This week saw the release of a new AmigaOS4 game Tower 57 by Benitosub (Amiga port by Daytona, AKA Daniel Müßener), which I backed via kickstarter, and now I can try out on my AmigaOne X1000!
It is great to have a brand new original game for AmigaOS4 in 2018!
Hard to believe it is March already! I sincerely apologise for my tardiness in doing blog entries this year. A lot has been happening at work and in my personal and family health that has kept me from blogging this year.
Tower 57 is a run around, find keys and locate the exit game very much in the style of the Classic Amiga game The Chaos Engine (by the Bitmap Brothers), but updated with plenty of modern touches linked to a interesting story.
The good news is that you don't have to be a supporter to get it. It is available to purchase for AmigaOS4 (MorphOS/AROS versions included too) for 11.99USD on itch.io here.
AmigaOS4 System Requirements:
AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Update 1, >= 600 MHz, Gfx-card with Compositing support.
MorphOS System, Requirements:
MorphOS >= 3.9 + SDK >= 3.10, >= 600 MHz, Gfx-card with TinyGL support
AROS System Requirements:
x86 (e.g. Icaros Desktop >= 2.2), Gfx-card with Mesa3D support
You can also buy the game for Windows and Mac on Steam too, but of course my focus is on the AmigaOS 4 version!
Once downloaded and extracted, you get the drawer below.
There are versions for AmigaOS4, MorphOS and AROS inside the Tower57 drawer, with the Launch program detecting your system to run the right version, then checking for program updates from the internet and launching.
The Readme.txt explains important notes about the AmigaOS4 version, and includes how to set AmigaOS4 program icon tooltypes to automatically set the screen resolution of the game on launching, rather than having to select it each time, amongst other functions...don't do this on the Launch icon though - it needs to be done on the actual program icon in the Tower57 drawer.
It is a new year, so time for a new background for my X1000 AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Update 1 setup!
I mentioned before about the auto update feature. In my case on first launch it found and installed a newer version straight away!
The game runs at a number of screen resolutions, but of course I used full screen 1920x1080 :-)
I wanted to do screenshots of the game using AmigaOS4 but I found lots of problems doing it with this game for some reason. I decided to resort to screen photos using my iPhone instead, which unfortunately means it doesn't look as good as I would like it to...sorry about that.
The main title screen and menu, navigated with the keyboard left/right and enter keys. There is an options section that allows you to customise the gameplay, sound, controls and the display in the game.
When you start a new game, you get to select three characters to play in the game:
Each character has different specialties and skills. With the characters selected we then get to choose the difficulty level - I choose easy to start with.
The game begins on a train, and this section explains the backstory to the game and the train takes you to the beginning section of the game proper. You can skip this section.
Arriving into the train station, you get your next instructions and mission goal:
First off we need to get into the Tower itself.
As mentioned, the game itself plays and looks very much like The Chaos Engine. If you played that game on Classic Amiga, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect in Tower 57!
This train station section explains how to get around, control and do things in Tower 57.
You collect money to upgrade your weaponry, restore your health, and plenty more too! Eventually you find your way into the canal:
The graphics, speed and gameplay are great. You use the ASWD keys to move around, and the mouse and button to control the scope for shooting things around you.
First main task in the Sewers is to get out of them! Quite hard, but fun level!
The sewers include secret rooms, tough enemies to beat, switches to press, keys to find to unlock doors, and plenty of other challenges along the way too.
You can pick up interesting weaponry along the way, and ammo for them too of course.
There are areas where you can repair yourself for a fee, as it is possible to damage sections of your body in fighting enemies and these need to be fixed up of course. In this case my legs needing repairing!
All fixed up now.
As mentioned, you find ammo along the way, but you also have the option from time to time to buy ammo, which is very useful when running low...you can get medical repair packs and protective clothing too.
Yeah, the laser weapon is just cool:
By this stage of the sewers I was two characters down with one left. When you lose a character, you switch to the next one of your three. In the scene below you can see the arms shop where you can buy more ammo.
There are also save game points at certain points in the level.
