What New Game do you want developed for the Amstrad if the option was there?

[Joseman]

Do you have any proof that 90% of CPC owners have a memory expansion or did you just pull this figure out of the air.

Do you read the same forum than I?

Toto and prodatron some time told us the units sold of SF2 and X-mem, HUNDREDS...

[TFM]

here in spain i go to sites called "rastro" i've bought docens of 6128 for 5 euros each one, you are relly kidding right?

Well, 5 Euros are 1-2 pints of beer! It's a personal decision. *duck and away*

Come on guys, instead of making the next RAM wars we really should make a game! I got an idea:

This will be a multiplayer game using the MultiPlay and the SymbOS network features. Gamers can belong to two groups: i) You are the tough 464 only fighter using 464 keyboards to chop your enemies. ii) You are the X-MEM user firing small expansion cards at the enemy.


Game set: *MATCH*

[Prodatron]

So at least more than 300 CPC users got a 512KB Ram expansion during the last 10 years Sounds a little bit strange, if someone wants a 64K game only.

My dream was always an RTS, especially a Warcraft 1 or 2 clone for the CPC.
As they did it on the Spectrum...

...it should be possible on the CPC somehow as well. Maybe I have time for this in 10 years or so

[Puresox]

I see what Chinny hill is saying , What I am after for this game is something that is going to reach the most and gonna show what the standard 128k CPC's can do , so I'd rather get the casual retro computer user to have a look at what the Amstrad is all about . Having a game which is maxed out is only gonna support the speccy and C64 fanboys argument that , the CPC is lacking and can only compete with extras under the bonnet.




Oh and who are the programmers coders, graphics guys , who may be putting there skills to use? What are your opinions on it all?

[||C|-|E||]

Well... I think that there is something between a completely pimped CPC 6128 Plus and a vanilla 464. In 2015 I do not think that is unreasonable at all to target at least 128KB and a 720KB disc drive. Let´s be honest, maybe not everybody has every hardware piece but how many users are still using a standard 464, as it was in 1984, on a regular basis? Many developers were targeting 128 KB back in the days, it does not seem very logic to go for the most basic setup now.

[Carnivius]

Let´s be honest, maybe not everybody has every hardware piece but how many users are still using a standard 464, as it was in 1984, on a regular basis?


Ahem *raises hand*



why is this forum doing weird things.  A blank image square keeps appearing and messing up my quoting.
won't even let me fix it with an edit.

[||C|-|E||]

OK, you are one of them! 

[Puresox]

....

[Carnivius]

@Puresox  you having the quoting strangeness too? 

[Prodatron]

You should never quote [[C|-|E]] messages, as his nickname is confusing the BBC code handling 

[||C|-|E||]

Yup, it seems to be mi nick´s fault 

[Nich]

I'm not agree with this, just ask for the sales of x-mem, the sales of Symbiface II and other mem expansions, 80%-90% of actual cpc users have this expansions...

I don't own any of them - yet. I may consider buying an X-MEM at some point, though...

Is just silly to ask for a 64k's game nowadays, if you think that 64k's  is ok, then, you ask for a 464 version of the game, I suposse that you will not use any disc solution for the game then... and wait 10 minutes every time to load the game and 5 minutes for every level...

Who said that any new 64K game had to be a multi-loader?

[zeropolis79]

I'd love to see a CPC version of Where Time Stood Still..

[Nich]

If you want to make a game for just you, then go ahead. If you want to make a game which everyone can enjoy then think again.

It's far more of a technical achievement to program something for all but can still take advantage of improved hardware than just to program a game only a few people can run.

I agree totally. One of the reasons I was so impressed with CNGSoft's version of Bubble Bobble is that, despite the sometimes flickery sprites, he managed to squeeze the entire game into 64K of memory, in a single load, and make it compatible with a standard CPC464.

I see nothing wrong with writing a new game that will work on 64K machines. If our favourite CPC games from the 1980s and early 1990s ran in 64K, then there's no reason why today's CPC fans should somehow be prevented or discouraged from doing so.

[Carnivius]

I agree totally. One of the reasons I was so impressed with CNGSoft's version of Bubble Bobble is that, despite the sometimes flickery sprites, he managed to squeeze the entire game into 64K of memory, in a single load, and make it compatible with a standard CPC464.

