MAIN FEATURE - TED TRIUMPHS
2022 homebrew for the Plus/4.
Games to try:
Lykia: The Lost Island - https://psytronik.itch.io/lykia
The Nightland - https://bobr.games/index.php/shop/nightland/
Bruce Lee Anniversary Edition - https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Bruce_Lee_Anniversary_Edition
Impossible Mission Plus/4 - https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Impossible_Mission_Plus4
Gigantic Monsters: http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Gigantic_Monsters
Ali Pouladi (Haplo) interview
- creator of Toop and Tenebra 1 & 2
Q. When did you first get a Plus/4?
Believe it or not, in early 2019. When I was a kid, I used to stand in front of the window of our local computer shop for minutes and stare at the Plus/4 they had on display. It just looked so beautiful and intriguing. I already had a C64 at the time and there was no way I was going to convince my parents to get me a Plus/4 too.
Around 2018 I and my partner decided to start a private retro computer collection (she grew up with a Commodore too). We got a Plus/4 in 2019 only to find out it had a busted TED. We got a working C16 a few months later. We haven't dared take the TED out of C16 and putting it in the Plus/4 yet. Currently, we have over 40 retro machines in our collection, by the way.
Q. When did you start programming your own games, and what is your development setup?
I have dabbled in various gaming activities in the past 20 years. For example, I used to be quite active in the Thief community.
But in the context of retro gaming, not counting the (crappy) Basic stuff I did back in the 80s, I only started in late 2019. I code in assembly quite regularly in my day job. One day I thought "hey, I can learn the C64 architecture and have a go at making a game", and Toop
was born out of that.
My development setup is quite simple. I use both Windows and Linux (it simply depends on which one of these two I have the computer booted into at that moment). Vim and Geany for editing, 64tass for building, VICE, CharPad, Pixcen, SpriteMate and Exomizer. Nothing flashy.
Q. What do you like and dislike about the Plus/4 hardware and do you test on real hardware?
What I like...a lot of its stuff is much better organised compared to C64. It just feels there is a proper "order" or "vision" to how it has been designed. In contrast, C64 at times feels like a chaotic mixture of ideas built on top of VIC-20.
What I dislike: The sound and the lack of sprites. Especially the latter...or I would have released many more games on it.
As for testing on real hardware, I tested Toop on my C16. Tenebra was sadly too big for that machine, and my Plus/4 needs a new TED. That's the only exception though. Aside from the Plus/4 version of Tenebra, I have always tested all my games on real hardware.
Q. What inspired your creation of the puzzle game Tenebra?
The main inspirations for Tenebra were the PC games Closure and Lightmatter. In these two games stepping into darkness was fatal, but I opted for a more forgiving and relaxing experience by making the dark areas inaccessible. Portal was also a source of inspiration.
I started thinking about how I could create a similar experience to those games on C64 and came up with the idea of Tenebra. I created it all in text mode without using any sprites, with the aim to release it on Plus/4 as well.
By the way, the original name for Tenebra was Finsternis. However, towards the end of the development, I realised I could not fit it nicely on the title screen and switched from German to Latin.
Q. What are your favourite recent Plus/4 titles, and any other Plus/4 creators you admire?
Well, Udo Gertz comes to mind of course. What he managed to achieve seemed impossible.
Some of the recent titles were very impressive too; Like Alpharay, PETSCII Robots, Lykia...
Q. Are you planning any more Plus/4 games?
Yes! Stay tuned for a new game coming to your Plus/4s towards the end of the year!
Luca Carrafiella (Luca/FIRE) interview:
Q. When did you first get a Plus/4?
I have an extremely vivid memory of the summer of my 13 years, when I surprised my parents by asking them with a bold and positive attitude, not for a generic home computer, but exactly a Commodore Plus/4. By 1986, that choice must already have had the acrid taste of a commercially suicidal will, and looking back today, the shopkeeper who sold it to me will have been genuinely surprised to have won the highly unlikely opportunity to be able to give away that strange computer abandoned by him on a high shelf, away from any reachable corner.
