Hey, everyone! I'm really happy to say the first episode of CPCine is now online.
The show charts a month of the CPC's life in each episode, from launch to the modern day; taking news and other information from magazines of the time to build a view of how Amstrad's machines went on.
Episode 1 covers the release of the CPC464; takes a look at some launch software; checks out a type-in and the MP-1 Modulator; and finishes off with a trip to the demo scene.
I hope you enjoy it!
https://youtu.be/f8kGWlXK0ts
Thank you Zoe!
You're welcome. :)
Very nice vid. Thanks for using my song for, like, 20 minutes :).
Quote from: Targhan on 19:42, 26 February 18
Very nice vid.
Aww, thank you. :)
Quote from: Targhan on 19:42, 26 February 18
Thanks for using my song for, like, 20 minutes :) .
Heh. It was a good song that worked well in the background.
Fantastic! Let's watch it now ;)
Hi guys,
I'm still working on episodes 2-4 at the moment, with the plan of releasing one episode every two weeks (so episode 2 will go up next week). I want to make the show as good as possible, so if you think there's something missing that should be added and/or changed (or if you think there's too much of something) to make the show better, I'd love to hear from you. :)
Wow... THAT brought back a lot of memories. Thank you SO much. Although my 464 has 'given up the ghost' a long time ago, I still 'dabble' using emulators. Looking forward to the next video.
J
You are very welcome. :D
Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 15:49, 05 March 18I want to make the show as good as possible, so if you think there's something missing that should be added and/or changed (or if you think there's too much of something) to make the show better, I'd love to hear from you. :)
Didn't wanna say this at first, because I was fairly sure it would be taken the wrong way, but since you asked yourself: One thing that I think you could do, is to clean the machine(s) a bit before filming them, removing the dust and such in between keys and elsewhere. Would give a much better overall impression I think.
My 2 cents.
Quote from: mr_louDidn't wanna say this at first, because I was fairly sure it would be taken the wrong way, but since you asked yourself: One thing that I think you could do, is to clean the machine(s) a bit before filming them, removing the dust and such in between keys and elsewhere. Would give a much better overall impression I think.
You know what the worst thing is when I look at Episode 1? The dust on the machine. You know why? Because I'd cleaned the bloody thing and I thought the computer looked really nice; then the studio lighting showed up the dust that settled and the gunk between the keys (none of which showed up on the little studio monitor when I was filming!).
I've half a mind to take the CPC apart and give it a thorough scrub so I can get some fresh B-roll for the next few episodes. Don't worry though, you weren't the first to think the machine didn't look as good as it should have!
Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 22:41, 06 March 18
I've half a mind to take the CPC apart and give it a thorough scrub so I can get some fresh B-roll for the next few episodes. Don't worry though, you weren't the first to think the machine didn't look as good as it should have!
I wouldn't bother - I am selling my laptop on the bay of e.... and even though I cleaned it so it was sparkling clean, the flash on my camera made it look ever do grubby. A waste of cleaning time if you ask me :)
Episode 2 is now online and it's a double-length episode because there was so much to cover.
This episode takes a look at Amstrad Computer User magazine; gives the lowdown on the FD-1 disk drive and DDI-1 interface; checks out some type-ins (including a surprisingly risqué one!); and reviews a few games: Oh Mummy!, Electro Freddy and Pentomino.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhokUTPPbCY
Hope you enjoy it! As always, please feel free to give constructive criticism about the show because I want to make it the best it can be. :)
Much appreciated Zoe.
Cheers,
Peter
Thanks, Peter. :)
Another excellent video. Thank you. Enjoyed the 3" disc segment. Here, in Australia at the time, the only other device that used 3" discs was the Fairlight Synthesizer. The discs where quite expensive here in Oz, but the extra speed of loading and saving, was worth every cent. When my 464 died it was hard to get rid of all my mags, discs and tapes. If I could turn back time....
J
Great timing.