I see nothing wrong with writing a new game that will work on 64K machines. If our favourite CPC games from the 1980s and early 1990s ran in 64K, then there's no reason why today's CPC fans should somehow be prevented or discouraged from doing so.

And I have enjoyed running that much improved version of Bubble Bobble often on my 464.   Thanks again CNGSoft for righting what once went wrong.    

[Puresox]

@Puresox  you having the quoting strangeness too? 

Well sort of , I was editing a previous post ,and somehow it posted my alterations as  another reply, so I had to delete all the post and put dotted lines cos I had to have something written. The system wouldn't allow me to delete the post . If you can understand what I mean?!?

[cpc4eva]

i understand the discussion and the debate and its a damn healthy one and that and i love reading through it just fantastic....

i just hope the thread doesn't get bogged down in one aspect or another....

after all build it and they will come.....

meaning that if this is a crowd funded / Kick starter project then it really doesn't matter what type of game or what type of format be it 64k, 128k, cpc plus, 512k etc etc the whole point of a crowd funded / kick starter program is to get it backed and the project developed.

If you look at the usual crowd funded / kick starter projects they have pledges of different tiers for example then if you pledge $20 ( i dont have the pound or euro sign on my keyboard) then you get a 64K tape version if you pledge $30 you get 2 x 64k tapes, if you pledge $40 you get a 128k disk version and so on and so on....

If the crowd funded / kick starter project reaches stretch goal one you get a free poster with your purchase if it reaches stretch goal 2 you get a poster and t-shirt etc etc etc

food for thought 

[Lazy Dude]

dammit, I'm voting for a 64k poster then!!!

[Nich]

Further to my previous posts - I've also seen a few rather good Spectrum games over the last few years and I don't have a problem with having CPC versions of these games - although obviously I would like to see the graphics redrawn in MODE 0 or MODE 1 with multi-coloured sprites!

Again, a lot of well known CPC games from software houses such as Ocean, US Gold, Virgin Games, Gremlin Graphics and Hi-Tec Software were based on the Spectrum version, even though they may not look like blatant Spectrum ports.

If the source code is available for these newer Spectrum games then it should (hopefully) take less time to convert them to the CPC than to rewrite a completely new game from scratch.

[chinnyhill10]

If you are going Kickstarter you MUST hit the widest possible audience. People need to be able to play it and buy physical copies.


If you want a reminder of what happens to a CPC game aimed at a limited hardware spec, look at Fluff. Plus only. Sold about 3 copies didn't it despite getting on the cover of Amstrad Action?


I don't see why people aren't simply saying "lets do a Prehistotik 2 and give something to everyone". Seems more like a small niche want a game for their own setup and nobody elses. And lets remember how well the Amiga community did with that kind of thinking in late 90's!

[Brian Beuken]

Given the way games have moved forward in the last 25 years it makes more sense to me to make something new that incorporates some of the new gameplay ideas.

It has for me been very sobering to see the videos of some of my old games...they are it has to be said, of their time...incredibly primitive compared to stuff I did 10, 15 and 20 years later... But there were genuine reasons for that, not just my limits as a jobbing coder, the machines were very limited to what they could do.
Imagine ..these days I can do real time raytracing code in HD, on an CPC It would take a day to do 1 frame.... The power of the machine creates massive limits on what you can do..

I voted for an original game, hopefully one that puts gameplay and fun ahead of tech eye candy... I'd also say 128K is the way to go, with options to make use of the 512K if its there... since the Z80 actually only sees 64K at a time (and 32K is going to be screens) the actual usage of memory tends to be for data storage, 512K only really gives you faster access to it, though there are clever ways to use it. If you're going to make a game for the market, target the most common system. That would seem to be the 6128.

[STE86]

a couple of observations based on my involvement with the c64 games scene these days:

1) The KS situations is precarious, Ghosts n Goblins arcade which I am sure you understand is a major c64 release has a download log on disk of 4k downloads. Now IF such a game was sold, experience says that you could expect a conversion rate of 10%, so thats 400 folks willing to pay money for a major new highly requested game on a format whose users vastly outnumber the cpc. You can see where I'm going with this? The numbers just dont add up.

