RGCD Website Status

Over the weekend I've succeeded in removing most of the evidence that this is a Blogger-built site (apart from the address, of course) and I've even managed to add a few new pages of content.  It isn't perfect, but after a lot of messing around it appears that Blogger is actually capable of building basic websites much faster than I can using html - and to be honest I'm quite happy with the results so far.

I've also been mailing some of the old RGCD crew to see if any of them are available to join the blog as authors - although I expect a lot of them will no longer have time due to real-life commitments (after all, that was what stopped me from editing the RGCD magazine).

The next logical step is to transfer what old RGCD data I can fit within Blogger's limitations and then link the rgcd.co.uk domain here instead (while Elliot works on building a new site in the background).  We had a good chat this evening and agreed to use this blog system as a design tool for him to work from, so there are likely to be a great deal of changes here over the next few weeks/months while work progresses.

Regular visitors to the blog (are there any?) will notice that the tabs across the top of the page have changed; there are now pages here for both r0x and Robotz DX under the 'Games' section.  For now the text is just a direct copy from the original site - I'll work on updating them properly as soon as my desktop PC is up and running again.
 
In the meantime, if you are enjoying the new reincarnation of RGCD please take the time to comment, or at least add your email to the subscribe list (so you receive updates by email when they are published).  It's pretty lonely here at the moment... ;)

Dash-Da-Dash DX (PC)

 

When I first came across Renard's Dash-Da-Dash DX earlier this year (courtesy of a news post on indiegames.com), my first thoughts were far from positive.  Seeing a couple of screenshots of the game full of obviously ripped sprites and a soundtrack that sampled whole tracks by just about every underground electronic act worth mentioning from the past decade, I initially mistook it for another of those hideous no-effort montages from a coder who obviously was too lazy to create or source their own original material.

 

How wrong I was.

UWOL - Quest For Ports...

 

Originally released by 8-Bit development team The Mojon Twins (Ubhres Productions) for the ZX Spectrum in 2009, 'UWOL - Quest For Money' has become something of a phenomenon in the 8/16-Bit scene; not since the early 90's has a game been ported across so many platforms.  With no official Wikipedia article on the game nor a single location from which to download them all, I thought I'd include all the current conversions in one blog post here, complete with links, emulator suggestions and screenshots to compare - although with new ports popping up every few months, it'll probably be out of date before anyone reads it! :P

Hydra Castle Labyrinth & Buster (PC)

The more retro-centric followers of the independent gaming community are currently going nuts over the latest release from E. Hashimoto (aka Buster, as in he of Akuji the Demon and Guardian of Paradise fame), so I thought I'd have a quick bash at it last night on my eeepc.  After several hours hacking and slashing away in this super-cute 2D platform romp, I have to concur that Hydra Castle Labyrinth really is a gem of a game.  With its roots clearly set back in 8-Bit NES era and some gorgeous pixel art, I haven't enjoyed a platform adventure this much since La Mulana.

Robotz DX - A retrospective & contact from Project X...

 

Considering it was my first attempt at programming a game, Robotz DX turned out quite well.  It generally received some good press and was voted one of the best free games of 2010 by 1UP, and to be honest I still get a kick out of playing it today (after all, I set the difficulty so that it was just right for me without the guarantee that I'd beat it every play-through).  However, Robotz DX is of course a remake, and therefore a great deal of it's success is down to the quality of it's source material; the original Robotz on the Atari ST by the formally enigmatic development group 'Project X'.

r0x zer0 - Opening a can of worms can be a good thing...

I've known for ages that the Atari coder I'm working with (Tomchi) is dead against development blogs (they are not approved of by the demoscene) - so when he found out about this blog and my previous posts he wasn't exactly overjoyed that I'd leaked a couple of images.  However, it had the desired effect - we spent most of the evening chatting about the game and he sent me the latest build to test. ;)

Projects...

As you may well have guessed by the inactive status of www.rgcd.co.uk, the diskmag that I used to edit and write for is still in hibernation; I just don't have the time at the moment to organise and produce such a large volume of writing these days.  Blame my kids, my job and college work for that.
 
My long term goal is to relaunch the site as a more blog-central hub for RGCD's (many) projects and output, and then compile quarterly/biannual issues of the mag in the old CD format for download (although I've even debated the possibility of creating a proper diskmag interface).  When will this happen?  I have no idea; it ultimately depends on when Elliot (the RGCD IT guru) has time to completely redesign the site using Wordpress (or a similar system).
 
However, RGCD has been far from inactive over the past couple of years - we released r0x back in 2009 for the Atari STE, then Robotz DX in 2010, and as well as other smaller side projects (such as Dreamcast Neo4All single-game discs and Amiga CD32 compilations/game fixes) we are still working on a prequel to r0x (about 70-80% complete), a follow-up to Robotz DX (still in the design stage) and even toying with the idea of putting out some new C64 cartridge games.
 
