#CPCRetroDev 2015: Complete Results and Games

[Carnivius]

I think I need to learn some spanish or something cos some games are lacking english.  I can get by in some menus but when it comes to redefining keys I always seem to pick the wrong ones.

[Neil79]

I think I need to learn some spanish or something cos some games are lacking english.  I can get by in some menus but when it comes to redefining keys I always seem to pick the wrong ones.

Hah yes,  same here

[robcfg]

Any doubt just post it here and I'll provide the translation you need

[TFM]

Please excuse the question. Are there .DSKs of the games somewhere? That would be *really* helpful. 

[Neil79]

Please excuse the question. Are there .DSKs of the games somewhere? That would be *really* helpful. 

Although we did write it at the bottom of our article, you can download them here - #CPCRetrodev 2015 final results and games


Just click the pictures, it will download a zip, open the zip and it should have a CDT/DSK


 

[Gryzor]

Strange - even as a child I don't remember ever having trouble with Spanish games, I learned the relevant terms pretty quick!

[Carnivius]

My fave thing about this contest?   A whole bunch of new games that will run on a standard 464. Here's Frogalot running on my 464 connected to HDTV via SCART.   

[Gryzor]

Huge pixels are the best pixels.

[Carnivius]

Strange - even as a child I don't remember ever having trouble with Spanish games, I learned the relevant terms pretty quick!

I am useless with languages.  Even my native english escapes me sometimes. 

[TotO]

I personaly love the Space Move design and the promising Space Pest Control.   

My fave thing about this contest?   A whole bunch of new games that will run on a standard 464. Here's Frogalot running on my 464 connected to HDTV via SCART.   

A standard 464 is the keyboard unit and its monitor... Here, it just look like an emulator. 

[Carnivius]

I personaly love the Space Move design and the promising Space Pest Control.   
A standard 464 is the keyboard unit and its monitor... Here, it just look like an emulator. 

Why's everyone gotta be so picky?   It's a CPC 464 with no extra memory or disc drive or whatever.  I don't use the monitor anymore cos there's nowhere to comfortably display that fat little thing so it's in storage.   I like my CPC games on the big screen in front of the comfy with my other most played game systems (the PlayStations & the Amiga).  So nyah!

[TotO]

Why's everyone gotta be so picky?

Ask to you first!? 
I'm joking because I was surprised that you was not more picky that I expected. 

[Carnivius]

More photos of the games running on my 464.  The top two photos came out a bit blurry but it shows they work fine and I haven't time to reload the games and take more pics.  All good stuff though.

[Carnivius]

When converting the CDT's to WAVE files (since Tapdancer failed and kept getting Read Error B) I noticed the filesizes seem quite interesting. 

Frogalot: 3.48MB
Space Pest Control: 5.75MB
RUNCPC: 7.51MB
Space Moves: 13.6MB
Most big commercial CPC games result between 20 and 30MB.  The small size of Frogalot meant I was quite surprised it loaded so fast before I looked at the filesize.  It packs in a fair bit of game, music and nice graphics into that filesize compared to other games.

[reidrac]

When converting the CDT's to WAVE files (since Tapdancer failed and kept getting Read Error B) I noticed the filesizes seem quite interesting.  Frogalot: 3.48MB
Space Pest Control: 5.75MB
RUNCPC: 7.51MB
Space Moves: 13.6MB
Most big commercial CPC games result between 20 and 30MB.  The small size of Frogalot meant I was quite surprised it loaded so fast before I looked at the filesize.  It packs in a fair bit of game, music and nice graphics into that filesize compared to other games.

I use compression where I can, but the loader I wrote relies on the firmware so I suspect there's still room for improvement. I tried to port one of the turbo loaders I use in the speccy, but after a quick go I think I'll wait a little but bit until I'm more confident with the CPC 

[Targhan]

Well done everybody. Here my personal top of the games!
1 - Frogalot: very well coded, excellent gameplay and level design. Could have been a Nebulus 2 without any problem.
2 - Top top: I didn't go very far, but the idea is nice and the gfx well made. One drawback: who picked the keys to play with??
3 - Space pest control: nice gfxs, nice gameplay.
3 - Space moves: A great Army Moves feeling, the gfx and music are very good. But the part two is however too hard, yet I am considered a good player . The collision tests is too random.
4 - Run CPC: Good technical achievement, but only one life, not enough considering those big pixels are often hard to avoid (or to recognize!).
5 - Znax: Best gfx of the lot, funny game. However Pulko, I thought you knew how to display sprites without having a music slowing down?? .
6 - Concave: Liked it, but a bit buggy (I got stuck on a wall).
7 - Paranormal outbreak: Loved the "fog of war" concept, nicely done.