The attention to detail with the graphics is awesome. I love the look and feel of the game. It just feels like an Amiga game should!
Exploring the sewers is a lot of fun too, with the difficulty quickly escalating.
I am pleased to say I got to the end of sewers finally and moved on to the next section of the game - Amor's Den. The classified report help below was useful information, but since I was down to my last player already, not so useful in my case!
So now I have to find General Steele:
There is also a map to help you find your way around - for this level in particular it is useful.
Here is the map display section:
The graphics detail in these levels is really incredible in my opinion:
In this level you can explore inside buildings and shops:
I soon find the weapon shop:
How can I say no to a rail gun upgrade? Can customise clip size and damage too for extra cash.
Who is scared? Heh.
To finish up this post, a quick visit to the pub I think!
There is so much more to explore in Tower 57 and I have just scratched the surface of this game.
The music and graphics are brilliant, and the game runs perfectly on my AmigaOne X1000. In short, this is a great game for AmigaOS 4 in 2018 - buy it!
2015 has been quite a year, with a lot happening in the Amiga World and this being the 30th Anniversary of the Amiga. With Xmas now upon us let us take a look back at 2015!
Operating Systems
2015 saw the release of AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition. It was released with separate CD editions for AmigaOne X1000, Sam440ep, Sam 460, Pegasos 2, and Classic Amiga with PowerPC. The Classic Amiga version can also be run on Amiga Forever 2016, FS-UAE and WinUAE with PPC emulation.
AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition on my Sam 460CR:
AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Workbench running on my AmigaOne X1000 (click any image to expand):
AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Classic running under emulation (Amiga Forever 2016) on a Core i7 PC under Windows 10 Pro x64:
MorphOS 3.8 and MorphOS 3.9 versions were released in 2015, which included support for the first time for the Sam 460 system, in addition to the existing support for PowerPC Apple hardware like iBook G4 laptop, Powerbook G4 laptop, eMac G4, PowerMac G4 and PowerMac G5 systems:
MorphOS 3.8 on my Sam 460CR:
MorphOS 3.8 on my Powerbook G4 laptop:
Also exciting was the news that the next version of MorphOS (3.10) is being written to support the upcoming AmigaOne X5000 system being released by A-EON!
Icaros 2.0.3 (AROS) was also released in 2015 for PC systems. This AROS version integrates the updated version of Directory Opus 5.91 as the default Workbench replacement instead of the previously used Zune and further improves the AmiBridge integration for running Classic Amiga software integrated with AROS.
Here is Icaros 2.0.3 running natively on my Core i7 PC:
Running Doom 3 natively under Icaros 2.0.3:
AROS VisionRTG 2.9.8 was also released in 2015 for Classic Amiga systems expanded with a RTG compliant Graphics card and using Wanderer GUI. I still want to try this out on my Classic Amigas but haven't got to it yet with so much else happening!
(This AROS Vision Screenshot taken from AROS Vision Facebook page)
AEROS Broadway Xv3.9 (AROS on Linux) has been updated in 2015 also, with public versions of v3.9 available for x86 PC and also newly ported to Raspberry Pi 1 hardware. Both can be downloaded for free from the IndieGo! App Store. (free account required)
(This AEROS Screenshot taken from AEROS Website)
On the emulation front, 2015 saw the release of Amiga Forever 2016 for Windows, allowing the running Classic Amiga systems and PowerPC based Classic Amiga systems.
AmiKit 8 was also released in 2015, optimised for use with emulators on PC, Linux and Mac. It was released with a new AmiPUP bootable USB stick version that allows any x86 PC to boot directly into a high customised and optimised AmigaOS 3.1 installation from the USB stick, using either AmigaOS3.9 or Amiga Forever CD (amongst others) as a source for the kickstart roms on initial boot.
(screenshot taken from AmiKit website)
AmiKit 8 is also downloadable and configured from Amiga Forever 2016 directly, and the AmiKit Real version can also be installed onto a real Classic Amiga. I bought the USB stick version of AmiKit 8 this year and definitely want to try this when I get some free time.
