Aleksandar Petrovic, producer for legendary Amiga games company ClickBOOM, has published an extensive video, in which he shares his experience.
It began with a Sinclair ZX81! And from there went on to become the most daring and most respected Amiga game company ever. ClickBOOM was active on the Amiga from about 1995 to 2002. "Capital Punishment", "Myst", "Quake", "Napalm - The Crimson Crisis", "T-Zer0", "Nightlong - Union City Conspiracy" all are legendary Amiga game titles that broke new ground, each in its own right.
Aleksandar was actively, and highly intensively at times, involved in coding some of ClickBOOM's games, but had, and has, even more to say about directing the company, publishing developers' games, obtaining rights, and why things happened the way they did. Did you ever wonder how much of "Napalm 2 - Euroburn" actually exists? What happened to Bitmap Brothers' "Z" on the Amiga? And how was Jackie Chan (almost) involved with ClickBOOM?
It's a more than 2hrs long video, packed with nice anecdotes and very interesting details, and Aleksandar Petrovic's voice and talk is just very pleasant to listen to. If you're in a hurry, or looking for something in particular, an extensive video description with timestamps helps you navigate.
Watch "Step-by-step how [not] to make a 90's computer video game hit: complete history of clickBOOM Amiga" on Aleksandar Petrovic's YouTube channel (2025-06-16):
Sometimes one might get confused when to use TAG_DONE in AmigaOS C-code, and when to use TAG_END. The answer is very simple: They're one and the same. But it turns out there might be a little bit of an unknown story to these two widely used tokens.
TAG_DONE showed up before TAG_END, in NDK1.3, along with struct
TagItem, but not as part of the system includes, and the TagItem system
wasn't used in system functions.
Or was it? This is a section of code from the file Read-Me1.3/A2024Docs/OpenA2024.c, which is part of NDK1.3.
#define NONEWINCLUDES 1 /* don't have 1.3 includes yet */
#if NONEWINCLUDES /* Some additional definitions */
/********** from intuition/screens.h ************/
#define NS_EXTENDED 0x1000 /* NewScreen.Extension is valid */
struct TagItem { ULONG ti_Tag; /* identifies the type of this item */ ULONG ti_Data; /* type-specific data, can be a pointer */ };
/* ---- system tag values ----------------------------- */ #define TAG_DONE (0L) /* terminates array of TagItems. ti_Data unused */ #define TAG_IGNORE (1L) /* ignore this item, not end of array */ #define TAG_MORE (2L) /* ti_Data is pointer to another array of TagItems * note that this tag terminates the current array */
Note
the condition "#if NONEWINCLUDES". It looks as if these definitions
were part of some "new includes" that weren't part of the distribution
(yet?).
There appears to be a nice little oddity here:
NS_EXTENDED (and TagItem) can't be found in intuition/screens.h,
while other sections of the code (not shown here) can. The code
contains a copy of NewScreen structure definition, only extended with an
extra field, type TagItem pointer. It then creates an instance of that
NewScreen structure, with type NS_EXTENDED, and calls OpenScreen() with
that structure. There's no mentioning of NS_EXTENDED, or a TagItem
pointer field in the Autodocs of OpenScreen() in this version of the
NDK.
Does that mean that AmigaOS1.3 already had an (almost)
undocumented feature, that would only be made (really) public with
AmigaOS2?
TAG_END appears in NDK2.0, in new system include file utility/tagitem.h, as a clone of TAG_DONE, along with struct TagItem etc.:
This NDK's version of intuition/screens.h also defines an ExtNewScreen structure that has the extra TagItem pointer field.
Looking at the usage of TAG_DONE and TAG_END, across all files that are supplied with NDK2.0, there seems to be no preference. Maybe TAG_END was really just introduced to avoid interruptions in workflow, because many developers would intuitively think, and type, "end" instead of "done"?
Another tiny oddity is a change that appears in NDK3.1. It has a slightly different definition of TAG_END: It's still identical, but for some unexplainable reason, TAG_END isn't bound to TAG_DONE anymore. Instead, a comment explains why both use the same value.
On July 17th 2022, Beth Richard, lead engineer of the CD1200 in 1993/1994, visited the Retro Computer Museum in Leicester, UK, making more history and providing invaluable information by talking about her experience, and actually taking the device apart.
A video of the event was uploaded to YouTube about a month ago.
Here's the video of Beth Richard taking the (presumably) only Amiga CD1200 in existence apart (on YouTube channel "PixelFix"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYGhOuIysVU
Shortly after the video was uploaded to YouTube, Ms. Richard left a comment which provides even more insight into the background of the CD1200 (transcript of comment follows).
Ms. Richard's comment on the above video (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYGhOuIysVU)
"That was quite an experience! I'm so glad we got to do that.
