Retrodev 2023 - the complete review!

[Targhan]

Due to popular demand (at least one person  ), here is a review of almost all the games of the RetroDev 2023. Be prepared for my personal critisms and opinion! All games were tested, when possible, on a real CPC 6128.

Here are the reviews, from my preferred game to the not-liked-at-all! Don't hesitate to add your own reviews afterwards.

Paulina's Potions
This is an excellent surprise. First, the music. There are numerous pieces, all both original and very musical. The graphics are very original too, using SuperSylvestre's "flashouille" (tm) in a world-first enjoyable manner. The gameplay is a platformer with very accurate and smooth animation, plus potion-making from the objects you have gathered. I found that the way to play is very unforgiving, yet I wanted to see more. This is the most well-finished game of this year and could have been sold without any problem.

Sugar City
It's a quite impressive piece of code! I had trouble at first to understand how the missions work, where to go and so on, but I managed to finish a few errands, to be killed by the police. The graphics are blocky but actually well done, there is a nice little tune. It's hard not to punch everyone around you when you only want to get in a car though. The radar is a simple but nice piece of design. Too bad the scrolling is jerky and the borders flicker all the time. A lot of sprites "lose their bits" here and there, but it doesn't prevent from playing. It's also a quite unique feeling to be able to move freely in a somewhat large city. Also impressed by the day/night cycle. Well done!

Forms
Not a beauty to look at, but it is a simple and enjoyable game. There is even a very nice music (Ennya, right?).

Nita
Very nice graphics, decent gameplay with interesting enemies (I liked the spider). The animations, even if the framerate is a tad low, are quite expressive. Jumping can be awkward in stairs, and I died between two columns and crate, and respawned there till I lost all my lives, so I stopped. A very decent game.

Fitzroy feels the heat
I don't know exactly what to think about this one. Despites the blocky sprites, it seems interesting. But I could only beat one dungeon, got stuck in the others, and opening the inventory in a dungeon freezed the game. Each dungeon seems to present a challenge. I really liked the multiple music. But I got stuck... A lot of narrow corridors with sliding monsters, door that would open or not, teleporters that would work or not... Not many info about what to do, but the world map tells me I want to see more.

Dungeon Survivor (Nuke bug)
Not very attractive graphics didn't entice me to play long, but I actually enjoyed it and finished it on the first row. The developer actually showed care at making this game (like intermission screens, changing landscape etc.), even though the gameplay is very basic. There is even a repetitive but ok music and sound effects. Nice (very) little game.

Guard the castle
Very simple, and I beat it the first time I played it. Everything is quite bare but incredibly, the game is fun (albeit short) and the waves not so easy to beat. There is even decent baroque music.

Ivan Peral
Moving a submarine is a good idea, too bad there is no inertia at all. How fun it could have been with a bit of more work! This is your typical platform game where you collect "stuff" and avoid "stuff". The graphics are pretty good, the music nice but already known. I admit the game got boring quite quickly.

Balkanoid
I was quite impressed with the physics at first, the ball seemed to follow nice physical rules. It was actually not the case (bat speed didn't matter, only the hit location), but the game seemed enjoyable nonetheless. Until level 3 where 2 seemingly undestructible tiles stopped my progress. Bug? Too bad, the graphics and sounds were decent.

Alloy Box
I'm glad CNG Soft finally managed to make it to the top, but in all honesty, I didn't enjoy the game a single bit. The music is decent, the graphics and scrolling nicely done. But as soon as you enter the danger zone, you are outnumbered by soldiers running everywhere, the game doesn't let you run or hit fast accurately enough to defend yourself. You just have to run, praying the invisible bullets won't get you. Hitting and shooting is awkward, in no way can you really understand what is going on. As most of CNGSoft entries, it is technically brilliant but the gameplay is a miss.

Shadow Maze
Not bad at all for a Basic game! The music is very good. The game itself is sadly too easy and short.

The Last Brew
Nice concept of shooting and protecting someone. The graphics are ok, the music is very simple but works fine. Too bad the collisions are so inaccurate, and the character cannot go diagonal.

Sheriff Duty
The scenario was promising, and the game had a few good ideas, such as the multiple screens, the bandits hiding behind rocks. That's pretty much it. The other enemies are pretty ridiculous (coyotes? rattlesnakes?). Easy to finish too.

