Games galore #40: Rogue Declan: Zero, Creeping Me Out: Hex Night update, Ring around the World, Final Fight Enhanced update, Geo's Quest: In Search of Queen Lorraine, Memory Lane

Amiga game development has sped up considerably over the last couple of years, with the help of new game engines like RedPill and Scorpion Engine, and many developers re-joining the Amiga scene.

Rogue Declan: Zero

In July 2023, "Rogue Declan: Zero" was officially released by Nivrig Games. It's a fast paced top-view, single screen shooter, in which you fight through procedurally generated dungeons, and it's the winning game of AmiGameJam 2022.

"Rogue Declan: Zero" is also one of currently only a few games that support the DualStick Retro, a twin-stick controller that allows for game features such as independent movement and aiming, for example.

The game surely looks like a ton of fun, and is certainly (almost) as enjoyable to play with a standard joystick. It requires an Amiga with Kickstart 1.3 or higher, 512KB ChipRAM, and 512KB of other RAM.

Here's a video of the latest version from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-10-15):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhi7v1kf_ao

Go to the game's itch.io pages for more information, and download:

https://nivrig.itch.io/rogue-declan-zero

Additional sources:

http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-03-00014-DE.html 

http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-08-00010-EN.html

Creeping me out: Hex Night updates

Early in 2023, a couple of good news about spooky, beautiful platformer "Creeping me out: Hex night" were published, a game that we've reported about before: bugs have been fixed, and an AGA version has been created.

Here's a video of version 1.5 AGA, from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-10-15):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUzVZUqGCnY

Find more information and downloads on the game's itch.io pages:
https://mixelslab.itch.io/creeping-me-out-hex-night

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-02-00102-DE.html

 

Ring around the World

Simone Bevilacqua clearly is on a mission. Not only does he create great games in impressive numbers (BOH, KOG, Huenison, Blastaway, Skillgrid, ...), but throughout his work he drops, well, just nice little messages that might help make our world a better place, the most prominent of these probably being his demo "The Cure".

"Ring around the world" is a scrolling top-view adventure game in an open world, played with the mouse. The game's protagonist is waking up, washed ashore in an unknown world, and has only little memory: he drowned in stormy sea!

The game requires a PAL-Amiga with 1MB ChipRAM and Kickstart 1.3 to run. A harddisc is recommended.

The game is free, and here's another one of the author's aforementioned little messages: He just asks players who enjoy "Ring around the World" to support someone who's become victim to violence.

Here's a trailer video from Simone's YouTube channel (2023-03-06):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qqhqBITXk

Go to the game's website for more information and downloads:
https://www.retream.com/Ring_around_the_World

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-03-00029-DE.html

Final Fight Enhanced

Another game that we've reported about before got a new demo release early in 2023: "Final Fight Enhanced" now has a working 2-player mode, and some new groovy music.

Here's a video from the author's YouTube channel Prototron (2023-03-04):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbHggvYkxX4

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-03-00037-DE.html

Geo's Quest: In Search of Queen Lorraine

Also in early 2023 "Geo's Quest: In Search of Queen Lorraine" was published, a beautiful looking graphic adventure that consciously chooses low-res, low-color for some extra Sierra-adventure feel.

The story is a pun on Commodore history, it's a side-view point-and-click game, it has dozens of graphics, sounds, and puzzles, and you will not die in the game if you do something wrong. In other words: It's more or less a must for adventure fans.

A sequel to the game has already been announced: "Geo's Quest: Gateway to Nowhere".

Here's a video of "Geo's Quest: In Search of Queen Lorraine" from Polish YouTube channel Retrobajtel (2023-09-30):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plqrgHHwAUE

Visit the game's itch.io pages for more details, and downloads:
https://pngcan.itch.io/geos-quest-in-search-of-queen-lorraine

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-03-00041-DE.html

Memory Lane

And finally for today, here's yet another release from early 2023, a classic no-graphics text adventure - somehow quite fittingly - called "Memory Lane".

The game is available for many hardware platforms, including 8-bit computers, the Mega65, MS-DOS PC, and of course Amiga.

source: https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTk2MzU4Ny8xMTU0NjI3My5wbmc=/347x500/xeReVa.png

Go to the game's itch.io pages for more information and downloads:
https://comsha.itch.io/memorylane

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-03-00045-DE.html

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #41"!