(screenshot taken from AmiKit website)
It has been great to see all the Next Generation Amiga operating systems release a new version in 2015!
Hardware
Moving on now to hardware in 2015, the Sam 460CR (Cost Reduced version of the Sam 460ex board) system was released by ACube Systems:
This board can run AmigaOS4.1 Final Edition and MorphOS 3.9.
The firmware for the Sam 460CR was also updated in 2015 (old and then new shown):
In other hardware news, the AmigaOne X1000 after 3 years on sale has sold out officially in late 2015 and is sadly no longer available as a new system.
With the move from CFE firmware on the X1000 back to U-Boot firmware for the X5000 and A1222 (as used on the Sam440/460 systems too), the X1000 will most likely be the only AmigaOne system using CFE firmware! For me it remains a special machine, and one that inspired me to start this very blog back in 2012.
The AmigaOne X5000 was announced by A-EON in 2015 as a faster replacement system for the X1000, and pre-orders expected by the end of 2015. It features a 64bit 2Ghz Dual Core PowerPC processor and plenty of other goodies!
The new system case for the X5000 was also revealed this year:
(Picture taken from A-EON's Facebook page)
At this point in mid December I am not sure if it will be available as planned in 2015 due to some delays with finalising the AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition operating system, but if it doesn't make it, then it should be early in 2016.
The X5000 system has been showcased at a number of Amiga meetings and shows this year. AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition is now running on the system in 2015, and the upcoming MorphOS 3.10 in beta form has been shown running on it too. Exciting system indeed!
A new entry level AmigaOne system called AmigaOne A1222 was also announced at AmiWest 2015, with a Beta-testing program starting in 2015 to get AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition ported to it before it goes on sale in the future.
This system uses a cheaper PowerPC 1.2Ghz processor model and stripped down motherboard to keep the price down significantly compared to the higher spec systems like the X5000 and X1000.
The A1222 performance is expected to be a little bit faster than the Sam460 system available from ACube Systems. In comparison to Classic Amiga systems it reminds me of an A1200 versus A4000T models in terms of capabilities, updated to the present day expectations of course!
Betatesters are now receiving their A1222 system in late 2015 to begin the work of porting AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition to it. Already work is underway on the AmigaOne A1222 with Linux ported and AmigaOS 3.9 emulation via E-UAE shown running on it:
(Screenshot taken from A-EON's Facebook page)
Also announced by A-EON in 2015 is an upcoming laptop to be called A.L.I.C.E (ALaptop Incorporating a Classic Experience). This is using an off the shelf laptop model running Linux (hidden from view) with Amiga Forever and boots straight into AmiKit running a Classic Amiga environment.
On the Classic Amiga hardware front in 2015 we also saw the release of a number of new Accelerator cards for the Amiga 1200 by Individual Computers - Specifically 68020 and 68030 accelerators catering for the budget conscious who just want to run Whdload games, up to those that want to be able to run AGA demos and games up until the end of the 1990's.
The 020 accelerator (ACA1221) includes an 020 clocked at 16Mhz (overclocking upgrades available up to 28Mhz), 9MB memory (unlockable upgrades to 63MB), support for optional Real Time clock module, and clock port connector for the Rapid Road USB addon.
(Image from Individual Computers website)
The new Individual Computers 68030 accelerators (ACA1232/ACA1233) have a Full 030 with MMU, running at either 50Mhz or 55.5Mhz, with 128MB memory onboard, real time clock module port and 1MB kickstart remapping memory onboard.
(Image from Individual Computers website)
A-EON in 2015 has been working on Prisma Megamix, a new sound mixer card for Classic Amiga computers (Zorro and Clockport) that will enable mp3's and other music files to be played back without needing the 680x0 CPU, meaning lower CPU speed Amigas can multitask playback of mp3 music when using the Workbench.
(Screenshot taken from A-EON's Facebook page)
Even though the hardware is ready in 2015, the PrismaControl software is still in development (although plenty of in development shots have been shared) like below just last month:
(Screenshot taken from A-EON's Facebook page)
Hopefully we will see this released in 2016.
