As Of Tomorrow I'll Stop Procrastinating. Ideas and/or suggestions appreciated

[fishy_fiz]

The novelty of getting re-acquainted with old classic games on my "new" a1200 is starting wear off a bit, so Im wanting to get back to doing what I mostly enjoy about the amiga, and that's creating my own stuff. Ive had a bad habbit for quite a while now of starting something and then getting inspired to start something else before Ive finished the 1st thing. To try to break myself of this habbit Ive decided to lower the anti a little and instead do a conversion of something old to the Amiga. The "problem" here however, as it often is when I try to pull my finger out is that I cant decide on what I'd like to do 1st. There's many things Id like to do, but not really sure with what to start on. Being that second to the actual creative process for me in terms of enjoyment is having others enjoy my software I thought Id see if there's anything people would like converted to the amiga ? My skills are pretty reasonable and Im confident in being able to do more or less anything I decide is of interest to me, but bare in mind that even something akin to what was available on th 16bit consoles is a heck of a lot of work for one person, and Im unlikely to be able to finish something like that within the sort of timeframe Im wanting to use on a project whose main purpose is to get me back into good habbits.

So, all this said, are there any old games people would like to see an amiga version of ? Im not particularly bothered by genre, a good game is a good game. My only concern is that I can finish it before the end of March, so take that into account before suggesting something please.  

[fishy_fiz]

For now Im after something that I can do in about a month. Fallout definately doesnt fall into that category.

[fishy_fiz]

Hehe, it was intentional  

I was going to call the thread "I'll stop procrastinating,.... tomorrow", but being that Im after suggestions thought that title wouldnt attract many people to have a look.
That said though, even the adjusted title doesnt seem to have attracted much attention/suggestions either.
I really wonder just how many "real" Amiga people there are left sometimes. Arguing over stupid crap seems more interesting to people than actually using thier amigas from what I can tell.

p.s. by "real" I mean people who dont just like to reminisce, or use thier Amiga's for more than a casual game on Winuae or similar from time to time.

[fishy_fiz]

I'd really like to see a good RPG in the style of the SNES games on the Amiga, the likes of Zelda, Terranigma or Chrono Trigger...

That's something that's definately on the cards this year. Ive been working on something like that off and on for a few years and is one of the 1st things Id like to do once I break the bad habbit of easily losing focus.

[fishy_fiz]

Sod it then, Im gonna do it, just to screw with you

[fishy_fiz]

Ive already done more ports than I really cared to, both for AROS and 68k amiga os. Theyre good for getting quick results, but after a while dont really scratch the creative itch. Converting from scratch is more appealing to me these days. As for things like seuck/backbone, Id actually considered it, but to create something worthwhile with them is taking time away from working on my own engine(s).
Rewriting/converting an open source game however might be an idea. I want to make something for 68k+aga, so there's a bunch of options out there that arent really options for such a machine any other way. (ie. typically require foreign toolkits/apis that arent available for 68k+aga amigas(cairo/sdl/allegro/etc.)

[fishy_fiz]

Problem would be games with source, and games that will run within the costraints of 68k+AGA.

Yeah, that's part of why (besides the creative aspect) I like the idea of rewriting something rather than porting it. 68k + aga is more capable than the vast majority of open source ports will allow due to the inefficiency of apis used, double-y so on amiga systems who's versions of such apis are far from optiomal (nor is GCC itself the best choice for 68k amiga for the same reason). Not to mention that aga itself has no versions of many of the dependencies most open source software requires.
Still though, I'll definately check out the links you've provided. Even if I decide not to recompile existing sourcecode, but rather write my own (port vs. convert for conversations sake) the open source world could still be a good resource for something I can do fairly quickly as the graphics, sound, maps, enemy AI (if relevant), maps, and so on are still available to me, which will help speed development up considerably.

edit: I just checked out that FreeDink "game". Not really what Im after in a "break the shackles" type project, but I'll definately add it to the to-do list for AROS (and 68k amiga if there's enough people interested I guess(will require rtg+emulator type cpu speeds though unfortunately)).

[fishy_fiz]

Thanks for the input everyone, but after driving myself crazy for a few days trying to decide (still want to have something to show resenbling a proper game by the end of th month), I find myself leaning towards either a remake of ultima 1 or 2 (neither exist for the amiga if Im not mistaken?), or something like a 1:1 remake of commodore64 version of armalyte. The latter appeals to me as as it removes the temptation to spend time on the gfx while having a gfx style that easily replicable using dualplayfields and 4 color sprites (ergo more hardware sprites available and quicker bobs using a dedicated playfield)(although there's still a little room for some tweaking if I choose to). Not to mention the amiga version of armalyte was average at best (being kind). The former appeals to me as theyre classic games that done yet exist on the amiga, plus the "engine" behind them could be expanded on over time to be used for other game ideas Id like to realise one day. Both are probably a little bigger than I planned, but if for now I recreate them "raw", warts and all theyre game style that can progress pretty quickly and its mostly just the scale of the game that will differ. Im pretty confident I could get something for people to play by the end of the month if I didnt screw around too much  

So, I guess the question becomes, do these options appeal to anyone ? Ultimately Im doing it for myself, but its no fun if no-one else if interested The more people interested, the more fun it'll be for me, which I guess was why I started the thread in the 1st place, to try to make sure I make something at least a handful of people try out

[fishy_fiz]

@AmigaNG

The thing is though, theyre fairly different style of games. The snes style rpg I want to make is more an action/adventure rpg and not medi evil themed. It's also something I consider a "serious" project that will take time. For now I just want to do something a bit rawer and fairly quickly to get back into things. It's been a while since Ive done anything more than ports of open source software and "proof of concept" code. I want to get the "serious" games right.

edit: Actually, maybe I misunderstood. Are you suggesting that because I intend to make the rpg Ive been working on off and on over the years that Ultima might be a better idea as a "warm up" ?

@thread

Im actually leaning towards that anyway, although not so strictly Ultima 1/2, but rather games of that style that dont exist on the amiga. Any suggestions ? Am still wanting to keep it simple and fairly retro for now though.

[fishy_fiz]

Reverse psychology hey ? Hmm,..... (ponders).....
In that case, I wont not do it, I'll cut my dinner with a folk, and take a walk on the ceiling.......

(may or may not be paraphrasing the almighty H.J.S)