Q. When did you start programming your own games?
An important premise: I've never had the time - the skills? - to make a game 100% by me, though having collaborated on many projects at practically all levels, from music to sprites, from design to code, to narrative writing, to beta testing. The game that I feel most "mine" is "2048 Octaluxe", a Commodore 16 version of the famous logical game, whose code, initially based on the "2048" source released by the talented Csabo/LOD, has been totally rewritten by me, aiming to fill the memory of the C16 as much as possible. I am very proud of it, and all in all, we are talking about only three years ago.
Q. What is your development setup?
Everything, and more. I use a countless number of different tools. Sometimes, they are even tools dedicated to other machines, then I convert the results toward the system that interests me. I integrate the myriad of tools dedicated to 8-bit computers with an equivalent myriad of PC tools that I use like a caveman used flint: "Me! You! Kernal! Ugh!".
Q. What do you like and dislike about the Plus/4 hardware, and do you test on real hardware?
My tiny apartment is littered with C64s Plus/4s and C16s, promptly active and connected to their monitors or TVs, "they're coming outta the g*dd*mn walls!". Granted that in the 21st century a pro/con evaluation of these ancient systems has no reason to be, the Commodore 264 series features transparent ROM: it coexists with the RAM to make this therefore entirely available without facing that walking circus of configurations selectable from the location $01 on the C64. “Dislike” is a heavy word; if the Plus/4 would have got SID and sprites...well it would be a C64. We like our beloved machines for the limitations we try to make them overcome.
Q. What are your favourite recent Plus/4 titles, and any other Plus/4 creators you admire?
Where the C64, with the largest assortment of games ever, finds new spaces for ever better productions, the Plus/4, with exponentially fewer games, has even vast prairies yet to be explored. Stephan "Mad" Mader has opened new frontiers of coding techniques (one example among many: Alpharay multi-directionally moves the bitmap "on the fly" without double buffering thanks to the power of TED), and Csabo/LOD is an example of enthusiasm and skill, the true pillar of the entire scene. I mention two, I admire many more! Recent titles? Well, TCFS is back after 30 years, playing his new "pseudo-conversions" - he rewrites the code from scratch - from C64: Bruce Lee Anniversary Edition and Impossible Mission +4.
Q. Are you planning any more Plus/4 games? I'm definitely planning a lot of other cracks, intros, tunes, co-operations and all the other activities related to the scene. If I find a slice of real life away from the hindrances, trivial or more serious, I will plan to make a new game, 100% of my own.
NEWS BYTES
AQUARIUS: Word Chaser - https://bit.ly/aq-wordtwist
AMIGA: Croaker - https://bit.ly/croaker-amiga
ATARI: Portland Retro Gaming Expo ( https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/ )
Officially licensed 2600 port of Lode Runner - https://bit.ly/loderunner2600
C64: Commodorex - https://bit.ly/commodorex
Dungeons of Doom development at https://bit.ly/dungeonsofdoom
And check out his conversion of New Rally-X - https://thestuffmade.itch.io/rally-x-64
Knights ‘n Slimes - https://monteboyd.itch.io/knights-and-slimes
Sub Chase 64 - https://senkel64.itch.io/sub-chase-64
MEGA DRIVE: @RetroEncoder on Twitter for Robocop arcade game conversion - and an interview in issue 241.
PICO-8: Paul Hammond - Demon Attack, Invaders2600 and Pico Frogger - https://pahammond.itch.io/
PICO 1K Jam 2022 - https://itch.io/jam/pico-1k-2022
VARIOUS: Flicker-free vector graphics in Elite for C64 and Plus/4 thanks to Mark Moxon - https://bit.ly/elite-flickerfree
ZX SPECTRUM: Frantic Pengo 2 - https://bit.ly/franticpengo2
CHAMPION CODER
[Name]
Mojon Twins
[Info]
From: Spain/Europe
Website: https://www.mojontwins.com/ and https://mojontwins.itch.io/
Format: Various
Previous games: Lala Prologue (Amstrad CPC), Zombi Mall (ZX Spectrum 48K)
Working on: MK 1 Engine (C64)
Note: in the following answers, Angel's Spanish has been translated by a combination of me and Google Translate.
