I was suddenly reminded of Magicore Anomala [0], which was announced in early 2023 but I haven't seen anything about since. It doesn't seem to be on the development list.
I'm thrilled to see someone bring up Magicore! I don't do much publicity because it's been a quiet 2 years working on the game engine, without much flashy content to show for it. But we're ramping up to begin production of the final game assets, so I anticipate having a lot more to share this coming year.
I also have a personal blog which is largely a development blog for Magicore (https://dansalva.to/blog). My next post will be about a recent feature where I use Amiga's hardware acceleration to draw rays of light that can be obstructed by passing objects. Proof of concept video here: https://youtu.be/rFWFTuWx82M
Their emulation is very good but usually works but the games require various combinations of joystick, keyboard and mouse. Kind of harder to set up on handhelds than console systems.
I've recently developed a very simple game for the ZX Spectrum in a week and within 2 weeks it was downloaded almost 200 times on itch.io. Despite being an extremely low effort attempt I got some feedback and even a review on Youtube.
Now I can't help but wonder what sort of feedback I'll get if I put in a decent effort. I'm pretty sure it's going to be worth it, since at least for me it was already a very pleasant surprise to have people enjoying my simple game.
Yes, old and new games for outdated systems will easily outlast modern games. I can still play a game from 1985 on an emulator today but how many contemporary games can I play in 2065 ?
I buy retro games. The creators typically make them as a hobby and a lot of the ones I play are basically text adventures with a simple parser and a few dozen locations with a unique pixel art image for each location. So it costs them nothing but time to make and my purchase helps buy them coffee. With very rare exceptions, these are usually not built with any kind of "studio" or large budget, so profitability is irrelevant. They often just release for free.
I just checked the games I've played and most of them used a pretty simple verb-noun parser (use keycard), but the latest ones are much more sophisticated as you've pointed out like verb-noun-noun (use keycard with switch) or something like that. Of course I think some use a slimmed down version of Inform7, which should be pretty powerful.
Inform 7 it's the language. The parser comes from the library under Inform6 too and is not that limited, it can accept compund phrases too.
You can just use Inform6 which is OOP oriented and it's very easy to define in game-objects, rooms, attributes such as objects being containers/openable/enterable and such. Setting up basic puzzles it's pretty straightforward.
Well we are on HN. Odd to me for being downvoted for a question rooted in curiosity.
I’m just trying to understand the motivation. If it’s free then I can understand it’s a hobby. When it’s being charged for, and there are some “studios” pumping out commercial games, then to me it warrants trying to understand more about the game creators. Especially when they’re amiga games.
Not a studio, this is development like it's the 90s. Though development is easier now with modern tools, but just like the 1990s it's something one person can write.
I made a simple retro game out of pure passion and released it for free at itch.io, however I see many good games that sell for low prices. There's definitely a niche market. Alternatively users can also donate or become your patrons. From what I see, if the game is decent and the price is lowish, then it sells quite well. Obviously won't pay your bills, but it's something...
Dr. Dangerous: Secrets of the Temple of Xol'Tan https://hoogames2017.itch.io/dr-dangerous Beautiful and runs on naked Amiga 500.
Dungeonette https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=5069 Stock Amiga 1200.
Roguecraft https://thalamusdigital.itch.io/roguecraft Any Amiga with 2MB of ram.
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