I am joined by Alex Brown, programmer of an upcoming brand new beat-em-up 2-player game for the Commodore Amiga – Metro Siege. With the target platform the Amiga A500, originally released way back in 1987! Alex takes us through the journey of pushing the limits of the Amiga A500, the experience of programming with the Amiga custom chips and how this wonderful passion project will become a final release.
Topics include:
How Alex became a programmer
Alex’s favourite game influences
Why create a new game for the Amiga?
Pushing the limits of the Amiga A500
Taking the Amiga online with cross system online multiplayer
The art of releasing a beta or technical preview and gathering feedback
Keeping the gameplay smooth with 2 players, enemies and lush surroundings
Parallax scrolling, moving trains and what’s needed to achieve the results
Using modular character animation on the Amiga
Given extra life to a retro computing platform
The reason for the expansion memory of 512kb memory requirement
The programming resources available for the Amiga
The tricks of the trade for programming the Amiga
The software and tools for creating Amiga games
Emulation versus real hardware for testing
The size of the team and the understanding of the capabilities of the Amiga
The biggest challenge of getting the game to work
Why AGA has not been targeted… yet?
Ensuring there is an end goal to any “passion project”
If you watch the video version of the podcast, I have captured Metro Siege running from my own Amiga A500 (which mine does have Pistorm installed, but I have been assured it will still run great without one). You can find out more by visiting the Metro Siege website.
James is a Freelance Journalist, Copywriter, Author, Blogger & Podcaster specialising in gaming, gadgets and technology, both retro and modern.
Ever since he experienced the first controllable pixel movement on the television screen, he has been entranced by the possibilities and rewarding entertainment value generated from these metal and plastic boxes of delight. Writing hundreds of articles, including commentary and reviews on various gaming platforms, whilst also interviewing well-known industry figures for popular online publications.
Creator of the ScummVM Music Enhancement Project and host of the Game & Gadget Podcast.
View his portfolio here: James Woodcock's Portfolio.