I'm in bed with the flu, so this will have me entertained for a while. :)
Quote from: johnno56"The discs where quite expensive here in Oz, but the extra speed of loading and saving, was worth every cent.
I couldn't agree more. I wasn't all that well off as a kid so saving up for new disks was a big investment to me. I can't say I gladly paid the amount I had to because I didn't but it was a price I was willing to pay for the speed and convenience benefits. Disks were a superb addition to the CPC and I still love the FD-1 even now we have SD and USB drives. :)
The price of the disks were the biggest complaint I ever heard from my cousin. I would hear about that quite often. He ended up using tapes more than discs on his CPC6128.
Even somewhat recently when I ran into him after all these years, and the topic turned to the CPC, he brought up the crazy prices for disks again. :)
100% correct. The discs were far too expensive.
Even buying them in bulk - 300/400 at a time only reduced the price by about 25% to 30%.
Cheers,
Peter
300 to 400 at a time? What are you, Amazon? :o
CampurSoft then ComSoft
Ha! Just found out, by accident, the purpose of the little triangle next to the 'cpcwiki' logo at the top of the forum. Learn something new every day.... :o
J
Quote from: ComSoft6128CampurSoft then ComSoft
Well that explains it. :)
Hey everyone, I know it's a week later than it was supposed to be but work got very busy very quickly. Nevertheless, episode 3 of CPCine is now online for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAdRpfMRs08
Covering September 1984 with all the news from that month, plus a look at DEVPAC, Codename M.A.T., BaBa's Palace, Grab The Cash and the CPC 464 User magazine £2000 prize software contest (and probably more that I've forgotten about because It's 2:30AM and I've been working on this thing since 10AM yesterday).
Hope you enjoy it! :D
Thanks Zoe!
Good balance between games and serious software.
Cheers,
Peter
Thanks Peter. I'm trying very hard to maintain a proper balance between games & serious stuff. The Amstrad was always a lot more than a simple games machine to a lot of us (myself included) so I think it's important to maintain that balance.
well time flew watching these first 3 episodes it seemed like 20 minutes overall when it actually was 80 or so or in other words soo cool thank you very much . . . can only hope you would as you said in another video on your splendid channel continue doing these things out of a passion and also fun while creating them even without thousands of subscribers or foreseeable great monetary gain sort of like what I am doing as for my getting into app development it sure would be cool to get a cup of coffee out of it occasionally but whatever I also enjoy the process of creating such things . . . again thanks and keep going . . . gambatte ;)
I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and especially glad it didn't seem like it took that long to watch. When I'm making these videos I'm always worried that they seem too long!
And don't worry, I'm going to keep going and always do my best.
Hai, ganbarimasu! :D
Due to the recent excessive workload I've had, CPCine episode 4 had to be delayed. I'm expecting more workload issues in the future, so I've taken the decision to switch to a monthly schedule instead of the fortnightly one I was attempting at first.
Episode 4 is due next week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk4qigHuMWg
Episode 4 of CPCine, the Amstrad CPC Video Magazine is finally online (sorry this one was delayed, we had a major incident earlier in the week and it prevented me finishing the edit).
This month's episode features all the Amstrad news for October 1984 plus: 2 special feature segments (the first CPC electronic magazine and Pascal on the CPC), 2 type-ins competing head-to-head with one-another, 2 modern game reviews, plus we take a look at an early platform game and try to fly a 737 via Flight Path 737.
This month's type-ins can be downloaded in .DSK format by downloading the attachment to this post.
The Missing Software list on the CPC wiki is at: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Missing_software
Thanks Zoe,
Always look forward to your vids.
Cheers,
Peter
Aww! You'll make me blush. :D
45 Minutes of pure CPC fun! Thank you very much! You did really put lots of effort in and it's fun watching your video! Keep it going! :) :) :)
Totally agree with you GUNHED, a lot of work goes into these videos and it is appreciated.
