Tuesday 19 February 2013

Chompston (PC)


It's exceedingly rare that I would use the word "delightful" to describe anything. Yet, I can't find a better word to describe Chompston, a bite-size gem created by contralogic.

Chompston is essentially what would pop out if Pac-Man and Bomberman were to somehow fuse their DNA in a Forget-Me-Not themed laboratory. Gameplay is absolutely straightforward to anyone who has ever played the classic arcade gobble-em-up, and there's only one other key to know besides the movement key... the bomb key. The player's cheery little yellow cube thing with the silly grin will happily place little bombs that will, hopefully, destroy the oncoming enemies before they can sap a health heart. Snap up all the multicolored dots and the stage is won.

Papers, Please (Preview) (PC/Mac)


I've always had a patchy relationship with immigration and customs officers. I'm the genius who, on having triggered the metal detector three times at an airport in Norway, decided to reach inside his jacket looking for all the world like he was going to whip out a shooter (or a travel wallet with a big metal zip, now thankfully lost). I'm the smart guy who had a passport photo taken with shoulder length hair then got a load of it cut off just before a barely successful attempt to enter Japan. I'm honestly surprised I've never been strip searched for my general failure at being a competent world traveller.

Papers, Please is an indie game still in its rickety alpha stage which sees the player take on the role of an immigration officer in a dystopian Eastern Bloc country in the grim, grey 1980s. With travel restrictions having just been lifted (stop yawning at the back, this game is pretty fun. Don't make me call the Secret Police on you) vigilance is required to make sure only the right people get in.

Friday 8 February 2013

Assembloids & Spike/MineStorm Available! (C64)


STOP PRESS! Two new C64 game cartridges from RGCD have just arrived and are available to buy from our shop page now!

First up is the final retail version of Assembloids, the frantic-paced puzzle/reaction game from Enthusi, iLKke and Conrad that came second in last year's RGCD game development competition. Based on Quartet, an original flash game by Photon Storm, Assembloids is all about assembling faces from four sets as quickly (and completely) as possible against an increasingly tight time limit.

Already proven to be one of our most addictive and highly acclaimed C64 releases to date, the game is available on cartridge from RGCD (in either standard or deluxe packaging, complete with manual, sticker and printed code sheets) or on cassette from Psytronik Software.

The standard version of Assembloids is priced at £20 inclusive of UK/Europe shipping, and £21 for the rest of the world, whereas the deluxe version costs £25 (UK/Europe) and £27 (rest of world). The Psytronik cassette version costs £3.99 (plus shipping). Read more about the game on the Assembloids project page here.


Also released today, and following on from last year's authorised cartridge release of Fortress of Narzod, this compilation of frantic shooter MineStorm and oddball platformer Spike complete Peiselulli and Linus' acclaimed 'Vectrex Trilogy'. Originally developed exclusively for the Vectrex console, through negotiating with Jay Smith of Smith Engineering/Western Technologies (via his son Spencer) RGCD and TRSI are proud to present the official C64 conversions of two undisputed retro classics.

With this retail compilation featuring PAL/NTSC compatibility and save-disk support to keep a record of those high scores, Spike and MineStorm require no keyboard input and are designed to work on the C64GS as well as regular commodore computers. More information can be found on the games over on the Spike/MineStorm project page here.

Available now from RGCD, again in both standard or deluxe packaging complete with a printed manual and RGCD sticker. The standard version of Spike/MineStorm is priced at £25 inclusive of UK/Europe shipping, and £26 for the rest of the world, whereas the deluxe version costs £30 (UK/Europe) and £32 (rest of world).

Assembloids (C64) (2013)


System Requirements

* A Commodore 64/128/GS (PAL/NTSC).
* A joystick/joypad.
* A VDU preferably connected to a loud sound-system.


Downloads

Download the Retail Version of Assembloids in .crt/.prg format HERE!
Download the Competition Version of Assembloids in .crt/.prg format HERE!