Over the next few days (or weeks!) whilst my other PC's are repaired, I'll try and post dev-logs of the more interesting projects, as well as giving a little more information about our other undocumented releases.  But for now, here's a few pictures to whet your appetite! ;)
 

 

Hard disk crash & PSU problems...

The past couple of weeks have been pretty bad for me here at RGCD HQ.  Not including my wife's laptop or my collection of 8/16bit machines, I have three PC's at my disposal; my main desktop PC (an old Athlon 64 running at about 2.0 ghz with 2GB RAM), a even older small Shuttle XPC that I use as a media box in the lounge, and a brand new eeepc 1008HA netbook.
 
Unfortunately, my main PC has lost a 1TB hard disk (containing my data and main utils/games partitions), rendering it currently useless.  The data has all been saved, but until I can install a replacement drive I basically don't have access to any of my software.  Installing my OS, programs and data on separate partitions is an old habit from my Amiga days, so basically I only have access to the Windows folder; for now the machine is practically useless.
 
Meanwhile (within the same week) the Shuttle XPC decided to start playing up too - after a few hours of use (for example, watching iPlayer or 4OD) it just turns itself off.  I assume it's a PSU fault, but when Elliot came over and completely stripped the machine down we couldn't find anything wrong.  So the next step for that one is to try plugging in a new PSU and see if it still dies at random intervals.
 
So, my little eeepc is currently my main machine - and to be honest, it's not a bad bit of kit.  The keyboard input isn't great (it can't cope with three or more key presses at once, meaning that it isn't great for gaming), but aside from that it's solid - and at under £300 it was a bargain.  I just hope that I don't manage to kill it before my other machines are back up and running!

The RGCD blog experiment...

Well here we go then, the first post...  The site that this blog refers to is of course www.rgcd.co.uk, an outdated and infrequently updated site dedicated to my indie and retro gaming interests.  The reason for the lack of activity on my site is mainly because it is so difficult to actually add news and pages, and a redesign/relaunch is long overdue.  Unfortunately, my web guy Elliot has other priorities at the moment - so I have no idea when this is actually going to happen.
 
Until then, I'm going to start using blogger to practice posting RGCD related news and thoughts, and hopefully this will eventually be integrated into the nice blog system he has long-promised me for the all-new RGCD site.

Robotz DX (PC) (2010)

System Requirements

Robotz DX was created in GM8, and therefore should work on XP, Vista and Windows 7 PC's. The game requires around 200MB of RAM (blame the Game Maker interpreter for that!) and 20MB of hard disk space.

I'm unaware of the exact system specifications (CPU, etc.), but any system capable of running XP or Vista should cope with this simple little game. Note that the title screen uses slightly more CPU (about 5%) than in game.

Download

Download Robotz DX (1.02) (ZIP archive) HERE!
Download Robotz DX (1.02) (with installer) HERE!
(Full version history is given in detail below).

r0x (Atari STE) (2009)

System Requirements

* A 2MB Atari STE.
* A joystick/joypad (two for two-player).
* A colour VDU and a loud sound-system plugged into your STE L/R audio ports.
* A friend to play against (optional, yet strongly recommended).

Note that as from Version 1.00, the r0x.zip hosted here contains STE hard disk installable files, a .ST disk image and a ready-to-go PC version (embedded in the Steem emulator) that is lauchable via a .cmd file. If you choose to play the 'Win32' version of r0x, please ensure that you read the specific instructions so that you can exit from the emulator.

Download

Download r0x (1.00) HERE!
(Full version history is given in detail below).

X-Out / Z-Out CD32 (Amiga CD32) [Keyboard Required]

Copyright Rainbow Arts, 1990 (Rainbow Arts)
Copyright Advantec, 1991 (Rainbow Arts)
Unofficial Amiga CD32 Compilation By Heavy Stylus
WHDLoad Patches By Jean-Francois Fabre (X-Out) & JOTD & Harry (Z-Out)

X-Out ('Crossout') and it's sequel are both seriously hardcore arcade shooters in the same style as R-Type, complete with the charge/beam shots and satellite drones that we are all familiar with. The first game is particularly noteworthy for it's use of points as money in the in-game shop, where you can choose to purchase and upgrade a series of different craft (as extra lives) or spend it all on one super-powered ship instead. The sequel, Z-Out, is more in the vein of a standard shoot 'em up, albeit one with superb visuals and the added bonus of a simultaneous two-player mode.

A keyboard isn't absolutely necessary to play these two, but recommended so that you can change the speed of your craft in X-Out via the F1-F5 keys (and of course to activate the trainers so you can see past the first few levels of each title). Controls for both games are listed on the CD insert provided.

