Using BBS with my Amiga 3000 in 2021

No carrier, ATDT, ATZ, ZModem, XModem, Kermit, Door games, FidoNet, and SysOps. Ring a bell?

For those who never got to experience Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) back in the day, they were the pre-internet method for spreading software, chatting, playing online gaming, chatting on Forums, and a lot more too.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's I was heavily using BBS via 2400 baud rate modem on my Amiga 500 and later Amiga 2000 to get new software, chat with other Amiga fans and to play some classic BBS Door games online.

In recent times there has been movement to re-build this method of using computers as part of the "Retro" revival, and so BBS have sprung up using telnet gateways, allowing us to connect to these old BBS systems using the internet.

In 2021, I got back on board with this and bought a Wimodem 232 from CBMstuff.com, which allows you to connect your Amiga via a simulated serial modem, which is actually connected via your local WiFi SSID to the internet. FYI you can also do this with a Commodore 64, which I have demonstrated at Adelaide Retro Group meetings when I ran them in the past.

Here is the WiModem 232 for the Amiga:

It has a screen on it to show the current status of the modem. It needs power via a USB power cable to function.

With the WiModem 232 device connected to the Amiga 3000's serial port with USB power supplied, it is looking for a router and it is time to configure it. 

There are plenty of instructions on how to do this online. I don't plan to repeat those here as the guides online at cbmstuff.com are good enough to get anyone online, even me. I chose to use NComm 3.0 initially for this, as it is the terminal program I am most familiar with using on the Amiga.

Running the command ATI in NComm shows the current configuration of the WiModem:

For privacy reasons I can't show the full WiModem 232 setup as it reveals a lot of my personal network setup which I don't want to disclose - sorry about that. Basically it scans for local SSID's and you issue some Hayes commands into the terminal program to select the network you want to use, and the password. This is then saved into the memory of the WiModem and it connects automatically the next time it is switched on.

Initially the modem is set to 300 baud. I chose to change it to 19200. You can use higher speeds of course, but higher speeds like 56k and 115k on the serial port does start to impact the Amiga's performance the higher you go, unless you have Zorro interface card with buffered serial interfaces. Keeping the speed reasonable allows me to listen to my favourite modules and do other tasks on the Amiga while the BBS session is running.

Some friends of mine from the Brisbane Amiga Retro Group (which I visited and did a presentation in 2019), recently decided to create their own BBS too, using Mystic BBS software running 24x7 on a hosted linux server, available via amigaretro.com on port 23.

You could run a BBS solution on your Amiga of course, but it is a lot more work, and also means keeping your beloved Amiga running 24x7, reducing it's operating life considerably! So it is hosted for simplicity and to safeguard our Amigas!

So I quickly connected to amigaretro.com port 23 to try it out!

As you can see, NComm is not using ANSI support, so the output is a bit rubbish.

I setup my user account on the BBS:

I got the welcome email from the SysOp and responded to become a full member of the site.

It is kind of fun to add your own one liner when you log in, a tradition in BBS land that still continues on demoscene focused pouet.net today!

That done, I checked the files area:

I had read through Brisbane Amiga Retro Group's Discord page that one of the members had great success using DCTelnet on the Amiga for BBS use, which relies on having working network and internet access from your Amiga, rather than using a device like WiModem 232. 

Luckily, I do have this via my X-Surf 100 card and purchased version of Roadshow TCP software on the Amiga 3000.

Members had already put the required files on the BBS, so I could easily get what I needed on the BBS without having to go anywhere else!

Flagged for download..

Downloading files via Modem and Modem - really brings back so many fond memories.

Disconnecting, installing DCTelnet, copying the fonts to the FONTS: directory and switching from NComm to DCTelnet, I got a very different (and more normal) ANSI BBS experience on my Amiga 3000.

I configured my Address book to add AmigaRetro.com port 23, and added my username and password, which I can pass into the system on connection using Amiga-N and Amiga-P shortcuts.

