[VIDEO] Starting My Journey at the Iconic Bitmap Brothers Studio

[Tchucolate]

Starting My Journey at the Iconic Bitmap Brothers Studio
The Bitmap Brothers are a Legendary 16-bit game developer. In 1994 I went for a job interview at their offices in Wapping. Watch-on, to learn how I began my game career journey at the Bitmap Brothers as a 3D artist. How would I fit into one of the most famous game developers in history. Watch on, its a fun journey!

 

[Amiga Forever]

I like bitmap brother games and they made some great games like Speedball 2, Xenon 2, God(quite hard game!), Magic pockets , The Chaos Engine and so on.

​

 

[Tchucolate]

My favourites are Speedball 1&2, Gods, The Chaos Engine and also..... of course.... Z! Though, that was a PC game, bit of a sore point that

 

[YouKnowWho]

Though, that was a PC game, bit of a sore point that

Many of us jumped ship, can't blame the software guys. Newtek did it too, and they easily extended Amiga's relevance by probably 5 years. I say, don't hold a grudge. Also, were any Amiga ports really as-good on PC?

 

[Tchucolate]

Many of us jumped ship, can't blame the software guys. Newtek did it too, and they easily extended Amiga's relevance by probably 5 years. I say, don't hold a grudge. Also, were any Amiga ports really as-good on PC?

Indeed, but the die hards did. Myself, I felt that when Commodore went down the tubes, that was it, game over. Luckily I had a really STRONG reason that I HAD to get rid of my Amiga. So, that was a clean break, sort of. And I was then forced into the whole PC game landscape, which to be fair, was a good distraction from the sinking of the good ship Commodore. The PC was still pretty jank back then though, but it had its good points too...

 

[YouKnowWho]

Luckily I had a really STRONG reason that I HAD to get rid of my Amiga.

I don't know how I feel about this sentence. It is simply awesome, fun, funny, little bit guilty...just a great bunch of words. Is there anyone here who had no STRONG reason? Who stuck to Amiga?

I also had a strong reason. It was called Pentium II MMX with SoundBlaster and ATI 3D Rage Pro in a mini-fridge Chenbro double-wide server case on wheels with a pair of Cheetah 10,000 RPM drives on an Adaptec 3940 card, and some other hard drives, CD-ROM, a...CD-R too - I think maybe 4X - wasn't cheap. I even had a Panasonic DVD-RAM in there for backup. I can still read those discs in a drive today. It was all a real step forward from my Amiga, and I had a 2000 G-Force 040 33Mhz with Retina and a bunch of goodies when i let it go early 1997 to move to PC. Sold it to a girlfriend, with whom I broke up with shortly after. It was a real purge period for me. Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that 2000 again. Wonder if she kept it to remember me by?

 

[Templar]

The Bitmap Brothers... they are just legendary.

 

[Tchucolate]

I don't know how I feel about this sentence. It is simply awesome, fun, funny, little bit guilty...just a great bunch of words. Is there anyone here who had no STRONG reason? Who stuck to Amiga?

In my case it was professional, I had worked for a year at ICL, steeped in PC'ness, my job was to literally build PCs (for events) to attend events with those PCs and also make videos to promote the sale of ICL PCs. And yet at home in the evenings I was noodling about on my Amiga 4000, playing Frontier, doing 3D renders in Real 3D (stills) for the firs time logging in to BBS, because I could FINALLY afford the telephone bills. So I was a good little Amiga head, but then...

I started at the Bitmaps and suddenly my livelihood and my future really DEMANDED that I get my 3D skills to new levels, modelling, lighting AND animation mainly. No time to practice 3D Studio (PC only) in work, in work it was simply DO DO DO. So, I came to the realisation I would HAVE to buy a very fast 486 or a Pentium if I could afford one (very expensive at the time) and then get a cr*ck of 3D Studio so I could buff my skills at home. Learning 3D Studio was not like learning Word, it was more like being a gymnast, and thet required PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

At the same time, in work I was SEEING the deathnell of the Amiga. I was told that Z COULD NOT BE DONE on the Amiga. By that, they meant 68000 based machines, and maybe they were right about that (not so sure...) and I could see that VERY SADLY Chaos Engine 2 was not being prioritised, I THINK because it was Amiga only, they did not appear to have the resources to port it, and I think sales were anticipated to tank.

