Porting Games To Amiga os4/4.1 platforms

[Methuselas]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

:roflmao:

Dude, do you have *ANY* idea how much goes into game development? Have you even *WORKED* in the game industry??!!??

Let's just use a FPS as an example. If you don't license an engine (which just for the Unreal 3 engine, which will run you a cool million and 6 months to a year of unsupported porting time), you're looking at 3-4 *YEARS* of development on the engine and level editor, before you can even start building the game, itself.

To even begin working as a developer, you're going to need at least 15-30 million to pay for licensing fees for Bink Tools (which doesn't have a native Amiga version), Maya (again, not Amiga), Photoshop (again, not Amiga), coders, artists, musicians, computer equipment, etc. Then, once you get all that, you're going to have to prepare for what's called "product reviews", every couple of months, to show investors what you're doing, how much progress you've done and that you're not wasting their money. In addition, most games nowadays require DirectX9 or better or OpenGL2.1 and MiniGL just isn't going to cut it. Rogue told me a few years ago that the graphics engine for Workbench (I loathe calling it AmigaOS) needed a complete overhaul, before it could really support any sort of 3D game. MiniGL was design for "quick and dirty" ports and that's it. Now, don't *EVEN* get me started on deadlines.

I'm sure that Blizzard, BioWare, Valve, 3DRealms, etc., is just *WAITING* for your email to explain to them that the paltry 1000 or so Amiga users who have PPC (and I'm being extremely liberal here) will kill their market, if they don't start porting to the Amiga. If you do actually do this, please post their response (if they even bother), 'cos we all of us here could use a good laugh.

 :idea:

Now here's an idea. Why don't you go to UNI and learn how to code for games, or better yet, why don't you fork up the few million we need to get a game ported to Amiga and see if you recoup your investments. Have you ever noticed that most Hyperion games are years behind the PC versions. Most of the times the games are already in the 10$ bins at your local Best Buy, so any money they get for a port is just icing on the cake.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head off on my laptop and do some artwork and play a game or two of Cannon Fodder.

-M

[Methuselas]

Hans_ wrote:
@Methuselas

There's nothing wrong with porting old games for now. For example, the writer of Virtual Grand Prix 2 expressed an interest in creating an Amiga OS 4.x port a few years ago. The original VGP was an Amiga game. I remember being amazed at what my lowly A1200 030 could do. Anyway, he might not have the time to port it himself, but someone might be able to convince him to let someone else port it.

Hans

@Hans,

That's my whole point, Hans. Why isn't he supporting SpotUP and his porting for profits. Workbench is a *LONG* way away from getting World of Warcraft, blah blah. Everyone here is all hardcore about bounties, so why don't they all put their money where their mouth is. You want UT3, pay the license fee for a coder and ask them to port it. I'm sure Hyperion would gladly port a game, if someone paid the licenses for it.

SpotUP has posted about a lot of games he's ported, or helped port, but people here would whine about them, so why not pay him to port the next latest and greatest game?

Gerbochen (sp) is living in a fantasy if he thinks that a simple spamming of emails is going to make the game companies take a look at a smaller, niche market. It is ridiculous.

The days of 3 or 4 guys coding a great game in a garage are over.