Lambda Info/Data Channel

Lambda is a 3D Space Combat Simulator like X-Wing and Wing Commander. The somewhat graphically disappointing port of Wing Commander from the PC to the Amiga Platform and the non- existence of subsequent Space Combat Simulators has inspired the creation of Lambda - featuring to date the most advanced 3D Space environment:

Requirements

Minimum: AGA, WB3.0, 030 Processor, FPU, CD-Rom, 4MB Fast, Hard Drive
Recommended: Graphics Card, 040/40 Processor, FPU, 16MB Fast, Hard Drive
Kicks Ass on: CV64 or PIV, 060/50 Processor, ZorroIII Bus, 32MB Fast

The program has recently been written completely from scratch to support FPU quite heavily. During the rewriting almost all of the nasty bugs of the old Lambda were removed. Current version of Lambda will not work on Amigas without an FPU anymore. Also because the MC68882 FPU is extremely slow a 040 / 40MHz should be considered the minimum recommended system.

Features

  • 256 colours
  • Texture mapped Lambert & Gouraud shaded polygon objects
  • Gouraud shaded fog/nebula background, laser bolts, light glows, thruster flames, smoke trails, shield blasts and explosion shockwaves
  • Translucent mathematically generated bitmap explosions
  • Translucent plasma projectiles
  • Background planets
  • Multiple point light sources
  • Interleaving of objects to allow flight through the structures of capital ships
  • Child objects (eg. light from engines, turrets on capital ships)
  • Collision detection
  • AGA, CyberGraphX and Picasso96 support with user selectable screenmode
  • Mouse and keyboard control (digital & analog joystick and joypad support planned)
  • AHI Playback
  • Realtime Audio Effects - Panning, Distance Fading and Doppler Shifts
  • LambdaC! - bytecode based event scripting language with internal compiler

The Game is still in it's early stages, with only the 3D GFX Engine being worked on - however development is proceeding at a steady pace and the list of features gets bigger with every passing moment.

No PPC support is planned as yet, at least until someone is kind enough to email the author a PPC card and invent a universal PPC Kernel that ALLdevelopers adhere to.

Also don't expect special support for Graphics cards (CV3D, BVision or PicassoIV), unless of course someone wants to send us some free development hardware ;)

Game Engine Speed

Lambda runs at a fair pace even on a relatively slow spec Amiga (AGA 030/50 8MB):

Lambda Speed Benchmark in FPS
320x256
Detailed
AGA 		320x256
Simple
AGA 		320x256
Detailed
RTG 		320x256
Simple
RTG
A1200 030/50 8fps 10fps N/A N/A
A1200T 040/25 18fps 20fps 24fps 27fps
A1200T 040/40 ZII 20fps 22fps 25fps 28fps
A2000 060/50 P96 N/A N/A 28fps 34fps
A3000 060/50 CGX N/A N/A 32fps 38fps
A4000 060/50 CGX 40fps 50+fps!! 30fps 35fps
Other Resolutions
640x256
RTG 		640x480
RTG 		800x600
RTG
A1200T 060/50 ZII ~14fps ~8fps
A2000 060/50 P96 ~14fps ~8fps ~4fps
A3000 060/50 CGX ~14fps ~12fps
A4000 060/50 CGX ~16fps ~7fps

These rates are based on averages acquired from a number of sources. My thanks to those who beamed their spec and rates to me.

If anyone wishes to send their rates and spec to me, feel free. Please use the hailing frequency of:

The contents of this page may change periodically, any update will broadcast on the Sub-ether news waveband.

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