Were they right? Well, go on EBay and try and BUY a copy of Chaos Engine 2.... they are RARE. So, the A4000 HAD to go, it cost a LOT and I needed that cash to get a PC to push my 3D skills forward. Sad but there you go. I'll do a video on this at some point, a shorter one in this series, its good context for that period...

Once I got my PC, well, all those BIG BOX PC games that I had seen in the last 2 years of Uni were now on the table, plus new games such as Magic Carpet. So yeah, it was what it was...

I also had a strong reason. It was called Pentium II MMX with SoundBlaster and ATI 3D Rage Pro in a mini-fridge Chenbro double-wide server case on wheels with a pair of Cheetah 10,000 RPM drives on an Adaptec 3940 card, and some other hard drives, CD-ROM, a...CD-R too - I think maybe 4X - wasn't cheap. I even had a Panasonic DVD-RAM in there for backup. I can still read those discs in a drive today. It was all a real step forward from my Amiga, and I had a 2000 G-Force 040 33Mhz with Retina and a bunch of goodies when i let it go early 1997 to move to PC. Sold it to a girlfriend, with whom I broke up with shortly after. It was a real purge period for me. Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that 2000 again. Wonder if she kept it to remember me by?

I did not have anything as powerful as this. Mine was a self build, and due to some incompatibilites it was a bit janky. But it was OK

 

[YouKnowWho]

@Tchucolate, those were interesting times. I remember waiting for a new issue of Amiga World just to get updates of what is going on with Commodore. Then it kept going with Escom, so I hung in there, and then it ended in 1996. I was getting things done on my Amiga with the tools that were available, and the output was comparable quality to Mac/PC and there was decent file compatibility. But into 1996 things started to change, and I started work, and suddenly I had access to vendors who offered me valuable software that others were willing to trade hardware for. Those expensive 10,000 RPM SCSI drives and Adaptec dual controller cards were very pricey back in the day, but they were traded for software suites. So was bunch of other stuff for that PC. So it was a bit of fortunate timing that meant I could put this together, and it really felt like the time was up for the Amiga. A2000 was a nearly 10 year old computer by spring of 1997 when I let it go. Those mid/late 90s were quite exciting on the PC, weren't they? Fun times to look back upon. Damn it, I do like to reminisce.

 

[Tchucolate]

@Tchucolate, those were interesting times. I remember waiting for a new issue of Amiga World just to get updates of what is going on with Commodore.

Yes, I think we all did. With those interviews with David Pleasance about the management buyout. We all had hopes that it would go that way, but sadly not. I'm not sure he could have done better than Escom though. There is BUYING the IP but its a whole different thing to then get next GEN competitive Amiga product out, against STRONG headwinds in terms of PC and also Playstation. Ouch, those were CHOPPY waters to navigate...

Then it kept going with Escom, so I hung in there, and then it ended in 1996.

Yeah, and we all know how that ended. David Pleasance says that fraud and backstabbing was used to win that buyout by Escom and I guess the face they soon went bankcrupt kind of bears that out?

I was getting things done on my Amiga with the tools that were available, and the output was comparable quality to Mac/PC and there was decent file compatibility. But into 1996 things started to change, and I started work, and suddenly I had access to vendors who offered me valuable software that others were willing to trade hardware for. Those expensive 10,000 RPM SCSI drives and Adaptec dual controller cards were very pricey back in the day, but they were traded for software suites. So was bunch of other stuff for that PC. So it was a bit of fortunate timing that meant I could put this together, and it really felt like the time was up for the Amiga.

Yeah, the Amiga was a powerhouse. But WITHOUT a heart of gold, I mean a REALLY fast CPU it was doomed. So many ways it could have gone better, but those decisions would have been needed in the late 80s, by the 90s it was just playing out. Mainly I mean, reliance on the 68000 which fell behind Intel (speed, but mainly cost) and graphics. Amiga SHOULD have had VGA and SVGA way before PC.