I then connected to the BBS. Now THIS is more like it:

My favourite Mods playing on the Amiga 3000 in the background, and BBS access all areas in 2021. Oh yeah!

With the SCSI CDROM connected, I could also enjoy Lizardking's greatest hits CD on the Amiga 3000 while using the BBS via DCTelnet. 

Moving back to DCTelnet, the Amigaretro.com BBS and into the main menu again, it is now looking a million times better than in Ncomm with full ANSI support.

Intangybles, the handle of the guy who built this new BBS, was online and we soon engaged in a great chat about all things BBS and Amiga, just like it was 1990 all over again!

I can't begin to tell you how many strong memories came from just this first night on a BBS in over 25 years!

Naturally I was keen to explore more, and Intangybles was also keen to expand the functionality of the BBS, enabling forums and network access to send messages across other networks.

I had a snoop around to see who else had been online, and if anyone was around.

Usage patterns - being a brand new BBS, of course not so many as yet, but I expect as more functionality and games are added to the BBS we should see more coming from all over the world. Hopefully I get to see some of you reading this online here soon!

Also, Door games are being added to the BBS. I personally used to play BBS Crash almost everyday, and was very keen to try it again. I located it and waited for the SysOp to work his magic to get it working.

One of the challenges with this is that most games required registration, and the original source code and authors have long ago given up on the software, which makes it hard to get registered versions to use. Some sites like BBSFiles.com are helping with this, trying to save s many BBS door games as possible for future generations to experience and enjoy.

Speaking of these games, I had a go at Blackjack, since it was already online on the BBS, ready to try out.

I admit I am pretty awful at card games like this, and so it proved! I did win occasionally, but soon ran out of virtual money to play with! This is why I never go to Casinos!

I also tried out the Stack 'Em door game available on the BBS, and had a lot of fun playing this Tetris clone!

It never ceases to amaze me how playable a text graphics based game can be on a BBS. 

I got sucked in and ended playing it for over 30 minutes!

Exploring the forums available through the BBS is fun too. I know these days we can use web forums, Discord, Facebook and other online tools too, but these kinds of local and network forums were genesis, where it all began. They are still active today too, like fsxnet:

I also got some more files that were online on the BBS.

Scroll down the list, and press space on any file you want to tag it for download.

Using the internet to download files via ZModem is of course a much faster way to do it than the original Modem on a real modem...In the old days I would start it and go off to do something else while the file(s) downloaded very slowly to my computer.

Not long after this Intangybles came through with a working install (unregistered) of my favourite BBS door game - BBS Crash. I was so excited to play it again after so many years, albeit limited due to not being able to save progress to play it daily as you need to.

I quickly got to work, and the game started coming back to me, keeping my disk space, uploading trojans, trashing BBS files to gain levels, money from hacking SysOp's bank accounts and improving your experience.

Start at BBS number 1 and work your way up.

If the SysOp catches you, things go bad fast. If you run out of disk space trying to trash the BBS, it's game over.

You can retry a few times per day, and regularly free up your initial 10MB space to work with to trap and backup your data gained from destroying other BBS systems. Levelling up with limited tries per day is the hook to keep you coming back everyday to try again!

You have to drop carrier and empty often to avoid running out of disk space. If you run out of disk space it is game over.

Checking my status reveals I have a long way to go:

Back in the day I was hooked on this game, and would dial up to my local BBS to play it every day.

I hope I have brought across how much fun playing with a BBS again in 2021 really is. Please try it out when you can, it is a lot of fun and I guarantee if you used BBS in the past, the memories will come flooding back in a good way! I'll see you on amigaretro.com:23 BBS hopefully soon!

New Amiga games in 2021

 It's 2021, and it seems I have gone back 30 years! There are so many new release games on Amiga and Commodore 64 in the past few years and I wanted to highlight some of these new games.

