Something's... different. I just can't put my finger on it. ;-)
* * *
AMIGA alive
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Friday, June 6, 2025
Kaleidoscopico - lftkryo's Raspberry Pi Pico 2 demo
Amiga is a state of mind. Or, if it isn't, lftkryo, of "The Commodorion" fame, has just accidentally created something very Amiga.
Admittedly, this isn't strictly about Amiga computing. Linus Åkesson, aka "lft", or "lftkryo", as he is known on YouTube, creates a lot of interesting stuff using retro tech. Among other skills (e.g. music), he's also an accomplished assembler coder, mostly using the Commodore 64's 6502 CPU, but also several other old or odd nerd machines.
After releasing the stunning, "impossible" C64 demo titled "NINE" a couple of months ago, his latest creation runs on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, which is a very stripped down, minimalist version of a Raspberry Pi, with a dual-core CPU running at 150MHz.
It's a very nice demo, obviously some serious programming skills went into creating an entire system with VGA video output and sound - and, in a way, it almost spells out "Amiga". The screen resolution is somewhere between Amiga's "HiRes" and "HiRes laced" modes, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 has 520KB of RAM, which pretty much matches an Amiga 500's basic configuration, the font is very Topaz, the color palette looks very familiar from 80s/90s Amiga demos, the demo effects are classic, with glenz vectors and "copper" (?) bars, it has a (kind of) Boing Ball, and he even uses an Amiga magazine coverdisk for illustration in the video.
So there is certainly some sort of connection, at least in spirit, somewhere. But seeing the demo makes you wonder: This kind of stuff can be created with a 5$ microcontroller (and some added resistors and capacitors)? This is pretty impressive. What else can it do? This demo experience is so close to watching an actual Amiga OCS demo from the early days, it would be really interesting to see what can be squeezed into, and out of, the Pico 2's little amount of RAM and 4MB flash memory, that makes is behave even more like an Amiga.
Anyway. Until someone starts porting Kickstart 1.3 to Raspberry Pi Pico 2, the most Amiga thing on this platform is lftkryo's nice demo. It reached 2nd place in the Wild compo at Revision 2025. Enjoy!
Watch lftkryo's "Kaleidoscopico" demo (2025-04-21):
Check out lftkryo's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@lftkryo
Visit his website at: https://www.linusakesson.net
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Film restoration with the Amiga in 1993
An interesting article about high quality film processing on the Amiga can be found in German magazine "Kickstart", issue 1/1993.
"Kickstart" was a printed magazine by Maxon, the same company that created Cinema4D, ArtEffect, and many other great and well known things Amiga. The magazine focused on serious Amiga usage: hardware, software development, graphics, video production, office applications, etc.
Issue 1/1993 of "Kickstart" has an interesting article on page 94, written by Enrico Corsano, about a custom Amiga 3000 setup that processes film frames at a very high resolution. This is a direct translation of the article, in an attempt to keep the tone of the original German text intact.
"
 |
| "At this optical bank, the interface between film and Amiga is located." |
REPORT: The Amiga on high-school duty
Film restoration with the Amiga
By Enrico Corsano
Ever more users recognize that the Amiga is a serious tool for working. That's why it's ever more often used for very special tasks. For about half a year now, an Amiga 3000 is used at the Hochschule für Gestaltung [high-school for design] in Offenbach.
The HfG is an art high-school with a long tradition. It was founded in the previous century as a school for craftsmen. Over time, the assignment changed. The focus moved from craftsmanship to education in art and science, in the classic fields of graphic, painting, sculpting, and stage design. At the end of the 70s, the field of AV-media was added, which has strongly evolved since. This field is divided into film/television and electronic picture. But for years it is planned to merge both divisions and thereby benefit from new opportunities.
A laboratory for new media
In a special media laboratory, for which the school has received a scientific research assignment, electronic media shall be linked with classic film. A special task is the restoration of old film. Oftentimes, only singular copies of historically important films are in existence, that also are in very bad condition. There are scratches or stains in the pictures. The film stock is brittle and requires conservation. With a normal copy operation, there is a high risk of destroying the original. Thus it's necessary to proceed with great care.
The Amiga retouching films
The media laboratory is equipped with special film-capturing and -playback devices, that can transport film frame-by-frame, very gently. At this so-called optical bank, simple copies, but also special effects can be created. And this is also where the electronics come into play. An extremely high-resolution video camera captures a single frame of a film. It's connected to an Amiga 3000. A special software was developed by Bernd Emese from Darmstadt, that makes it possible to systematically restore the individual frames of the film. To do this, it has special functions, that, for example, are able to detect and remove scratches and stains automatically.
