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.

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.

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.

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.

The Snowman - now on OSX too.

The Night Before Christmas - now on OSX too.

Buggerman: The Xmass Heist - coming this Christmas (I hope).

So now there’s a video on each game’s page on this site, but you can also watch them on my YouTube channel.

You can also read short descriptions of the games and watch the videos on the Facebook page which is found here.

Check it out and leave a comment about the game you like.
…and remember to ‘like‘ it too.

Tardis Remakes on Facebook.

Dingo on iOS running under the Spectaculator emulator.

However, I’ve started to tweak the game and have cleared a bit of space, so when I get more time I’ll probably look into improving the controls a bit. That will definitely help on the iOS platform.

It’s been two weeks since the REPLAY Expo and it was quite an experience and went pretty much without a hitch (I didn’t screw things up too badly until I got back, but that’s a whole different post).

Here’s another picture from the Expo.

The Dingo stand at the REPLAY Expo.

Currently I’m working on a new Xmas game for the PC. Unfortunately I’m a bit behind schedule, but I hope to have it finished before Christmas anyway. If not, then I’m going to be done in real good time before next Christmas. LOL.

I’m happy to announce that my Spectrum version of Dingo is now completely…complete, and has been released.

The game ”premiered” at the REPLAY EXPO in Blackpool, on november 5th 2011.

For this special occation we produced 60 physical cassette copies which we demoed and sold at cost from The Attic Bug stall at the Expo. The cassettes were all signed by the artist and me, and 50 of them were also numbered while the remaining 10 that were not numbered were made to be given away for free.

Most cassettes were sold at the event but the few unsold copies have all found new owners and there won’t be any more. However, the day after the Expo the game was release as a free download – including all the highres artwork, so if you wish you can make your own.

Go here to read more about the game and to download it.

The two sizes of cassettes that were sold at the Replay Expo.

In a fun coincidence it’s also the 21st October today, which means that it’s been exactly 3 months since I started working on this game. That wasn’t planned at all. In fact the game was fully playable after the first month and I expected it to be done a lot earlier, but I’ve spent the two latest months optimising and polishing it, so there’s no doubt it’s now better presented and smoother than it was back then. A better game – time well spent, then.

So this morning I just sent the final version to Mark R. Jones, my artist and musician, who will have the “fun” task of duplicating all the physical copies to be used at this years REPLAY Expo.

There will be a limited run of physical copies on cassette at the REPLAY Expo – all numbered and signed by Mark and me, some to be given away and some to sold at cost price, but it will be made available for free as an emulator download here and at World Of Spectrum, but not until just after the expo.

I hope to be present at the expo myself – I’ve bought a ticket anyway, but I’m having knee surgery just 10 days earlier, so I can’t say for sure if I’m up for it by then, but if you see a guy on crutches that might be me.

Loadingscreen

In-game screen

Preparing physical copies for the REPLAY Expo.

Then I resumed work on X-Quest 2, which is basically done now but only needs new graphics, and I’d found an artist who seemed really good, but he only delivered one frame and now he’s stopped answering my mails. Not good – especially after just being mentioned in issue 93 of Retro Gamer Magazine. Oh well, it’ll get done…only with a delay.

Before them there is a string of other unfinished remakes, but I’ll get to them in time. Slowly, perhaps, but I’ll get to them. I’m especially looking forward to getting back to work on Black Widow and Psycho Pigs UXB, but I can only work effectively on one game at the time.

All these WIP’s, and the stress I’m putting myself under just by thinking about them, is probably the reason I woke up this morning – stressed over some unfinished tank game (no, I’m not working on any tank games, so who knows why ). That’s the third morning in a row that I’ve woken up with a dream like that. Can you see why I would really like to finish all my unfinished WIP’s?

Of course, all these delays frustrates me and I decided to put that frustration to good use and channel all that energy into making a new game (typical…see how easy it happens? ) so I started working on something I’ve wanted to do for almost 30 years – making a new ZX Spectrum game.

And that was the birth of Dingo – a “lost Ultimate game”. I’ve already remade this arcade game back in 2008 for Windows and in 2011 for Mac, but now I’m remaking it again in z80 assembler for the ZX Spectrum. It only took me about a month to make the game and I was lucky enough to atract the attention of Mark R. Jones – who used to work for Imagine and Ocean back in the 80′s – and he has done all the stunning new graphics for the game. The game is currently finished, playable and works as it should, and according to Mark its “stupidly addictive” so I must have done something right.

That being said, the game could still use a bit of spit and polish. I’m currently working on improving the sprite routines (3rd day in a row, argh) and it also needs music and better sound effects, but the plan is to have it completely finished and presented at the retro event, Replay, in Blackpool in November.

You can read more about the development of the game here, and below is a picture of the game.

The Spectrum version of Dingo

Some dude has remade the game – but not the arcade version, he’s remade MY version. He didn’t do his own take on the game…just replicated my version very closely (although not entirely). Okay, he HAS done a different version too – Rip-Off Evolved, which is Rip-Off given the Geometry Wars treatment. I haven’t tried that one though…I just looks too busy from the screenshots and I’m probably too much of a purist to accept it.

Anyway, when I first found the YouTube video of his version I had to watch it several times to see if this really was a new game, or some sort of hacked version of my own game, or something that interpreted my code. It’s that close to my version, and considering he’s even using the same backdrop, same sounds and the music I had custom made for it, too, I think you can understand why I didn’t really know what I was watching.

Okay, let’s make a few comparisons. First of the menu then of the options screen.

This is the menu from my version. Click to view larger version.

This is the menu from his version. Click to view larger version.

Pretty close, wouldn’t you say? Now, let’s have a comparison between my options menu and his.

This is the options menu from my version. Click to view larger version.

This is the options menu from his version. Click to view larger version.

The funny thing – the antialias, flicker and colour options doesn’t even work in his version. LOL (from the YouTube videos I found they seem to work in the ‘Evolved’ version, though). But apart from that the biggest difference between the games, on the surface, seems to be that I used a nice bitmapped logo and he’s done the logo in vector lettering. And just to make matters even more confusing, he’s even used my logo in some of the betaversions I found on YouTube.

Although I didn’t really know what to think when I first saw it, I’ve decided that “honoured” is probably the be best term for it. Imagine that – people remaking my games. Haha. I think what I’m feeling must be pretty close to what the original authors must feel when they see our remakes – damn freaked out.

It’s does say “…and we’ve tried to replicate the game to as close as possible to the reference material (found at http://tardis.dk)” on his website though, so he does link to my site…his inspiration. LOL. I wish he would’ve mailed me earlier so I wouldn’t be so…confuzzled…when I found it.

So, that’s like some sort of metaremake, a rip off of a rip off of Rip Off called Rip Off too. Unchecked it could cause the universe to end (thanks Bob).