It is wonderful to see the high quality of many of the releases, and especially the trouble the authors have gone to to package them in professional boxes. 

It feels great to be able to support new Amiga game development in 2021. I hope you have also been able to do this, even if you just buy the digital download versions of the games to enjoy on Amiga emulation or on the real hardware. Please try out some of the games here if you haven't already.

In my case, I really wanted the game boxes too. I know that game authors don't make a lot of money selling digital versions of their games, but they DO make more money when the box up the games and add another margin on top. 

For me, it just makes sense to buy these full "collector's edition" games, as I like to think I am supporting the developers even more. If nothing else, if gives me that "new Amiga game" feel I used to get 30 years ago when buying games for the Amiga at the peak of its popularity. It never gets old!

For those who think that the Amiga didn't get much in the way of new games since Commodore went under in 1994, you would be surprised how many games have been released since then! 

In the late 1990's and early 2000's (with the main remaining commercial game developers like Team 17, Bitmap Brothers, Vulcan) having left the Amiga market) we saw new games released in smaller numbers that explored the full speed of accelerated 060 Classic Amigas, RTG graphics, and more.

Games like Payback, Virtual GP, Napalm, T-Zero, Foundation, Tales from Heaven, Nightlong, Desert Racing of BarDos and others continued the ongoing new games on the Classic Amiga, now with much higher system requirements.

We also saw ports of Quake, Doom, Heretic, Wolfenstein 3D, Abuse, and many other games thought previously too complex to run on Amiga - only Amiga makes it possible :-)

The new games released moved on to PowerPC based Amigas and the Next Generation AmigaOne systems using PowerPC and AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and AROS. I have covered most of these games in this very blog over the past 10 years,

Then we had the whole Retro computing era come in during the mid 2010's and with the stagnation of development on AmigaOS 4.1 and the expense of these new PowerPC systems, people moved back to the Classic Amiga platform again, either with old hardware, FPGA solutions like MIST/Minimig or via emulation on modern Windows, Mac, Raspberry Pi or Linux systems. 

We then started to see a steady increase in new games for the Amiga again, with some new commercial game publishers emerging to take advantage of the increased interest in Retro platforms like the Amiga.

Thanks to the modern amazing new Classic Amiga accelerators like the Vampire 500/600/1200, we can also now play ports of PC games on our Classic Amigas, like Diablo, Starcraft, Rise of the Triad, Tyrian, Quake 2, and many more:

There really is a lot of new and old gaming to be done on the Amiga in 2021! If you have not been in the Amiga scene in the last few years and have just come back after a long time away - there is a lot to catch up on and enjoy!

Today I want to focus on new Amiga specific games in 2021. 

The first title to look at is the 2021 released Amiga game called Inviyya, from Tigerskunk, available from Poly Play in boxed form and also via digital on itch.io. 

Inviyya is a shoot em up genre game that has been released for ECS/AGA Amigas, including a Amiga CD32 CD version. It is this version that I bought. You can buy the disk boxed version or download versions also.

Here is a closer look at the impressive game box:

Inside I got a Amiga CD32 game sleeve, manual and CD32 bootable CD, a poster, ship patch for your jacket, stickers, story book and the games on MicroSD card in ADF and CD32 ISO for use with emulators or if you want to write out the floppy disk version for use on a real Amiga.

The graphics and the game itself are stunning, with 6 levels to shoot your way through, and well worth a look.

The quality of the graphics and sound in this game are first class. It is a tough shoot em up, but Inviyya is a lot of fun to play, and very professionally presented.

Next up is the recently released Turbo Tomato, available in boxed form from Bitmap Soft.

Inside the box, you get a Amiga floppy disk (labelled), some stickers, manual and a poster.

This is a quirky game, with an interesting gameplay mechanic that makes it stand out from the usual games in this genre. It is also intended for OCS/ECS Amiga systems.

