From: entity@nsq.uucp (cybernetworx)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: AA Chipset  WAS: Re: Amiga platform games suck... S-NES and Genesis is breathtaking.
Summary: common misconceptions
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:26:10 GMT
Organization: NSQ

In article <KENTD.92Aug11161031@zappa.FtCollins.NCR.com>, kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent Dalton) writes:
> Giancarlo> You can say that game developers won't switch to
> Giancarlo> the new graphics modes.  Did developers switch to Amiga DOS
> Giancarlo> 2.0 when it came out? Of course they did. Did developers
> Giancarlo> switch to the ECS modes when they came out? 
> 
> *Game* developers will NOT switch to the AA chip set unless it is
> compatible with the A500 and A600 and current rumors say that is
> unlikely. Without RTG, nothing but image rendering/video software will
> be written for third party gfx boards (i.e. no games).

The AA chipset for one thing is hardware address compatible with the existing
chipset.  This means that all existing stuff even programs that go directly to
the hardware 'should' work.  Remember that most fast action games (or any
games that have decent speeds) go directly to the hardware anyhow.. which
means that RTG will not make any difference aside for some vector based games
etc which want to take advantage of RTG.

As far as writing stuff specifically for the AA chipset goes, I for one am
going to go all out.  I believe that most people are frustrated with the
current chipset and frustrated when they look at all their friends with those
cool VGA 256 color games etc. so there's going to be a lot of people switching
over to the new chipset as long as it's affordable.  Considering there are new
chips aside from upgrades to the existing ones (alice, lisa etc), I have no
idea if it's possible to upgrade current machines to use the new chipset.
If it isn't, then this may present a big problem :)

> Even when the AA chip set comes out the main gaming graphics mode will
> still only equal SNES, not exceed it. ie. 256 colors@ 320x2xx
> The 8bit HAM mode will be too slow for games.

Why do people keep saying HAM is slow?  There is nothing slow about HAM. 
There's no reason you can't write games in HAM other than problems with
fringing etc.  Considering the additional sprite support that the new chipset
offers, I think we will begin to see more games take advantage of HAM for
their backgrounds.  The sprites on the current chipset just don't cut it and
that's why you hardly see any HAM games.
 
In addition to upgrading HAM (ie hiresHAM, more bpls etc) they've also
upgraded other modes like SuperDualPlayfields mode etc.  This means we're
going to see games of a lot higher quality coming out as well.  Traditionally
dual playfields mode has meant very few colors and massive copper tricks to
get around this.. but now things will be considerably better because you can
get more colors per playfield.  Even though the AA's sprite capabilities
still don't match the SNES's, this mode should help out quite a bit in that
regard.

> Giancarlo> So, no 16 Million color palette for Genesis or SNES -
> Giancarlo> EVER!!!!  -Giancarlo
> 
> Probably not in an Amiga game either. :^{

Well, the palette IS 24 bit.. although the screen is only 8.  In any case,
certain boards such as OpalVision do have the facility to allow for games
based around them.  IN fact, OpalVision comes with a karate game.  It's not so
hot, but hey, it's the first!  A lot can be done in that area...

And as for the AA chipset , you will definitely see games that surpass
VGA and SNES games as far as background graphics go.  WIth modes like
HiresHAMlace, you'll see a ton of colors and very high resolution.  Sure,
there are Ultra VGA boards which can do similar screens but they don't have
the custom chip support to do anything with their static displays :)  Plus
considering that there are very few VGA cards which can do this in the first
place, don't expect too many games on the PC to surpass what the AA is going
to be doing.  Personally, I see a rosy future for the amiga game market!
 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games