Retro 7-Bit also released Rys Mark II USB to joystick/mouse port converters with built in USB stack in 2015. These devices allow normal USB mice and joysticks to be connected and used on the Classic Amiga systems with no other drivers needed.
Applications
On the application front we saw a number of Applications released and updated in 2015.
Warp3D Southern Island drivers (AmigaOS 4.1 - A-EON)
These drivers were released via AMIStore in 2015, allowing Warp3D hardware support for high end ATI Radeon HD graphics cards that use the Southern Islands chipset, enabling applications and games to use Warp3D on X1000 and Sam 460 systems using select mid to high end Radeon HD cards.
This now allows AmigaOne X1000 and Sam460 owners to finally run their favourite Warp3D games without the need for an older Radeon 9250 PCI graphics card.
Alongside this driver is the updated Radeon HD 2.10 drivers that support playback of 720p HD video using MPlayer under AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition.
Multiviewer NG (AmigaOS 4.1 - A-EON) - Multiview replacement
Ignition OS4 (AmigaOS 4.1- Pic software) - Spreadsheet program
Hollywood 6Epiphany (AmigaOS 4.1 / AmigaOS 3.1 / MorphOS / AROS / Windows / MacOS X / Linux / Android - Andreas Falkenhahn) - Programming/Development environment
Hollywood is significant development software for Next Gen Amiga systems (AROS / AmigaOS / MorphOS) and many recent Amiga programs have been written in Hollywood - such as AMIStore, IndieGo! App Store, LoView, AmiCloud and plenty more besides!
Cubic IDE has an updated Hollywood 6 plugin for it, also released in 2015:
Odyssey 1.25 (AROS x86 - Deadwood) - Web Browser (supporting YouTube playback again)
Netsurf 3.3 (AmigaOS 4.1 / AmigaOS 3.1 - Chris Young OS4 port) - Web Browser
AmiCloud (AmigaOS 4.1 / AROS / MorphOS/ Windows / Mac OS X - Pascal Papara / Fabio Falcucci) - Cloud Storage / Cloud File sync & sharing client
Z-Tools Suite (AmigaOS 4.1 - zzd10h) - Suite of tools and utilities for AmigaOS 4.1
AmigaAmp 3 (AmigaOS 4.1 - Thomas Wenzel) - Multiformat Music player
Song Wrangler (AmigaOS 4.1 - Caras Ghant) - iTunes style Front end for AmigaAmp 3
SMTube 15.11 (AmigaOS 4.1 - Ricardo Villalba) - YouTube Browser/Viewer/Downloader application, updated in 2015 to support the updated YouTube website API engine changes.
We also had announcements in 2015 of acquisitions of older Classic Amiga software being bought or exclusively licensed by A-EON for future development of these applications to native AmigaOS 4.1 and MorphOS applications and updating the Classic Amiga versions too!
(Image taken from A-EON's Facebook page)
These Classic Amiga applications when updated are planned to be sold through AMIStore App Store and website for the Classic Amiga versions. This includes Aladdin 4D, ImageFX (interestingly for MorphOS versions too), and Octamed.
The Classic Amiga application Final Writer was also acquired in 2015 by Terminills (Don't know his real life name sorry!), to be initially upgraded to run on AROS, with Classic Amiga, MorphOS, and AmigaOS 4.1 versions to follow.
Here is an in progress shot of the AROS Final Writer version in 2015 (taken from an amiga.org thread):
Games
We were spoiled for new games on Amiga this year! Like the applications above, I looked at most of these games in detail on my blog during this year.
Freedroid RPG (AmigaOS 4.1 - ported by Michael Trebilcock):
Wings Battlefield introduced multi player LAN gaming functionality between MorphOS / AmigaOS 4.1 / AROS versions of the games - to my knowledge the first game to do so:
Quake II High Definition Edition (AmigaOS 4.1 Warp3D SI version - HunoPPC):
The Secret of Middle City (AmigaOS 4.1/MorphOS - GDG Entertainment):
Bubble Shooter DX (AmigaOS 4.1 - Entwickler-X):
Quartet (AmigaOS 4.1 - Photon Storm):
Fruit'Y (AmigaOS 4.1 / MorphOS - RetroGuru)
Boxx 2 (AmigaOS 3.1 - Lemming880)
Lariad (AmigaOS 4.1 - HunoPPC)
Ask Me Up XXL (AmigaOS 4.1 / MorphOS - Boing Attitude!)