A nice feature of Turbo Tomato is the level codes as you progress, so as long as you make a note of them as you go, you can always resume where you got up to, without having to start from the beginning.

The presentation of the game is polished and runs great.

The game itself involves collecting and firing bombs with timers that run down to zero quickly (when they explode) at enemies on screen. New enemies are introduced as you progress through the game.

I will admit I found this game to be a lot of fun, and very easy to get into and play.

Once you kill all the enemies, you can go to the exits that appear to move on to the next level.

As you progress through the game, as mentioned, you get the level codes to continue from that point.

The levels naturally get more difficult as you go, with obstacles on the levels to make progress more difficult, and the variety of enemies also presenting quite a fun challenge.

Watch out for the radiation, as it quickly saps your life if you stay close to it for too long.

The sure sign of a good game is when you get hooked on it and end up playing it for far longer than you had planned. Turbo Tomato is definitely an addictive game.

I tackled the Potty Shed but failed - I'll have to have another go later on!

You also get a unique code for your high score to add it to a website to show off your skills at Turbo Tomato! This is a fun game and recommended!

I have touched briefly on the next new 2021 Amiga game release in a previous blog post, but it is worth including again together with the other new releases. 

This next game is called Turbo Sprint for AGA Amigas (1200/4000/CD32), and is available for purchase via itch.io from the author. 

Unfortunately this limited release game box I purchased here is no longer available, but you can still buy the download version of the game.

Inside the box you get the Amiga floppy disk (labelled), CD32 version, and a cool F1 car shaped USB drive.

It is of course based on the classic arcade game called Super Sprint, and looks almost identical to it in gameplay also. As Super Sprint was never released on the Amigas back in the day, it is great in 2021 to finally have it!

Turbo Sprint has all the usual tracks you expect from Super Sprint:

As a simple racing game, the hook was competing against the other drivers, with shortcuts, oil slicks and tornados to make life more difficult.

Presentation is slick and runs well on my Amiga 1200. 

As I loved the original Super Sprint and the many different variants released on the Amiga like Badlands, Offroad Racer, Indy Heat, Supercars 1/2, Nitro and others too, it is easy for me to recommend this game!

The next new Amiga game to look at is Smarty and the Nasty Gluttons, also available at Bitmap Soft. This is a typical platform style game for OCS/ECS Amigas, but still an original game.

Inside the box, you get a badge, manual and Amiga floppy disk (labelled). Note that this game does not include any digital download version. You have to buy the floppy disk version to get it. This was a little frustrating as I had to wait for the physical game box to arrive before I could play it, but then again, this is how it always used to be back in the day right?

Firing up the game you get an impressive graphics platform game.

It is clear someone spent a lot of time on the graphics for this game to make it sing, and it shows.

From the beginning of the game, it is clear that this games graphics sparkle and draw you in.

With this platform game, you need to keep shooting and pushing dazed enemies you have shot so they land on top of another enemy to produce one of 5 keys you need to complete the level.

The green arrows indicate where you can fall through the level and land back at the top again. This is important to use when choosing when and where to push an dazed enemy to land on another one to get another key:

With some weapon upgrades you can unlock some serious bonuses when shooting enemies too!

This game is a lot of fun and does require  thinking to complete each level, which makes it quite an interesting challenge! 

Before you know it, you are dead, it is dream over and have to try again!

Next up is the new Amiga release Tiny Little Slug, released through APC&TCP.

This comes with a floppy disk and CD with the game files on it for hard disk installation or to rewrite the ADF file to floppy disk.

Another OCS Amiga game, Tiny Little Slug is a platform game with a twist. 

The slug you control in this game can only travel around the edges of the screen using the walls, and drop onto other levels when on top of them,

Actually, this game is a lot harder than it looks, and the graphics look great!

As the game progresses, the levels get ever more difficult to navigate.

If platform games are not your thing, next up on the new release Amiga games in 2021 is the Slayers of High Toro, released by Bitmap Soft.

