Sunday 10 November 2013

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition - Status Update #3

Well, that came around quickly, didn't it? We are already well into the final month now, so let's see how those competition entries are shaping up! Again, instead of showing the status of all the games (several of which have now been finished and submitted) I'll only be highlighting those with recent changes or news. The previous status updates can be found here and here.



Competition Entry #2: Phase Out
Developer: Ernst Neubeck & Simon Quernhorst
Status: In Progress


I recently received a build of Phase Out and I have to say that I'm really impressed. With outstanding music, beautiful graphics and well considered puzzles to solve, it's clear that a lot of work has gone into getting the most out of that 16KB limit. Ernst is now completing work on the password system for the 50(!) levels, and has assured me that this one will certainly make the deadline. With only three weeks to go, that news is reassuring.

Your goal in Phase Out is to clear each screen by swapping the position of the coloured gems 'match-three' style, although in this case it's 'match-two-or-more'. To make things a little more interesting, the black gems can't be cleared and must instead be used to block gems from cancelling each other out whilst you move them around. It's challenging stuff, and you'd better not run out of time or the C64 will reset!

Of course, I'm guessing that isn't actually a feature and that the game over sequence just isn't finalised yet. It did make me laugh though! :D

Saturday 9 November 2013

Super Bread Box: Releasing a Golden Era Inspired Indie Classic on Golden Era Gaming Hardware


[This article was originally written by J. Monkman for issue 60 of the Commodore 64 diskmag Vandalism News, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Ok, so the content of the announcement quoted above isn't entirely true. Sure, RGCD had a part to play in negotiating with Vlambeer to grant Super Bread Box an official release, but really the serious work in converting the game was done by Paul Koller and Mikkel Hastrup. Let's be clear on that.

However, minor discrepancies aside, the above tweet still represents an important event in the post-commercial afterlife of the Commodore. Here we have an incredibly popular, relevant and acclaimed independent games studio taking ownership of what is essentially a C64 scene release. Visit www.vlambeer.com and see for yourself, it's on their shop page and everything. This is a good thing.

I'm James Monkman, the editor and founder of RGCD, and in this article I'll share the story of how and why this happened.