Check out "Games galore" main page with all articles -
click here!

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Support Amiga game development! Buy a game!

Games galore #39: Tapper, Galaxian 500, Freak Out, Settle the World, Boxx games, Megafrog

Happy New Year! Tons of new Amiga games have popped up in 2023, and we're still trying to keep up.

Tapper

Very good, in May 2023 another arcade classic got properly ported to the Amiga: "Tapper" from 1983, which was previously available for many other platforms.

It's a quick and fun game in which your job is to supply your pub's customers with adequate amounts of beer. Some just want a glass full, others need the extra pint, and you never know how many will ask for a drink at the same time. So things might get hectic in this game, and the new port to Amiga is pretty much arcade-perfect.

Here's a video from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-05-26):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf7SMiGiTR8

Check video, and sources below, for more information,
or just click here to download "Tapper":
https://mega.nz/file/C5s2iTqL#lWpWrL2huZUm-ZrzyMB-rJ27YKzGAXsZ0RnQ-6aTDEo

Additional sources:
https://www.amigafuture.de/app.php/newsportal/?start=0&ulg=de&news_id=40945
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-05-00135-DE.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapper_(video_game)

Galaxian 500

And here's yet another arcade classic: With "Galaxian 500", highly active developer Jean-Francois 'jotd' Fabre adds another member to the awesome series of his "500" ports. "Galaxian" is an advanced variation of "Space Invaders". Just like Jean-Francois' previous works, it looks pretty much identical to the arcade version, and plays as good.

Here's a video from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-06-17):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE97fN0RQbs

Go to the game's itch.io website for more information, and download:
https://jotd666.itch.io/galaxian500

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-05-00139-DE.html
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxian

Freak Out (work-in-progress)

'If "Pong" and "Breakout" had a baby...' - that's how author Michael Kafke describes his creation, and this description is quite accurate. (Not to be confused with the 1993 game of the same name.) Maybe "Freak Out" is closer to "Arkanoid" than to classic "Breakout", and certainly it has more colors than the original "Pong", but that's just the details. The game is still work-in-progress, for example there's very little sound yet, but it looks fine with its clean playfield design and detailed, yet unobtrusive, background imagery. Also it's already playable, and has a nice presentation, so... yeah, very good, (don't) freak out!

Here's a video from Michael Kafke's YouTube channel (2022-07-11):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-DrqzpePa4

 

Settle the World

Around Aug. 2022 developer Christian 'TheoTheoderich' Wiegel announced his turn-based strategy game "Settle the World", and has been working on it since, releasing a number of videos. 

Most obviously, the graphics are stunning. Interestingly, according to the description of a four hour development log video that was released by the author in Nov. 2023, they were created using artificial intelligence. Does this mark the first time AI has been used to create content for an Amiga game? The beautiful imagery in the game intro is accompanied by a tasteful and fitting soundtrack, the user interface looks pleasant and functional. "Settle the World" is already a quality production, and is still under further development, ensuring a very enjoyable experience for Amiga strategists.

The game requires an Amiga with 1MB ChipRAM, 4MB FastRAM, and a hard disk. Some CPU upgrade is recommended.

Here's a video from the author's YouTube channel (2023-02-11):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eK596gjAX4

Go to the game's itch.io pages for more information and download:
https://theotheoderich.itch.io/settle-the-world

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2023-07-00078-DE.html
https://amigaportal.de/index.php?threads/settle-the-world.682/

Boxx remake, Boxx 2 remake, Boxx 3 remake, Boxx 4

Get boxxed! The Boxx games are a series of platform games with a nice selection of game mechanics, simple, but cute and effective graphics, and a couple of strategy elements. The average Amigan might get confused by the extraordinary high number of "Boxx" games, but in the end that doesn't matter. What matters is that all "Boxx" games are equally fun to play, and suitable for players of any age. If you like your platformers smooth, and with a little bit of thinking, you'll love the "Boxxes".