Q. When did you start making games for old machines?
Angel: Yo en 2004 con un cutre juego llamado Cars Out!. A partir de ahí, dejé de programarlos y me puse en manos de na_th_an
[Back in 2004 with a very lame game Cars Out, the programming was passed into the hands of na_th_an.]
na_th_an. When I started making games for old machines they weren’t that old. I made my first BASIC games in 1989 when I was 10 in my ZX Spectrum, but abandoned it mid-1993. My comeback was 10 years later, around 2003, when I began playing around with BASIC compilers, later C compilers in 2005, and later assembly.
Q. When was Mojon Twins officially formed?
Angel: Oficialmente… 2009, aunque en 2007 ya estábamos con ese nombre.
[Officially...2009, but in 2007 we started to come together]
Q. Who is in the group right now?
Angel: na_th_an, keendrook, davidian, zemman, jf_jara, octopusjig y anjuel
Q. Do you have a particular development environment or codebase/game engine?
Na_th_an: Everything we do, we try to design it in a way it or parts of it can be easily reused later for a different project. We have developed and released a number of engines and frameworks for several platforms, and some of them have been widely used. We are proficient ‘cause our codebase is strong and reusable, and our in-house tools and frameworks are very powerful. I know many developers who do quite a lot of tedious, repetitive work by hand. If you spend such time creating a tool which does the job for you, you will save tons of time in the future.
Q. Do your games share a lot of code, or do you start from scratch?
Na_th_an: Depends on the game. If the idea fits an existing engine or parts of it, it is used and/or expanded. If it doesn’t, a new engine is created from scratch - but always thinking ahead and making it reusable. For example, all of our NES scrollers have different scrolling engines, as the NES is not very powerful and you have to design your engine around the game you are creating, but they usually share other modules such as the player control, enemies, bullets and collision. We usually make those modules so you can connect them together as if they were LEGO.
In January 2010 we thought of making a simple engine so simple games could be made very easily, with minimal coding required, as we were continuously having weird ideas and we wanted a tool to make them happen. That’s how MK1 was born. The funny thing is that every game we designed to be created with the engine required new parts to be added, so it began growing and growing and becoming something not that simple. In the end, few MK1 games of our own share the same version of the engine.
Q. How do you create the graphics and sound, and any particular tools you use?
Angel: para gráficos uso Adobe Fireworks y Aseprite.
[For graphics I use Adobe Fireworks and Aseprite.]
Q. Do you transfer graphics between formats when possible?
Angel: intentamos hacerlos nuevos para cada plataforma. Como mucho, convertimos con Photoshop y retocamos.
[We try to make them new for each platform. At most, we convert with Photoshop and retouch.]
Q. Nanako is a popular character, where did she come from and will she star in more games?
Angel: surgió de una conversación con na_th_an allá por 2007 sobre la necesidad de crear un personaje chulo para una serie de juegos. Ójala pronto un nuevo juego de Nanako, pero hay que crearle una historia a la altura!
[It came out of a conversation with na_th_an back in 2007 about the need to create a cool character for a series of games. Hopefully soon a new Nanako game, but you have to create a story to match!]
Q. What games have been the biggest influence on your releases?
Angel: Diabolic Soft, The Shaw Brothers, Code Masters and Special FX
Q. Which has been your most successful game in terms of sales or player feedback/review?
Angel: Uwol, Ninjajar, Espitene, Maritrini…
Q. For physical editions of your games, you have worked with several publishers. What has been your experience, what worked well and what would you change in the future?
na_th_an: Experience has been mixed. Sometimes very good, sometimes very bad. I personally love small publishers with avid fans at the helm rather than bigger companies run by businessmen.
Q. Is there anyone or any team you would like to work with on a game?
Angel: Con Tuxedo Games, con los que ya estamos colaborando en Coloco CPC.
[With Tuxedo Games, with whom we are already collaborating in Coloco CPC.]
Q. What would be your dream game to work on?
na_th_an: a 3D psycho-thriller for the PS1 in the vein of Silent Hill, something I will never be able to accomplish.
