Tardis.dk Remakes

Hopelessness

April 12, 2012 By Sokurah Leave a Comment

Okay, not quite as bad as it sounds (the title of the post) – I’m not about to kill myself, but today it’s been exactly 3 months since my last update and I don’t have a lot to show for it. I just haven’t been inspired much to do any big chunks of programming the couple of months. I’ve done a little, though..just not a lot, and it’s frankly frustrating the hell out of me. Still, it’s a creative process and I’m not getting paid for this so luckily I can just lean back and relax. The alternative is to force it but then I wouldn’t be enjoying myself. Better to give my inspiration the time it needs.

However, I have made a bit of progress on my Christmas game in these 3 months, and not a lot is left to do really…but inspiration (and time) only comes in small chunks, but hey - I’ll release it when it’s done – I won’t wait until Christmas.

And the artist I’d hoped would help me out on X-Quest 2 disappeared off to make his own game, but now it seems he’s putting the finishing touches to that and he’s been in touch to tell me that he will have more time again soon, and I have to say that I’m quite exited about that. That game is (also) almost done and would benefit immensely from what he can bring to it. So I’m looking forward to that. :)

I’ve also done a bit of Z80 programming lately – but again…not a lot, but I hope to finish a new Spectrum sometime later this year (although I haven’t started on anything yet). I have no specific plans about what to make yet, but it’ll probably be an original game and not a remake.

Basically I just wanted to say that I’m still alive and let you know that I’m still working on my games (or at least trying to ). Just keep your eyes and ears open – suddenly there’ll be something new here.

…and because I wanted a picture to go with this post – I found this. It almost fits…but my name is not Sakurah, so it WILL happen.

Don't know who that guy is, but I can assure you - more games WILL happen.

Filed Under: Misc, Rant Tagged With: Buggerman, Spectrum, X-Quest 2

Website hacked, new download page & Dingo review

January 12, 2012 By Sokurah Leave a Comment

For some reason someone had hacked my site and none of the download links worked anymore. :-/
What’s the world coming to when people think it’s bad to give things away for free? I’ve fixed that now.

While reconstructing all the links I added a new “Downloads” page to the site, where all the games are listed in one place, and where it’s easy to see what games are available on what platforms. See it here.

I’m also happy to say that my remake of Dingo for the ZX Spectrum is reviewed in the latest issue of Retro Gamer Magazine, and it has scored an impressive and very satisfying 91%.
(I’ve blurred the text – just in case – so I don’t get into trouble for posting a scan from a new magazine).

Dingo scores 91% in Retro Gamer Magazine.

Filed Under: News

That was the year that was, goodbye 2011, hello 2012.

December 30, 2011 By Sokurah Leave a Comment

The year 2011 is almost over and it’s time to look at what happened during the course of it.

Around this time last year I decided that my only (game related) New Year’s resolution would be to make three games in 2011, and now – one year later – I have to admit that I didn’t manage it…not really anyway. I didn’t make any new PC games this past year (how the hell did that happen?), but I did port 9 of my PC games to the Mac OSX platform, so hopefully that makes up for it.

Around november I began working on a new Christmas game (Buggerman: The Xmass Heist) – which would be my third year in a row doing that – but not only have I spent less time programming the last two months than I expected, I’ve also run into problems coding it which has unfortunately delayed it past Christmas. Oh well. I think I’ve figured those things out now and I expect it to be finished in January.

I did make one new game this year, though. After wanting to make a ZX Spectrum game for more than 25 years I finally decided to do it and I chose to make a Spectrum version of the arcadegame Dingo by A.C.G. (aka. Ultimate Play The Game). Not having touched z80 assembler language for more than 20 years I threw myself into it and made progress in no time, which caught the attention of Mark R. Jones who used to work for Ocean & Imagine Software back in the late 80′s, and he offered to help out with with the graphics. And it ended up looking very nice too.

The game was finished in time for the early November Replay Expo in Blackpool – which we decided would be the release of the game – and I went over there to promote the game and to meet Mark for the first time. We sold a very limited run of the game on cassette – all numbered and signed by the both of us, and the game has been recieved fantastically well and gotten almost only good reviews (like, here, here, here & here).

I’ve been featured a couple of times in Retro Gamer Magazine this year too. In February (I think), my remake of Star Castle was “Remake of the Month” (my second game to earn that title – the first was Omega Race 2009). Later in the year my upcoming remake of X-Quest 2 was mentioned, but that was delayed and I hope to finish it in 2012 instead. Finally Dingo was featured in a two-page making-of/interview feature in their November issue. Dingo was also mentioned in GamesTM Magazine.

So, New Year’s resolutions for 2012? Easy…make (at least) three games. …possibly a new Spectrum game too.

So stick around and visit once in a while – I’m sure I’ll have new things to offer. And please do send me a mail if you like what I’m doing.

For now I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all my visitors. May you have a great year full of good experiences.

Filed Under: Misc, News Tagged With: Buggerman, Dingo, Happy New Year, OSX

Christmas time is here, by golly, Disapproval would be folly.

December 2, 2011 By Sokurah Leave a Comment

Another year, another Christmas (kinda predictable, really) and I’ve finally caught up with something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now – port my two existing Christmas games to OSX so they can be played by Mac people too.

So The Snowman (’09) and The Night Before Christmas (’10) are now available for both Windows and Mac OSX, too.

Click the links above or on the banners below to go to where they can be downloaded.

You’ll notice that there are 3 banners. Yup, that’s a small sneakpeek at my latest Christmas game “Buggerman: The Xmass Heist” which I’m working on and hope to have finished before Christmas.