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Interview with Zeoneo

Editor: Anzon Preinsack


Hi Matthew! First of all, can you introduce yourself and Zeoneo briefly?

Hello. My name is Matthew Kille, Managing Director of Zeoneo Limited, a software company based in the UK. We currently specialise mostly in games for handheld systems, such as PDAs and Multimedia phones, but have expertise in other areas too, including desktop systems.

At the moment we have a number of products available covering a range of different domains. These include 'Convex', a simple, yet surprisingly addictive puzzle game; 'Planet Zed', a fast paced vertical scrolling shoot'em up; and 'Crossword Evolution', an advanced and modernised crossword game. Soon we will be releasing another product: a game called 'Invasion'.

Check out http://www.zeoneo.com for more details of these and other products.

Do you own an Amiga-Computer? If yes, which one?

Yes, I'm a long time Amiga owner/user. I've owned most Amiga models at some point in the past, but mainly use a towered A1200/060 these days.

Let's talk about of your new game "Invasion" for the AmigaDE: Who stands behind this game and how long was the developing-time (till now)?

Invasion is one of our newest games for handheld devices; a project that is being managed by Milan Pollé. The game has been in development for the past three months, and is now entering the final stages.



As many will already be aware, Milan is best known for being the designer and creator of the 'Candy Factory' graphics creation software, widely acclaimed both within the Amiga community and beyond. He also created the Mazemonster game, and our Crossword Evolution game. In each of these products, his expertise as a graphics artist / programmer is clear, and users can expect the same from Invasion.

What can we expect from "Invasion"?

It wont surprise many who see the preview screenshots to hear that the game is greatly inspired by the 1980's classics such as 'Space Invaders'. We wanted to release a game that had the same simple gameplay of those early pioneers, but revised with the latest techniques in 2D graphical special effects.

Some of the features include:

+ 16-bit rendered graphics.
+ Additive blended explosions.
+ Subtractive blended dynamic smoke.
+ Thousands of semi-translucent particles.
+ Water reflections, splashes and ripples.
+ Infinite length levels.
+ Challenging Artificial Intelligence.
+ One or two surprises.






Is it difficult to code applications for the AmigaDE when you compare it with other platforms?

Not at all. In fact with the range of tools and libraries that are available from Tao, and to an increasing extent Amiga, creating such products is not only easy to do, but it is fun, too. When you take into account the fact that software written on one platform is immediately available for other platforms, and that everything is all in one place, then you start to realise why we are so comfortable with this development environment.

Often people don't realise that even relatively simple games can take many months of full time work to complete -- particularly if you are concerned with achieving a polished result. Traditionally, if you then wanted to port this product to another platform, then you would be facing a whole lot more work.

With AmigaDE and Intent, we can produce our product once and have that binary run unchanged on many platforms without extra work. This, in turn, not only leaves us free to start thinking about the next project, but also helps us to support the existing ones, since we only need to maintain a single source tree.

Related to the above is 'scalability'. Not only do we want to support multiple platforms and CPUs, but we also want to support multiple device classes; where fundamental differences like display sizes can affect our design decisions. We have pioneered techniques that, with support from Amiga developed tools, allow us to build fully scalable products with the minimum of effort. As a result, we were able to convert one of our earlier PDA games, Planet Zed, to a resolution to suit a Smartphone, in just a couple of days.





Which language do you use for coding?

We use a mixture of assembler and C.

What do you miss on the AmigaSDK?

Workbench in the background.

We currently host AmigaDE on Windows and Linux at the moment, and, although these are functional, they are not exactly as enjoyable to use as AmigaOS.

Are you happy with the sales of your games?

I wouldn't be a very good company director if I was to 'settle' for any one particular level of sales for our games. At the moment we know we are only just scratching the surface of what is possible.

Is it a problem for Zeoneo, that your games are only distributed by Amiga Inc. and their web-shop currently?

It is certainly frustrating for us all that we haven't been able to proceed with many of the other great opportunities that Amiga has generated so far. This can be put down to the unfortunate timing of certain events. There is little doubt that the current economic climate is also largely to blame, and this downturn is making companies and investors nervous of expanding into new areas.

Such matters are part of the natural cycle of the business world, and Zeoneo is being realistic, and prepared for the future.

What do you think about the current situation and the plans of Amiga Inc. and their partners in general?

The direction is good, and the approach is sound. I'm looking forward to all the plans being realised. I have the utmost confidence and respect for all those involved -- working in difficult circumstances. I have always maintained that the reason why I started exploring AmigaDE was because I saw the need to not only bring Amiga values to modern hardware, but also to go beyond that and make a real attempt to retake the technology high ground. Ground that Amigas once owned. The plans of Amiga Inc. have always had this ultimate goal in mind, and it is great to see this in action, both behind the scenes and, to an increasing extend, in public.

What do you think about Pegasos and MorphOS?

Although I'm rather wary of wading into this debate, I'll offer my personal opinions on the subject, but only with the disclaimer that these views are not necessarily the views shared by Zeoneo... My understanding of MorphOS is that it shares very little in common with AmigaOS, and that it is, in fact, only the 'Abox' element of the system that makes it compatible with AmigaOS 3.1. If this is indeed the case, then I'm not particularly interested.

AmigaOS 4.0 is the first small step for the future of AmigaOS; the first of many. With new AmigaOS applications being developed sooner than perhaps many people think, I believe MorphOS will be left behind: relegated to only being able to run older/legacy versions of Amiga applications. Of course, I understand that the Abox was never intended to be the final form of MorphOS, and it will be interesting to see whether they can build something new and revolutionary that stands on its own. If so, then good luck to them, and if it becomes a significant player, then I'll certainly look at it again.

Is it possible, that Zeoneo will support MorphOS, too?

There are no plans to do so.

Will you support AmigaOS 4.0?

Yes. We have plans to support AmigaOS 4.0 and beyond, some of which are already in progress. More details will be released in the near future.

What do you think about the partnership between Amiga inc. and Microsoft?

Having Microsoft as a distributor is the best possible way to get Amiga products onto the shelves in mainstream retail outlets all around the world. This not only generates revenues, but it also opens doors to other opportunities with other major companies.

We are happy to be working with Microsoft. Users can look forward to seeing a new release, a collaboration between Microsoft, Amiga and Zeoneo, in the shops sometime soon.

What do you expect from AmigaDE in the future?

More steady progress.

Which games do you play in your spare time?

I have a soft spot for 3D RPGs, and have been known to play the odd 4-hour bout of the Unreal Tournament mod 'Strike Force'.

What are your next projects and plans for the future?

Sorry, that information is classified! But look out for news coming soon.

Your hobbies?

(I see we must be coming to the end of the interview now that you seem to have run out of questions...)

I don't really have much time for hobbies. Music-wise, I'm a fan of The B52's -- though the link with Amiga is purely coincidental.

Thank you very much for the interview and good luck for the future!

Thank you for your interest. Happy New Year to all!