Xenomorph - Gameplay Amiga

[XeNoMoRPH]

Xenomorph is a new game for Commodore Amiga made in Redpill. It was presented at PosadasParty2025 in the HomebrewGames category.

I wish I had this game on Amstrad

https://demozoo.org/productions/374194/

[Gryzor]

Hmmm reminds me of a certain other title... But looks really nice! 

Indeed I think it would work on the CPC...

[andycadley]

Why is it so dark? It's almost impossible to see what on earth is actually going on.

[cwpab]

FUN FACT: An alien species capable of building a spaceship more advanced than ours would never look like a giant insect, because evolution makes sure to save the maximum resources, and creatures such as that would never need the brainpower to build those machines, as they would basically kill every other creature they encountered without much philosophy involved. (Big brains use a huge amount of energy!)

A key moment in our evolution was the infamous "dinosaur meteor". Before this, mammals were not really a big thing on Earth. They were small creatures, hiding in caves. Many looked like mice. After this spectacular and deadly event, mammals had a competitive advantage, they were better prepared to survive the new environment.  The golden age of mammals started. And their capable briains evolved more and more and got bigger and bigger.

It's safe to say any planet wihout this disruptive event, that basically favours small creatures over big predators, but wihout killing off all life or totally resetting land life (forcing it to come back from the sea), will never generate advanced intelligence or technology. Evolution in Earth shows that big predators can live for dozens and dozens of millions of years, even hundreds, while feeling pretty cool about it, dominating the planet and without any possibility or hint of advanced intelligence thriving anywhere.

In a sense, we could even call our advanced intelligence "anti natural" due to the unusual and catastrophic circumstances needed for it to flourish, and we now know how fast it takes for it to destroy the ecosystems of one planet.

[Gryzor]

So Alien never happened?

[andycadley]

So Alien never happened?

Technically the Aliens never actually built any spaceships. The wrecked craft with the eggs in it was built by the Engineers, who are an entirely different alien creature.

[norecess464]

Why is it so dark? It's almost impossible to see what on earth is actually going on.

Yes I saw the video and really, it's super dark.
But given that it's a game about Aliens, the low brightness is probably intentional... Playing it in a dark room at night might actually be the intended experience.

On a side note, I don't quite get why this game is AGA-only (Amiga 1200). It's just a multi-directional scrolling game with sprites... even a GX-4000 can handle that without trouble!

[andycadley]

Why is it so dark? It's almost impossible to see what on earth is actually going on.

Yes I saw the video and really, it's super dark.
But given that it's a game about Aliens, the low brightness is probably intentional... Playing it in a dark room at night might actually be the intended experience.

I get the whole "it's Aliens, it should be spooky" vibe, but that's just ridiculous. What's the point of having graphics at all if you can't even see them? You might just as well have a black screen and just occasionally pop up a message telling you that you got eaten.

[lmimmfn]

Why is it so dark? It's almost impossible to see what on earth is actually going on.

Yes I saw the video and really, it's super dark.
But given that it's a game about Aliens, the low brightness is probably intentional... Playing it in a dark room at night might actually be the intended experience.

On a side note, I don't quite get why this game is AGA-only (Amiga 1200). It's just a multi-directional scrolling game with sprites... even a GX-4000 can handle that without trouble!

It's done in Redpill game creator, all the game creator engines(Scorpion etc.) have higher requirements than banging the metal, sorta like UE5 games and running like absolute crap on even high end PCs.

[norecess464]

Ah! That's nice and I understand. Between "nothing" and "a game that runs with special requirements", I chose the second option!

[Nich]

On a side note, I don't quite get why this game is AGA-only (Amiga 1200). It's just a multi-directional scrolling game with sprites... even a GX-4000 can handle that without trouble!

I guess your next project after SonicGX is released will be a conversion of Xenomorph to the GX4000, then?

[Prodatron]

FUN FACT: An alien species capable of building a spaceship more advanced than ours would never look like a giant insect, because evolution makes sure to save the maximum resources, and creatures such as that would never need the brainpower to build those machines, as they would basically kill every other creature they encountered without much philosophy involved. (Big brains use a huge amount of energy!)

A key moment in our evolution was the infamous "dinosaur meteor". Before this, mammals were not really a big thing on Earth. They were small creatures, hiding in caves. Many looked like mice. After this spectacular and deadly event, mammals had a competitive advantage, they were better prepared to survive the new environment.  The golden age of mammals started. And their capable briains evolved more and more and got bigger and bigger.

It's safe to say any planet wihout this disruptive event, that basically favours small creatures over big predators, but wihout killing off all life or totally resetting land life (forcing it to come back from the sea), will never generate advanced intelligence or technology. Evolution in Earth shows that big predators can live for dozens and dozens of millions of years, even hundreds, while feeling pretty cool about it, dominating the planet and without any possibility or hint of advanced intelligence thriving anywhere.

In a sense, we could even call our advanced intelligence "anti natural" due to the unusual and catastrophic circumstances needed for it to flourish, and we now know how fast it takes for it to destroy the ecosystems of one planet.

I partly agree with you, partly disagree. Perhaps you know that even in the Permian, our direct mammalian ancestors were already very large (a few meters) and dominated this period – even above the sauropsids.

The Permian-Triassic catastrophe then significantly decimated the mammalian ancestors and favored the evolution of dinosaurs. They were also quite intelligent, as can be seen in birds, the theropods that have survived until now, the most species-rich class of land vertebrates - today!

I cannot confirm the theory that very large apex predators fundamentally prevent the evolution of intelligent "smaller" creatures, because even in the Mesozoic, there were already very intelligent species like the Troodontidae.

Either way, it is extremely fascinating why it was ultimately the dry-nosed monkeys that were capable of building spaceships and understanding the universe more and more.

