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Author Topic: How do you port games from PC to Amiga?  (Read 13325 times)

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Offline alx

Re: How do you port games from PC to Amiga?
« on: December 29, 2006, 07:37:22 PM »
As others have said, a clone could be possible, not a direct port.  However I think that you're underestimating the amount of effort needed to create a game like that (even one now as relatively old as the original Sims).  I'm no programmer myself, but the advice everyone seems to give is to start small: write a few trivial apps, then a game of noughts-and-crosses, then chess, then a simple turn-based strategy game etc.

You might want to have a little look into the SDL library - if you were to write a game with that then it would be easily portable onto the Amiga/PC/anything.  Here's my experience:  I wrote a nice little isometric engine in C++ and SDL that could do smooth-scrolling, multiple heights, seperate user-placable buildings etc and looked identical to C&C: Red Alert.  It ported onto the Amiga with no real modifications, which was very satisfying.  The aim was to use it as the basis of a C&C-type RTS game, however that was way to big for a first project, and the code's been in storage for a year or so now.  On the other hand, I'd never used anything other than AMOS and Visual BASIC before, having always assumed C/C++ the realm of professionals.  After reading a book a book ("teach yourself C++ in 24 hours") it turned out to be a lot easier going than I'd imagined at first.

BTW I don't know how realistic it would be to get something like The Sims working nicely under AGA.  While it can display 256 colours, it's dog-slow when doing that.

Offline alx

Re: How do you port games from PC to Amiga?
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2006, 09:11:31 PM »
Quote
I'm guessing if I program with WinUAE, then I'm not addressing the custom chips. I may need to invest in a A1200.


Nooooooooo!

Leave the custom chips be!  For one thing, SDL abstracts things to a far higher level than the actual hardware, so you wouldn't be able to access the AGA registers directly using it.  More importantly, as soon as you start banging the metal then all semblance of portability disappears - not just to the PC and Mac, but even an expanded A1200 using a graphics card.

The one real benefit of accessing the chips directly is (comparatively) lightning-fast graphics operations, especially for using the special features of the Classic Amiga architecture like the Copper and hardware sprites.  If you wanted to write a demo, then this would be essential.

I'd still invest in the A1200 though 8-)