Cheers,
Peter
I have to admit that I just can't get through 45 minutes straight.
And considering each video does contain a lot of different topics, I would like to suggest that each issue is split up into several videos that is selectable from a menu. Or YouTube bookmarks would probably also do. Like in the description of the video, add links to bookmarks in the video, with titles of each chapter. That would help I think.
Hmm... I might be able to add time stamps into the description box but YouTube will point blank refuse to add links into the video itself. Sadly, they took that annotation ability out of the system when they brought in end cards.
Here's an example of what I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF58Lsvqg5E
The "Tracklist" in the description, lets you jump into specific parts of the video.
That is exactly what I said.
Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 21:50, 07 June 18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk4qigHuMWg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk4qigHuMWg)
Originally I was using Turbo Pascal 3 after I was using it quite a bit on the PCs under DOS, followed by CP/M-86 and it was a good platform for converting DOS programs to CP/M-86. Most of those PC programs I translated used hardware specific interrupts to work, though it was a fairly easy to translate programs to CPC, by just knowing what something did on the PC and replacing it with a bit of CPC Firmware.
Advantages/Disadvantages with Turbo Pascal on the Amstrad| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Nice Text Editor | Limited 1 phase compiler that compiles only to CP/M |
| Fairly easy to port programs from PC version of TP | Poor execution times of Mathematical problems |
| Supports Constant Arrays to improve execution times | Traditional Pascal can manage that using SETs. |
| Comprehensive Manual covers every version. | Unfriendly GSX support |
Advantages/Disadvantages with Hisoft Pascal on the Amstrad
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Fairly close representation of traditional Pascal | Only a simple Line editor |
| Allows the coder to easily access the Firmware | No support for Constant Arrays |
| Good execution speeds | Programs limited to 20Kb |
| Main keywords are tokenised to save space | Fixed Length Strings |
| Compiler supports library files at compile time for larger programs. |
There could be some arguments about those Advantages/Disadvantages, like tokenised files may seem to be a burden, Hisoft Pascal 4t like the early Devpac produces an unusual file which isn't compatible with Text Editor. For Hisoft Pascal the tokenised things are line numbers, number of spaces following a line number & keywords (which are documented in the manual), everything else like procedure names, variable names & even types is stored as ASCII between the encoding, so using short named procedures and variable names would help, unfortunately comments would also take up space despite being ignored at compile time. But I've stuck with it. I haven't had anyone ask me for the Source Code for Get The Cash which is quite intense and Kukulcan on cpc-power was able to do a database search and record all the programs that were written in Hisoft Pascal, which is also interesting.
Woah, that's a lot of cool info. Thank you! :)
Nice vid, some memories there! :)
But am I the only one to noticed the "Helicopter Fury" title on the page in the magazine has a picture of a bloody plane underneath it! :P
Whats happened there!?! ;D
Dabz
Quote from: DabzBut am I the only one to noticed the "Helicopter Fury" title on the page in the magazine has a picture of a bloody plane underneath it! :P
Yeah, I don't know what's going on there. It's stupid.
Decent enough game though.
I remember typing in that Helicopter Fury game which was a couple of years ago now (maybe even 4 when that program reached 30 years old). I recall the picture, but couldn't remember what it was until I rechecked, as it turns out it's a windup toy plane. I guess they thought that since it was another flying contraption bombing another city, there've thrown in a plane. Lots of those bomb a city games were floating around in Books and Magazines in 1984 probably just as many as Breakout clones.
I made some examples to further explain the Advantages and Disadvantages, when compared to the BASIC equivalent, the Pascal versions both seem to complicate things, as such I'm sure it's possible to write a procedure to redefine the character set.