People look back at my work and assume that as the lead engineer, I was somehow a Commodore "Legend". I'll leave that to those to whom it really applies. I was a junior engineer at the time, near the beginning of my career. I think the best way I can describe how I ended up being the lead engineer on this project is a quote taken from Any Weir's "The Martian": "Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewi was in charge. I was the lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be 'in command' of the mission if I were the only remaining person.What do you know? I'm in command."It was very clear by the time I started this project that the end was near. I worked on this at a time where we thought it may be possible that someone would buy the company and take it seriously. Having demonstrated that there were ideas and projects with a roadmap into the future would be what someone would want to buy. Several of us were working right to the end to keep a portfolio of projects that could be turned on immediately, should a new owner wish it. (Like the work Dave Haynie was doing at the high end, and some stuff Greg Berlin had been doing too.). It was not to be.
I'm so embarrassed about misspeaking that the date of Pearl Harbor was 7-Dec-1943... ***1941***!!!! I know that! How could my mind have been so bounced and distracted that I would have gotten that wrong? I might have had an excess of adrenaline at the time.
Although I designed that in 1993-1994, I was particularly nervous about opening it because it isn't mine... it's the RCM's. And it's got to be the only example left in the world by this point. I offered to coach Andy through opening it as it's his museum's property, but he wouldn't have it. Sadly, in order to make it work, it needs the controller board to go into the A1200 and cable that came through the port on the rear of the A1200 to connect it to the drive. None of those seem to have survived.
I know it was edited for privacy reasons, but when I was going through the names I saw on the PCB, I started with the first one on the list... mine. The names were actually the userIDs for our email addresses, each of which ended with @ 'cbmvax.commodore.com'. And the word preceding that cut was my userID: brichard. Since that email has been invalid since April 1994, I'm not terribly worried about people knowing it.
And credit where credit is due: My spouse, Teresa, who has her degree in Engineering Management that included nearly the complete curriculum of Mechanical Engineering took a look at the lid spring and noticed the extra bend that was causing it to pop out of position. When she showed it to me, I recognized that the spring was not actually the original factory spring. It must have been broken at some point and someone replaced it by bending a bit of spring-steel wire to (nearly) match. In fact, that mechanism was not custom to the CD1200 - it was re-used from the CD32. So by comparing with a CD32 lid spring mechanism, we confirmed it was wrong and replaced the spring with one from a CD32. The lid works correctly again!
Such a great day! Thank to Andy for inviting me to the RCM and being so gracious about the experience."
(transcript of@bethteresarichard3910's comment on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYGhOuIysVU)
Great work by Ms. Richard, Retro Computer Museum, and all others involved! Thanks for sharing, and keeping the CD1200 alive.
Not strictly Amiga, but very Amiga nonetheless: "Moleman 2 - Demoscene - The Art of the Algorithms" is a 2011/2012 documentary film from Hungary about the home computer demo coding scene.
If you're into swapping, trading, cracking, coding, intros, demos, cracktros, and that kind of stuff, "Vakondok 2 - Demoscene" - the film's original Hungarian title - by Director Szilárd Matusik is just perfect for you.
It explores the Hungarian demo scene, a fascinating insight into the history of demo coding, how demos are made, who makes them, who watches them. Amiga related content pops up here and there, but where it doesnt it's still a very enjoyable watch for anyone interested the demoscene, digital visual and audible art, computer programming, or computer hardware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRkZcTg1JWU
Note that large portions of the audio track are in Hungarian, but you can use YouTube's subtitles for an English translation.
You can go to http://www.molemanfilm.com to find out more about "Vakondok 2" and the other "Vakondok" movies.
The arrival of CD-technology for personal computers caused a huge shift in software development and user experience. The added storage capacity led to a hugely increased amount of content delivered with a software title. Gone were the days of swapping floppy disks, now a single CD could deliver everything required, and much more. CD was everything and everywhere.
Commodore's CDTV, with a built-in CD-ROM drive, was an early attempt, but the underlying original Amiga hardware wouldn't benefit too much from a CD drive, and there was simply not much experience in how to make good use of the CD's extra capabilities. But after the PC and Apple Macintosh market had established the technology and created a demand for added content, it became a must for the Amiga, too. The only Amiga model to make full use of CD-technology is the CD32 console, booting from CD without any additional setup, playing back full motion video and integrating the Amiga's audio with the CD's 16-bit audio tracks.
Wait. The only Amiga model? No. In fact there was another Amiga model that could do the same things, of which nine units were built, and only one is known to still exist today. It's probably the rarest of all (near) market-ready Commodore Amiga developments. It's the legend, the one that should have boosted sales to new heights, potentially saving Commodore from bankruptcy.
It's a CD-ROM drive to be connected to an Amiga 1200, and with a little extra. It has a custom "Data Input" connector, that connects to an expansion board in the Amiga 1200's internal expansion port via cabling routed through the Amiga 1200's backside blanking plate. It also routes Amiga audio signals through, merging them with CD-audio. The expansion board adds a FastRAM SIMM slot, and - in a proposed later model - would have had another custom chip, and room for a 68030 CPU upgrade.
