Don't worry Amiga owners, we haven't left you out of the news! As I've been informed that as of this week you can try out Gloom Reforged by Andiweli! A new AI-assisted, assembly-coded overhaul for Amiga AGA systems, bringing modernized visuals and controls to the classic shooter series, including support for mouse and keyboard input. The project, compatible with the 90's Gloom, Gloom Deluxe, Gloom 3, and Zombie Massacre, features a reworked renderer with Bayer dithering, enhanced fog, and persistent configuration settings, and is currently available for testing.
Furthermore Gloom Reforged aims to build an enhanced Amiga version of the classic shooter, utilizing the original, unmodified earok/GloomAmiga source code as a clean foundation. This project focuses on reorganizing and extending the game for modern Amiga hardware while strictly preserving the original, high-speed gameplay and atmosphere. You can find more information in the official developer update!
Requirements :
- AGA only, so if you try on other than A1200/A4000 it won't work. I heard some people wondered it doesn't work on A500 🙂
- If you expect AAA PC shadows and reflections you might be disappointed, we are still talking about Gloom, the Engine is the same as in the 90s. It has optional blob-shadows and "reflection-ish" colored dots on the floor (see screenshot 4 and 5).
- And of course it needs more power than the old one because of the changes. So don't expect it works better than original Gloom.
- And this is only compatible and tested with PiStorm32 - it might/might not work on other hardware constellations.
- Bug fixes for the original source code in gloom2.s
- Integrating the health/weapon-bar and gun/muzzleflash graphics
- Improved keyboard and mouse controls for a smoother FPS-style experience
- Integrating new options in the ingame-menu
- Improved render depth for far areas (to possibly avoid banding)
- Optional visual enhancements such as muzzle flashes, atmospheric effects and subtle dynamic lighting
- Keeping compatibility with real Amiga systems as a priority, not only emulators
- Maintaining the original Gloom gameplay structure, assets and atmosphere as the foundation
- Compatibility to Gloom Deluxe, Gloom 3 and Zombie Massacre (Gloom has other assets, no gun, other statusbar, etc)
- Graphicscard/P96 compatibility
I never understood all the rave reviews for GLOOM back in the day. Even then, I thought it was rubbish.. chopping scrolling.. very basic.. even worse than Wolfenstein 3d.
ReplyDeleteok
DeleteIt was good enought back then. Yes, there was Doom for the pc by that time, but this one was for the Amiga and worked "well enought". Just check out the other games from that time. Fears? Yes, the engine was better, but everything else was horrible. AB3D? Fantastic demo, missing half of the features in the release version + that screen size, like wtf. Citadel? Ugly graphics. Testament? Although I loved it back then -that atmosphere-, but it has ugly graphics too. Breathless was OK, Genetic Species and AB3D II were really great, except you needed a power plant to run them.
DeleteIt was really a technical breakthrough in the Amiga gaming arena to show that the Amiga was capable of Doom like games in the last years the Amiga had. Other games like Alien Breed 3D were drastic in playing in a tiny window. Gloom allowed you to play in full screen and with adequate graphics and play speed. It pushed a standard Amiga 1200 to it's limits and it was fun. For those who didn't have a PC, nor a Playstation console at the time, it was something unique that inspired other developers such as those who created Breathless, another doom like clone to be released on the Amiga.
DeleteYeah, I know what you mean. Gloom was for Kids, Fears was for Teenagers whilst Doom was for Adults. Need I say anymore...
ReplyDelete