Boxx 3 remake, v0.2 beta, Aug. 2023

Boxx remake

https://lemming880.itch.io/boxxremake

http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/Boxx (2015 game)

Boxx 2 remake

https://lemming880.itch.io/boxx2remake

http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/Boxx2 (2015 game) 

Boxx 3 remake

https://lemming880.itch.io/boxx3remake

http://aminet.net/package/game/jump/Boxx3 (2017 game)

Boxx 4 

https://lemming880.itch.io/boxx4

Here's a video of "Boxx 4" from YouTube channel OSDane (2023-07-19):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OPr8iS9w0o

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-04-00079-EN.html
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-09-00043-EN.html
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2023-07-00055-EN.html

 

Megafrog (work-in-progress)

Around Nov. 2022, author Friar85 released this nice variation of the classic Frogger arcade game. Have you ever played "Crossy Roads"? Then you have an idea about "Megafrog". In "Megafrog", most things are a little bit bigger than in Frogger, in fact the screen scrolls vertically, meaning you'll need an extra bit of endurance to master the game. Also there are a lot more features than classic Frogger ever had, like crossings, and cars at different speeds.

It's been quite a while since we last heard from the game, but the preview looks smooth and solid. "Megafrog" runs on any Amiga. A little CPU upgrade (14MHz or better) is recommended, and a 2-button joystick is supported.

Here's a video from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2022-11-01):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNVk9HnTx4E

Go to game's itch.io pages for more information and download:
https://friar85.itch.io/megafrog

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2022-11-00018-EN.html
https://www.indieretronews.com/2022/11/megafrog-amiga-work-in-progress-frogger.html

 

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #40"!

Check out "Games galore" main page with all articles -
click here!

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Support Amiga game development! Buy a game!

Fantastic animation: "Dance of the Stumblers" (Steve Segal, 1987)

It doesn't happen too often that one stumbles [pun!] upon Amiga material from 1987, and is genuinely surprised. "Dance of the Stumblers" is a staggeringly beautiful, dynamic Amiga-generated animation that just has to be seen.

According to the video's description/comments, Mr. Segal (no, not the similarly named actor), award-winning animator and filmmaker,  created this animation with Aegis Animator on an Amiga 1000, using cues that he had written down from the music track beforehand. Due to high demands on the hardware, playback was slow, so it was set to 1 frame per second, and photographed at the same rate with an animation camera. (See links below for more information.)

The result is an amazing example of Amiga creativity!  

"Dance of the Stumblers" (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bQJu97qxLw

Make sure you check out Mr. Segal's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@SSegal

...and his website:
https://www.segaltoons.com

Find out more about his vita & work:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Segal

Grind: new demo "Darkenward East v0.3"

More breaking news of Amiga gaming: Spectacular low-end first person shooter "Grind", formerly known as "Dread", just got a new demo release.

With a new name and new developer team, "Grind" is the overhauled and polished successor of "Dread", and now we can see (part of) what has been happening in the meantime. A new demo version of "Grind" just got released, and the results are stunning. It's currently only available for patreon supporters - but thanks to YouTube and famous retro gaming channel Saberman RetroNews we can watch a video and enjoy the outstanding diesel-punk look of playable demo level "Darkenward East".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11TYIX6TRyg

Check out "Grind" homepage at pixelglass.org:

https://pixelglass.org/#grind

And why not become a patreon supporter?

https://www.patreon.com/Grind_Amiga

 

Reshoot Proxima 3 launch today

Finally we get some news about hardcore shoot-em-up "Reshoot Proxima 3".

And it's great news. The long awaited sequel to "Reshoot R" (and "Reshoot") is ready for launch - "Spieleschreiber" Richard Loewenstein and team have just put a new trailer video on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqFjQmfO6F4

...which means you can buy the game NOW! :-D

Go to amigashop.org to order your copy:
http://www.amigashop.org

Also check out Spieleschreiber's Amiga Joker magazine:
https://www.spieleschreiber.de/amiga-joker-digital/

And while you're at it you can also support the author via patreon:
http://www.patreon.com/loewenstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

VoxelNoid "taborized" - AmigaOS4 breakout game

A pretty spectacular Breakout type of game for AmigaOS4.

On the occasion of a nearing release of the A1222 Tabor mainboard, Daytona675x (of "Souverän Soccer" fame) is reworking some his creations, among which is "VoxelNoid". It's a wild variation of the classic Breakout idea, complete with 3D, flamethrower, and pumping music. Being a next-gen-Amiga game, the visual quality and number of objects moving on screen exceeds pretty much anything seen on classic Amigas. "VoxelNoid" has a lot of action, but it is done with simplicity and a tad of elegance. Great stuff!

