If you played ' Ghosts'n Goblins ' the first game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise on systems such as the Amstrad, Amiga, Atari, C64 and ZX Spectrum, or the more recent arcade overhaul that was released for the Plus/4. You'll be interested to know that as of just recently, JOTD has started working on Ghost's'n Goblins for the Commodore Amiga as an AGA edition. Although he does state "This will be a AGA-only project I think. The original OCS version by Elite is already very good. Not sure it can be improved (apart from the reuse of the original code)"
Alpha Footage?
Here's the latest from JOTD. "A bit early to talk about this project or is it? Skyzoo73(link) did an awesome job with the first level in Scorpion, but after confirming with him again, this isn't going to go further. I asked him if he blessed the fact that I continue the work (from scratch) and he was ok. I also joined IM76 who provided me with the tunes he made for the first level & others. Pretty awesome job too. Graphically, the status isn't too impressive but
- game is fully transcoded
- game boots and shows title screen (will the front layer, the typo on "RESERVED", 16 credits WTF and all)
- (background tiles & sprites aren't implemented yet but the logic is all there, the IRQ is running and the bank switching mechanism seems to work too)"
- The amiga version will kick ass. I'm going to try new things like interrupt-based blitting and corkscrew scrolling, due for a while. If that works, I'll retrofit all my other games I could quit my job and I still wouldn't have the time for all this.
And that's all we know so far, but as soon as we know more this article will be updated with the latest news!
Sorry poor form on my part made mistakes in the article. Currently on pain meds which are not helping!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you’re not well, best wishes from this loyal reader.
DeleteThanks anon! Gastritis and Gallbladder flare up oh what fun.
DeleteThe ecs version is almost arcade perfect...
ReplyDeleteJOTD is essentially re-writing history with these ports. It's quite amazing.
ReplyDeleteGet well soon, you're doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon!
DeleteThe ECS version is great, especially for 1990. But JOTD's version uses the original code, and AGA makes the colors almost identical. This is so cool, really hope it'll be finished!
ReplyDeleteJust seen this by JOTD "But the amiga version will kick ass. I'm going to try new things like interrupt-based blitting and corkscrew scrolling, due for a while. If that works, I'll retrofit all my other games I could quit my job and I still wouldn't have the time for all this."
DeleteAlright - a preoper arcade conversion finbally. What exactly is corkscrew scrolling?
ReplyDeleteI believe it's this https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81634 "It scrolls for ten screens using only a bitmap 352 pixels wide and 256+10 pixels high. This exploits the fact that soft scrolling on the Amiga only offsets a starting pointer into a bitplane. Since Blitz's DisplayBitmap command doesn't do any bounds checking (thankfully), it can be incremented beyond the width of the bitmap scrolled, upon which it "wraps around" to the starting position, but one pixel down. So if you allocate an extra pixel in height for your bitmap (for each screenwidth scrollable — in this case ten), the bitmap is offset down, and all you have to do is blit in new background blocks in the currently obscured part of the bitmap (it's two blocks wider than the visible screen), offset one pixel down for each screenwidth scrolled."
DeleteGood Luck IndieRetroNews guys with meds, hope you'll get better soon. And awesome Gng version, congrats !
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, the beautiful C16 version is out and now the AGA one too... from 8-bit to 16-bit... a significant leap, eh, eh....!!
ReplyDeleteWhen will there be a version for Ryzen 9 9950 with 64GB of RAM and a 12GB GeForce 3060????!!!
I'm eagerly awaiting it....!!
GNG is always welcome, but the Amiga already had an excellent conversion, without being aga...why not convert Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which came out in terrible condition on Amiga? It would be much better, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeletebecause I decide which conversions I want to do. Ghouls'N'Ghosts isn't my kind of game.
DeleteKinda like someone asking me to do a big feature of a puzzle game! ;)
DeleteThat doesn't seem like a very logical answer to me. Ghouls'n Ghosts is exactly that kind of game. You can convert whatever you want to convert, of course, I'm not pointing a gun at your head, it was just a suggestion, given that the Amiga software library already has an excellent conversion of Ghosts'n Goblins, it makes a lot of sense to have a similar one, but one that works on hardware that requires a lot more resources? In my opinion, no.
DeleteBut you're free to convert whatever you want, I repeat.
@IndieRetroNews, my friend, I explained it above, you can convert whatever you want, but the Amiga software library lacks a good conversion of the sequel, Ghosts'n Goblins was already excellent on the Amiga 500. Simple.
Poor JOTD, does all these amazing conversions etc and some people scream " MOREEEEEE " .. " DO THIS GAME!!! " Lol :D
Deletelet me explain: if I don't like the game, then even if I force myself into a conversion, it will be bad. I accepted requests in the past for some games (Burger Time & Hyper Sports) because I more or less knew/liked them and also they were very similar to other ports I had made. Ghouls'N'Ghosts is a completely different beast than Ghosts'N'Goblins so the task is not the same level of magnitude, it would probably end up disappointing. And badly tested as I hate the game :) The choice of conversions is mostly personal and motivated by the desire to see the game running + a degree of feasability.
Delete@TooDrunkToFuck I agree with you. On AGA, I would like to see a better version of Ghouls'N Ghosts. I don't care who will do it. Anima started to port the arcade version (emulation) on Atari STE some years ago, but the hardware was too much limited to handle a perfect conversion. On Amiga AGA, we have more power.
DeleteAmazing work yet again. Full salute JOTD. o7
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJOTD isn't using Scorpion Engine! Also there's nothing wrong with Scorpion Engine, without it there's many amazing games that would never have seen the light of day. Here's what JOTD said "Not sure it can be improved (apart from the reuse of the original code)" and " I continue the work (from scratch) and he was ok" and "game is fully transcoded". JOTD doesn't use Scorpion Engine for his games, he's said that before :D
DeleteSkyzoo73 was the one that used Scorpion Engine originally :)
DeleteScorpion Engine or not - doesn't matter to me. What matters is the outcome, and that goes for every game out there :o)
DeleteHear Hear! :)
DeleteGhosts'n Goblins is an iconic classic, an AGA arcade conversion will be very special indeed. The original Amiga version (while a very good recreation in its own right) is a far cry from the arcade - and I don't mean that in a bad way, only that they're quite different, and because of that I'm sure the OCS version will continue to have its place. Also kudos to JOTD for keeping these projects fun - why would anyone want to spend their free time working on a game they don't like??
ReplyDelete"ALL RIGHT RESEVED" ... Haha, the same typo as the arcade version.
ReplyDelete