Don't be kidding. Those who are lacking the coding skills won't become a game designer or just a software engineer no matter if they chose Basic, Amos, Logo or any other simplified and easy to learn language.
Utter total BS. Nobody is born with coding skills. There was a time when I was lacking in coding skills too, but I've become very good at it.
I started using BASIC on the C64, but quickly wanted something better (performance sucked). Back then, I could write simple programs and would have liked to create games. However, I lacked the ability to do the bare essentials like load and display images, move sprites, play sound effects and music, etc. A "low end game engine," As you put it, would have been exactly what I needed to get started. It would have helped me a lot.
I remember a friend had AMOS, and with a few lines of code we could create stuff way more impressive than anything that I'd ever done before. That was awesome! It lowered the barrier to entry for creating games/demos. No, we never released anything, but it certainly helped me to learn how to write software. It was also fun.
What something like AmiDARK, Hollywood and AMOS provides is an easy way to get impressive results quickly. That helps get people started, and also helps boost the motivation needed to keep on working, learning, and improving. No, not everyone will go on to become a game designer, but it will provide those who are genuinely interested with a good starting point. Plus, creating stuff is fun, even if the end result isn't always release grade.
The dreaded attempts to create something usefull with Amos or SEUCK or any other low end game engine (adventure construction set) are history now.
Of course the first attempts that anyone makes at a new task are going to "suck." However, with practise people get better. The goal for a rookie is to learn and enjoy the process of getting better. You have no idea how many of the people who made "dreaded attempts with low end game engines" now work in the gaming industry.
Of course, if you tell people how much you hate their "dreaded attempts," then they're much less likely to try again and make something better. Way to go, Grinch!
AmiDark is proprietary, uncompareable and incompatible to all other. How to port C code to or back if you need cross-platform developement?
The bounty is to
open-source it. It closely mirrors the DarkGDK API. You would have known this if you had bothered to look into it before spouting your opinion.
Hans