But many more functions are available. Of course, brightness and contrast can be intensified or eased. Currently, color isn't available yet. Another interesting capability is the correction of the picture position [Bildstand]. There are also simple drawing functions. And it's capable of masking, which is particularly important for film application.
 |
| "The program offers a resolution of 2000 x 1500 pixels. For viewing on screen, the image can be scolled." |
Automatic film processing
Key is the possibility to automatize different processes. A second of film is made of 25 frames. Ten seconds are made of 250 frames, and a minute of 1500. Manually loading and editing every single frame would consume huge amounts of time. But the software is created in such a way that it can automatically capture and edit the images. The user defines if scratches or stains shall be removed, or brightness correction shall be applied. The software then autonomously loads one image after the other and processes it. To get a reasonable quality, of course a high resolution has to be used. The software can handle images with a resolution of about 2000 x 1500 pixels. Such an image, of course, uses a lot of memory. Despite the Amiga 3000 being equipped with 18MB of RAM, there's room for only 10 images.
High resolution pictures in the Amiga
This isn't a big drawback, though. Because in this application, the goal is to output the processed image files back to film stock. This is done with a high-resolution Agfa image setter [Filmbelichter], that is capable of blowing up the image to 4000 x 4000 pixels. This results in excellent image quality. The image setter is automatically controlled by the software. Once processing of an image has finished, it's output on the image setter, and there's room for a new one in the Amiga. So the Amiga is quite busy. The limitations of processing power are indeed easily reached with this application.
Also when it comes to displaying graphics, the new capabilities of the A4000 would look better. Currently, an image is displayed in HiRes, in 16 shades of grey. Since the resolution of the image is higher than that of the Amiga graphics chips, either the complete image can be displayed in downscaled form, or in original size, while only a section is visible on screen. By scrolling, the hidden parts can be reached quickly. This way, it's possible to work well on the Amiga. This is where the speed advantage of the internal graphics chips over an external graphics card becomes apparent.
Unique software on the Amiga
The software developers deserve special praise, having done some pioneering work. The software has many other unique features, in addition to those already mentioned. For example, the film speed can be corrected. Many old silent films were shot at a speed that is too slow for today's standards. The program can then calculate intermediate frames to achieve the desired speed. Also, when correcting other errors, the possibility of comparing images and calculating a new, better one is often used.
Another focus of the HfG's media laboratory is the creation of computer graphics and animations and their transfer to film. For this purpose though, PCs are available, running a PictureMaker system and 3D Studio. The latter of which, incidentally, Dan Silva, developer of DPaint, contributed to. The PC programs and the associated special hardware aren't exactly up to date. PictureMaker isn't even in production anymore. Nevertheless, also by today's standards, it's a highly powerful program, with its soft- and hardware allowing the creation of 24-bit images and, above all, very complex animations in a very easy way. The performance, however, isn't adequate to today's demands anymore. 3D Studio is a relatively new development that is superior to the 20 times more expensive PictureMaker in many respects. The structure of 3D Studio is similar to the software familiar from the Amiga, in many respects. Since there is currently also talk of purchasing 3D software for the Amiga, perhaps an opportunity for a comparison will arise soon. We, in any case, are very excited about it.
"
 |
| Original article, "Kickstart" issue 1/1993, p. 94 and 95 |
Source: https://archive.org/details/amiga-kickstart-93-01/
Translation: R. Eberle, 2025.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Games Galore #44: Rastan, Night/Shift, Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword, Spheroid, Doomed Castle, R.A.N.A.
Still browsing through 2023 game developments, some of which are still in the works, or have been released only recently: arcade classic remake, text adventure, platformers, a puzzler, and a frogger clone.
Rastan (demo)
Since 2023, loosely-regular demos of this remake of 1987 Taito arcade classic "Rastan" (aka "Rastan Saga") have been published, with the latest showing version 0.33. It runs on any Amiga with at least 1MB of RAM, and it looks really very good. Some of it is pretty close to the original, some has received a bit of an upgrade, and on the sonic side, it's a nice, fairly accurate remake of the original soundtrack.
Great stuff, another arcade classic that previously wasn't available for the Amiga!
Here's the latest video of "Rastan" for Amiga, on Per-Ola Eriksson's YouTube channel (2025-02-11)
Go to the game's website for more information and download:
https://basementape.itch.io/rastan-amiga-500
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-07-00092-EN.html (demo 0.32)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastan_(video_game) (1987 arcade original)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Binxdx_Qzb4 (1987 arcade original longplay)
Night/Shift
Released in June 2023, "a cypherpunk adventure" it is, says the website, by Eclectic Imaginations. In "Night/Shift", your goal is to uncover the greatest conspiracy of the current time in the game's universe.
In case you didn't know: a "cypherpunk" is someone how fights for privacy and security in digital technology.
"Night/Shift" is an OS-friendly, mouse-driven, click-and-explore text adventure game, with dozens of locations, some nicely atmospheric audio, and a lot of hi-quality, hi-res HAM8 graphics. And, hey, it's free to download!
"Night/Shift" runs on AGA Amigas with 2MB ChipRAM and AmigaOS 3 or higher, and requires 23MB of free harddisk space.
Here's a video of "Night/Shift" on YouTube channel Manga 303 (2023-07-03):
Go to the game's website for more information and download:
https://www.nightshift.cx
Direct download link for your convenience: https://www.nightshift.cx/NightShift.lha
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-06-00108-DE.html
Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword (demo)
We've reported about "Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword" before, so we'll just leave it with a quick note here. At the end of June 2023, new footage of this side-scrolling platformer was uploaded to YouTube, and it is currently still the latest demo material available, so we're assuming the game is still in development.