BASIC Example:
10 MODE 0
20 SYMBOL 252,0,0,4,10,17,36,42,42
30 SYMBOL 253,0,0,32,80,136,36,84,84
40 SYMBOL 254,36,17,12,11,8,16,32,0
50 SYMBOL 255,36,136,48,208,16,8,4,0
60 LOCATE 10,10:PRINT CHR$(252);CHR$(253);
70 LOCATE 10,11:PRINT CHR$(254);CHR$(255);
Simply displays a 16x16 image around the middle of the screen, by default BASIC doesn't require SYMBOL AFTER until you begin redefining characters below 240.
Turbo Pascal 3 Example:
program printblock;
const sprite : array[1..32] of byte =
(0,0,4,10,17,36,42,42,
0,0,32,80,136,36,84,84,
36,17,12,11,8,16,32,0,
36,136,48,208,16,8,4,0);
var matrix : array[1..32] of byte absolute $9000;
procedure mode(mo:byte);
begin
inline($3A/mo/
$CD/$9B/$BE/
$0E/$BC)
end;
procedure setmatrix;
begin
inline($11/$FC/$00/
$21/$00/$90/
$CD/$9B/$BE/
$AB/$BB)
end;
var x,y : byte;
loop: byte;
begin
mode(0);
setmatrix;
for loop:=1 to 32 do
mem[$8FFF+loop]:=sprite[loop];
gotoxy(10,10);
write(chr(252)); write(chr(253));
gotoxy(10,11);
write(chr(254)); write(chr(255));
repeat until keypressed;
mode(2)
end.
In this example a CONSTant Array has been setup along with an Array positioned at a place in memory &9000. As Turbo Pascal 3 operates under CP/M 2.2, CP/M 2.2 may have a way of redefining graphics, though I've complicated the program through the use of Inline Machine Code, to switch screen modes and setup a character matrix, to do that under CP/M 2.2, I can use the Enter Firmware call (&BE9B), which looks like $CD/$9B/$BE/ in the Inline Machine Code, followed by the 2 bytes of the Firmware command. So for TP3, the code has moved outside the scope of Pascal, it's also limited in that Turbo Pascal 3 can compile programs for either CP/M 2.2 or CP/M Plus, though this bit of code isn't CP/M Plus Compatible. While the result and outcome is the same as the BASIC, the technique of redefining the characters is different. In BASIC terms, it's like applying SYMBOL AFTER 252, a portion of character set gets transferred to memory with the default character set, simply transferring the data you want in it's place and you've got your redefined characters without using SYMBOL.
Hisoft Pascal Example:
10 PROGRAM PrintBlock;
20
30 TYPE gfx = 0..208;
40 spr = SET OF gfx;
50 character = ARRAY[1..32] OF char;
60
70 VAR dat : ARRAY[1..16] OF char;
80 mygfx : character;
90
100 PROCEDURE SetupGfx;
110 VAR c : spr;
120 ps : integer;
130 lp : integer;
140 BEGIN
150 ps:=1;
160 c:=[0,4,8,10,11,12,16,17,32,36,42,48,80,84,136,208];
170 FOR lp:=0 TO 208 DO
180 BEGIN
190 IF lp IN c THEN
200 BEGIN
210 dat[ps]:=chr(lp);
220 ps:=ps+1
230 END
240 END
250 END;
260
270 PROCEDURE DefineGFX(d : character);
280 VAR c1 : integer;
290 c2 : integer;
300 p : integer;
310 d1 : integer;
320 gx : ARRAY[1..8] OF char;
330 BEGIN
340 p:=1;
350 FOR c2:=1 TO 4 DO
360 BEGIN
370 FOR c1:=1 TO 8 DO
380 BEGIN
390 d1:=ord(d[p])-64;
400 gx[c1]:=dat[d1];
410 mygfx[p]:=gx[c1];
420 p:=p+1
430 END
440 END
450 END;
460
470 PROCEDURE SetMatrixTable(ch : integer);
480 BEGIN
490 rde:=ch;
500 rhl:=addr(mygfx);
510 user(#bbab)
520 END;
530
540 PROCEDURE Locate(x,y : integer);
550 BEGIN
560 rh:=chr(x);
570 rl:=chr(y);
580 user(#bb75)
590 END;
600
610 PROCEDURE Mode(no : integer);
620 BEGIN
630 ra:=chr(no);
640 user(#bc0e)
650 END;
660
670 BEGIN
680 SetupGfx;
690 SetMatrixTable(252);
700 DefineGFX('AABDHJKKAAIMOJNNJHFECGIAJOLPGCBA');
710 Mode(0);
720 Locate(10,10);
730 write(chr(252)); write(chr(253));
740 Locate(10,11);
750 write(chr(254)); write(chr(255));
760 user(#bb18);
770 mode(2)
