VisiCalc on the Apple II. Lotus 1-2-3 on the IBM PC. Aldus PageMaker on the Macintosh. Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. The computer industry loves a “killer app,” that unique piece of software that compels consumers to purchase new computer hardware just for the privilege of running it. I can personally attest to Deluxe Paint as it compelled even my technophobic mother to buy into its potential.
↫ Christopher Drum
Even though I knew what Deluxe Paint for the Amiga was, I never really delved any deeper into what, exactly, it was capable of. Drum does a great job setting up an emulated Amiga environment to go back in time to his childhood, and see what it’s like to use Deluxe Paint today, in 2025. It turns out it can do things I never thought it could, like create 3D perspective effects, with optional antialiasing even (even though the latter takes multiple minutes to render).
In fact, it even has tools to create animations, allowing you to brush across different frames automatically, or even create movement paths in a 3D space by defining start and endpoints for a brush movement. Combine all of these tools, and you can create things like animated doors opening and closing with a clear 3D effect. It’s quite neat.
It’s no secret the Amiga was far ahead of its time, but it’s still awe-inspiring to see it in action like this.
Oh yeah. The Amiga had a stack of “killer apps”. Soundtracker/OctaMed, Video Toaster, and the games! Canon Fodder, Settlers, Monkey Island, Sensible Soccer and so on. I went to “Amiga 40” and listened to some folks from back-in-the-day talk. David Pleasance and a whole bunch of game devs… DAMN! Commodore REALLY fucked up! I think we knew it at the time – in retrospect the behaviour of the company was border line criminal. Vista Pro – what a wonderful waste of time that was!
I, sadly, remember. I held off PC until about 386 but by then it was all over and I got a cheap 386SX and then the boredom began.
Vista Pro? Dunno! Well all just enjoyed it. Not really a killer app but and interesting direction for software to take.
Meanwhile I was on the Atari side, I can’t say they did any better. At least the Amiga lived on after Commodore. Somehow. The ST and Falcon were stopped, plain dead, in 1995.
Why that ? I loved the PC version though.
I deleted this comment, why does it resurfaced from the dead ?
Deluxe Paint was bundled with many new Amiga IIRC, I know for me it was one of the first programs I used on it and it was brilliant, And it still very much is… I still have my Amiga setup just behind where I am sitting and it of course has DPaint on it, I still like to tinker from time to time, Do some gradient flood fills and stuff, I’m no artist 🙂
David Pleasance (head of marketing in the UK) talked about bundles at Amiga 40.
*SO* many bundles. http://www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/amigahistory/bundles/screengems.png
Author here. Thanks for spreading awareness of my post, it seems to really be resonating with people. I’m covering productivity software of the 8/16-bit era. No gaming stuff; that’s already well covered by many talented content creators. It’s the Amiga and Deluxe Paint’s 40th birthday this year, and it was one of my absolute favorite hardware/software combinations, so that seemed like a good place to start. I hope the coming topics continue to be of interest to the community.
Oh, and thanks for the PicoCalc coverage a couple of years back! I always meant to thank you for discovering that project.
Cool, thanks.
I can’t here “Did you play this game on the Amiga in your youth. ” and similar stuff anymore. I really hated the “Amiga is just a game machine!” saying during my Amiga time.
So cool having somebody looking intio the productivity side of those machines.