2Legends crashed on my CPC 6128, is it normal?


All in all, it was great to play all these games, thanks to the guys who organized this event.

[MacDeath]

When converting the CDT's to WAVE files (since Tapdancer failed and kept getting Read Error B) I noticed the filesizes seem quite interesting. 

Frogalot: 3.48MB
Space Pest Control: 5.75MB
RUNCPC: 7.51MB
Space Moves: 13.6MB
Most big commercial CPC games result between 20 and 30MB.  The small size of Frogalot meant I was quite surprised it loaded so fast before I looked at the filesize.  It packs in a fair bit of game, music and nice graphics into that filesize compared to other games.

I guess that as those games are done in the modern age, there may be some improvement on the sound "signal" (now purely Digital while real tapes were somewhat analogic) or just compression.
This can greatly optimize the use as MP3.

Also got to remember the rules are "no multiloading", "no extra than the 64k" this means the game uses less (like... 48k if whole Video 16k are used ?) while many commercial games would use extra to load a loading screen during the load of the rest... or multiloadings.



I sometimes definitaly think English and Spanish are not compatible... we even have a saying in France : "to speak english like a spanish cow..."

[Targhan]

Yes, but remember commercial games involved people full-time to fill their 128k, whereas the RetroDev competition is done on people's spare-time... So I think the 64k limitation is actually a good one.

[Fessor]

And now, familar with the limits of 64kb one can go to the NASA Why NASA Needs a Programmer Fluent In 60-Year-Old Languages
Ok... Loading time of 17h is a little bad...

[MacDeath]

haha nice one... 
basically many embedded systems or hightly miniaturised things can pull some limitations closer to 8-16 biters than to those big modern powerhouses.

And old machines that were included in so important things that they still run today... or are too far from hearth to be "upgraded" hardware wise.

Yes, but remember commercial games involved people full-time to fill their 128k, whereas the RetroDev competition is done on people's spare-time... So I think the 64k limitation is actually a good one.

oops forgot to quote the thing I was trying to respound to.

I never said the 64k limit is bad, because of the context of the competition.
Wouldn't be the same if the students had 512k of RAM to play with : they would probably "waste it" as if working on a modern system.
 

I quite liked the fact that some contestants from previous edition did present things this year too. (according to interview)

[dodogildo]

Don't miss the interview of Ronaldo (#CPCRetroDev organizer) on Push'n'Pop!


And thank you Ronaldo for having answered to our questions 

Awesome article.
What an amazing person, Ronaldo.
Great achivement.

[AMSDOS]

I use compression where I can, but the loader I wrote relies on the firmware so I suspect there's still room for improvement. I tried to port one of the turbo loaders I use in the speccy, but after a quick go I think I'll wait a little but bit until I'm more confident with the CPC

Perhaps this is of some interest. I used Compression, High Baud Rate (3968) & Headerless Loader (mostly firmware), to load that game quickly.


I also posted the wav version of that file on this forum, but no-one said boo!

[reidrac]

Perhaps this is of some interest. I used Compression, High Baud Rate (3968) & Headerless Loader (mostly firmware), to load that game quickly.


I also posted the wav version of that file on this forum, but no-one said boo!

I spent some time last night playing with the topo soft loader disassembly that @arnoldemu posted to the forums some time ago and got it to work after some struggle. It is really cute, but slower than using CAS READ (headerless loader using the firmware).

I'll try to port the turbo loader I use on the speccy, if I manage to get the timing right I think I can improve the firmware speed and still look nice

But we probably should move this conversation to a different thread.

[Optimus]

Best CPC gamedev compo ever!
I still have 36 minus some entries to see. This will take time
It's a pitty I couldn't do something and improve the epicness, although it would have been a tech demo rather than a game so it's better to wait, maybe next year.


It's positively surprising that this is a competition for students at the university and the professor is teaching them z80 and all that. More young programmers will have the experience how computers work below most of the API layers.

[alex76gr]

Santa arrived early for us CPC fans!
I feel respect and gratitude for all the developers that participated in the competition regardless the results.