Additionally this https://www.apollo-computer.com/ (Vampire V4 is fully compatible to Amiga, is NOT based on Emulation - FPGA instead - and even adds features to the AGA Chipset - called SAGA Chipset then. In some ways it even delivers what Commodore promised for AAA. And yes, it can be bought in a retail store. Either as "Addon" on an existing Amiga (Turbo+Gfx Card principially) or as a standalone (it uses a CPU called 68080, which is a expansion to 68060). It is much more expensive than using a PiStorm Turbocard though, and slower than the PiStorm.
@slider1983 Amiga didn't die when Commodore did, neither for you nor other people. If Amiga died is not reliant on person. Either it died or it didn't. Actually it didn't. That people put their money into accelerator cards already happened during Commodore (due to always being unhappy with the lowend models Commodore put out - that the money was going towards GVP and Phase 5 instead of Commodore might of course have accelerated the end). 1998 the first PPC Accelerator Boards came out - Commodore was in the end talking about adopting PPC (or not, close before the end they talked about taking a different CPU Architecture, even throwing out AmigaOS compatibility for a gameconsole) - Phase 5 was actually DOING IT - admitted, first boards only arrived after Commodore was bancrupt already. People never ended using Amiga's though the number of people going to PC or Consoles increased. But the Amiga never died. I actually have seen (and worked on) - legally - the original source code of AmigaOS. The move to AmigaOS4 was a vast improvement. You needed tons of ancient tools to compile the original code, with lots of ASM at places where it was not needed (and using different Assemblers ^^). There was actually before OS4 came an inbetween version which completely compiled with gcc (no ASM) but still on a 68k (and before that a step which compiled on SAS/C). When you ask if Amiga died you do not ask the people who took a long break (though I myselves also had a 10 years break, but others didn't) - you ask those who continued to use AmigaOS.
Also note it would be weird if people who say "only original Commodore systems is fine" would embrace full-emulation-done-A1200-lookalikes while systems running AmigaOS4 come DIRECTLY from the AmigaOS sources and are much "closer" to the original - just developed and not stopped development. Makes no sense (though I will support all kinds of Amigas as I have been doing - my port of RetroArch to AmigaOS runs on AmigaOS4, MorphOS, AmigaOS 3.x WarpUP and AmigaOS 3.x 68k - possibly a future version also on AROS). But 68k can be problematic in the future. Remember 68k support on gcc might end at one point (PPC at one point might be also at that point, but we are still far from it, and the PPC gcc is very good).
@Daggot thanks a lot for your comments. And yes I also sometimes Wonder on „what could have been“. And yes I receive royalties on sold copies though it is only a certain percentage of course (I get Most on boxed copy, less on digital copy and a minimal amount on copy included with THEA1200).
One has to say though while Amiga has „gone down“ after Commodore bancruptcy there have been a lot of Developments in recent years. PiStorm (funnily making A1200 the highend classic Amiga instead of A4000) which gives it modern Speed for 100-250 EUR (depending on Model), PowerPC systems (though not yet 100% sure if the new Mirari Board will support AmigaOS), Apollo Vampire (though that one has the problem that PiStorm goes after the same customers, cheaper and with higher Performance - but the SAGA chipset of it is more or less what people had hopef back then AAA would be- and probably more) - and a lot new software, especially games. Settlers 2 is not the only one and I not the only developer doing stuff (myselves I did ports of Heretic2, Quake2, Gorky17, and of Reimplementations of Baldur‘s Gate (GemRB) and Warcraft2 (Stratagus) - the last two only for PowerPC Amigas- 68k is much behind in devtools and libraries, it is much harder to do 68k ports and recently RetroArch (currently also only PowerPC version, though 68k version is still in Development- 68k RetroArch has really high requirements for 68k though, at Minimum a Pistorm4 for most cores….
@slider1983 well for me your comment on PowerPC was Hostile… my comment about "little known on Amiga" is not hostile. PowerPC was the main direction the Amiga was taking since 1998. So only if you know little about the Amiga you don't know that it is really one of the big directions of the Amiga. Instead of 68k vs. x86 it was now PPC vs. x86.
But as I said - in my ports I support all directions of AmigaOS.