(Note: When X-Out has finished loading you'll need to press the Red button on controller two to start the game - this is due to the it initially being mouse controlled, although in-game it recognises the joypad as well. After playing the game once the Red button on controller one will work as a start command as well).

This compilation would have been impossible without the hard work of Wepl (for WHDLoadCD32) and Jean-Francois Fabre, JOTD and Harry (for the game patches used).

X-Out / Z-Out CD32 Front CD Insert
X-Out / Z-Out CD32 Back CD Insert
X-Out / Z-Out CD32 (Full Game .iso)

(Return to the Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversions page).

Watchtower CD32 (Amiga CD32)

Copyright Cyber Arts, 1995 (OTM)
Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversion By Heavy Stylus

Before you get too excited, this isn't the unreleased CD32 version of Watchtower - but as it's AGA enhanced and completely playable without keyboard input it's pretty much exactly what the CD32 version would have been like (originating from a small independent games studio, a fancy FMV intro or CD-audio soundtrack would have been highly unlikely).

Essentially an 'enhanced' re-imagining of the classic Commando coin-up, Watchtower didn't win over many gamers upon it's release due to its antiquated game-play, but none the less it's still a reasonable shooter - especially so with two players fighting simultaneously. There's nothing new here, and there are many other superior examples of the genre available, but as it was originally planned for a CD32 release it's only fair that it receives the conversion treatment (albeit unofficial).

Watchtower CD32 was created by using the HD-installer supplied with the original game. The protection check was removed by Hellfire; the game has been fixed to accept any code at the in-game copy protection screen.

This recently revised .iso (version 1.01) includes an improved boot sequence and full instructions on disc in the 'Docs' folder.

Watchtower CD32 Front CD Insert
Watchtower CD32 Back CD Insert
Watchtower CD32 (Full Game .iso)

(Return to the Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversions page).

Vision Collection CD32 (Amiga CD32) [Keyboard Required]

Copyright Vision, 1992 (Future Publishing / Linel)
Unofficial Amiga CD32 Compilation By Heavy Stylus
WHDLoad Patches By Codetapper/Action (Cybernetix, Kiros Quest & Microbes)

   
Vision were one of my favourite development groups on the Amiga, and to date Roadkill is still my all-time top single-player racing game. Closely linked to Acid Software, much of Vision's back-catalogue made it to the CD32 (Seek & Destroy, Overkill and of course Roadkill) but there are still several omissions. (Nearly) completing the collection, on this CD I've included three of their earlier releases; Cybernetix (a superb Defender/Asteroids mash-up), Kiros Quest (an isometric arcade puzzler) and Microbes (a simple Jeff Minter inspired blaster).
 
The stand-out title here is Cybernetix, a superb shareware arcade-style shoot 'em up that borrows elements from Asteroids and Defender. It's always been a firm favourite of mine and has stood the test of time really well thanks to it's classic gameplay and stylish presentation. It's a shame that the smart bomb wasn't mapped to a second button (instead of the spacebar), as apart from that there's no keyboard input required.

Kiros Quest is also worth a look, and although Microbes is the weakest game in the collection it still puts many other PD/Shareware titles to shame. The Vision releases missing from this collection are Gnome (there's still no WHDLoad version of this one), Woody's World (I can't get the game to run on real hardware, although it is fine when tested on WinUAE) and the two Zombie Apocalypse games (which may appear at a later date).

Vision Collection CD32 Front CD Insert
Vision Collection CD32 Back CD Insert
Vision Collection CD32 (Full Game .iso)

(Return to the Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversions page).

Virocop CD32 (Amiga CD32) [Keyboard Required]

Copyright Graftgold, 1995 (Renegade)
Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversion By Woody.Cool

Another game that should have made it to the CD32, Virocop is an isometric run 'n' gun game that's generally considered to be the third in the Quazatron series (after the 8-Bit classics Quazatron and Magnetron). This conversion was provided by Woody.Cool, and was made by using the official hard-disk install and creating a CD32 .iso using the set directory structure and appropriate assigns.

Probably one of the last really-good games commercially released, Virocop is a superb title from Graftgold that achieved high review scores back in the day. Although fully playable without a keyboard, you'll be unable to access the game options screen without one, and therefore will not be able to enter a level password to continue a previous game.

On a related note, the passord system is personalised and linked to the name you enter when registering the game at boot-up, but due to the read-only nature of CD media there is no was of saving these details to disc. Therefore if you wish to continue a previous game you should ensure that you enter the same name every time you play.

This recently revised .iso (version 1.01) includes an improved boot sequence and full instructions on disc in the 'Docs' folder.

Virocop CD32 Front CD Insert
Virocop CD32 Back CD Insert
Virocop CD32 (Full Game .iso)

(Return to the Unofficial Amiga CD32 Conversions page).