[cwpab]

FUN FACT: An alien species capable of building a spaceship more advanced than ours would never look like a giant insect, because evolution makes sure to save the maximum resources, and creatures such as that would never need the brainpower to build those machines, as they would basically kill every other creature they encountered without much philosophy involved. (Big brains use a huge amount of energy!)

A key moment in our evolution was the infamous "dinosaur meteor". Before this, mammals were not really a big thing on Earth. They were small creatures, hiding in caves. Many looked like mice. After this spectacular and deadly event, mammals had a competitive advantage, they were better prepared to survive the new environment.  The golden age of mammals started. And their capable briains evolved more and more and got bigger and bigger.

It's safe to say any planet wihout this disruptive event, that basically favours small creatures over big predators, but wihout killing off all life or totally resetting land life (forcing it to come back from the sea), will never generate advanced intelligence or technology. Evolution in Earth shows that big predators can live for dozens and dozens of millions of years, even hundreds, while feeling pretty cool about it, dominating the planet and without any possibility or hint of advanced intelligence thriving anywhere.

In a sense, we could even call our advanced intelligence "anti natural" due to the unusual and catastrophic circumstances needed for it to flourish, and we now know how fast it takes for it to destroy the ecosystems of one planet.

I partly agree with you, partly disagree. Perhaps you know that even in the Permian, our direct mammalian ancestors were already very large (a few meters) and dominated this period – even above the sauropsids.

The Permian-Triassic catastrophe then significantly decimated the mammalian ancestors and favored the evolution of dinosaurs. They were also quite intelligent, as can be seen in birds, the theropods that have survived until now, the most species-rich class of land vertebrates - today!

I cannot confirm the theory that very large apex predators fundamentally prevent the evolution of intelligent "smaller" creatures, because even in the Mesozoic, there were already very intelligent species like the Troodontidae.

Either way, it is extremely fascinating why it was ultimately the dry-nosed monkeys that were capable of building spaceships and understanding the universe more and more.

Excellent point! I didn't know about that.

Judging by evidence, my understanding is that the "mammal overdose" after the meteor was so intense that basically humans needed that new, safer environment to flourish.

Because otherwise predators were always going to be there. Dinosaurs had been there for 200 years!

Many other mamal and even avian species are very intelligent. Dolphins and chimpanzees have been found to use "words" to communicate, only they sound like noises to us.

Many species are intelligent enough to "have fun". Even bees have been found "playing" with some balls, interacting with them with no feeding purposes, just to feel the thrill of being rolled a bit with them. And crows are experts on these arts, they even take turns to do crazy shit on leaves an fountains.

But relatively high intelligence does not always evolve in technology making species. For starters, it's safe to assume none of the planets covered by water would have advanced civilizations, only dolphin-like creatures. The reason, of course, being the lack of hands and oxygen to burn stuff.

Same with birds: they can be very intelligent, but they also have a natural protection by flying, so they don't need to build tools.

For technology to appear, you need a creature that lives on the land, has hands, and has a relatively soft body that needs to be protected by more than genetics provide.

For this reason, I think only mammals will ever create technology. And among the mammals, the Permian creatures you mentioned, while really cute and a "hidden gem" for many like me, seemed to be surviving by "adapting, being fast and getting into holes", as this video states at around the 12:25 mark.

Still, it would be cool to see other humanoid species from other planets and who knows, maybe they're not mammals. It's ironic that the series "V", with all its campiness, was more realistic than many others when it comes to alien species depiction: humanoids, but based on a parallel evolution.

[cwpab]

I must apologize to fans of the franchise Alien... Honestly, I totally assumed the monster aliens were the ones building the ships. Apparently, these monsters act as they should in this universe: they are savage and don't have technology.

Still, multiple other movies have monster-like aliens who build spaceships (and of course, with a more advanced technology than humans, because it's always more fun this way).

I love the first movie of Alien, and I respect it much more now that I know this scientifically accurate detail.

Sci-fi movies are great because they make us talk about science. I mean, as a kid we just wanted the good guys to win. But the older we get, the more we realize the funniest thing about these movies is usually the philosophical debates and scientific level of accuracy, and the worlds they help us imagine.

Of course, you can't get too serious with things like artificial gravity, which is only an excuse to avoid filming with actors hanging from ropes.

Still, I wish sci-fi movies were a bit more realistic in general. For example, can you name a movie set in Mars where gravity is 0.38G?

[Gryzor]

Arthur Clarke did that, and -while I absolutely love some of his work- his books are probably the most dry in the world of sci Fi, his heroes being totally wooden and unable to relate to. 

There's such a thing as suspension of disbelief in every kind of fiction. 

Is PK Dick realistic? That's laughable. Is he someone I wish I could kiss the shoes of? Absolutely.

[cwpab]

Oh sure, I enjoyed the series Electric Dreams based on Philip K Dick's stories. And some of them were just magic-fiction, like a mysterious station that appears and dissappears. It's clear raising up debates about society is more important than scientific accuracy.

But with so many movies exploring other planets, alien races, sometimes very close planets... Scientific accuracy also plays a key role. For example, living in Mars would be pretty chaotic even after the terraforming due to 0.38G, so all stories about Mars are rendered impossible after this quick (and common knowledge) though. Talk about lack of suspension of disbelief there for someone who knows a little bit about gravity.

It's funny how things much more complicated, like hybernating for 300 years or reaching close to light speeds, which are both probably impossible, is often made more believable.

Oh and yes, this game is very dark. I'd also add the option of being the alien.

[Gryzor]

Eh, the series you mentioned was mediocre at best - started watching it again a month ago (coincidence!) and couldn't get past the second episode. I was talking about the books...