@Daggot The problem is while YOU might not want Amiga to be something beyond A500, the people ACTUALLY USING Amigas want it to be. Many of them don't care for unexpanded A500s actually (I do not even know anyone with an unexpanded A500 and I am really big in the Amiga community - I am the author of the Settlers 2 port).
Also of course we did not CHOOSE to make it not run on an unexpanded A500 (and I also do not understand the problem - you can get a PiStorm expansion for 100 EUR - how many would not buy that expansion but buy a game for 50 EUR ??? Probably none). Anything below a 40 MHz 040 was just TOO SLOW. To a point that no matter of optimizations can help.
Someone no longer actively using an Amiga has as much say on what Amiga is and what direction it should take in the future, as people not owning a PC have on what operating system a PC should use. The people who actually use the system have the say...
The big talk there is not "use expansions or not", it is "use a PiStorm or a Vampire or a PowerPC System". True, many also still have 68030 accelerators, but the 030 was sadly to slow for this game.
@slider1983 Assuming you have either a 40 MHz 040/060 CPU Card in the A1200, or a PiStorm (PiStorm costs around 250 EUR - but not only this game profits of it) or a Tower solution with PCI PPC. Yes, it runs on an A1200.
@Fallingshadow Well, same here, it runs on a 40 MHz 040, runs better (higher res) on a 060, even better on a Vampire and best (highest resolution) on a PiStorm or AmigaOS 4 machine.
@slider1983 No, it doesn't. Remember many Amiga users left the "unmodified system" behind in the 1990s. And many also updated to PowerPC Amiga systems. Of course they would expect their systems to be supported. Also has to be mentioned that the developer (myselves) and the project manager (who was also the guy who thought first of contacting UbiSoft) are big fans of the PowerPC Amigas.
Comments 11
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
Additionally this https://www.apollo-computer.com/ (Vampire V4 is fully compatible to Amiga, is NOT based on Emulation - FPGA instead - and even adds features to the AGA Chipset - called SAGA Chipset then. In some ways it even delivers what Commodore promised for AAA. And yes, it can be bought in a retail store. Either as "Addon" on an existing Amiga (Turbo+Gfx Card principially) or as a standalone (it uses a CPU called 68080, which is a expansion to 68060). It is much more expensive than using a PiStorm Turbocard though, and slower than the PiStorm.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
Being able to buy it in a retail store is no condition of it being alive.
BTW: https://www.amiga-shop.net/Amiga-Hardware/Neue-Amiga-Computer/AmigaONE-X5000-Cyrus-Motherboard::791.html
Definitely an Amiga. Definitely for sale in a retail shop.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@slider1983 Amiga didn't die when Commodore did, neither for you nor other people. If Amiga died is not reliant on person. Either it died or it didn't. Actually it didn't. That people put their money into accelerator cards already happened during Commodore (due to always being unhappy with the lowend models Commodore put out - that the money was going towards GVP and Phase 5 instead of Commodore might of course have accelerated the end). 1998 the first PPC Accelerator Boards came out - Commodore was in the end talking about adopting PPC (or not, close before the end they talked about taking a different CPU Architecture, even throwing out AmigaOS compatibility for a gameconsole) - Phase 5 was actually DOING IT - admitted, first boards only arrived after Commodore was bancrupt already. People never ended using Amiga's though the number of people going to PC or Consoles increased. But the Amiga never died. I actually have seen (and worked on) - legally - the original source code of AmigaOS. The move to AmigaOS4 was a vast improvement. You needed tons of ancient tools to compile the original code, with lots of ASM at places where it was not needed (and using different Assemblers ^^). There was actually before OS4 came an inbetween version which completely compiled with gcc (no ASM) but still on a 68k (and before that a step which compiled on SAS/C). When you ask if Amiga died you do not ask the people who took a long break (though I myselves also had a 10 years break, but others didn't) - you ask those who continued to use AmigaOS.
