Thursday 20 October 2016

Jam It Cartridge Available Now! (Commodore 64)


Woah! After being sat ready to ship here in the RGCD office since Spring 2016, the long-awaited and promised JAM IT cartridges are finally ready to go on sale! We're officially back on the C64 scene!

Sunday 16 October 2016

Developer Diary: Caren and the Tangled Tentacles (Commodore 64)


Following on from our previous 'Developer Diary' write-up (where we looked at the forth-coming Amiga version of Powerglove), Dr. Martin 'Enthusi' Wendt took some time out from his long-term 'Caren and the Tangled Tentacles' project to discuss some of the technical aspects of what is arguably the most impressive point 'n' click adventure game ever made for the Commodore 64.

You can download the latest public version (1.1) HERE.

2015 C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition Results

Holy hell! Here we are at the end of 2016, and I'm only just posting the results for LAST year's compo... Well, I'll write a bit about the last four months of inactivity in a bit, but first of all let's get this out of the way ;)

(Those of you whom follow the C64 scene closely will propbably be aware that the results were actually announced in the recent edition of Vandalism News (#65), and the article is reproduced here in full).

As already explained over on the official page, the scores were calculated using mean averages with the highest achievable score being 66 points (if all judges had scored a game 11 points in all categories). I won't bore you with lists and tables of who scored each game what, instead I have listed the games below in order of placing with the final scores and judges' comments.

As is traditional, I'd like to say a massive 'thank you' to everyone involved - yet again, through your hard work and dedication, the modern day C64 game development scene has continued to improve and impress, surpassing expectations again and again. Congratulations to everyone who submitted a final game :)



Icicle Race (John Christian Lønningdal & Saul Cross)
1st Place (59.22 Points)


"Icicle Race is a brilliantly executed puzzle game with gorgeous graphics, cute animations and very nice music to match. It's closest relatives are Solomon's Key, Spherical and Sokoban. It has a large number of levels, which seem to be very challenging. That's also the only complaint I have: This game is quite hard. But if hard puzzle games are your thing, then Icicle Race will keep you entertained for many hours." (Andreas Varga/Mr. SID)

"Wonderful port of Solomon's Key 2. Very addictive. I love everything about it - music, gfx, execution! Top notch!" (hedning)

"Fun little port of Solomon's Key 2 from the NES with cute graphics, had me tearing my hair out on some of the levels. Strong playability and puzzle element." (David Simmonds/Jazzcat)

"This game crushed me. First, it has a very unique icy music style. Second, the gfx are really good and detailed. Third, it is really huge. And fourth, the game has quite some cunning game design ideas in it - those come, however, from the NES original. IMHO the best game in the compo. All thumbs up!" (Jacob Voos/Jak T Rip)

"John and Saul do it again. An amazing port of a little known game, given its own special C64 flair. Superb stuff with loads of content crammed into 16KB, and in my opinion, leagues ahead of anything else released this year." (James Monkman/Heavy Stylus)

"This is a great game - really enjoyed the concept - lots of variety and depth. It's a real gem well done guys, couldn't fault it." (Jamie Howard/Physcopanda)

"Icicle Race is a bit of a fiendish puzzler with some slightly odd play mechanics that make it feel quite unique. Each puzzle is one screen and your Romancing the Stone-type adventurer must utilise blocks of ice to put out all the flames that happen to be roaring away in the ice caverns he is exploring. It reminds me a tiny bit of Puzznic in the way the rooms are set up and that gravity is an important factor, but it otherwise plays quite differently. You may climb up a block but you can't jump. You can create ice blocks with your wand, put only in the space directly in front of you and below your feet. This feels restrictive but puzzle games surely need these strict parameters to create a brain-mangling challenge. It works brilliantly. There's a huge variety in the puzzles, the challenge they represent, and the manner in which you solve them. Icicle Race has depth, too. There are one hundred levels, split into blocks of ten, and thankfully you can tackle them in any order, with the one proviso that you must have completed the previous nine levels in a set before you can attempt the tenth level. The first twenty to thirty levels are fairly achievable, but then the going gets tough - you could sink plenty of hours into this one! The presentation is excellent as well. Your adventurer has a lot of character and he reflects my state of mind perfectly when he fails a level and sits on the floor shaking his head! But he does do a weird dance when he wins (which I don't). The graphics are well above average and different pieces of in-game and menu music and very nicely composed and perfect for the game. Wonderful, absorbing stuff." (John Dennis)

"This was bugging me for a while why it looked familiar, and then I recalled "Fire 'n Ice" on the NES! And lo and behold, it's just as good, with tight controls and mind bending puzzles once you progress past World 1. The graphics are really nice hi-res works that evoke a lot of character, even the flames, and the sound is inoffensive and fits the theme. Thankfully if you get stuck, the levels are also the SAME, meaning you can look up a level guide and progress without too much frustration! Although I do rather miss the funny cut scenes from the original." (Mat Allen/Mayhem)

"This looks to be the biggest game in this years compo, with 100 levels! I didn't know the original until a few months ago when it was mentioned in Return magazine. Sporting great graphics and sounds and some tough puzzle action, this is the clear winner of this years compo for me!" (Paul Koller/Paulko64)