Hardware & |
AKiss | Will run on RISC OS 3.1 or later
Supports dolls split over subdirectories Supports raFS Doesn't support X-Files |
PlayKISS | Requires RiscPC running RISC OS 3.5 or later
26/32-bit neutral Supports dolls split over subdirectories Supports X-Files and raFS | |
RiscKiSS | Requires RiscPC running RISC OS 3.5 or later
Supports X-Files and raFS Doesn't support dolls split over subdirectories | |
KiSS support |
AKiss | Doesn't properly run in the desktop
Doesn't properly handle the KiSS 'fix' attribute Supports the original KiSS (KiSS/GS1) specification only |
PlayKISS | Supports KiSS/GS rank 2, and draft ranks 3 and 4
Includes support for KiSS extension sets Supports FKiSS V2.1, with the exception noted below Includes support for the FKiSS V3 and V4 specification. Supports Cherry KiSS (including hybrid Cherry/indexed-colour dolls) Supports extended palette sets. | |
RiscKiSS | Supports KiSS/GS rank 2, and draft ranks 3 and 4
Supports FKiSS V1.0 | |
Extra features |
AKiss | Performs CEL <--> Sprite conversion |
PlayKISS | Can save the current picture as a sprite
Can save the cels as a single sprite file Can alter the palette associated with a particular set Provides a zoom function Has a very forgiving loader | |
RiscKiSS | Can save the current picture as a sprite
Can save the cels as a single sprite file Can alter the palette associated with a particular set Has a very fast loader | |
Development |
AKiss | Ceased |
PlayKISS | Ongoing | |
RiscKiSS | Ongoing |
The general conclusion is that AKiss is not as slick as the other two (although the CEL <--> sprite conversion in AKiss is very useful if you wish to build your own sets). If your hardware is up to it then PlayKISS or RiscKiSS is the program of choice, especially as they both support the French KiSS extensions. FKiSS 2 dolls are now common, so the lack of FKiSS 2 in RiscKiSS is beginning to make it look somewhat dated; the lack of support for the more complex colour models (Cherry KiSS and extended palette variants) exacerbates this.
PlayKISS has the most flexible and forgiving loader, but the RiscKiSS loader is extremely fast, so you pays your phone bill and downloads the program of your choice.
PlayKISS supports the full FKiSS 2.1 specification with the exception of the "music" function, which plays a MIDI file. Unfortunately, I don't understand MIDI, so this poses a slight problem. I'm currently playing with a demo version of ReMIDI, and when I have fully grokked it, I'll add support for "music" to PlayKISS.