Also note it would be weird if people who say "only original Commodore systems is fine" would embrace full-emulation-done-A1200-lookalikes while systems running AmigaOS4 come DIRECTLY from the AmigaOS sources and are much "closer" to the original - just developed and not stopped development. Makes no sense (though I will support all kinds of Amigas as I have been doing - my port of RetroArch to AmigaOS runs on AmigaOS4, MorphOS, AmigaOS 3.x WarpUP and AmigaOS 3.x 68k - possibly a future version also on AROS). But 68k can be problematic in the future. Remember 68k support on gcc might end at one point (PPC at one point might be also at that point, but we are still far from it, and the PPC gcc is very good).
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@Daggot thanks a lot for your comments. And yes I also sometimes Wonder on „what could have been“. And yes I receive royalties on sold copies though it is only a certain percentage of course (I get Most on boxed copy, less on digital copy and a minimal amount on copy included with THEA1200).
One has to say though while Amiga has „gone down“ after Commodore bancruptcy there have been a lot of Developments in recent years. PiStorm (funnily making A1200 the highend classic Amiga instead of A4000) which gives it modern Speed for 100-250 EUR (depending on Model), PowerPC systems (though not yet 100% sure if the new Mirari Board will support AmigaOS), Apollo Vampire (though that one has the problem that PiStorm goes after the same customers, cheaper and with higher Performance - but the SAGA chipset of it is more or less what people had hopef back then AAA would be- and probably more) - and a lot new software, especially games. Settlers 2 is not the only one and I not the only developer doing stuff (myselves I did ports of Heretic2, Quake2, Gorky17, and of Reimplementations of Baldur‘s Gate (GemRB) and Warcraft2 (Stratagus) - the last two only for PowerPC Amigas- 68k is much behind in devtools and libraries, it is much harder to do 68k ports and recently RetroArch (currently also only PowerPC version, though 68k version is still in Development- 68k RetroArch has really high requirements for 68k though, at Minimum a Pistorm4 for most cores….
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@slider1983 well for me your comment on PowerPC was Hostile… my comment about "little known on Amiga" is not hostile. PowerPC was the main direction the Amiga was taking since 1998. So only if you know little about the Amiga you don't know that it is really one of the big directions of the Amiga. Instead of 68k vs. x86 it was now PPC vs. x86.
But as I said - in my ports I support all directions of AmigaOS.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@slider1983 well powerpc is what Amiga moved to in the early 2000s so Not sure on the purpose of your reply? BTW there is a 68k Version too included
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
Removed
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@Daggot The problem is while YOU might not want Amiga to be something beyond A500, the people ACTUALLY USING Amigas want it to be. Many of them don't care for unexpanded A500s actually (I do not even know anyone with an unexpanded A500 and I am really big in the Amiga community - I am the author of the Settlers 2 port).
Also of course we did not CHOOSE to make it not run on an unexpanded A500 (and I also do not understand the problem - you can get a PiStorm expansion for 100 EUR - how many would not buy that expansion but buy a game for 50 EUR ??? Probably none). Anything below a 40 MHz 040 was just TOO SLOW. To a point that no matter of optimizations can help.
Someone no longer actively using an Amiga has as much say on what Amiga is and what direction it should take in the future, as people not owning a PC have on what operating system a PC should use. The people who actually use the system have the say...
The big talk there is not "use expansions or not", it is "use a PiStorm or a Vampire or a PowerPC System". True, many also still have 68030 accelerators, but the 030 was sadly to slow for this game.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@slider1983 Assuming you have either a 40 MHz 040/060 CPU Card in the A1200, or a PiStorm (PiStorm costs around 250 EUR - but not only this game profits of it) or a Tower solution with PCI PPC.
Yes, it runs on an A1200.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@Fallingshadow Well, same here, it runs on a 40 MHz 040, runs better (higher res) on a 060, even better on a Vampire and best (highest resolution) on a PiStorm or AmigaOS 4 machine.
Re: Beloved City Builder Getting Amiga Release, Almost 30 Years After Skipping The Platform
@slider1983 No, it doesn't. Remember many Amiga users left the "unmodified system" behind in the 1990s. And many also updated to PowerPC Amiga systems. Of course they would expect their systems to be supported. Also has to be mentioned that the developer (myselves) and the project manager (who was also the guy who thought first of contacting UbiSoft) are big fans of the PowerPC Amigas.