News about Amstrad CPC, PCW, Notepad NC100 NC150 NC200, PDA600 and also Amstrad PC






Edge grinder, a new multi-platform shoot them up game

-

Guess what, Axelay is working on a port of Edge Grinder (see below), so says one of my numerous spies, who assured me that it isnt a secretand safe to be announced.

Edge grinder is in fact a work in progress C64 game at the start, the first Format War "Collabortition" (a combination of collaboration andcompetition) with the plan being for programmers on other 8-bits to consider ways to convert it from the C64 to their platform of choice. So on the Format War web site you can download all you needto port the game, source code, map, background and sprite data.

Edge Grinder on C64 by Backward Engineering



ReSeT #0, dont get lost (go left at usual door)

-

Dont get lost when you arrive, the room has changed, instead of entering just after Eliot's car, go left and down.

Dont get lost, go left and down

Then, you will find the entrance with CPCists trying to make the new demo which will put in flame the Batman forever demo.

New demo coming out ?

So here is the new home of the ReSeT #0 meeting.

New room of the ReSeT #0 meeting in Coutances

Here is the part of the room where most of the work is done (teeths chewing).

Eat or work on CPC ? Eat of course !

I wont say that some people in this meeting are using a C64 instead of a CPC, I promise...

WTF, they are using a C64 !

And of course we have our own cinema room which was playing Batman forever a bit later.

Want to go to cinema tonight dear ?

Get your swim suit, because you will sleep in the l'aquarium (fish tank).

Sleeping in l'aquarium (fish tank), doh

Top secret place of your webmaster, with the webmaster certainly drinking some coffee instead of working on this site.

Genesis8 at work, without genesis8


Welcome back to Coutances ! Home of the ReSeT meeting

-

Welcome back to Coutances, home of the ReSeT #0 meeting, organized by the tireless Eliot. I arrived this Friday just in time for lunch.

welcome back to Coutances (France)

Sadly Eliot either doesn't own a watch or he still need to learn to use one, meals are good but never at the good hour that old men like me needs. So the meal started at 3:00pm with the first persons arrived.

first meal of the ReSeT #0 meeting at Coutances (France)

At least Eliot has one big quality, he is very courageous : he isnt afraid of Escherichia coli, just look at part of our meal.

not even afraid of Escherichia coli


Amstrad expo is dead, long live ReSeT #0 !

-

Amstrad Expo is no more, but rejoice as ReSeT #0 is the new name of the Amstrad meeting organized by the tireless Eliot.

As usual you can expect a warm welcoming, good food, not much sleep (except if you are a sissy and use a bed), 4 competitions :

  • demo : runnable on CPC6128 or 6128 Plus, without any extension
  • 4 Ko intro : runnable on CPC6128 or 6128 Plus, without any extension. Maximum size is 4 Ko (4096 bytes)
  • graphics : all formats/modes are allowed. The entry must be submitted with its viewer program runnable on CPC or Plus
  • music : any executable music on CPC or Plus. The entry must be submitted with its player. No size limit

CPC Hardware will be given for free at the party-place: monitors, keyboards, floppy-drives, floppy-discs... All the parts from CPCParts.net will be available to repair and upgrade your CPC with the help of hardware specialists.

The ReSeT Party will take place from Friday 24th (10:00) to Sunday 26th of June 2011 (18:00) at Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs in Coutances. The price is 11 euros per day for the entrance, drinks and food. You can book a double room at the party place for 20 euros per night.

Please use the ReSeT #0 site to register if you intent to come, thanks in advance.



Upscaling retro 8bit pixel art to vector graphics

-

A new algorythm able to transform bitmap graphics such as on an Amstrad CPC to vector graphics, has been created. It can create smooth, curved contour lines from only-connected-on-the-diagonal single pixels. That would mean playing games on a big screen without big ugly pixels. See below for the link.





Lords of Midnight on Iphone coming

-

In October 2009 I was writing about a possible Iphone port of Lords of Midnight (originally written by Mike Singleton) by Chris Wild. This time it's for real ! There will be some tweaks to A.I., new updated graphics of cource, first version will be just solo, but updates will bring multi-user play.

While waiting for this precious gem, you can either play the original Lords of Midnight game with an emulator, or with one of the various following ports :



NoRecess web site

-

NoRecess {the website} is a nice recent web site by NoRecess (since January 2011). He is the author of the Phat, Phat 2,Pheelone and Phreaksdemos. But he also wrote PhrozenC, a K&R C compiler for Amstrad CPC and the HxC Software Emulator Manager for Amstrad CPC. He is writing Phactory, a PC utility which is a completedevelopment editor targeting the Amstrad CPC platform. It features : code editor, bitmap converter, big file maker, dsk file manager, packer, hex editor... SDCC C compiler is alsofully integrated, and inlined assembly code is compatible with Maxam syntax.

There is an interesting article about state of the Amstrad CPC community in 2011 (with informations from Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Denmark, Spain, South Australia and France), and last article is an interview of Axelay,author of Star Sabre, Dead On Time and Sub Hunter, and many more interesting things to read.