The "expanded" memory expansion inside the Amiga 500
Three 3d-printed braces hold the coin-cell board in place. Two probably would've been enough, as the trapdoor cover gives a little pressure from below, adding friction, but we wanna make sure this doesn't move even when the Amiga shakes e.g. when being transported. A few drops of hot glue are a healthy bit of overkill, just for good measure. The good thing about hot glue is that it's not super-sticky, thus can be removed relatively easy if required. Again, this modification can probably be reversed 100%.
As always, the best thing about it, is: it works! :-D
The good news is: it's NOT cancelled! But public health still comes first.
Due to the ongoing Corona virus outbreak, with social life in the Netherlands being restricted to a minimum since Monday 23rd, the organisers of the "Flashback 20/20 feat. Amiga 35" event, originally to be held on June 27th/28th, have decided to postpone it to September 12th/13th 2020. According to the announcement, event tickets will remain valid for the new dates. It is recommended to reach out to your travel booking partners, if required.
"We will make sure that we use the extra time between now and September to prepare for an even better event!", the announcement says.
The University of Applied Sciences Hochschule Augsburg also takes measures against Sars-CoV-2 virus spread.
Another retro computing event, the "RETROpulsiv 15.0" to be held at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg from 04. - 05.04.2020 has been cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19 disease.
With numbers of infections still rising, schools, day-care centers, kindergardens, etc. will be shut down in Germany from tomorrow. Several German regional administrations have extended the restriction on public events to 100 (Bavaria) or 50 (Berlin) participants at most, or are forbidding such events entirely (e.g. city of Kiel).
Due to the current outbreak of COVID-19 caused by the new Corona virus, Revision 2020 demo party to be held in Saarbrücken, Germany, from April 10th to 13th 2020, is cancelled - but there's a backup plan.
Based on recommendations from health organisations and doctors, several German states are now denying permits to hold events with more than 1000 visitors. With probably less visitors expected, the Revision party is not directly affected by this practice, but the obvious nature of such an event - esp. the many visitors from different countries - demands increased responsibility from the organisers.
"We are devastated to share this news with you", the cancellation announcement says. Indeed, this is sad news for the Amiga scene, but it's a wise and inevitable decision.
But! There will be events.
The organisers promise to refund all current tickets. They're also working hard on set of live video streams, planned to be broadcast during the days the original event, covering demo competitions, seminars, music acts, etc. There will be extra livestream tickets allowing virtual visitors to cast their votes and submit entries.
"We’re in full crunch mode on the streaming event now and there will be more information coming up in the following days."
Dude, that's a lot of games. The game development scene is bustling with activity. Next round of Amiga entertainment from 2019/2020. There's no time to waste, here we go.
DaemonClaw: Origins of Nnar
Around Aug. 2019, a new side scrolling action game "DaemonClaw: Origins of Nnar" made it's first appearance. Since then, developers BitBeamCannon keep posting development updates on their YouTube channel. The game's development has started on the Amiga, then has been moved to modern platforms, utilizing the Construct 2 engine by Scirra. The developers plan to start working on the final Amiga version once gamedesign and assets are done.
It's gorgeous! You can see a previews of the game in parallax-scrolling motion in the developer's videos. Amiga hardware requirements are unknown so far, but with the promised "classic 16-bit" graphics we can probably assume a OCS/ECS 1MB ChipRAM target platform.
"AmiSaber" by Electric Black Sheep also popped up around Aug. 2019. It looks quite abstract on first sight - and it does so on second! But that's intentional: "AmiSaber" is a kind-of-port of virtual reality game "BeatSaber", in which you try to hit square objects in sync with the music, with a virtual saber in each hand. The Amiga version is controlled using two mice. Very cool. Is this the first two-mice game since "The Settlers"?
Tron-ish, thus great, graphics not too unlike the original, good audio quality, awesome dual-saber controls, and tools and documentation included to create your own levels, using your own music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQVol9S4f4
You can download "AmiSaber" from Electric Black Sheep's website:
Announced in October 2019, "Rotator" is a challenging game of skill, in which you control your craft through more or less vertical landscapes, collecting diamonds, and avoiding all sorts of obstacles, while being threatened by a rising flood below you. It was originally developed in the 1990s, didn't get a release back then, has recently been reworked with updated music, graphics, and levels, and can now be pre-ordered from Psytronik Software.
Tiny animated objects, speech samples, some craft bouncing around, a purple flood, countless levels - this really look great, and enjoyably difficult. And there will also be couple of extra features that should enhance gameplay experience and usability, like a replay mode, where you take manual control of your craft during an automatic replay of your previous attempt.
There will be digital download, and a physical "Collector's Edition Box Set" release. The box set will include floppy disks, sticker, artwork poster (A3 format), and more!
Gameplay video "Rotator - Into The Realm of Obscurity" (2020-02-10):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtsnLGHyLHs
Go to Psytronik's website for more details and pre-order:
Also by Electric Black Sheep is "Project Horizon", a top-view tactical action game that obviously takes place on the dark side of the moon. There's not too much of a back story so far, but the developers have some great ideas, and a spectacular cinematic intro video gives an idea of the direction this is taking: You've landed on the moon, and you're gonna need guns!
"Project Horizon" is still in development, a gameplay preview video (including the intro movie) has been uploaded to YouTube in January. It has nicely animated graphics, and great sound effects, but there are also a couple of features that add a tactical side to the gameplay: destructable environment, different enemy attack modes, mines, a disguised "infiltrator" mode, and an allied non-player-character.
This sounds very exciting, and on top of all the good news it's planned to be free, including sourcecode and level editor. Seriously, you cannot ask for more.
The game will require an Amiga with ECS chipset (or better), 2 MB ChipRAM, and a harddrive.
Some time around mid-2019 developers Daniel Stephens, Kevin Saunders and Lee Smith started development of new sidescrolling shoot-em-up game "Boss Machine", making a public announcement in December. They hope to release the game in 2020.
From watching the latest work-in-progress video - released only two days ago - it immediately becomes clear that this is going to be a fine game. Horizontal parallax scrolling rarely looked that good, and such an amount of vertical freedom of movement has rarely been seen at all in that specific genre, on the Amiga. The developers haven't decided on a final target platform yet, "Boss Machine" runs on OCS/ECS, and AGA tests have been made.
Watch "Boss Machine Amiga Level 1" video (2020-03-05):