Here's a video from the author's YouTube channel Dän Bänän (2023-08-04):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPU3-l9HeCA

Games galore #38: Breakthru, Xevious, AmiSnakes, Bertie's Animal Kingdom, Electric Black Sheep projects in the attic

More arcade ports, a fun snake game, a game for the little ones, and a harddisc load of mini-games/demos.

"BreakThru" work-in-progress

1986 arcade game "BreakThru" was released for 8-bit computers back in the day, and some modern platforms more recently, so far - and is about to become available for the Amiga, too. It's a side-scrolling shoot-em-up somehow typical for its time - which means it's also an arcade classic. The Amiga version is still work-in-progress, but it already looks pretty much 100% like the original version. 

Final system requirements haven't been set, currently the game runs on all Amigas with 1MB, with the author hinting at maybe slightly higher CPU demands as development progresses.

Here's the latest "Breakthru" WIP video from AcidBottle 0101's YouTube channel (2023-05-14):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmy0NFyq3GA

Additional sources:
https://dataeast.fandom.com/wiki/BreakThru
https://www.indieretronews.com/2023/04/breakthru-amiga-port-of-data-east.html
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=114151

Xevious and Super Xevious

1982 vertically scrolling shoot-em-up "Xevious" is another arcade classic (albeit far more successful than the aforementioned "BreakThru"), and a favorite of many retro gamers. It never got officially ported to the Amiga, but thanks to the efforts of developers tcdev, jotd, and no9, who carefully recreated the game's code and music, we can now play it in perfect arcade quality on our Amiga machines. This remake also includes "Super Xevious", the sequel to the original game.

Here's a video from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-06-23):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0F_LU9J3bk

 

Go to the game's itch.io website for more information, and download:
https://jotd666.itch.io/xevious1200

Additional sources:
https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/xevious
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=110262

AmiSnakes

"AmiSnakes" is a simple, fun parallax scrolling snake game that was released around April 2023. If you've ever played a snake game, you'll immediately feel at home here. Even if you've never played a snake game before you'll probably immediately feel at home here. All you have to do is eat pills, and grow. Isn't that great? Yes, it is, but with great length comes great responsibility.

So, long story short: The game has neat graphics, and some nice music, and, well, it's a fun snake game, check it out!

Here's a video from YouTube channel Saberman RetroNews (2023-04-01):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3-awbVkeuE

Go to the game's itch.io page for more information, and download:
https://tukinem.itch.io/amisnakes  

Additional sources:
https://www.ppa.pl/forum/strefa-tworcow/45464/amisnakes (Polish forum thread)

Bertie’s Animal Kingdom

In Feb. 2023, a game that wasn't became a game that is: "Bertie's Animal Kingdom" is a very nice looking educational game for kids that was kinda released about 20 years ago, but got washed away in the shrinking, dissolving Amiga market of the time. Now it has been rediscovered and re-released (for free).

It's a quiz game, in which you have to guess animal names. Obviously it's quite an easy game for grown ups, but with its nice sounds and beautiful hand drawn graphics "Bertie's Animal Kingdom" is a pleasant experience for all players.

Here's a video from "Games That Weren't"'s YouTube channel (2023-02-08):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO8rnXvBPh8

Go to the game's website for more information and download:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2023/02/berties-animal-kingdom/

Additional sources:
https://www.indieretronews.com/2023/02/berties-animal-kingdom-rather-rare.html

 

Electric Black Sheep "Projects in the attic"

Towards the end of 2022, developer team "Electric Black Sheep" let us take a peek behind the scenes of game development, opening up their "attic" by releasing a number of proof-of-concept / tech-demo / mini-game productions, including titles such as "Chopter", "Harvest", "Star Dust Wars 2", "Walker", "Starship Troopers", and a couple more. All of them have some pretty spectacular graphics, most are also playable and have sound. It'll be very nice to see how the ideas and techniques used in these demos show up in future "Electric Black Sheep" projects.

Here's a video from Electric Black Sheep's YouTube channel (2022-11-22):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzM3oGOzes

If you want to check out some of Electric Black Sheep's projects in the attic, go to their website for more information and downloads:
https://electricblacksheep.itch.io/projects-in-the-attic

* * *

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for "Games galore #39"!

Check out "Games galore" main page with all articles -
click here!

* * *

Support Amiga game development! Buy a game!