We have to be very careful not to stuff a lot of enemy into one place. On this platform (sadly) it can cause performance issues! In Commando the enemies were very "simple"-minded without any minimalist AI, the movement of the player was faster, not a lot of feature (or guns) but overall enjoyable!
Imagine if a game staged on the moon is runing on the same rate. It will probably kill the atmosphere. (Not the Moons atmosphere.) :) I loved games like Commando or Alien Breed or Chaos Engine but each one of them had a unique approach of gameplay.
In our case: "THIS IS THE WAY"
Probably the biggest feature of the game is, that it will contain a level editor and the full source code. I encourage everyone who want to make a little shooter game (for the amiga) that you can try it out. If you want you can add more enemies, change the gfx to a medieval environment (or the characters, weapons, sfx, ...) and hopefully share it with others.
In addition, the minimal AI is necessary because of the 8 directions and the terrain. Commando is good but scrolls in one direction. Enemies do not follow you or watch collision of each other. The 8 direction of control over 3 enemies results a visible slowdown on a stock machine (as we have tried to prepare the engine for many things). Enemie features:
-follow (up to shooting distance or punch distance)
-saves his position (if I go back you will be there)
-watches the terrain, trying to avoid objects/walls
-surround you instead of settling in one place / line up in row
-looks for a new position if he missing the shoot
-walk away or escapes if hit by bullet.
-have the ability to hit, shoot, throw grenades, some can even summon help ;)
-terrain can also be destroyed by the enemy
-the two camps can shoot each other.
-NPC follows you/ helps as above
...and all that is just for the emenies, but there are other items, sound/music, bullets, anims, HUD, Camera, player, npc, weapons, MAP and and try to handle 255 MAPevent in every single frame for the player and for the enemies and still remain at playabe speed.
A stock amiga is not a power plant and all that we program in BASIC... what we learn almost as we write.
