%
Deva
Format: ZX Spectrum
Credits: Furillo Productions
Price: Name your own price download
[Score] OVERALL: 75%
IndestructoTank!
Format: Game Boy
Credits: Antony Lavelle / Incube8 Games
Price: Digital $4.99 / Boxed cartridge $34.99
[Score] OVERALL: 71%
PROCESSING
Amstrad Toki conversion from AmstradGGP - trailers for this and Mighty Street Fighter at http://www.amstradggp.com/
Knights & Slimes – C64 $2.99 or more, https://monteboyd.itch.io/knights-and-slimes