A2000 was a nearly 10 year old computer by spring of 1997 when I let it go. Those mid/late 90s were quite exciting on the PC, weren't they? Fun times to look back upon. Damn it, I do like to reminisce.

Indeed, loved my A1500 (A2000) but by 97 it would have been outmoded. Not so much because of hardware, though that was a BIG issue, but for me, mainly software. But it was a combo of speed, cost, software. Yeah.

Long love the Amiga!

 

[YouKnowWho]

@Tchucolate, I love it! I can only imagine how much fun you Brits have out there, getting together for a pint and talking retro stories. I swear, I'm going to pop into UK just for a bit of that. Maybe go to the Cave and touch some of that lovely hardware.

Yeah, there was a bit of a design push in the mid 90s too. Suddenly black computers looked cool, you didn't have to just have beige. The VGA thing...well, I had a Retina in my 2000, and it gave me 24bit colour, so I didn't feel like I was missing much with VGA. The Retina and G-Force 040 33Mhz made the case to upgrade to 4000 AGA quite mute for me. Each time I thought about it, it just seemed fraught with objections. I'd need a new Z3 card to get back to 24bit colour. The CPU was actually slower then the one I had, and I'd have to spend nearly another 4000 price to get something better. I already had 2MB chip and 16MB fast. I remember thinking in 1993/94 that Amiga was stuck. Like you note, CPUs were making big gains, and there didn't seem to be a path for such improvements for the Amiga. It was 68K and that's it.

Sure, we heard about AAA chipset, but what was the CPU next step according to Commodore? What were they working on CPU roadmap plans wise when they went bust 1994? PowerPC was out 2 years or so by then officially in the market. Surely Commodore got a peek at the roadmap well ahead of 1992 release by Apple, right? Some engineering preview? Or was the 68060 what Motorola showed to throw Commodore off the scent and Apple's PowerPC exclusive launch? Interesting that I have no idea if anyone officially noted what the processor development roadmap for Amiga line was at the time Commodore went bust. Anyone know what they had on the bench and in prototype around CPUs, if anything at all?

A2000 really did look old in 1997...I remember the feeling of flicking that switch at the back thinking it. And somehow now, it looks beautiful again. Weird how things come around like that. Same with the wedge shape computers. C64 was a computer many of us touched first, maybe something before it like Vic20. But that wedge was a beautiful design. And then it evolved and the 500 had a lot going in a wedge, 1200 took it even further. Between the two there really was a reason to jump from one to the other.

What are laptops but these wedges with a scren stuck to the back? I guess we're using wedges even today. MacBook Air...look at it from the side, wedge.

 

[StrongARM]

GODS, Cadaver, Xenon 1+2, Magic Pockets..............they made so many classics.

 

[AmigaPete]

Newtek did it too, and they easily extended Amiga's relevance by probably 5 years.

I totally agree with this and, shortly after the demise of C= I thought that NewTek would be the ideal buyer.

 

[Tchucolate]

@Tchucolate, I love it! I can only imagine how much fun you Brits have out there, getting together for a pint and talking retro stories. I swear, I'm going to pop into UK just for a bit of that. Maybe go to the Cave and touch some of that lovely hardware.

I wish it was quite that cosy, sadly, we are all grown men with jobs (mostly) and tend to live quit far apart, however, there are local meets all over the country and certainly if you make the effort, then yes, you can have a chat and a pint on occasion

Sure, we heard about AAA chipset, but what was the CPU next step according to Commodore? What were they working on CPU roadmap plans wise when they went bust 1994? Anyone know what they had on the bench and in prototype around CPUs, if anything at all?

Have a read about Hombre

Amiga Hombre chipset - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its interesting, in some ways sacrelige in that its NOT Amiga. However, it was planned to have an Amiga on board in the same way that the Apple IIgs had an Apple IIe built into it. Bancrupcy of course killed this off and one has to wonder with the tiny research budget Commodore had in its later years, how long would it have ACTUALLY taken to get this chipset/machine to market?