Here's the latest video of "Guardian - The Legend Of The Flaming Sword" on Yoz Montana's YouTube channel (2023-07-24):
Go to Yoz Montana's website for more information:
http://www.yozmontana.com
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-06-00119-DE.html
https://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=1625190&postcount=793
Spheroid
We've reported about "Spheroid" before, too. Since then, more demos were shown, a 2023 christmas edition was available, and at the beginning of 2024, what appears to be the final version was released. It's (still) an (now even more) enjoyable arcade puzzle game, featuring a sphere and a lot of tiles, and some dramatic, pumpin' music. "Spheroid" runs spherical on any Amiga with at least 1MB of RAM.
Here's a video of "Spheroid" on YouTube channel MODERN RETRO GAMING NEWS (2025-01-01):
Go to the game's itch.io page, for more information and download:
https://andyvaisey.itch.io/spheroid
Doomed Castle (demo)
A game that popped up in July 2023 is "Doomed Castle" by M.A. Soft, and it has some serious similarities with classic "Castlevania", initially released for Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) in 1986.
It looks great, with detailed and highly colorful graphics, and has a very nice soundtrack, so if you like side-scrolling whip'n'punch platform games, make sure you check it out.
"Doomed Castle" runs on any Amiga with at least 512KB of ChipRAM and 512KB of FastRAM. Some CPU acceleration is recommended to avoid slowdowns.
Here's a video of "Doomed Castle" on Tony Galvez' YouTube channel (2023-07-03):
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=114941
To download "Doomed Castle" (zipped .adf), click this link:
https://mega.nz/file/Ml0BFabC#nL_aLfNF7_hM8Xrwli3daPK0Oi3ZLaztAfwmN940Fp8
Additional sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(1986_video_game) (original Famicom/NES game)
R.A.N.A.
"R.A.N.A." is short for "Reckless Amphibian New Adventures". "Reckless" doesn't equal "indestructible", so this little amphibian has to be careful to make it to the other side of the road and the river. "Rana", without the points in between, also happens to be the Italian and Spanish word for "frog".
Does this ring a bell? Yes, it's a Frogger clone. The game was actually developed in 2021, but uploaded to aminet in July 2023. It seems it's not the easiest of Frogger games, and... is the reckless amphibian somehow explosive?
"R.A.N.A" runs on all Amigas, only requiring a joystick. If you like to know how "RANA" works under the hood, you can take a look at the assembler source code available at https://github.com/coppersoft/rana.
Here's a YouTube video of "RANA" on Amiga Retro Channel (2023-07-01):
You can download the game from aminet:
http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/rana
Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-07-00012-EN.html
* * *
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #45"!
* * *
Support Amiga game development! Buy a game!
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Mirari: PowerPC alive in 2025?
It looks like a new, affordable PowerPC mainboard for AmigaOS4 and MorphOS (and Linux) is in development, nearing public release.
The beginning of project "Mirari" dates back to around May 2024. The first tangible news appeared a couple of weeks ago, at the end of April 2025, when "Mirari" specifications were announced on the "Hardware" channel of the Amigans Discord server, which got mentioned on long-running Amiga news website amiga-news.de.
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html
It says that at that point in time, five out of five ordered prototype boards were already working, running Linux, and undergoing "burn-in" testing.
"Mirari" is a MiniATX form-factor mainboard...
...for T10x2 (e5500 cores) and T2081 (e6500 cores) PowerPC processors, at up to 1.8GHz
...with DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM slot
...PCI-express slots (x1, x4, x16), SATA, NVMe, USB 2.0 and 3.2, Gigabit-Ethernet
...192kHz/24bit analog audio, S/PDIF digital audio
...9-pin RS232 port
...and MicroSDCard slot (for booting)
...among a couple of other things. That sounds very good so far, and indeed, on their website (see below) we can find more details, including not only 3D-renderings of the board, but also a round of actual photographs from the development and testing stage of "Mirari".
A couple of days ago, Retro-computing enthusiast and YouTuber TJ Ferreira published a video, in which he takes a look at the information available on Mirari's website. It's a nice watch with some additional commentary about the facts & features - or, if you prefer a little more first-hand expericence, click here for "Mirari" website:
Watch TJ Ferreira check out "Mirari" PowerPC mainboard website (2025-05-20):
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html
Friday, May 16, 2025
Gemdalus - new game by RETREAM
Simone "RETREAM" Bevilacqua, who has released a nice round of great games, has just announced his latest creation.
"Gemdalus", very much like all other RETREAM games, looks stylish and polished, and has a nice soundtrack. The gameplay can be described as a blend of Pac-Man and Snake, with hints of Bomb-Jack and some remote Tetris-clone thrown it. In other words, it's a fast paced, easily accessible arcade style game, with an element of strategy.
"Gemdalus" runs on AGA Amigas, and supports CD32's NVRAM. The game is still under development, with no release date yet.
Watch the first video of "Gemdalus" on RETREAM's YouTube channel (2025-05-15):
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)