Final war
A very simple plateformer with dubious collision management. Terrible albeit numerous music, and ugly graphics. I have no idea how to pass the level I was stuck in (8th?). One thing that this game has and NO other had this year is the ability to jump at desired height. This is sadly not enough to make this game interesting.

Roberto El Gorras
A platformer with average graphics, mediocre but multiple songs, and a gameplay that is ruined by the disastrous jump management. The jumps are too long, can't be controlled, making the game too awkward to play. Too bad, I liked the atmosphere.

Dive Jely
Nice little tunes and graphics, but the game is too simple and repetitive. Reminded me a bit of the good old "Galaxia"...

Rail Runner
Enjoyable a few seconds, but too repetitive. The graphics are ok. You win after 6 levels, and when you restart, you instantly win, because they didn't reset the level counter. Is it so hard to test your game? No music or sound effects at all, come on...

Top goal
The physics are completely broken. Maybe funny with 2 players, but I suspect, no more than 2 minutes. The graphics are very basic, and there is no sound at all...

Timmy's Limbo
Decent graphics but very simple gameplay. A few monsters with only a very limited set of movements. No sound, no music... Not great.

Retromancer
The idea of having two weapons, each working against specific enemies, is nice. But the game seems too buggy. I simply switched O/P continuously and easily killed all the monsters, which seems to spawn and disappear randomly. Strange music, decent graphics, but the game gets boring very quickly.

Sweet and dark
Low-quality Frogger-like with bad graphics and crappy gameplay. After 9 screens, one reaches a house (I actually liked the drawing), when the game stops without congratulations and goes back to the menu. Yay.

Watch out!!!
Short game, almost no gameplay. The funky music (from Pulkomandy? Was it used somewhere before?) doesn't save the game from the bin.

Destroy them all
I like that type of game, but what we have here is clearly not enough. Only one level, no increasing difficulty, ultra-basic graphics and no sound. Move along...

Keymaster's journey
I like the idea of having to stuck the enemy in a corner to get the key, but this is really too simple to be a fun game. The 3 levels are way too easy to finish once the tactic is discovered.

What The Rock
Not-so-bad graphics won't make up for the sluggish movement, gameplay, and ultra-limited music. Not enjoyable.

Master Jewel
Nothing good. No gameplay, no graphics, nothing at all.

Little Devil
Nothing to save I'm afraid. The ingame graphics are terrible (menu background are all right though). But you cannot consider the 7 "screens" as levels. If in trouble, press space to "hit". The extra sprite will make the game slow down, allowing you to avoid the nasties even easier.

One Wonder, Don't let hit you and Mr Og don't even load on a CPC6128 because of the wrongly named file. Well, I won't bother playing this. Can't you test your production?

---------------
To sum up, I admit I am a bit disappointed in this year's crop. Most games are a hack job, and most of the top entries suffer from obvious gameplay flaws, as if they weren't played and tested at all. Oh well, we still have some very good games here and there. I hope it is not the last year for Retrodev, but if it is, maybe the community can come up with a plan to push people to create games for the next year?

Thanks for reading!

[awergh]

Thanks for the reviews I find them an interesting read and appreciate getting some feedback.

Fitzroy feels the heat
I don't know exactly what to think about this one. Despites the blocky sprites, it seems interesting. But I could only beat one dungeon, got stuck in the others, and opening the inventory in a dungeon freezed the game. Each dungeon seems to present a challenge. I really liked the multiple music. But I got stuck... A lot of narrow corridors with sliding monsters, door that would open or not, teleporters that would work or not... Not many info about what to do, but the world map tells me I want to see more.

Which version of the game are you playing?
v1.0 had a bug where to activate an inventory item it was hardcoded to X instead of your chosen use\activate key.

The doors should open if you have the right key or you have activated a switch or CPC (unless something went wrong and you have found a bug I don't know about).

There are some teleporters that have to be switched on before they can be used.

The game could use some in game help but I ran out of time and wasn't sure how much memory it would use.
The minimal amount of information to play the game can be found on the itch.io page which explains the inventory and temperature.
There is more information in the user manual but I am aware that most people don't read it which is a bit of a problem when adding complexity.

