TULT 64 Released!

Hello! Sorry for not posting for almost 3 years. I've been busy making games. Here's one of them:

I just released it to the public and decided to write a blog post about it. If you want to try it out, you can download TULT 64 for free from Itch.io.

TULT 64 on itch.io

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Now for something a bit different: When I got my C64, my very first computer, back in 1989, it wasn't just the prospect of playing games that excited me. The idea of making my own games fascinated me just as much, if not more. At the age of eleven, I had no previous programming experience. But armed with the C64's manual and an almost complete edition of INPUT 64 magazines, I was determined to get this gamedev ball rolling. Or at least nudge the ball a bit, as it were.

About a week later, this was the result:

Compunet

Published on Game On 08/90

Today we're looking at Compunet, a puzzle game that heavily borrows from two other puzzle games and makes them slightly worse in the process.

Aidon - The Apocalypse

Published on Golden Disk 64 12/90

Today's game is Aidon - The Apocalypse, a vertical scrolling shooter that is heavily inspired by Jaleco's Valtric (1986).

Judging by the loading screen, this is certainly not your run-of-the-mill apocalypse. In this corner of the galaxy, the end times are heralded by giant metal faces and even larger translucent skulls sporting mechanical teeth. Our hovercraft looks suspiciously like a repurposed Roomba which is rather unfortunate because the ground is currently on fire. At least I think those yellow tentacles are supposed to be flames and not some spiky alien vegetation.

The title screen's music goes on for quite a while, even though it only takes a few seconds until the game asks me to press space to continue. The track is oddly laid back, almost as if the apocalypse were the perfect occasion to relax and take it easy. I guess, if you are in the right frame of mind, the final revelation might indeed be the ideal time to go back to bed. Everyone's existence is about to end anyway and you can't do a damn thing about it. But wait, I hear the game whisper, there is something you can do after all! Simply step into your trusty hover tank and try to save the universe all by yourself!

B-Bobs

Published on Golden Disk 64 12/90

B-Bobs is a single-screen platformer that takes some inspiration from the arcade game Pang and adds a cranial twist to it. Quite fittingly, it eventually becomes a bit of a headache to play.

Elite Squad

Published on Game On 07/90

For today's game, Elite Squad, I simply want to show you the loading screen without giving away any details just yet:

Based on the name and this image alone, what kind of game do you expect to play? A vertical or horizontal shooter with an exotic roster of enemies? A platformer depicting the player character's recurring nightmares? An action RPG in an unsettling sci-fi setting?

Dynamoid

Published on Game On 07/90

Up until now, I've deliberately skipped over any Pong clones that I came across on CP Verlag's diskmags. Mainly because all of them were either tediously boring and/or made with minimal effort. Dynamoid is different. It's still Pong, but it does its best to hide the simple gameplay behind an outstanding presentation.

Ryshka

Published on Game On 06/90

Vertical shooters belong to my favorite video game genres whose classics I still revisit regularly. There is just something uniquely satisfying about blowing up various enemies raining down from the top of the screen while having to weave through an onslaught of bullets.

It's a pity, then, that the first vertical shooter featured on Adventures in 16 Colors isn't very good. Say hello to Ryshka:

Orbit

Published on Game On 06/90

In the wake of Tetris, the early nineties became a fertile ground for computer puzzle games. During that period, everyone had to release something that involved dropping and/or removing tiles. Here's a game that not only fits the trend perfectly but it also comes with the added bonus of taking place IN SPACE!

Orbit sure knows how to make a remarkable first impression. Here's the game's title logo, orbiting the title screen. You know, because it's called Orbit. Anyway, the logo is made up of a total of 24 sprites, thus each of the C64's eight hardware sprites gets drawn three times per frame. Actually, strike that, it's five times per frame: The sprites are also used in the upper and lower border to display the scores. That's a lot of multiplexing just for the title screen.

Reaction

Published on Magic Disk 64 04/90

If we want to reduce C64 games to their basic essentials, a lot of them come down to a test of reflexes. Reaction is different. It does the reduction for us in advance and simply presents itself as a pure test of dexterity:

You can't accuse the game of false advertising; what it's about can be found right in its name. Admittedly, the iconography surrounding the title logo may be a bit bewildering. Without wanting to spoil too much, I can already confirm that Reaction does indeed contain stars, moons, balls, arrows, blue windy paths, and a disembodied hand doing thumb signals. Unfortunately, that probably makes the game appear more exciting than it ends up being.

Hypersnake

Published on Game On 04/90

Ever since Snake found its way onto Nokia phones back in 1998, it has become one of the most widespread and well-known game concepts in existence. Long before that, the world was already brimming with Snake variants, and the game I'm playing today is one of them:

Alien

Published on Game On 05/90

According to GameBase64.com, 1983/1984 saw the release of no less than seven C64 games that were called Alien. Only one was related to the well-known 1979 sci-fi movie of the same name. In 1990, an eighth Alien game got unleashed on the C64, and it would change the world of gaming forever.

I'm kidding. It's just a game with aliens in it.