The CD1200 was presented to the public at the CeBIT 1994 show in Han(n)over, Germany. It's goal was to unite and boost Amiga CD32 and Amiga 1200 hardware and
software sales, by being compatible with the former, and adding a CD
drive to the latter.
Now what makes the CD1200 such a rare piece? Well, first of all, according to Beth Richard, lead engineer on the project, only nine prototype units were built.
Eight of them got lost in the turmoil of Commodore's bankruptcy, and only one unit resurfaced. And even that one wasn't instantly recognized as the rarity it is.
Listen to Andy Spencer from the Retro Computer Museum Leicester retell the story of discovering the unique CD1200 in a dusty barn (video by The Centre for Computing History):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzzMLGcOJik
But the true recognition of the CD1200 came after Ravi Abbot had been visiting the Retro Computer Museum Leicester, and published his video about it in November 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LmFmH4YNBA
Established YouTuber Dan "kookytech.net" Wood has picked up the subject, and had a more in-depth talk with Andy, and Ex-Commodore UK's David Pleasance. His video of December 2017 covers the unsuccessful search for other CD1200 units still in existence, the rediscovered CD1200's relocation from the back of the museum to a more prominent place, and lots of details from Andy and David:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYq_F5-fAaw
Would the CD1200 have been able to save Commodore? Well, maybe. In 1994 Sony scored a huge hit with its Playstation console, which has a CD drive, but also offers hardware 3D acceleration and 16-bit 24-channel sound. A CD-drive had become a must-have, but chipset development and platform architecture had also been moving forward rapidly. A CD32, or CD1200-equipped Amiga 1200, wouldn't have been able to compete with PC and console development for a long time, but maybe CD1200 sales, and now-CD32-compatible Amiga 1200 hardware and software sales would've bought Commodore enough time to release the next generation of CD1200 with CPU upgrade, and so on. But it's just speculation.
For Amiga 1200 users it would have been a fantastic addition, with a 68030 CPU on board, especially due to the beautiful design that matches the Amiga 1200 one's. And Amiga CD32 owners would certainly envy the added horsepower, memory, keyboard and i/o-ports.
From todays point of view it would of course just be great to have such a device, in whatever condition or configuration, because it's sooo Commodore Amiga. The fact that there's presumably only this particular one in existence, a rare piece from the last days of Commodore, makes it pretty much the collector's item par excellence. Time will show if maybe another CD1200 exists - maybe it
resurfaces due to the raised interest created by discovering and exposing this one.
In the video by The Centre for Computing History (see above), Andy Spencer says he'd like to open up his CD1200 one day, and maybe, together with the pictures published in magazines, and knowhow from people involved with the project, this will give the insight required to recreate the CD1200 and its expansion board.
Nothing has materialized yet, but who knows, they also said Doom can't be done...
* * *
For your nostalgia-needs, here's another video presenting the CD1200 - note the fake Amiga 1200 case with a built-in CD1200, which is impossible due to CD size, but an intriguing idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oydGCxBRL10
Some magazine reports about the Commodore Amiga CD1200:
Now this has to be a unique, and one of the rarest pieces of Amiga history ever: demo group "Nerve Axis" gets visited by TV channel ".tv" ("dot TV")!
This took place in 1998, after they had released they had won the Assembly 1997 demo competition with "Pulse" demo, and were working on the successor called "Relic".
This is probably the only time in history a TV team visits an Amiga demo group at home, at work.
(Are you aware of any other such occasion? Please leave a comment below!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uq2Lm2l_JQ
Today of course we all know that "Relic" went on to win the Assembly 1998, and became a legend in it's own right. It's a demo of biblical proportions, and it's destruction sequence is unparalleled to this day.
Thanks to YouTube we can relive the moment this got presented to the public:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9VzO0rsMY
For perfect quality it's of course best watched live on your AGA Amiga. :-)
But if you don't have one handy right now, and you don't mind Amiga-emulation (WinUAE), here's another hi-quality version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgejYHjQeM
Huuuuge respect and thanks to Nerve Axis for their amaaaazing work!
Website "Popular mechanics" has published a nice article that kind of gives a rundown of the entire history of Amiga computing, and an insight into the enthusiasm that still keeps the platform alive.
When researching for our previous article "Best of the best - Amiga games you must have seen", a lot more games came to mind that excel in one or the other way, and need to be mentioned but didn't make it into the article. So here's part 2! Again, we're focussing more on technical or stylistic achievement, and less on mass appeal or nostalgia.
"AMIGA alive 03 - Juggler (1986) and BoingBall (1984)" is out! The legendary Juggler and BoingBall demos, shown in the early days of the Amiga, and responsible for stunning the audience.
