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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: PMC on March 31, 2004, 09:24:18 AM

Title: Lambda
Post by: PMC on March 31, 2004, 09:24:18 AM
After reading the post yesterday about Amiga games that were never released I checked out the site for Lambda:

http://www.illuvatar.demon.co.uk/Lambda.html

It hasn't been updated in five years, which is a crying shame considering that this game has obvious potential.  

I downloaded the demo last night and had a quick look at it.  Although there's nothing to do by fly in circles and fire weapons, the 3d objects all move at a respectible pace on my 40Mhz '040/Voodoo 3 system, even at 640 x 480.

It would be a shame if this concept wasn't developed further by an enterprising third party.  Anyone up for the task?
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: Piru on March 31, 2004, 10:21:48 AM
Lambda project never died really, it just evolved with the coder, Mikko Kallinen. Lambda runs on Windows and D3D now.
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: NightShade737 on March 31, 2004, 10:36:57 AM
I remember playing this! Years and years ago.... although it wasn't really playing, more as flying aimlessly...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: ksk on March 31, 2004, 11:40:07 AM
@Piru
"Lambda project never died really, it just evolved with the coder, Mikko Kallinen. Lambda runs on Windows and D3D now."

Huh! That's almost worse than death!   :-(  :-)

I think even the old 68k+AGA version was so fast that it would have been worthwhile to release it as a "screensaver" if nothing else.

Too bad that he chose to go for the DirectX3D ... not very portable any more I'm afraid...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: PMC on March 31, 2004, 12:06:38 PM
Quote


I think even the old 68k+AGA version was so fast that it would have been worthwhile to release it as a "screensaver" if nothing else.

Too bad that he chose to go for the DirectX3D ... not very portable any more I'm afraid...


Has Lambda been released on the PC yet?

Is there any possibility of anyone continuting development on the Amiga side as a third party?

OS4 desperately needs a killer app that makes headlines and if developed properly Lambda could be it.
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: AmiDelf on March 31, 2004, 12:22:18 PM
I remembered that all of the Amiga code was lost or something like that.

Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: JoannaK on March 31, 2004, 12:38:54 PM
KSK: IIRC he works at the Futuremark these days...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: restore2003 on March 31, 2004, 01:07:53 PM
So many talents have gone :-( many top games for pc are made by former amiga demo sceners, etc....

wonder if they`ll ever come back  :-?
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: darksun9210 on March 31, 2004, 02:03:34 PM
Quote

restore2003 wrote:
So many talents have gone :-( many top games for pc are made by former amiga demo sceners, etc....

wonder if they`ll ever come back  :-?


heh, yeah, when someone can pay them as much as a top PC games company to develop for the amiga. :-(
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: SKAN on March 31, 2004, 02:23:58 PM
>>Lambda project never died really, it just evolved with the coder, Mikko Kallinen. Lambda runs on Windows and D3D now.

Where's the "evolution" in that? ;)

p.s.
the guys behind Lambda are the same behind demogroups Mellow Chips and Maturefurk. Check out their masterpieces on Amiga Demoscene Archive!
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: ksk on March 31, 2004, 03:12:23 PM
@Joanna

Ok, Then it might be "good news" after all.

We know who to contact after AOS4 (and warp3D/nova) is released to get decent 3D benchmark app to AOS.
(same for MOS+3D ofcourse)


3D mark for Amigalike platforms, yummy, yummy.

Just imagine how it would boost 3D game developer interests if/when we can prove that we are not stuck in the 90's with the 3D performance.  :-)


@MOS fans:

Surely you arrange that Future Mark gets a Peg+MOS demo ASAP? Perhaps a prebuild peggy2 even ....  ;-) ;-)
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: NightShade737 on March 31, 2004, 03:31:37 PM
I highly doubt they would do it to be honest, it's not a big enough market and wouldn't be worth their time...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: Kaminari on March 31, 2004, 05:37:38 PM
So many promising games were flushed down the toilet in the recent years. I'm just surprised that Foundation and Payback found their way to our computers... Who else remembers those?

Star Forge (http://starforge.co.uk/) (ex-World Foundry)
Collins Encyclopedia Galactica (http://ceg.starforge.co.uk/)
Maim and Mangle (http://mm.starforge.co.uk/)
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: NightShade737 on March 31, 2004, 05:50:59 PM
What I find strange though is that projects just seem to stop as if the developers have been abducted by aliens. No "Sorry, we're not making this game anymore" message, nothing, everything just lies dormant...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: R2D2 on March 31, 2004, 07:32:39 PM
Quote

I highly doubt they would do it to be honest, it's not a big enough market and wouldn't be worth their time...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Isn't Futuremark the same as Maturefurk? And they are responsible for the awesome Assembly '02 PC/Amiga democompo winner Lapsuus on Amiga! :-)
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: NightShade737 on March 31, 2004, 07:34:53 PM
I don't really think you can compare a fully blown benchmark suit like 3DMark2004 to a demo composition...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: R2D2 on March 31, 2004, 07:39:44 PM
Quote

NightShade737 wrote:
I don't really think you can compare a fully blown benchmark suit like 3DMark2004 to a demo composition...

What I mean is that they still have some kind of interest in Amiga community.
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: mpiva on March 31, 2004, 09:01:33 PM
Ahh, "Collins Encyclopedia Galactica"... I remember being so excited about this game when it was first announced, especially when it took place in the Babylon5 universe.  I was very disappointed when he was not able to obtain the rights to use the B5 name.  There was a lot of good concepts behind this game and I recall seeing some AWESOME screenshots.  The Encyclopedia is quite a nice read; very impressive work (I LOVE the Terran history... "PicoSoft" and "AmiCorp"  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: )

I really wish more had come of this game.

-- Michael A. Piva --

"In engineering, there is no single truth, no one right answer; there's a canvas, and you paint it your way, only with chips or gates or subroutines rather than actual paint. That's the Amiga..."
-Dave Haynie

Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: amipal on March 31, 2004, 09:13:55 PM
Though I was highly impressed by Lambda's graphics engine, I was more impressed by the possibilities offered by The World Foundry's Earth 2260 (IIRC).
It sounded to me like a Frontier-type game, but based on a kick-ass graphics s engine (at the time) and the possibility of all-out war breaking out in the universe itself. It could have been amazing...
Title: Re: Lambda
Post by: PMC on April 01, 2004, 10:37:42 PM
"Frontier type game..", "Kick ass graphics engine..."

This is exactly what I've been dreaming of on the Amiga for many years now.  

The gaming world is an overflowing plethora of first person shooters - some of them pretty good like Battlefield 1942, Call of Duty etc.  What the (new) Amiga platform desperately needs is something like 2260 to make it stand out from the crowd.  A Quake III clone simply isn't enough, no matter how pretty it might be.

I believe there's a market for a game which offers a universe to explore, open ended gameplay, eye candy and infinite possibilities to interact with the non-linear storylines, characters etc - a la Frontier but with a better graphics engine / gameplay / development / detail etc.  If such a piece of software supported on line gaming where real players could interact then it would be a winner.