• Commodore Free, Issue 67 - Part3

    From Stephen Walsh@39:901/281 to all on Thu Feb 14 22:30:03 2013
    0, etc.

    * Interview with Jonathan Potter (author of Directory Opus).

    * Hardware: Turbo Chameleon 64.

    * Hardware: ACA 1231.

    * Hardware: ARM controller for Minimig.

    * Review of Dragon Ninja.

    * Review of Tower Of Babel.

    * Review of Savage.

    * Review of Yo! Joe!.

    * Review of Globdule.

    * File: Commodore monitors.

    * File: Amiga shoot'em ups (1993).

    * File: Amiga shoot'em ups (1994).

    * Tutorial: optimization of RunInUAE, ScummVM et DOSBox on AmigaOS 4.

    * Tutorial: Photogenics - draw streaks.

    * Tutorial: create a video game with Backbone.

    * Tutorial: switch from a CRT monitor to a LCD/TFT/LED monitor on AmigaOS 4.

    * Special quiz about the first name of Amiga software and hardware.

    Rendez-vous on obligement.free.fr for this nice reading.

    All translations are welcome. Please contact David "Daff" Brunet for more info.


    *************************************
    FLIMSOFT NEWS UPDATE
    *************************************

    Text from Flimsoft:

    Before I begin, Flimsoft and I would like to say a massive thank you to all of those who purchased and continue to purchase copies of Alien Bash 2. For a debut release, Tomi Malinen (the man behind the game) and I have been blown away with the high volume of sales with this release given the short time of Flimsoft being established, we seem to have made an impact on the community.

    So what have Flimsoft got in store for you this coming year? I can certainly tell you that we are starting off with a good 2013 that's for sure, so let's get cracking!! For some time I have been thinking of incorporating a sub label for specific games. So I came up with 'The Budget Squad', have a guess where this name derived from... The aim of this sub label is to release games that have already been released via CSDb or other Commodore 64 download outlets, specifically those that were released as Public Domain software. There have been some considerable efforts from coders since 1994 and the end of
    commercial game software, I have played so many titles that were released as
    PD and now just forgotten about. So the aim of Budget Squad is to give those titles some much earned recognition and get them packaged up and sell them at
    a very reasonable price (around 2.99-3.99 for a cassette). It is very unlikely at this moment in time that Budget Squad titles will sell on diskette format.

    Someone asked me a short time back 'Do we really need budget games of this day and age?' I can truthfully answer that it is a very valid question and perhaps not, but on the other hand you will still be getting a cassette game a couple of pounds cheaper than a full price title. So what Budget Squad titles have we got in store for you? Well a couple of months back I was talking to a coder online and I have discovered that he has a small catalogue of titles that have were released a few years back, some of these titles that I came across from the catalogue were just great - I had to do something! Flimsoft selected three of these titles to publish on this new sub label (Morph 64, Chang's Adventure, and The Cursed Key).

    Morph 64 is a nice and cute little puzzler game that is based around a certain Commodore Amiga game. The premise of Morph is to manoeuvre various marbles to progress onto further levels, a very addictive game indeed and it plays very well. Chang's Adventure is a collect-em-up/shooter game which is a case of running around a large map, collecting items, defeating baddies and so forth - also an excellent soundtrack as well as game play. Finally The Cursed Key is something along the lines of Spellbound …wondering around a scary mansion and collecting items to progress. Besides these three titles, we have also done a deal with an upcoming coder from California who is in the progress of writing an awesome Dr. Mario style game that at the this moment in time we are giving it a working title of Outbreak. All in all, a very good line up of games for this new sub label.

    A little while back I was talking to the guys behind the recent release of the Little Sara Sister 2 game - just an awesome platformer if you have yet to play it and just the type of genre that Flimsoft were looking for. The game is loosely based around the original Super Mario Bros/Great Giana Sisters. After discussions with the coders we have decided to release this one on both cassette and diskette formats as a trilogy so customers will essentially be buying three games in one (bonus!). The full release will include the original Little Sara Sister as well as version 1.5! Those who purchase the release on disk will also receive a digital download of an exclusive level editor that
    can be used on Windows and Linux operating systems (if you are using a different OS - let us know if it is compatible).

    Production for the trilogy is already underway and I have to say that the
    cover art is looking beautiful for it - very colourful and vibrant. The level editor is a very nice piece of kit to design your very own levels, it is very simple to use for those who are not so familiar with game-making software.

    At the time of typing this we are aiming towards March - June in having all of these titles released. It is highly probable that the Little Sara Sister Trilogy will be the first to be released as the guys behind the game have been working very hard with improvements to game play etc. Once again thank you
    very much for everyone who have been supporting Flimsoft over the past few months - you people have made us! All I can say is that we have a bright
    future ahead of us with some great titles coming up in the near future!

    All the best for now and have a great new year!

    Jamie


    *************************************
    SUPERCPU EMULATOR SOFTWARE
    *************************************

    Just to prove that nothing is impossible, I was contacted recently By Shaun Bebbington from Micromart's retro column and told about a Super CPU emulator software package, you can read more about it here; The file is a customised WinVice package and zipped using 7zip (a free software compression package you will need 7zip to extract the files) zip is available from here 7-zip.org/

    sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/files/experimental%20binaries/WinVICE-2. 4-x86%20%28scpu64%29.7z/download

    At the moment, it's only in early stages and does not do everything that a SuperCPU does. It's about 75% compatible (try Elite, for instance, and you'll see a good speed improvement).

    I don't suppose SuperCPU128 support will be included...? But anyway,
    download it and see for yourself.

    Regards,

    Shaun


    *************************************
    4K GAME SECRET TUNNEL
    *************************************

    csdb.dk/release/?id=113538

    I love these small games, apart from the loading time reduction it's just amazing what can be done with so little in the way of resources anyway here
    are the details

    Title: Secret Tunnel
    Format: Commodore C64
    Type: 4K Game
    Released: November 30, 2012
    By: Charles Grey

    HOW TO PLAY

    Try to get to the end of the tunnel while avoiding 'trap' spots in this multi-screen action adventure game. Collect diamonds and power-up items along the way. Switches in the game can also help you. Watch where you step in this game. You start the game with 10 health points. The game ends when you either exit the last tunnel or run out of health points. The tunnel is divided into seven rooms. You can move freely back and forth between rooms.

    ITEMS

    * Diamond - 9 points. Not essential to winning the game.

    * Heart - Adds 1 health point.

    * Shield - Allows you to deactivate one trap spot without losing a health point. You can only carry one at a time.

    * Square Switch - Reveals hidden pathways for a short time.

    * Diamond Switch - Causes the faces to disappear for temporarily.

    * Checkpoint - You will reappear here after losing a health point.

    TRAPS

    * Invisible Trap - They are invisible unti
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