While I was having a nice two day break, I came back to some super duper news for the Amiga! As looking through all the different homebrew forums, and I have found out that at some point in the near future, Juande3050 will be releasing his Alien Breed style Commodore Amiga AGA game of 'Xenomorph'. A redpill developed game that came second during the Posadas 2025 competition. While the game isn't out yet, AmigaFrance(link) was happy to provide the latest details and footage.
And here's the latest. "XENOMORPH is heavily inspired by ALIEN BREED, although a darker, more tense setting was sought. The goal was to slow down the gameplay by being more careful when confronting the Aliens. The idea is that the ability to die easily will generate tension for the player, forcing them to slowly discover the map. Because the graphics are dark and low-contrast, it's difficult to distinguish the Alien, so you have to be very careful not to get too close to one without realizing it. The music and ambient sound, with samples taken from the films, contribute to this tense atmosphere".
"The goal of this development was to participate in the REDPILL game competition sponsored by AMIGAWAVE. Due to the limited time available for development, the game is quite short, has some bugs, and lacks optimization. Future optimizations and expansions of the levels are expected, thus offering a more complete and well-rounded game".
Credits
- Code - Graphics - Sounds - Musics ---------- juande3050
- Thanks to ZENNER (REDPILL developer), AMIGAWAVE and the entire telegram channel for making this development possible.
Looks promising. I think the Motion tracker inclusion could lead to some really interesting gameplay (that Alien Breed unfortunately did not have). For example, the xenomorphs are crawling beneath you or on the ceiling which you can only tell by looing at the tracker, and you ignore them and they get close enough they can pounce on you from above or below so you need to rely on the tracker to survive - just like in the movie. However, I think it makes more sense if it is 2 to 3x bigger and placed either in the middle of the control panel (rather than all the way on the right), or may be on the top right corner of the screen and can be toggled on and off.
ReplyDeleteBut I do like the graphics and the tone. Hope you can show the community what Redpill AGA Engine can really do!
I had hoped it was an AGA upgraded version of the original Xenomorph DM style game... Why do people just copy some existing name :(
ReplyDeleteThat was my first reaction too, but hey ho another aliens game. For me this game needs more variety, we are in 2025 not 1990/1991 anymore. Have slower / faster enemies with better AI, more variety of gameplay, better controls etc... I agree, a mouse could be used as an option for better aiming, instead of this line up the shot or have the enemy wait to fall into your line of sight. Parallax scrolling could be used to give the illusion of a ceiling, then have enemies drop in with the breaking of glass or something. In Alien Breed enemies came out from under the floor, use a metal sound to give the impression the aliens are trying to break through the walls, even better, have them come out of the walls at certain locations or randomly to keep the player on edge. The graphics and sound you have so far are fine, but expand on it. There is potential here, but it all depends on how far the developer would like to go with the project.
Delete"Why do people just copy some existing name :("
DeleteUnreal: Amiga, 1990
Unreal: Windows, 1998
As a huge Alien Breed fan, I love this. The glowing wall effect really looks amazing. My only critique is the actual character. He doesn't;t stand out, and at times watching the video, he was also invisible against the gray of the floors. He also moves in a very choppy manner.
ReplyDeletemaximum filmic audio, radar not working, a mouse driven targeting would be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteMe personally I like the game, but what lacks is the enemy AI. It should be roaming around looking for you. Having them standing still makes it too easy :D
ReplyDeleteLooks great
ReplyDeleteAwesome, though unfortunately AGA
ReplyDeleteUnexpectedly quite a good game it may be. Looking forward to some more info in the future or even a full release.
ReplyDeletebullets not coming from gun - just looks wrong.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt looks very promising already for an Alpha version.
Thumbs up.
Hopefully the devs will continue to make this game, I for one will be following this project with great interest.
I will divide my subjective opinion into two parts: GRAPHICS and GAMEPLAY.
ReplyDeleteGRAPHICS:
very pleasing to the eye with a well-chosen color palette. If I had to nitpick, I would say that a slightly different type of dithering for the background could be used. The RETRO PAINT program, which has some cool tricks when it comes to color reduction for Amiga, could be helpful here.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/retropaint/
GAMEPLAY:
Unfortunately, what we see is very rudimentary gameplay (it's hard to even call it a prototype, and I hope they'll refine it). Enemies should have more animation frames, more animation phases, and they should move and flank. It's worth seriously considering mouse control with smooth 360-degree aiming.