Suprallay

Published on Game On 05/90

Have you ever played Codemasters' BMX Simulator? Would you be interested in a game very similar in style but with worse controls? If so, I have the perfect title for you!

This is Super Rally. I mean, SupraRally. No wait, it's Sup... that can't be right... Suprallay? At least that's what it says in the game menu. The loading picture has a different opinion how the game is supposed to be called:

'sup, Rally?

Space Ace

Published on Game On 05/90

Welcome to Space Ace, an action game where you steer an exceptionally fragile ship through narrow corridors (and space, occasionally).

The intro screen shows promise: Somebody decided to build what looks like a public restroom in space and added giant Tesla coils for dramatic effect. The geometry is purposefully lopsided, presumably to unsettle potential visitors so they don't stay there for too long. I guess there are also showers, and that's a soap ball in the top right corner. While the central spaceship's design is quite awesome, I'm not sure where it fits into the game, as the vessel you get to fly certainly looks nothing like this.

There is something extraordinary weird about the music that's playing here. While it never sounds off-key or outright wrong, it is sorely in need of some proper structure. Throughout the tune, it feels like the musician got bored of whatever melody he was working on and then just switched to something else for a couple of beats. This happens so frequently that the result is a confusing, meandering mess with abrupt transitions and drums that erratically change tempo until they seem to stumble over themselves.

It's Harp Lifter

Published on Golden Disk 64 04/90

Today's title is a single-screen action/puzzle game with a theme that is plenty puzzling all by itself. It's Harp Lifter!

Wait, actually, it's It's Harp Lifter. I mean, It's is part of its name. It starts with It's.

Let's just move on, shall we?

The somewhat baffling loading screen certainly makes it clear that the game's name is to be taken literally. That is indeed a harp, and there is some heavy lifting going on. To what purpose remains shrouded in mystery, at least for now. I'm not sure if the bearded guy's facial expression is supposed to suggest enjoyment or strain. It could be both, for all I know. Printed on a street poster, this picture could probably masquerade as an advertisement for a gym whose training equipment is weirdly music-themed.

Hopefully, the game can shed some light on what is happening here...

Megamax

Published on Game On 04/90

When platform games emerged in the early eighties, there was this period in (European) home computing where single-screen titles like Manic Miner were regarded as genre archetypes. This resulted in a lot of games in the same vein with awkward controls where each jump was a leap of faith and being one pixel off the mark often had disastrous results. Megamax is very much informed by these quirks and therefore feels like a platformer from the very distant past.

The title screen certainly looks very "old school" for a game released in the early nineties, with a logo consisting of chunky, double-sized sprites. The reveal of the letters is accompanied by the kind of screechy sound effects that movies or TV shows still like to use whenever somebody is playing video games somewhere off-screen. The game transitions into a piece of music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. At least that's what HVSC's SID Tune Information List says; I would not have recognized the melody otherwise. It sounds pleasant enough, though, if a bit plain. Manic Miner also made extensive use of classical music, but its arrangement of the Blue Danube is an assault on the ears.

JASG

Published on Magic Disk 64 04/90

If you haven't guessed it already, I like playing old video games. I'm not a purist, however, and I enjoy the conveniences that emulators have to offer, even though the experience may not be completely authentic. If I feel a C64 game is too hard, I have no qualms about using savestates.

Enter JASG, a game that has me dying over and over, despite the fact that I savestate frequently and use a trainer that provides infinite lives. At the time of writing, I have been unable to complete it, even though I've been using cheats up the wazoo. That should tell you something about how exceptionally stupidly difficult this game is.

JASG challenges you to control a jumping ball through several mazes and collect all dots. It sounds so deceptively simple.

Artillery '90

Published on Golden Disk 64 11/90

Artillery '90 is an updated version of Xonox's classic Artillery Duel from 1983. It's a game for two players (or one player against a computer AI) who barricade themselves in stationary turrets and take turns in shooting projectiles at each other until one blows up in a fiery explosion.

Baby Jack

Published on Game On 04/90

Have you ever wondered what Bomb Jack did as a wee lad before he became the world-famous, cape-wearing bomb disposal officer? No? Well, that's too bad, because Baby Jack is here as an unofficial prequel, telling you all about the hero's thrilling past when he was still a tiny toddler.

The original Bomb Jack was an arcade game released in 1984 by Tehkan. It saw conversions to a lot of home systems, including the C64 in 1986.

The Yawn

Published on Golden Disk 64 11/90

Today's game is The Yawn, a German text adventure illustrated with 36 multicolor pictures. It takes place in a decidedly weird fantasy realm and provides a ton of humorous text that doesn't always hit the mark and sometimes veers into rather questionable territory.

The colorful title screen is conspicuously abstract and manages not to reveal anything about the game. It's well-drawn, but nothing about it says fantasy to me. The catchy tune playing in the background also does its best not to evoke any medieval vibes at all. It's possible that the title logo and the music were commissioned before anybody really knew what The Yawn would be about. It's also possible that this was done on purpose since The Yawn is meant to be a parody and not a straight-faced fantasy story.