Made in Creative UK

I'm proud to announce that RGCD and Psytronik Software have joined Made in Creative UK, an initiative founded by Philip Oliver (CEO of Blitz Games Studios) that aims to highlight and celebrate video games produced in the United Kingdom. Backed by organisations including UKIE, TIGA, NESTA and the Department for Culture Media & Sport, in order to qualify at least 50% of the creative labour of the project needs to have been produced in the UK - so going forward, any RGCD or Psytronik release that meets this requirement will bear the Made in Creative UK banner on the box art, the first of which will be the forthcoming Sheepoid DX/Woolly Jumper compilation for the C64.

Of course, compared to the likes of Crytek, Team 17, Codemasters and Rebellion we are incredibly small players in the game publishing business. However, we are both established representatives of the retro gaming scene and seeing that our games are shipped world wide (as physical products), it just made perfect sense for us to support the cause.

If you would also like to support the Made in Creative UK campaign, more information can be found at madeincreativeuk.com.

Mr Rescue (PC/Linux/Mac)

Blasting doors down with a fire hose, throwing innocent civilians through windows to their 'safety'? This can only be firefighting Mr Rescue style!

Mr Rescue puts the player in charge of the eponymous firefighter as he rescues citizens with gusto, defenestrating them to safety through three levels of what could clumsily be described as "2D 8-bit Habbo Hotel Towering Inferno". It's a platform rescue-em-up which plays quicker than fire rushing down a corridor in a special effects department.

It's a whole lot of fun and a few attempts in I found myself totally immersed in the game, with a huge amount of satisfaction coming from each comical grab-and-throw rescue!

Hypersuper Cannon (PC/Linux)

Every once in a while, there's a game that really throws me for a loop. A game that makes me say "WTF?!" in every single sense of the phrase. A game that is as mysterious as it is well crafted, compelling as it is frustrating. Grimic's Hypersuper Cannon is one such game, and man, is it weird. Awesome, but weird.

I know what you're thinking, especially if you've already peeped some of the screenshots or seen them elsewhere: this is yet another dual stick shooter. Wrong-o, pal. Let me see if I can explain this. (Warning: by giving away some of the game mechanics, I may ruin some of the fun of the discovery process of the game. I found this mystery greatly enjoyable, but others may not. Read at your own peril.)

Futuridium Extended Play (PC/Mac/iOS)

When Andrew Braybrook's Uridium first came out on the Commodore 64 back in 1986, no other shoot 'em up had dared to present players with an enemy that was up to 10 screens in length whilst allowing full freedom of left and right scrolling, and few have pulled it off so well since. It was this sense of scale that made the undisputed 8-bit classic (and its 16-bit sequel) so special. Piloting a nimble one-man Manta fighter craft and taking on a fleet of epic armed-to-the-teeth alien dreadnoughts was no walk in the park, yet the sense of achievement felt as you pulled away from the disintegrating wreckage of each gigantic battleship was more than worth the effort; a real 'fist-in-the-air' victory moment, every time.

As you can no doubt tell, I'm a life-long fan of the franchise with Uridium being one of my earliest videogame memories and a shmup I still play regularly today. So, you can imagine my excitement when I first discovered Mixed Bag's beta of Futuridium EP a couple of months ago, a game preview that delivered the classic experience of Uridium in a fresh 3D perspective backed up by a bassbin-rocking glitch-hop, breakbeat and drum and bass soundtrack.

After sending the Italy-based development team a rather gushing fan letter, RGCD were invited to help further playtest the game through the final stages of development - and now, (you lucky, lucky people) the finished full game is available for free download (and soon for purchase on iOS).

Super Connard (GameBoy)

Super Connard sounds like an innocent name for a game doesn't it? That is until you translate it from French and discover that actually means 'Super Asshole'. A collection of three mini-games that sees you playing none other than Joseph "I stuff monkeys into Pringle tubes in the name of science" Herring, Kim Jong-un and Adolf Hitler, it could be the most controversial game to ever hit a Nintendo console. With homebrew Gameboy releases being somewhat of a rarity - ones featuring real-life dictators considerably more-so - the question remains; what is Super Connard actually like to play?

Fortunately, here at RGCD we were lucky enough to receive a near-final version of the game earlier this month prior to its physical cartridge release.

