The Making Of CRYSTAL KINGDOM DIZZY! 🥚🥊 + AMSTRAD CPC Longplay & Review!

[Xyphoe]

My new video which has been quite a few weeks in the works because I tracked down the original two developers of the Amstrad (and Spectrum) version - Dave Thompson (coder) and Jarrod Bentley (graphics) for an interview for this! And of course Philip Oliver (of the Oliver Twins) was again up for a chat!

Video starts with the story and 'making of' of the game and the Amstrad CPC longplay & review follows after



Enjoy!

[Gryzor]

Ooh definitely watching this

[andycadley]

Yeah, will definitely be watching this one, even though I was very disappointed with CKD when it came out - it felt much smaller and easier than Spellbound, despite costing quite a bit more (well sort of given Spellbound was part of a compilation)

[Shaun M. Neary]

Yeah, will definitely be watching this one, even though I was very disappointed with CKD when it came out - it felt much smaller and easier than Spellbound, despite costing quite a bit more (well sort of given Spellbound was part of a compilation)

Spellbound did end up getting an individual release later on if memory serves me well. It's somewhat of a rarity now to find it, and when you do find it, it costs a pretty penny.

Initially I hated both Spellbound and CKD. The former for being way too large and the backing and forthing and stashing rocks in the clouds drove me spare.
CKD just looked messy. Mode 0 did not work for this at all, although they tried, but it was still too easy to get through the levels.

Now I have a fondness for both. At Play Expo in Glasgow last year I finished all 7 adventures on the 464 there over the course of two days. Even managed to one-life Spellbound Dizzy which shocked me.

CKD got beautifully remade on the Speccy a few years ago, would love to see an Amstrad port of it some day.

[andycadley]

Spellbound did end up getting an individual release later on if memory serves me well. It's somewhat of a rarity now to find it, and when you do find it, it costs a pretty penny.

Yeah but as a massive Dizzy fan at the time, I definitely wasn't waiting till they released it separately to buy it. And it also had Prince of the Yolkfolk on it, which was labelled as an exclusive (although I think it did eventually get a separate release too).

Two new Dizzy games in one box! Surely the peak of human existence right there! 

Initially I hated both Spellbound and CKD. The former for being way too large and the backing and forthing and stashing rocks in the clouds drove me spare.
CKD just looked messy. Mode 0 did not work for this at all, although they tried, but it was still too easy to get through the levels.

Fair comment in both cases, though I don't think "too big" was in my Dizzy game lexicon at the time, I could happily wander around for hours and more screens just made that more fun, even if the backtracking was actually kind of a pain in the butt in retrospect.

CKD got beautifully remade on the Speccy a few years ago, would love to see an Amstrad port of it some day.

I've always been tempted to write a Dizzy engine for the Plus machines. The ability to have a full colour background but use higher resolution sprites for Dizzy could open up some interesting possibilities. Finding time to actually sit down and code is a bit challenging, although the code for the the Amstrad Fantasy World is out there these days which could make the process easier.

[scorp6128+]

My new video which has been quite a few weeks in the works because I tracked down the original two developers of the Amstrad (and Spectrum) version - Dave Thompson (coder) and Jarrod Bentley (graphics) for an interview for this! And of course Philip Oliver (of the Oliver Twins) was again up for a chat!

Very good review and background information from the making of the game.
It's always nice to hear some quotes from the original developers for a better understanding of the project back then.
And with professional support on the gamepad you did a fantastic and detailed longplay.