As most of you are aware, there are different ways to create Amiga games, either through Amos, Blitz Basic, RedPill or through the rather lackluster Backbone. But one such engine is making its presence known, and that's Earok's upcoming Scorpion engine; a nifty piece of software that at some point will allow other users to create great games as 50HZ on A500...Or as in the case of the latest Tales of Gorluth conversion and other footage shown through this year so far, the possibility of creating higher end games with smooth scrolling even on lower end machines.
Detailed description from Earok(Erik) :
As noted by Earok, the project compiler runs on Windows, and uses modern tools (Tiled for level editing, PNGs for graphics) for some things, classic Amiga formats (mod, 8svx, anim5s) for others. PNGs are converted through a user-defined palette into bobs and raw bitplanes - using the alpha channel to generate a mask.
Furthermore going into extra detail from Erik, the software uses a simple to understand bytecode "virtual machine" (a small part of the functionality of Ink) manage things such as dialogue, branching logic and the game sequence. Or as one person puts it " Windows-based game maker with modern asset formats; running on low-end amigas!!! "
Easier to understand description from Tsak :
For those of you who feel this is still very confusing, Tsak has condensed it down to make it easier to understand. He has said " It's a light action-rpg engine which supports modern windows dev tools like tiled and ink. Currently the engine can do 8 way scrolling in 50fps and has a ton of features including npcs, dialogue, quest system, events, teleports and many other stuff, able to run without issues on a500.
Practically it's comparable to Backbone, but it offers far superior abilities and performance. Also it does not come in a self contained -all in 1 package- environment, so you are required to use a number of 3rd party windows tools (albeit free ones) to work it out. As it currently stands it's also not aimed to be a general use game maker but more genre specific.
The engine was made primarily to accommodate Pixel Glass projects but in this public form it's aimed at anyone who wants to build a similar game for Amiga without having to code it. Erik is expanding it (as we're developing our projects) and he is going to release it at some point in the near future."
And that's pretty much all there is to say, but for further info visit the link ( HERE )
UPDATE FROM EAROK :
A few little notes.
The engine and compiler is technically already out, albeit in an unfinished state. It's all on the Git repo - https://github.com/earok/scorpion-engine-demos
"It's a light action-rpg engine" was originally correct, but now it's evolved to include Platformer capabilities too (eg, the Alex Kidd demo). It is capable of visual novels (eg, the Phoenix Wright demo), and in future it may be capable of handling shoot-em-ups and simple racers.
I haven't done performance testing on the TOG test, it's an EHB game that was never designed with stock A500 in mind so it may not run that well on an A500 during intense combat scenes. It's also likely to require 2MB chip so. I'm not sure if that needs to be in the article, I'm just trying to manage expectations ;)
For those of you who feel this is still very confusing, Tsak has condensed it down to make it easier to understand. He has said " It's a light action-rpg engine which supports modern windows dev tools like tiled and ink. Currently the engine can do 8 way scrolling in 50fps and has a ton of features including npcs, dialogue, quest system, events, teleports and many other stuff, able to run without issues on a500.
Practically it's comparable to Backbone, but it offers far superior abilities and performance. Also it does not come in a self contained -all in 1 package- environment, so you are required to use a number of 3rd party windows tools (albeit free ones) to work it out. As it currently stands it's also not aimed to be a general use game maker but more genre specific.
The engine was made primarily to accommodate Pixel Glass projects but in this public form it's aimed at anyone who wants to build a similar game for Amiga without having to code it. Erik is expanding it (as we're developing our projects) and he is going to release it at some point in the near future."
And that's pretty much all there is to say, but for further info visit the link ( HERE )
UPDATE FROM EAROK :
A few little notes.
The engine and compiler is technically already out, albeit in an unfinished state. It's all on the Git repo - https://github.com/earok/scorpion-engine-demos
"It's a light action-rpg engine" was originally correct, but now it's evolved to include Platformer capabilities too (eg, the Alex Kidd demo). It is capable of visual novels (eg, the Phoenix Wright demo), and in future it may be capable of handling shoot-em-ups and simple racers.
I haven't done performance testing on the TOG test, it's an EHB game that was never designed with stock A500 in mind so it may not run that well on an A500 during intense combat scenes. It's also likely to require 2MB chip so. I'm not sure if that needs to be in the article, I'm just trying to manage expectations ;)
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