Full Circle: Rocketeer Available! (Atari Jaguar CD)

"Flying through space is no picnic. Commanding an intergalactic space vessel isn't all plaid blankets and wicker baskets. All manner of peculiar happenings might ruin one's day. Take planets for instance. They're big. Really big. Often rather solid, too. For these reasons alone, it's usually advisable not to involve yourself in any sort of altercation with one, particularly when travelling through hyperspace.

This was now something Space Corps Commander Gwyn Williams knew only too well, as, from his vantage point high in the upper atmosphere, he observed the fragments of his vessel scattered over the surface of this particular example of Big Solid Planet. Sliced into three sections with the ship's cargo falling from orbit all around him, he wondered how this day might possibly get any worse... Ah! Of course! An onslaught of deadly rocks - simply perfect!"

Following the Jaguar CD releases Kobayashi Maru: Final and Jagware Collection 1.0, Reboot and RGCD are back with another serving of unashamedly old-school arcade goodness in the form of Full Circle: Rocketeer. Rebuild and reload your crashed space craft whilst fending off endless waves of hostile aliens and meteors in 16 unique levels spread over 4 worlds! Full Circle: Rocketeer features 50/60 FPS fluid gameplay (PAL/NTSC) powered by Reboot's Raptor game engine, 8 channel digital sound (music and effects), collectable bonus items, online high scores (via webcodes), MemoryTrack saving and ProPad controller support.

The physical release comes cellophane wrapped in a clear DVD box with full colour, double-sided printed inlay on a full face printed, glass-mastered CD, direct from the factory (100% professionally produced in the UK). Instructions for each game are included on the inside of the inlay. It requires no additional hardware to run other than the Jaguar CD console itself. As an added bonus, a vinyl Reboot sticker will be included with every order.

Priced at £21 (plus £4 UK/Europe shipping, £5 rest of world) Full Circle: Rocketeer is available to buy from our shop page today!

Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (PC)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Almost two years from when Andrew Morrish uploaded his original prototype build, Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (SPPD) has finally arrived and is available to buy on Steam - and it has most certainly been worth the wait. As promised in the Plus version released by Adult Swim Games earlier this year, SPPD takes the acclaimed 'Mr. Driller in reverse' game formula to the next level with six themed worlds in which to battle those evil pastel-coloured blocks, seven additional unlockable characters, challenges, achievements and - most essentially - a local two-player vs mode.

Chasm (Preview) (PC/Mac/Linux)

 

Chasm, like many Kickstarter darlings, has been getting a lot of press lately - and deservedly so. I mean, it's a "2D Fantasy ARPG Platformer featuring procedurally generated Metroid-like dungeons and authentic pixel art." Shut up and take my money! In all seriousness, though, a solid concept does not always yield a solid game, but it (fortunately) seems that the team at Discord Games have something special brewing.

I sometimes get annoyed with the plethora of Kickstarter buskers with a dream but no dollar, clamoring amongst the crowd to get a few bucks from me when they don't have anything to show, or aren't even developers/artists/coders/etc! The team behind Chasm, however, have gone over and above in giving gamers good reason to toss them some clams - a full-featured, surprisingly robust alpha demo is publicly available to try out.

It is thus hardly surprising that the game, as of now, is already funded. But how does it play?

Hammerwatch (Preview) (PC/Mac/Linux)

Anyone familiar with games like Gauntlet or even Rogue will be instantly familiar with Hammerwatch, a game by Jochum Skoglund and Niklas Myrberg currently available in beta form. Containing only the first act and a rough version of a planned Survival mode), play takes place entirely in a dungeon, with a selection of character classes, up to four (in the final version) players, waves of enemies and loot, keys and potions to collect.

Huenison Update (PC/Amiga)

Remember the rather positive Huenison preview we published a couple of months back? Well, it seems that our friend Simone Bevilacqua of Retream was rather enamoured by the write-up, and after our successful relationship in handling the cartridge of his C64 eat 'em up Quod Init Exit he offered RGCD the opportunity to publish the game in both digital and physical formats! Needless to say, we are super proud to be involved in the release of such a unique game.

Work has been continuing on Huenison, including a few extra game modes and brick types, but mainly Simone has been polishing and tweaking things for the final release. More importantly for the hardcore Amiga crowd, as with his previous release BOH, Huenison will be available for both PC and Amiga OS 4. More information will follow soon, but for a taste of what is to come, check out the teaser trailer below.