EMULATOR PACKAGE! Download the Retail Version of the game ready-to-run combined with the Windows 32-Bit version of the VICE emulator HERE!


Introduction

During the Autumn of 2012, RGCD collaborator and friend iLKke (Ilija Melentijevic) joined us as an official member of our game development team, and after wrapping up Endurion's Get Em DX was keen to work on another release. At the same time, Enthusi (Dr. Martin Wendt) was toying with the idea of entering a game in our 16KB Cartridge Development Competition, but hadn't yet decided upon a particular design.

After discussing a few ideas, a port of Photon Storm's excellent Quartet game was suggested. Playable online via the gimme5games flash portal, its simple design and frantic reflex-based gameplay made it a perfect contender for the limitations of the competition.

Spike/MineStorm (C64) (2013)


System Requirements

* A Commodore 64/128/GS (PAL/NTSC) (8580 SID Recommended).
* A joystick/joypad.
* A VDU preferably connected to a loud sound-system.


Downloads

The retail version of the Spike/MineStorm cartridge is currently not available for free download, but if you are interested in trying the games you should check out the original PAL-only releases on CSDB.

Download Spike (PAL) in .d64 disk format HERE!
Download MineStorm (PAL) in .d64 disk format HERE!

BONUS! Check out TRSI's 'Meet Linus' music collection in C64 .prg format HERE!
BONUS! Download the Spike soundtrack by Linus HERE!
BONUS! Download the MineStorm soundtrack by Linus HERE!


Introduction

Following on from last year's authorised cartridge release of Fortress of Narzod, this compilation of frantic shooter MineStorm and oddball platformer Spike complete Peiselulli's acclaimed 'Vectrex Trilogy'. Originally developed exclusively for the Vectrex console, through negotiating with Jay Smith of Smith Engineering/Western Technologies (via his son Spencer) RGCD and TRSI are proud to present the official C64 conversions of two undisputed retro classics.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Soulless, Get 'Em DX and Space Lords are FREE!


Regular readers may recall my from my previous post that I casually explained away some of the inactivity here due to my PC dying last month. Well one of the direct results of this mishap is that I completely failed to announce that the retail versions of C64 hits Soulless, Space Lords and Get 'Em DX are now all available for free download! (This was originally planned for Christmas 2012, so I guess a belated seasons greetings are in order from RGCD, Psytronik Software and p1x3l.net).

You can grab the games from CSDB using the links above, or Get 'Em DX direct from our own game page and Space Lords via p1x3l.net, and they all come complete with instructions and are available in multiple formats (where possible). If you don't have a real Commodore 64 computer handy to play them on, we recommend the VICE emulator (which has recently been upgraded to version 2.4, don't you know).

Of course, if you want physical copies of the games for your collections (and who wouldn't?) then they are all still available to buy on cartridge from us here, and disk and tape users can buy Get 'Em DX and Soulless from Psytronik Software.

With two new C64 releases about to roll off the assembly line here at RGCD, these should keep you busy for a few days. Stay tuned for more news very soon!

Friday 1 February 2013

RGCD News Update


Hey there - let me start this post by wishing you all a belated Happy New Year! There's a reason for the recent inactivity here at RGCD towers - my ancient old desktop PC (built in 2005) decided to finally die once and for all after months of random crashes and automatic turn-offs. This meant it was time to upgrade - and a direct result of this has been me wasting away the hours playing loads of new games that my old PC couldn't cope with. Fortunately, the novelty of having a new computer has now finally worn off and it's back to business as normal.

So, what has been cooking on the back burners here at RGCD? First off, and following on from my last post, the C64 competition cartridges have now all been sent out to their new owners across Europe, each housed in a neat little box designed by Redcrab of Goin' Sideways/Genesis Project. I'd like to say thanks again to everyone for making the 2012 competition such a success, especially Tim Harris for providing the hardware that makes this all possible, and Enthusi for his vital technical support.