780 END.
Without the support of data from within a const array, Pascal sets seems to be the next best thing, however it involves taking all the data from the SYMBOL tables as defined in BASIC (it's only needed once). Sets are created by defining types, in my case I can specify what the data is by defining it's numerical range, though it could mean other things as well, for the set I've called mine spr for sprite, a 3rd type has been created for later in the program where I need to pass a series of string letters to a procedure, that 3rd type is an array of a specific size, if the length of my string is too short or too long, Hisoft Pascal will complain (one of the disadvantages I mentioned earlier). In order to get this to work, 2 procedures are required, the 1st SetupGFX sets up the set with "c" variable pointing to the set, from there all the values I need can be put into c, it doesn't matter how long that is, as long as the data is in range of the data specified in gfx. From there I've setup a loop which checks all the positions, if a loop position finds a value which resides in "c", the value of the loop position gets stored into the array, the funny thing about this is while I've placed all the values in order in my pascal set, it doesn't matter how it's arranged, for example if 0 was last in 0 and 208 was first, 0 and 208 will still be 1st and last in my array. This is where the 2nd procedure has to come in. DefineGFX holds a series of data, held in d, which is of type character. Each bit of data I've made representing a letter, that letter is converted into a value and subtracted to produce a position value that can be used with the "dat" array. For example the first character is "A", converted into a value it has a value of 65, subtract 64 and that becomes 1, I can place that into the dat array which gives me my 0 value, which can then be stored into my final defined graphics, this happens 8 times moving along each letter just to specify what to use, the 2nd loop above that one has to loop 4 times because there are 4 characters to redefine. So out of the 4 BASIC Symbol commands the 32 Bytes of data are specified through each letter, which is tedious.
Unlike the Turbo Pascal example, Hisoft have made it much friendlier to access the firmware making it easy to access the Registers and calling a Firmware instruction with the appropriate registers in use. Like the Turbo Pascal example this example also specifies an area to define the character set to before defining what values need to be placed there, once that's done the program displays the same creature. :)
Hi everyone!
Sorry this one's a bit late but here's episode 5 for your viewing pleasure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9D8Hn0Gbrk
This month's episode contents list:
00:00 Title Sequence
01:34 News
08:32 New Releases
12:00 Charts
13:30 DR Logo
17:03 Classic vs Colossal Adventure
23:55 Type-in Review: Kingdoms
26:53 CP/M on the CPC
33:13 New Game Review: Laser Boy
35:58 Demo Review: Face Hugger's Ultimate Megademo
42:13 Software Review: Amsword
47:20 Final Thoughts
Hope you like it! :D
Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 15:12, 13 August 18
This month's episode contents list:
00:00 Title Sequence
01:34 News
08:32 New Releases
12:00 Charts
13:30 DR Logo
17:03 Classic vs Colossal Adventure
23:55 Type-in Review: Kingdoms
26:53 CP/M on the CPC
33:13 New Game Review: Laser Boy
35:58 Demo Review: Face Hugger's Ultimate Megademo
42:13 Software Review: Amsword
47:20 Final Thoughts
Hope you like it! :D
Thanks for the Time Index, very useful. :)
Regarding Kingdoms, you'll be surprised to know it was published in Issue 1 of The Amstrad User Feb. '85. Here's the page links for it:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page04.jpeg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page04.jpeg)
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page05.jpeg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page05.jpeg)
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page06.jpeg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page06.jpeg)
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page07.jpeg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_Page07.jpeg)
In addition, R. Chapman of Glenbrook, NSW, Aust, thought the game was a bit unfair (which probably didn't make it in the UK magazine), this was their corrections:
85 mx=0 : REM sets initial value to zero
310 GOTO 85
420 e=0:bl=b
990 IF aa/10>a*0.6 THEN a=INT(a+aa/20) ELSE a=INT(a-aa/20)
995 IF b>3*bl THEN b=bl*3:mx=bl:GOTO 1010
1000 IF b>mx THEN mx=b
1005 b=bb/6
1010 IF b<0.7*mx THEN af=1 ELSE af=0
DELETE 1020
Hi Zoe,
Just finished watching the latest episode. Superb.
