Frank Neumann has wrapped up work on NeonWorld, a compact shoot-’em-up created as a personal side project for the Commodore Amiga. Developed as a way to dust off his assembly coding skills after a 30-year hiatus, this project became a self-contained experiment in getting the most out of classic PAL display resolution.
Unlike many commercial titles that settled for smaller screen dimensions, NeonWorld aims to use the full 320×256 PAL resolution. That simple goal quickly evolved into a fully working game that runs smoothly on any PAL Amiga with 1MB of RAM—either on original hardware or through emulation.
Development Tools and Workflow
Neumann didn’t rely on legacy tools alone. Instead, he combined modern development conveniences with Amiga-era tech:
- Code Editor: Visual Studio Code, with an Amiga Assembly plugin
- Emulation: FS-UAE v3.1.66 for frequent testing and debugging
- Level Design: Tiled, a tile map editor
- Tooling: Eclipse for development tools, and LibreOffice Calc to script object movement
Even the data-tool was updated to behave properly under Windows, showing his effort to make this approachable for others who might want to build on or study the code.
Hardware Compatibility and Performance
NeonWorld was tested both in emulation and on a real Amiga 500 (rev 6A), using Kickstart 1.3 and 2.0, with 1MB of Chip RAM and 1.5MB of Slow RAM.
Performance on real hardware is smooth at a consistent 50Hz. In contrast, some modern emulators running on monitors with higher refresh rates may introduce light stuttering. This isn’t a flaw in the game, but a mismatch in expected timing.
The game is DOS-disk-based and can be installed on a hard drive without trouble.
A Finished Project, Open to All
Neumann considers NeonWorld complete. He’s released the source code freely, encouraging others to use, modify, or build on it however they like. Whether you’re looking to learn more about Amiga assembly or just want to see a sharp little shoot-’em-up that pushes PAL resolution properly, this project is worth checking out.
Frank’s video walkthrough offers a hands-on look at the game and its development history—definitely worth a watch if you’re interested in hobbyist Amiga projects or retro coding with modern tools.