Zero Cross (PC/Mac)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Christopher "udderdude" Emirzian, developer of the hardcore indie shmup XOP, has delivered yet another perfect slice of STG action in the form of Zero Cross, an arena-based arcade game that combines bullet-hell with intelligent gameplay mechanics, a variety of different mission goals and some impressive boss designs.

Instead of the usual 'rush about the screen in a circle avoiding abstract enemies and bullets' that you'd expect from a typical arena shooter, Zero Cross has you activating shields to protect friendly structures, creating blackholes, destroying enemy bases, fighting colossal battle ships and closing rifts in the fabric of space-time. Sounds awesome? Well, to keep things brief - yes, it is.

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition!

The third RGCD C64 Cartridge Development Competition concluded at midnight on the 30th of November with 12 brand new games (and 3 re-releases) for the C64!

INFINOS (PC)

INFINOS is definitely a rare gem. Played R-Type or virtually any classic 16-bit era shooter? Then you've played INFINOS, but that wouldn't really be doing this indie title any justice. Given the very sparse nature of its website, courtesy of developer Picorinne Soft, it would be very easy to overlook this one - but don't.

The second INFINOS is fired up, it conjures up fond mental images of my 11 year old self sitting cross-legged in front of a small tube TV in a modest bedroom, banging on the controller to the tune of Super R-Type (perhaps the first true shooter I ever played. I was also fond of Darius Twin).

Guns 'N' Ghosts Cartridge Available! (C64)

High fives all round! It has been a long time coming (the tape, disk and download versions have been available since the 14th of April from our partners at Psytronik), but I'm super proud to announce that Georg "Endurion" Rottensteiner and Trevor "Smila" Storey's 72-level demon-smashing Commodore 64 arcade game Guns 'N' Ghosts is finally available to buy on cartridge from our shop!

Guns 'N' Ghosts is an intense action game with a variety of play modes that offers a particularly rich two-player cooperative adventure, so grab your shotgun, ready your psychic powers and help paranormal investigators Trev and Georg eradicate a monstrous mélange of spooks & spectres!

Featuring box art by Smila, the 64KB PCB is housed in a ghostly transparent cartridge shell illuminated by an internal LED, and the game comes complete with a printed manual and seven vinyl stickers.

The cartridge version is available in two packaging types, a standard card carton and a more expensive 'deluxe version' that comes in a plastic case (a Universal Game Case with a specially cut foam insert to hold the cartridge as shown below). The standard version is priced at £22, whereas the deluxe version costs £27. Shipping is £4 for UK/Europe and £5 for the rest of the world. A digital version of the game will also be sent out to all customers following receipt of payment.

Please note that Pystronik Software are also selling the game on premium/budget disk, tape and as a download for £9.99, £4.99, £3.99 and £1.99 respectively (plus shipping) via their Binary Zone Retro Store.

The even better news for cartridge fans is that whilst fixing the hardware incompatibility issue responsible for the delay, Georg managed to squeeze in one of his earlier games as an exclusive Easter egg - just check out the photos below! We will be announcing the 'secret' to loading the second game in the near future, but for those of you wanting to try and find it yourself the only hint you are going to get is that it requires one single input at a specific time. Happy hunting!

Guns 'N' Ghosts (C64) (2013)

System Requirements

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


Downloads

The retail version of Guns 'N' Ghosts is currently not available for free download. You can buy the game on cartridge from RGCD here, or as a download, tape and disk from Psytronik Software here.


Introduction

The C64 game development super-team Georg "Endurion" Rottensteiner and Trevor "Smila" Storey have returned with their first new collaborative game since their record-breaking successful hit Soulless!

Another Psytronik and RGCD collaboration, Guns 'N' Ghosts delivers a long-awaited, original single or two-player arcade style experience to your C64 in all formats (cartridge, disk, tape and download). Grab your shotgun, ready your psychic powers and help paranormal investigators Trev and Georg battle through 72 screens infested with zombies, skeletons and bats and various other spooks & spectres!

Reports of supernatural sightings have been coming in from all over the country and Trev and Georg are on the case! Georg is very handy with a shotgun, useful for getting rid of any unwanted zombies, reanimated skeletons or freakish lab experiments gone wrong, and Trev is gifted with incredible mind powers. These give him a special link with the spirit-plane - and the ability to send demons back to whatever hell-hole they crawled out of.

Guns 'N' Ghosts is an intense action game with a variety of play modes that offers a particularly rich two-player cooperative adventure, so get a friend round, plug in an extra joystick and kick some undead ass!