Good balance between all the subjects covered.
Informative and entertaining at the same time.
Totally agree with you regarding the Facehugger Megademo, I think it was a programmer in London (in 93?) that showed it to me. You could have picked my jaw off the floor. I had never seen anything like it on the CPC, simply astonishing and still beautiful.
We used to display it at the WACCI stand (from 94 - 96) at the All Format computer shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh, to show what the CPC was really capable of. It was a head turner, especially for the Atari and Amiga users.
Thanks,
Peter
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
The Ultimate Megademo is amazing, it's by far my favourite demo. I can absolutely see why Amiga & ST owners would want to see it - there are things in there that look like the kinds of demos that would turn up on their machines (although I have to say I was never a fan of 16-bit demos since they seemed more like acid house music videos than demos and I've never been into those).
With regard to the balance between serious and games, I'm trying to keep that going. It's going to get harder as we get further into the CPC's life (games became far too dominant in that respect) but I'll keep trying. :)
I was just wondering if there was a new youTube vid up... And voila!!! :)
*Heads off to make a brew before watching*
Dabz
It's that time again: time for a new episode of CPCine! This month it's December 1984, so let's take a look at Arnold's first Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwdeVEPOoOI
This month's episode contents include:
02:04 News
10:28 New Releases
15:23 Charts
16:59 Tasword review
20:52 Manic Miner review
24:12 Type-in review (Star Wars Trench Run demo)
29:34 How to record from your Amstrad CPC
35:53 X-Cape review
37:39 The Dawn of Kernel review
40:36 Final thoughts
Thanks Zoe!
Another excellent edition.
I didn't realise that Amsword and Tasword were the exact same program!
Neither did I until I was researching for the Amsword review in last month's episode. If I'd had time then, I'd have done all four programs in one feature but time constraints meant I ended up splitting tasseled off into its own thing. It's a bit of an oddity but I suppose Amsoft wanted a full-featured word processor quickly and Tasman though "eh, screw it. We're here now" and just released the same thing with their name on it as a foothold on the CPC market.
Amsword was released through AMSOFT and I've always presumed that it became Tasword 464 after AMSOFT folded.
I can't aay for certain without looking into my notes again. I'll see what I've got noted down when I get back from work.
Really enjoyed the newest episode Zoe... Cheers! :)
Dabz
Excellent episode, thank you very much!
Thanks, guys. So happy you're all enjoying the show. :)
Very interesting stuff, thanks for creating quality video like this!
As you say at the end of the video, you should definitely check Arkos Tracker 2 (mmmmh, actually, wait a bit for the next release, a lot of things are better) :).
The next episode is a bit late. Sorry about that. It's coming soon though!
Hi Zoe,
I was wondering when it was due, thanks for the update.
