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Offline mikrucioTopic starter

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Active games programmers
« on: April 22, 2013, 06:18:04 AM »
Hello all

Just trying to get a figure in my head.

How many active programmers among you?
active meaning Amiga 68k.

RAISE HANDS! thanks
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2013, 06:44:42 AM »
I've got a couple different projects in the works, but they've all been back-burnered for a while now. Need to get back on them, sometime...
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
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"\'Legacy code\' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
 

Offline TheBilgeRat

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2013, 08:16:48 AM »
C only for now.  Might get interested in Assembler eventually.
 

Offline NovaCoder

Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2013, 09:26:13 AM »
I'm currently trying to port Descent Rebirth to 68k.
Life begins at 100 MIPS!


Nice Ports on AmiNet!
 

Offline rewlako

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2013, 10:08:10 AM »
Active programmer? yes
Games programming? no
 

Offline nyteschayde

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2013, 11:12:05 AM »
When work isn't taking every waking moment, I do play around on my various Amigas; almost always in a programming perspective. I admit though that I get mired down in the semantics of trying to modernized my coding environment on the Amiga more than I do in actually producing any code on it.

My most recent attempts were to get objective-c compiling on the Amiga because I got frustrated with working with C strings again. A two day deep dive over nothing. Would love to work on a game but don't have the time at the moment; too busy making Netflix Original Content on the web an awesome place.
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Offline TheBilgeRat

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2013, 04:28:32 PM »
Quote from: nyteschayde;732552
When work isn't taking every waking moment, I do play around on my various Amigas; almost always in a programming perspective. I admit though that I get mired down in the semantics of trying to modernized my coding environment on the Amiga more than I do in actually producing any code on it.

My most recent attempts were to get objective-c compiling on the Amiga because I got frustrated with working with C strings again. A two day deep dive over nothing. Would love to work on a game but don't have the time at the moment; too busy making Netflix Original Content on the web an awesome place.


I'm pretty sure C++ compiles on amiga.  KArlos would be the guy to ask about that I think.
 

Offline SamuraiCrow

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2013, 08:36:47 PM »
I voted C for Amiga for the simple reason that I'll be switching over to AROS 68k as soon as it is practical to do so.  The legal gibberish that is going on with regards to OS 3.x is just insane.  Not to mention that AROS is still actively developed and has several features that are lacking in the original AmigaOS series.

That said, the code quality of all the 68k compilers I've ever tried is abysmal.  If I had the choice, I'd use AmigaE instead of C but the AROS source codes are written in C.
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2013, 08:45:37 PM »
Quote from: SamuraiCrow;732588
That said, the code quality of all the 68k compilers I've ever tried is abysmal.  If I had the choice, I'd use AmigaE instead of C but the AROS source codes are written in C.
How's vbcc? I've heard good things about it.
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/MT-32/D-10, Oberheim Matrix-6, Yamaha DX7/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini, Ensoniq Mirage/SQ-80, Sequential Circuits Prophet-600, Hohner String Performer

"\'Legacy code\' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
 

Offline TheBilgeRat

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2013, 09:35:12 PM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;732590
How's vbcc? I've heard good things about it.


I'd love to use it, but its 68020+ only, which I have with no way to display.  The only computer I can monitor-ize is the A2000 with a 68010.
 

Offline Leffmann

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2013, 10:21:34 PM »
SAS/C 6.58 generates pretty good code. You can even run it on your Mac or PC using AmiTools if cross-development is a must. It has basic C++ support, but no C99.

VBCC is pretty ok, very simple to use and set up. It has C99 support but no C++. It's not meant for 68020+ only, the source code is available so you can compile it to run on an A1000 if you want, or any other computer and operating system for that matter.

Then there's GCC which is very powerful, but has always been a mess to set up and it eats more RAM and CPU.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2013, 10:23:35 PM by Leffmann »
 

Offline mikrucioTopic starter

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #11 on: April 22, 2013, 10:36:14 PM »
Great to hear friends!

keep the votes coming!
 

Offline matthey

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2013, 10:55:46 PM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;732590
How's vbcc? I've heard good things about it.


The 68k code quality is average overall. Vasm is the best 68k peephole optimizing assembler ever and the inline assembler used for many functions is fast but some of the statically linked vclib code and the backend need some attention. I've seen vbcc make optimizations I didn't think a compiler could do and then the next function will make me cry. It is getting better slowly though and there should be a new version out soon according to Frank Wille. There is major fixes in the vbcc compiler and vasm assembler that help with reliability. The beta is working much better on my 68060 Amiga.

Quote from: Leffmann;732603
SAS/C 6.58 generates pretty good code. You can even run it on your Mac or PC using AmiTools if cross-development is a must. It has basic C++ support, but no C99.


SAS/C generated 68k is average to above average really. It's about on par with GCC 3 and vbcc depending on the source. The last versions of GCC 2 were probably the best and may have reached good code generation quality, IMO.

Quote from: Leffmann;732603

VBCC is pretty ok, very simple to use and set up. It has C99 support but no C++. It's not meant for 68020+ only, the source code is available so you can compile it to run on an A1000 if you want, or any other computer and operating system for that matter.


Vbcc would be slow and require a lot of memory on a 68000. SAS/C or DICE may be better options. An fpga 68000 with plenty of memory and storage might be ok for small projects. An older compiler could be used for creation on a low end Amiga and then compiled with vbcc or GCC later if care is taken to avoid compiler specific code.
 

Offline NovaCoder

Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2013, 01:00:28 AM »
Quote from: TheBilgeRat;732569
I'm pretty sure C++ compiles on amiga.  KArlos would be the guy to ask about that I think.

Yep this was developed in C++ 68k using gcc v3.4, seems to work ok.


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Nice Ports on AmiNet!
 

Offline EDanaII

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Re: Active games programmers
« Reply #14 on: April 23, 2013, 02:12:51 AM »
Quote from: nyteschayde;732552
When work isn't taking every waking moment, I do play around on my various Amigas; almost always in a programming perspective. I admit though that I get mired down in the semantics of trying to modernized my coding environment on the Amiga more than I do in actually producing any code on it.


That pretty much sums me up too. I actually have several ideas for games I'd like to implement, but then I get distracted by spending time trying to get the code up "up to spec." Then, some other distraction comes along and... there it sits.

And I didn't vote because I prefer C++. I've always hated C.
Ed.