Inside the box you get a badge, stickers, manual, poster and Amiga floppy disk (labelled):

This game is definitely a full-on strategy, turn based game with all the trimmings. You definitely need to read the manual to play this game as there is a lot to it.

Not reading the manual to start with I selected the first game called Mixed, and instantly regretted it!

Basically you are pitted against a number of other armies, all trying to conquer the whole map. For this game, my castles are in light green, and I need to turn all the colours and castles on the map to my colour in order to win.

When you click on your castles, some have available men to deploy outside to take over lands, others are collecting various attributes you need to progress through the game.

I moved my 10 men to the next square, and then need to end my turn:

That done, the computer does the moves for the other armies on the map:

Things are improving, with more resources now available to me, and I can start to spread my armies out to conquer more land:

You can only move your armies one square beyond your current ring of controlled lands.

There is a lot to this game, and I admit I don't fully understand all the various logics at play. It is interesting though, and worth continuing to try to learn how to play the game to get further into it.

As you can see, my area of control is increasing each turn as I make more progress and defeat other armies controlling various parts of the map:

At this point I thought I was doing really well:

Suddenly though, all my armies died simultaneously (no idea why!) on turn 10.

There is a learning curve to the game, but it is worth trying a few times to get the hang of it.

Heading back to more familiar territory, the next new game release for AGA Amiga systems is a game called Wiz, written by Mutation Software. 

I missed out on the limited collectors edition large game box, and have to make do with the small one instead, which comes with two floppy disks:

Wiz is a platform game, but the main sprite and world is quite large in comparison to the usual platform game. It is very pretty to look at.

You are searching for a magic lantern:

As the game opens I realise the main Wiz game character sprite is huge!

As you travel through the level, you can collect additional potions to unlock other spells, which can be selected by pulling down on the joystick to toggle between them.

The heal potion is especially useful as I seem to have a natural attraction to hitting enemies in this game...

I didn't give up though, and as I started to get used to the slightly strange platform orientation, which are huge, I found this to be an enjoyable game:

I still get killed quite often though, and ended up reliving the first level many times before I managed to finish it!

Eventually though, I made it!

As you move into later levels you also get to ride a masked animal (Dragon?) that helps you quickly navigate enemies on the level:

The animal (whatever it is!) certainly makes life a lot easier.

I found Wiz to be an enjoyable game and very pretty indeed.

I could go on forever, as there are just so many new games out there to try right now for the Amiga. Here are some more I have bought in the last few years to consider too:

Freds Journey (OCS/ECS), a platformer from RetroGuru:

Skill Grid (AGA/CD32) from Retream, a puzzle game published by RGCD:

Reshoot R (AGA/CD32), a shoot em up available on the author's website:

Trap Runner (OCS/ECS), a platform game by Retroguru:

Worthy (CDTV/CD32/OCS/ECS), a stunning platform game by Pixelglass:

Bridge Strike (OCS/ECS) Shoot em up, and Pong 4K (CD32), a pong variant with a twist:

Power Glove Reloaded (OCS/ECS/CDTV), a C64 conversion platform game published by RGCD:

Zerosphere (CD32), a platform game with a novel blurred playscape that comes into focus for short periods, published by Poly Play:

Black Dawn Rebirth (OCS/ECS), a strategy Dungeon Master/Hired Guns style game, published by Doublesided Games:

Tales of Gorluth (OCS/ECS) and the follow up Heroes of Gorluth (CD32/OCS/ECS), Adventure game published by AmiWorx:

Special mention to Rotator, Retrowars IV, Project Lila, Tanks Furry, and plenty of other new Amiga games I have no doubt missed in preparing this blog post!

Please buy and try out some of the many many new games available for the Amiga, and help support these amazing game developers that keep new software coming for my favourite platform!

I look forward to the upcoming new Amiga titles yet to come - it is an exciting time to own an Amiga in 2021!