The current version v1.2 has a game breaking bugs in regards to restoring via game code as well as temperature progression but I am hoping to finish v1.3 tomorrow or Friday.

[Targhan]

Which version of the game are you playing?

I'm not sure, I downloaded it two weeks ago. But I'll make another try when you upload a new release. The game is worth it!

By the way, could you send me the original AKS files so that I can record the music for the CPC Scene Radio? I could record them from the game but I'm afraid I would miss some themes. Thanks!

[arnolde]

I hope it is not the last year for Retrodev, but if it is, maybe the community can come up with a plan to push people to create games for the next year?

I hope the community will find a way to continue this beatiful competition.
...And if I could choose, you would for sure have to be in the jury! 
Thank you for the nice review!

[Nich]

One Wonder, Don't let hit you and Mr Og don't even load on a CPC6128 because of the wrongly named file. Well, I won't bother playing this. Can't you test your production?

The rules of the contest only state that a game "must work on a real Amstrad CPC 464, without expansions". There's no requirement for it to work on any other type of CPC.

To sum up, I admit I am a bit disappointed in this year's crop. Most games are a hack job, and most of the top entries suffer from obvious gameplay flaws, as if they weren't played and tested at all. Oh well, we still have some very good games here and there.

I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed by the overall quality of this year's entries either compared to previous years.

Anyone who wants my opinion of some of my favourite entries can read them over at CPC Game Reviews (look for the post dated 3rd December 2023 and go to the "New reviews" section).

[Nich]

Forms
Not a beauty to look at, but it is a simple and enjoyable game. There is even a very nice music (Ennya, right?).

Yes - Orinoco Flow. I wonder if the fact that the music was a cover of a well-known tune prevented it from scoring more points?

[Brundij]

My two cents:
Just a quick note. Keep in mind that most of the flawed, untested, bugged or unfinished games are that way because had been made for students that are in the middle of an engineering career. The development of a game for a CPC is just part of a subject. A subject among others. So we shouldn't be as demanding as with other contestants that do this for fun or whatever other reason. Also engineers don't necessarily have to know how to make graphics or music properly.

[reidrac]

It all depends, we have seen good games coming from students in previous editions. I guess that what usually plays against them is that this is their first game (CPC or otherwise), while the people that make games for fun have probably made more than one and that means more chances of producing a good one

What is obvious is  that this edition is missing some "classics" like Pat Morita (that are now into ZX Spectrum Next and Game Boy; hopefully that doesn't mean they have left the CPC), or Carlos Pérezgrin. I guess like 4Mhz or Retrobytes.

Which was good for CNG, I'm glad he finally won the competition

It doesn't mean that the more "pros" on this are going always to submit great games, but seems to be the case if we look at the votes.

Anyway, although the retrodev is important, is not essential as long as people keep making games!

[Nich]

Keep in mind that most of the flawed, untested, bugged or unfinished games are that way because had been made for students that are in the middle of an engineering career. The development of a game for a CPC is just part of a subject.

And something else I should perhaps have considered is that the students seem to have been given less time to complete their projects in more recent years of the contest, due to the announcement being made later than previous years.

[Targhan]

The rules of the contest only state that a game "must work on a real Amstrad CPC 464, without expansions". There's no requirement for it to work on any other type of CPC.

Indeed, but then I wouldn't complain with games that were only in .cdt format (which I played with an emulator). The games I mentioned were provided on DSK, then the author didn't bother to even run the game on it, which to me is a lack of concern.

Just a quick note. Keep in mind that most of the flawed, untested, bugged or unfinished games are that way because had been made for students that are in the middle of an engineering

Yes indeed, however I would argument that the way they were presented the "challenge" is through a huge amount of framework: You can use C with CPCTelera, which come with all the low-level code you could dream of. That plus music and graphics software, compression routines, and so on. It isn't "here is Dams and OCP Art Studio, good luck!". You can almost code a small game as easily as you would on any modern framework. Plus there are tons of docs and tutorials to get started. So no, I don't agree with you, it's pretty easy to create a small yet playable game in a short amount of time, with minimum effort.

[Anthony Flack]

I do feel the same way about Alloy Box. The constant, random spawning of enemies makes any chance of a Metal Gear-style stealth element impossible to realise. CNG has done much better - Epimetheus is a legit banger.