7 hours ago, Carl Gundel said:
Some of 8BG's games also do this, so why can't developers be encouraged to write games that work on both machines? After all we do have access to an X16 emulator, so even if the X16 isn't available when the X8 is, there's no reason why software can't theoretically be developed for both, and published for both?
For sure this is possible, but - it takes away time from my budget to actually develop something. I would certainly only develop for one of the 2 platforms and not go into the hassle to do ports. I'd probably also wait until there is a clear indication of which platform "wins". Maybe I'll then not develop for any of the 2 at all because my focus moved somewhere else.
7 hours ago, StephenHorn said:
But there will be one X16, and maybe the X8. And the install base will be in the hundreds, maybe (maybe!) the thousands. This is much less incentive for wide support, especially if folks write software to be released for free, as opposed to software they intend to sell. Or, to the extend that wide support is encouraged, it will be by developing to the minimum spec shared between the two machines.
I fully agree. Let's assume the X8 gets the same VERA interface as the X16 and is tuned down to 8MHz. I'd probably just develop to the minimum specs. For the 2 games I've released so far I pushed the X16 as far as I could. I've used almost all the VRAM (256 color bitmap graphics, lots of 256 color sprites) and also plenty of banked RAM (for music and sound). My platform jump & run game in the works goes even further: sound track running in parallel, 256 color palette switching to show up to 512 colors at once, partial palette shifting to achieve "water flow" effects etc. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now - probably just wait and see what happens.
1 hour ago, Stefan said:
I do not believe in hiding the differences between X16 and X8 behind API layers. 8 bit computers running at 8 or 12 MHz need all computational power they have if we are to make great programs. Even if there were such an API many assembly programmers would avoid it to gain performance.
If the X16 and X8 are incompatible, the programs written for them will be so too. If both the X8 and the X16 are released, developer time will be divided between the two platforms.
Here I also agree. If the VERA interface is different, then the software will be incompatible. Or the effort to make it compatible will take away performance, which could be too much.