Deimos Design have cancelled PPC support for their real-time strategy game, Maim & Mangle after a long process of consideration. The full details of this process are below in their Press Release and I think many Amiga users will find their problems disappointing. Due to this decision Deimos Design have also withdrawn from The World Foundry. I would like to point out that Maim & Mangle is still under development but not with PPC support and we should give them our full support.
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Deimos Design Cancels PPC Support
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Deimos Design, the team behind Maim & Mangle has decided to cancel any and all
PPC support in it's forth coming title, Maim & Mangle. This was not an easy
decision to reach, however, we feel this is the only ethical way for us to
continue development.
This decision came as a result of many factors, and we would like to take the
rest of this announcement to address these points. For the record, we fully
believe that any hope the Amiga platform has of a future is with open, industry
standard hardware, and an updated OS. However, we do not believe that this
future lays with the PowerUp boards.
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Cost Of The PowerUp Investment
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An overwhelming factor is cost. The big-boxed PowerUp boards (the CS-PPC range,
with a 50Mhz 060, a 233Mhz 604e, and no RAM) costs just under $2000 CAD after
taxes. No other solutions exist. For that price, one could buy a complete
Pentium II system. For the few benefits you get, we cannot justify the cost to
ourselves (try as we might).
That is an economic reality that a lot of people (including some of us) will no
longer ignore. Hence, not all of us will be buying PowerUp cards, now or in the
future. Now, if we will not purchase these cards, it is simply hypocritical of
us to ask fellow Amiga users to do so. We will not do that.
We also believe that the PowerUp boards are a short term stepping stone / hold
over. There is no guarantee that a future AmigaOS will ever support these
boards, and therefore, they potentially have even less value. Until the OS
supports the HW, any and all future HW developments are one big bandage. It
does nothing to heal the sickness, it only prolongs the suffering.
Our first priority upon obtaining the PowerUp hardware was to evaluate each SW
system for ourselves, by ourselves. We ignored the statements from both sides
(as each side is obviously biased towards their system) and decided to
investigate them independently.
Suffice to say, that from our own analysis we decided that WarpUp was the best
solution for Maim & Mangle. It clearly won us over on many factors:
1 - Documentation
2 - Installation and ease of use
3 - PPC native graphics support (RTG Master)
4 - Stable development system, which worked as documented
5 - Shared Libraries *now* - a large part of our shared code
We then decided that since our game would be supporting PPC hardware, Phase5
would understand our decision (even if they did not like it) as it would only
mean more sales for them.
We could not be further from the truth! Basically, we were expected to support
PowerUp, no matter what the cost. Our viewpoint was that our usage of WarpUp
meant:
1 - It was still support for their fledging hardware
2 - It would mean more sales for them (regardless of the software used)
3 - Using PowerUp would adversely impact our development schedule
4 - Using PowerUp would effect the PPC support of the title (as less code was
appropriate for the PPC side under PowerUp (the graphics system being a
major consideration for this game))
5 - It would effect the overall quality of the title.
Despite the fact that is was still support for their product, it was not good
enough. It was basically all or nothing.
We then decided to go back and re-evaluate PowerUp, with the potential side
effect of scraping several months of work. Needless to say, we were not
pleased.
As Phase5 are first and foremost an add-on hardware company, one has to wonder
why they are so forceful about using only the PowerUp system. After all, no
matter what software is used, it is only more sales for them (they are the only
provider of Amiga PPC hardware).
It does not tax their support department, they have stated that WarpUP is not a
supported system (obviously this job falls to H&P). It does not hamper future
developments, WarpUp would have to adapt to future hardware developments, not
the reverse. What then, is the problem?
In Deimos Designs opinion, it comes down to the fact that Phase5's objectives do
not coincide with the Amigas future. Phase5 have publicly stated that PowerUp
is a migration path to a "real PPC OS", with the side effect of speeding up the
current host system (i.e. your Amiga). This has been stated in public forums and
on the Phase5 website (http://www.phase5.de). It has also been stated that this
"real PPC OS" is not the proposed Amiga OS 4.0. This can only mean that this
"real PPC OS" is the planned A\Box OS, not a future revision of the Amiga OS.
That is fair enough - they are free to do whatever they please with their
company and products. However, Deimos Design does not consider such plans
helpful to the Amigas future and therefore we will not support their efforts
with our software.
At this point, you may ask "Well then, why not use WarpUp?" That is a very
valid point, and one which we considered. Deimos Design had planned to go ahead
with WarpUp until recent activities came to light.
The final straw came when Phase5 elected to put the PowerUp system software in
the flash-ROM. We simply disagree with the practice of starting *any* software
system from third party hardware.
The purpose of an expansion card ROM is to configure the card for OS usage, not
to start up a dedicated OS extension. Despite asking Phase5 some valid, open
questions, they chose to simply ignore us, rather than provide a valid technical
justification.
You might now say, "Well WarpUp will find a way to disable the PowerUp software".
Very true, there will always be a way around the PowerUp software, eventually.
That is the key word, "eventually". Phase5 are free to change the manor in
which the PowerUp SW is started with each and every update of the flash-ROM.
This means that WarpUp could conceivably be disabled for weeks at a time, with
each and every flash-ROM update. While WarpUp would eventually circumvent this,
it would have a very negative effect on any products based on WarpUp. In Deimos
Design's opinion, this is the desired effect.
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Effects On Maim & Mangle and The World Foundry
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The main concern is - what are the effects on Maim & Mangle and The World
Foundry?
The first concern is Maim & Mangle. Unfortunately, some of the features will
obviously have to be scaled back, or be removed completely. As far as the overall
impact on Maim & Mangle, this is still under evaluation. When we have completed
our evaluation, we will announce the results.
The second part is, how does this effect The World Foundry? Unfortunately, TWF
is also drastically affected. The World Foundry was first and foremost
established to create and promote utilisation of high end equipment by games.
Obviously, Deimos Designs decision to cancel PPC support has a fundamental conflict
with that goal.
Therefore, Deimos Design has withdrawn from The World Foundry, effective
immediately. We would like to assure everyone that we still have a strong
relationship with our former partners, however, we feel it would be unfair to them
to remain a part of TWF.
To remove any and all doubt, we would like to state (on behalf of TWF) that
Explorer 2260 PPC is still being actively developed. This announcement does not
effect Explorer 2260, or the remaining members of TWF, only Deimos Design and M&M.
In conclusion, the Deimos Design team has currently decided to revert to a 68K
only development plan. We will not support attempts to migrate the remaining
market to an alternate platform. The market needs to unite instead of bicker,
now more than ever.
If the Amiga ever sees a native PPC OS, we will of course consider supporting it
with PPC native games. However, at this point we will bow out of the Amiga PPC
market.
We realise that this will not be a popular decision, and that not many people will
agree with it. That is, of course, your right. No matter how unpopular this will
make us, we stand by our decision and will not support a company that tries to
artificially limit the end users choices. It is your right to run whatever
software you want on hardware you have purchased, not a privilege which a company
can revoke at will.
Any questions or comments should be directed to Deimos Design, not The World Foundry
E-mail Deimos Design at:-
ghornmoe asg.unb.ca
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Visit their web site at :-
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amigaflame.demon.co.uk