Also on the KS front, ANY attempt to reboot, redux or generally tart up an existing IP for CPC is likely to end in a cease and desist order at best, a lawsuit at worst. You simply cant just KS somebody else's  IP and expect to get away with it. It's precisely the reason why Prince of Persia, Commando arcade, GnG arcade and Donkey Kong jr have all been freebies on the c64.

2) Pitching hardware requirements at the lowest common denominator I think will just run any new games slap into the same brick wall that saw you have some fairly shoddy conversions in the 80s. Its pointless looking at speccy stuff and wanting 16 colour graphics and expecting it to run in 64k because you know full well that if the speccy version fills 48k then the graphics being exponentially bigger on the cpc will carry the damned thing over the 64k boundary with ease. Take Dropzone for instance which I mentioned in an earlier post, a 2 offset landscape the size of the c64/atari in 16 colours required to give a 25hz scroll at the same rate as the c64 and atari a8 versions would cost 2x13k just for the small strip of background data. contrasting with the approx 4k required on the c64 version.

I think to get the sort of games that you have an expectation of, you must also realise that 128k disk should really be your target format. In the same manner that c64 thinking is coming round to large capacity cartridge being the format of choice.

[Morri]

I voted for a new, original game and 128Kb (512Kb would be cool as I own a X-Mem but I didn't want to seem greedy  ).
I just feel new ideas, gameplay elements and fresh graphics / sound just make for a exciting game when put into the hands of an enthusiastic and capable coding team.
I just want to play fun games on my CPC (whether old or new) and drink beer while doing it and I personally think the best productions for any game are when the team making the game are doing the same thing. (they can choose which beverage fills said void.) 

As soon as pressure, expectations and limitations start playing on the teams minds, products don't get finished or they're released in a stripped down not as we envisioned version and nobody wants that. I say assemble a team who will be able to work together for the long haul and who have the same vision of delivering a high quality product.

So, in saying all that please make a warcraft RTS game.  (kidding)... Hey who threw that...

[MacDeath]

gotta remember no every computer specific games are arcade styled.

a 512k RAM RPG could really show what was missed by CPC, a nice turn based Might and Magic 3 style game with campaign editor...

concerning arcade games, 128k RAM+disk or even 512k cartridges for GX4000/PLUS is where it's at.

just to have multiloading 128k is quite enough for great graphic variety and tricks to get faster access to graphics (pre shifted sprites, no need to try to fit into only 64 k with half of it used by screen RAM... no need to compress datas...)

Also a nice 1vs 1 fight game à la street fighter. big horizontal full screen can render the use to scroll useless and No Exit was such a missed opportunity.

used a lot of demo tricks, though.

Barbarian remastered into Death Sword 128k was quite a fun way to get sweet revenge on the past.

with a few extra boobs, yet no 1vs 1 mode... 
also sadly the sprites are still encoded in 2bpp but yeah it was jsut a patch/mod after all.
Same with Barbarian2...
could have been so much better on PLUS provided proper "port" and at least 256k Cartridge.

some french games could get some almost 16 bit feeling...

Night hunter, thargan, back to the golden age (sort of games in the same vein as barbarian2 actually...) had quite an Atari ST / PC CGA feeling...
! No longer available
! No longer available
! No longer available
with proper RPG mechanics and a "campaign map" in the same fashion as Super mario 3 on NES... on  such games could be really great...
Also Wonderboy 2.

or Moonstone !!!
or North and south.

all those games should get "original clones" with brand new theme but in the same vein.


also to try some custom controllers could be nice.

GX4000/PLUS can cumulate the digital joysticks and Analog port into nice multi button/D-pad controllers.
And an extra joystick card is under dev.

Gryzor like games or Xybots like games could also get huge tries.

Xybot was really nice in the concept.
The CPC version is even not the worse one actually.
compare to c64 and Speccy...

C64


CPC :


Speccy :


So just imagine xybot with the corridor's graphics of Gryzor...


And playable in network... yeah ok...


Pick N'Pile with a proper mouse ?

[seanb]

[youtube width=640 height=480][/youtube]


Something GTA-esque?