A2000 really did look old in 1997...I remember the feeling of flicking that switch at the back thinking it. And somehow now, it looks beautiful again. Weird how things come around like that. Same with the wedge shape computers. C64 was a computer many of us touched first, maybe something before it like Vic20. But that wedge was a beautiful design. And then it evolved and the 500 had a lot going in a wedge, 1200 took it even further. Between the two there really was a reason to jump from one to the other.

What are laptops but these wedges with a scren stuck to the back? I guess we're using wedges even today. MacBook Air...look at it from the side, wedge.

I'm not sure a wedge computer is the same as a laptop, but its not far off for sure, kind of portable, and yeah guess you could have designed one to have a screen. These days, going to my Amiga is like going back to a friend.

 

[polarstar]

Have a read about Hombre

Amiga Hombre chipset - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its interesting, in some ways sacrelige in that its NOT Amiga. However, it was planned to have an Amiga on board in the same way that the Apple IIgs had an Apple IIe built into it. Bancrupcy of course killed this off and one has to wonder with the tiny research budget Commodore had in its later years, how long would it have ACTUALLY taken to get this chipset/machine to market?

I don't understand how it would be sacrilege when precisely it was being developed by Commodore themselves. Apple moved from 68K to PowerPC and it was not considered sacrilege... but there's more, Apple had A/UX and MAE (Macintosh Application Environment), so one could run 68K applications on Unix, and just yesterday I read that MAE was even ported to PA-RISC, so it seems perfectly feasible to me to have a PA-RISC based Amiga that would achieve backwards compatibility via emulation, or including the previous chipset, or a combination of both.

 

[Tchucolate]

Its not secrelige to me, honestly, I just know how many in the community would react to a future Commodore machine NOT being an Amiga. Truth be told the 68000 range of CPUs had run its course, and Commodore seemed to be on the right tracks. Not sure how cost effective PA-Risc CPU's would have been compared to PowerPC? I guess if Commodore had ALSO got behind PowerPC then maybe more scale might have reduced the CPU cost? Anyway, its all academic now as Commodore bit the dust and that was that.

 

[YouKnowWho]

Have a read about Hombre

Amiga Hombre chipset - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its interesting, in some ways sacrelige in that its NOT Amiga. However, it was planned to have an Amiga on board in the same way that the Apple IIgs had an Apple IIe built into it. Bancrupcy of course killed this off and one has to wonder with the tiny research budget Commodore had in its later years, how long would it have ACTUALLY taken to get this chipset/machine to market?

Thank you. NOPE...I did not hear of Hombre. It makes interesting reading. I think it may explain the real reason Commodore failed. One cannot put an Amiga inside an Hombre, that's not how it works! Hombre inside an Amiga...production can continue!

I'll tell you what you've done by telling me about this...you have validated for me my logic of MISTer DE-10 Nano being the new Amiga. From the wiki Hombre page:

"According to Hombre designer Dr. Ed Hepler, Commodore intended to produce an AGA Amiga upon a single chip to solve the backward compatibility issues. This single chip would include Motorola MC680x0 core, plus the AGA chipset. The chip could be integrated in Hombre based computers for backward compatibility with AGA software."

They planned it like this themselves FPGA chip. Amiga stops, Dennis van Weeren's Minimig delivers the FPGA concept above, eventually an accessible powerful FPGA comes along. Take a MISTress1200 board, put DE-10 inside A1200.net case with an Amiga keyboard and you have a brand new Amiga that can do so much more. I think I need to build a second one. MISTer DE-10 Nano IS The New Amiga!

Where is Dennis van Weeren? We need to thank him!

What you and @polarstar are saying is what we all know and understand. 68000s were a beautiful CPUs. Apple, Commdore, Atari, NeXT, many others tied themselves to these CPUs. It made sense when they did (except for NeXT because they were late to the game), because Motorola certainly had showed them the development road map for 68020, 68030, 68040, 68060. They really should have considered what Intel did and start putting two chips into one, but that was not on their road map for this CPU. Perhaps the architecture didn't lend itself to it. And so, everyone who bet on the 68000 eventually had to make the switch. Apple made it to the PowerPC, and really that was key. Everyone else dies in the transition from CISC to RISC. Ha! RISCy future...AIM group and Apple introducting PowerPC was a master move. The rest is history.