Cannonball - An Enhanced Outrun Engine (AmigaOS 4.1 - Chris White / Arun Home)
Swamp Defense 2 (AmigaOS 4.1 - Entwickler-X):
Gorky 17 (AmigaOS 4.1 - Hyperion Entertainment)
We also saw some work in progress games which are looking very promising and planned for release in 2016:
Amiga Racer Work In Progress (AmigaOS4.1 / MorphOS 3.9 - AmigaTec)
Wings Remastered Work In Progress (AmigaOS4.1/MorphOS/AROS - Cinemaware)
Tower 57 (Work In Progress) is a planned new game by Pixwerk initially planned for Windows, Linux and Mac. It is similar in style to the Classic Amiga game The Chaos Engine by the Bitmap Brothers. It had a stretch goal of a port to AmigaOS 4.1, AROS, and MorphOS. It was successfully funded (including the stretch goal) via Kickstarter in 2015.
Tower 57 is planned to be released in 2016 for Next Gen Amiga platforms and looks very promising indeed, and only made possible thanks to the kickstarter pledges of many Next Gen Amiga owners this year, including me! Well done to all who did!
Demos
In 2015 we had some great demos released on the Classic Amiga, both ECS demos for the Amiga 500 and also high end AGA demos for the 68060 equipped Amigas too.
I am a huge follower of the demoscene and have been since 1988 - I still love it today. Below are some of the 2015 Amiga Demo highlights for me (Played from YouTube):
This year being the 30th anniversary of the Amiga, the various shows around the world to celebrate the milestone were fantastic events.
Many of these events were attended by many of the original developers of the Amiga all those years ago, who told everyone present many stories about the Amiga.
Here is some of the promotional posters for the bigger Amiga30 shows held worldwide in 2015:
The photos below in this Amiga30 section are of the Amiga30 show held in California, USA in July 2015, and are reproduced with kind permission from Mike Brantley. Cheers mate.
The show was streamed live to the internet, using an Amiga 2000 helping out with video toaster and other hardware for the outbound internet video feed! :-)
Original Amiga developers Dave Needle and RJ Mical on stage:
The Exhibition Hall show floor:
The NG Amiga systems and vendors like A-EON were also present at these shows and could demonstrate to all present that the Amiga is still alive and kicking in 2015, with plenty of fun to be had still on our favourite platform!
Thanks Trevor Dickinson - you really do keep this Amiga party going in 2015.
There was a Q&A forum at the show as part of the evening Banquet allowing people to ask questions of the original developers of the Amiga:
And of course what is a 30th celebration without cake:
The original very fragile development Amiga hardware was also present at the show:
The celebration at the Amiga30 show in California ended with a display set up by attendees of every Amiga system ever made - from genesis, all the Classic Amiga systems, and all the way through to the latest Next Gen Amiga systems in 2015 like the Sam 460, AmigaOne X1000, X5000 and even the upcoming AmigaOne A1222!
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the overseas Amiga30 celebrations this year due to work and other commitments, but I did attend a local Amiga 30 celebration event here in Adelaide in 2015 to mark the occasion and show many of the original Classic Amiga and Next Gen Amiga systems too!
The special Amiga30 shows in California, Amsterdam, Germany, UK and elsewhere in the world were truly amazing events! I hope most of you made your way to at least one of them during 2015.
Whew! It has certainly been a busy and another great year on the Amiga in 2015 - I am looking forward to even more developments in 2016!
With so much happening I probably missed a few things that happened - I apologise in advance if I missed something!
To you the reader, thank you very much for following my blog in 2015. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it.
As usual I will be spending time with family and on holiday over the Xmas/New Year period and the blog will take a break during that time. I plan to be back again in mid January 2016.
In the meantime I wish you and your family a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. See you again in 2016!