Cheers,
Peter
It's finally here! CPCine, The #Amstrad CPC Video Magazine, Episode 7! Weighing in at 1 hour 13 minutes, it's the biggest episode yet. Hope you enjoy it! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPjjngaXlL8&fbclid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPjjngaXlL8&fbclid)
This episode's contents:
02:28 News
11:16 New Releases
27:01 Missed Releases
39:19 Charts
41:05 Maxam Review
45:29 Pyjamarama Review
47:24 Splat! Review
49:13 Type-in: Up The Beanstalk
52:57 Type-in: 3D Colour Animation
54:48 Type-in: Draw Utility
58:43 Type-in: Galleon
62:11 Special Feature: Computing With The Amstrad Retrospective
66:32 A Prelude To Chaos Review
69:08 Galactic Tomb Review
71:42 Final Thoughts
Re:Galleon, David Muir was exploring the capabilities of Locomotive BASIC in them early days and wrote some interesting Games as well. Man O' War springs to mind which I typed in and is on CPC-Power (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=10743), though he also wrote Fish Pond (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=12719) and GunBoat (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=10876) and of course there's other stuff (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=staff) of his which still needs typing in.
Cool! I'll look those up - thanks! :)
This is very interesting, well done. This must and been a long a long and hard work!
On a technical side, there are some things to improve:
- Buy a better microphone. All the low-end of your voice seems removed, making it a bit more difficult to understand, but that also strains the ear quite quickly.
- Overlay texts are often not readable. Maybe put some kind of dark outline to them, or put a dark overlay at the bottom of the screen when they appear?
Congrats!
another great episode this is becoming a very detailed history of the amstrad cpc for the ages thank you for all the effort :)
The microphone issue has already been corrected. I've had the right mix for this since day one; it just wouldn't connect to my Mac. I have now hopefully corrected that.
The text issue will be fixed in Episode 8 as well. ;)
QuoteThe microphone issue has already been corrected. I've had the right mix for this since day one; it just wouldn't connect to my Mac. I have now hopefully corrected that.
Do you mean that it has been corrected in episode 7 (the latest)? That's not my feeling, the voice lacks depth. It is also too soft according to the transition music, for example. But hey, if I'm the only one noticing it, don't bother :).
No, I mean while episode 7 was rendering out, I was installing a new connector so my mixing desk will finally send a signal to my Mac. :)
Hi Zoe,
Just finished watching the latest episode. Comprehensive, informative and entertaining - a pleasure to watch.
Thank you!
Cheers,
Peter
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
It's been a while but CPCine is back - in style! ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXALeL_HGs
This episode's contents (with timestamps) are:
01:31 News
07:56 New Releases
17:48 Charts
19:03 Software Review: Mini Office
25:41 Game Review: Dark Star
28:07 Type-in Review: Digger
32:18 Type-in Review: 3D Characters
33:29: Feature: How I Created a Choose-Your-Own Adventure Game
49:08 New Game Review: The Return of Traxtor
51:18 New Game Review: Phantomas 2.0 Remake
54:28 Final Thoughts
Oh, unexpected Traxtor!
I'm surprised you didn't mention Magical Drop. When I made the game I didn't know that title, but apparently I implemented the same mechanics! :laugh:
Thanks for the review!
Huh, Magical Drop. It's been a while since I played that. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight, then. :)
Another great video, very much appreciated.
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. :)
Hi, everyone! The latest episode of CPCine is now available. It's another big one, too. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM5oe3gp7So
This month's contents list is:
01:53 News
10:29 New Releases
31:43 Charts
33:14 Review: World Series Baseball
35:42 Review: Pinball Wizard
38:33 Type-in Review: Galaxians
41:25 Type-in Review: Destroyer
43:35 Feature: The MERGE Command
48:54 New Game Review: Jarlac
51:07 Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoy it! :D
Excellent as ever, you must put a lot of work into these videos.
The Jarlac review made me laugh - "because he's a prick" - good one :)
Cheers,
Peter
Yes, each episode takes about two weeks to produce; with the first week just being research. They are a labour of love. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the Jarlac review. That line made me chuckle when I wrote it, too. :)
Hi Zoe,
I'm getting withdrawal symptoms up here :( , any hint when the next one is out?