Amiga got Menace, Stardust, and Reshoot R. Soon Inviyya are out too. But that’s not all. Not at all in the Amiga universe. Because Boss Machine by Kevin with huge support from Dan that I’ve been talking to. Is going to release a fantastic Amiga SHMUP in the near future for Amiga AGA!
Here in this article I have some details about Boss Machine, which is a totally new shooter coming up for the Amiga AGA platform. It proves that Amiga is the home for euroshooters! See the video too at the bottom of this article. Read on,…!
Japanese shooter with euroshooter roots
The new shooter named Boss Machine will show what Amiga AGA can do. The previews that I can share here look just remarkable. The pixel artist and the parallax feel already look very good at this stage of the development of the game.
I’ve spoken to the person behind the game. I asked about if Boss Machine will be a euroshooter and here are the answer from Dan:
It’s somewhat Japanese inclined but does have some roots in euroshooter like many well known Amiga shmups. Hybrid.
I personally remember when the last Super Stardust HD Ultra (the same that released Stardust series on the Amiga) came for Playstation 4. The team behind it said that there is no market for euroshooters and so they stopped to make the game. On the Amiga it seems like euroshooters got a home I wrote to him.
Then he answered me with a quite long answer when I refer it to Reshoot R and the upcoming Inviyya game. That they are also Japanese styled shooters with euroshooter roots which is remarkable for the Amiga computer as a platform:
Yeah, these are great-looking games, can’t wait to see Inviyya this is looking very nice. Until I play it will have to wait and see how it compares. Inviyya reminds me a lot of rtype which is a great thing, but also almost a genre of its own. Definitely Reshoot comes much closer to full Japanese style. With some of the best tech, I think we will see in Amiga games. Where Boss Machine and Reshoot will differ most is in the weapon selections, reshoot has focused very strongly on tight highly tuned low weapon counts, where BM is focusing on an array of weapons and upgrades.
Of course we have the massive vertical scrolling capabilities for a horizontal shooter in boss machine, previously as far as I know not seen in an Amiga title
Sad that Housemarque no longer making shooters. They have a fair point that is to grow they need to specialize in broader appeal games, it’s difficult to make money in the games industry on niche genres. They as a studio have grown so more people to pay salaries, they need more mainstream games. It would be cool if they left a small team continuing to make shooters!
It’s interesting Housemarque can be traced back to original thalamus development teams from c64 and early Amiga. These guys have a serious pedigree in shooters. Delta from c64 (a major inspiration for the boss machine) sanxion, hunters moon, armalyte etc.
Amiga seems to be the euroshooter platform. It is so fun and so interesting seeing the platform getting so much love and professional love to it. Boss Machine is in my view a beauty already before I have tried it. The graphics are so inviting. Boss Machine will be a shooter that delivers when it arrives with a fantastic smooth gameplay.
I am glad that there will be enough variations to have a reason to get Boss Machine and the other shooters that are available or is coming for the platform.
2MB Chip RAM will be the Requirement
When Boss Machine will be out it will require Amiga AGA with 2MB Chip RAM and more than 2MB Fast RAM for better results. It is a fantastic thing to know that the game will use the Fast RAM if it exists.
I also asked Dan about the requirements of the game and this was the answers:
With fast ram, the game will run faster, load faster, and have faster transitions between levels We are developing for base AGA 2MB spec, so there will not be new features for higher-end amiga but overall smoother/better experience
Same goes for faster CPU, ideally 030, but the game will run basically perfect still on 020
Boss Machine will take advantage of extra addons to your Amiga and that’s a nice reward for accelerated Amiga’s.
This exclusive video that I’ve got shows how the game engine flows. The prototype music is by Lee Smith. What progress it is at already! I can’t wait to get hold of this game and Amitopia Amiga Magazine will support as much it can.
Boss Machine Availability Questioned
With so much going on already. I had to ask regarding when it eventually will be released:
The release will depend a lot on free time. Here in Australia life is almost normal after the Pandemic. Work is back full time etc. We made a lot of progress early on and during the lockdowns, but now things are back as normal it’s more difficult to get time to work on hobby games full time. My target is it chip away at the game little by little to make some small progress each week. The release we will see. When it’s done
I say. Take your time. This game will be awesome when it gets released. It’s really nice seeing Australian Amiga game development going on even though we live through pandemic crisis. Amiga is overwhelmed by users and a community doing so much for it to survive and the ones behind Boss Machine ain’t no exception to that.
Amitopia Amiga Magazine is waiting for Boss Machine to be released. We’re waiting and when the time is final. I am ready to help this title to be even more known.