Ángel: Una videoaventura para Spectrum y Amstrad con un sistema de viñetas como el de Batman The Caped Crusader
[A video adventure for Spectrum and Amstrad with a vignette system like Batman The Caped Crusader]
Q. Which are your favourite machines to make games on, and why?
na_th_an: ZX Spectrum and NES for their purity and simplicity of design ‘cause it’s always thrilling to attempt to unveil their true potential with capabilities never thought of by their designers, and the Amstrad CPC as it was the machine of so many loved friends and their love for it is contagious, or something.
Angel: ZX Spectrum, Amstrad y NES, porque son las máquinas que tuve. Me encantaría meterme con la Game Boy, pero no se puede estar en todo, jejeje
[ ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and NES, because they are the machines I had. I'd love to mess with the Game Boy, but you can't be in everything, hehehe]
ADDENDUM:
Na_th_an sent me this update just before publication.
Exclusive news - We are working on a full-featured port of our open & modular engine MK1 for the Commodore 64 - the "MK1 Tostadera" (the monicker, in Spanish, means "toaster"). We have always liked the platform, but never really gotten into it. We had some of our games ported to Commodore computers by external teams, but now we finally got into it for real. In fact, the main reason why we started "porting" the engine is because we wanted to create a new Ramiro game for the C64, tentatively called "The Brown Ramiro Game" (as former Ramiro games for the ZX were colour coded - red, yellow, green and cyan). I said "porting", using quotes, because most of the routines had to be rewritten in 6502 assembly. The engine interface is still C but most of it is written in assembly, meaning that the core is tight and super fast but it allows you to code your parts in higher level C if you prefer, or using inline assembly. It is based upon the cc65 compiler and our own custom startup code, memory map and low-level backend. Right now the engine is still not feature complete - it lacks some of the built-in modules existing in the ZX and CPC versions of MK1, but it contains all the core features plus the code injection points so you can customize it fully. The possibilities are endless. It also includes a bunch of utilities from our toolchain so you don't have to rely on external applications to convert your assets. We don't have a roadmap, but the intention is to release the engine for free to the community by the end of the year, when we have completed and released a couple of games, mainly an extended port of Jet Paco and (possibly) Ramiro. The engine comes with an example game, a port of Journey to the Centre of the Nose with enhanced visuals and an awesome SID-based OGT created by our star musician Davidian, who just picked up the chip and mastered it! The attached screenshots show the example game "Journey to the centre of the Nose" which uses a minimal set of features.
DATABURST REVIEWS
Eye of the Beholder
Format: C64
Credits: Jackasser, Ilesj, Mirage, Twoflower, Veto, Linus, Algorithm
Price: Free digital download
Web: https://eotb64.com
RETRO GAMER SIZZLER
OVERALL SCORE: 90%
Hakkenkast
Format: ZX Spectrum (48K & 128K versions)
Credits: Minilop (music: Yerzmyey, loading screens: Kevin McGrorty)
Price: £3.00 or more (free demo dungeon available)
OVERALL SCORE: 88%
Lala Prologue
Format: Amstrad CPC
Credits: Mojon Twins
Price: Name your own price download
OVERALL SCORE: 80%
PROCESSING
AB-UltraNarwhal is taking Amiga users to The Abbeys of the Dead with his latest project.
Q. Which version are you basing the Amiga conversion on, or are you picking features from than one?
The screens and graphics are based on the original release which was open-sourced, with player movement similar to the later revision. A major feature is a brand new extra campaign of 23 of my own designed screens.
Q. Are you using Scorpion Engine for development?
I only use the Scorpion Engine as it offers the best performance for the lower-spec Amiga users.
Q. What is your development setup, and have you tested on real hardware?
To make the game’s graphics (recoloured from the ZX-style originals) I use GIMP or Grafx2, sound effects are created using LabChirp, game levels are built using Tiled and all running under Windows.
Testing is currently done using WinUAE running in Amiga 500/600 1MB mode. I haven't tested on real hardware yet, as my Amiga 600 is currently dead and needs repairing.
Q. When are you hoping to release it?
I'm looking to release it by end of this year. A quicker development cycle than Duckstroma which took 18 months, if all goes to plan this will be 6 months of work.