Hi I wrote about the making of classic platformerChuckie Egg and talked to its creator Nigel Alderton. Please give it a read as I want to show there’s an audience for this gaming history stuff 🙏
www.theguardian.com/games/2026/a...
A crystal node lies off the coast of an island.
At the bottom of the sea lie the Crystal Nodes. Mining Boats are equipped with submarines to bring up the resources, and also with drones to ferry those resources back to Port. cyningstan.itch.io/waterworld. #ibmpc #msdos #cga #BarrenPlanet #Waterworld
The rules of #Puluc, and the instructions for running the game, are in a PDF manual that I sincerely recommend you check out. And you can print the manual out too! Get the Puluc for the #PsionSeries3 from cyningstan.itch.io/puluc
Gryvix is about to hand a blade to the newly freed hostage Aken, so that Aken can move over to their colleague Vaigon and free them too, leaving Gryvix for exploration and combat duties. Having Blade Combat skill at level 2, Aken can also use the blade for self defence.
Some hostages in a #StarCadre Combat Class Rescue mission might have useful skills, including combat skills. Giving them weapons looted from fallen enemies turns them into useful members of the team. Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/star-cadre-c... #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The Chambers Beneath in a red, green and brown on black palette.
If you find my #cga palette choices questionable, there's a new utility for #msdos by RetroErik that will help. PalSwap for EGA/VGA, which includes CGASwap for CGA, lets you choose your own palette and force it on just about any CGA game. Get it from github.com/RetroErik/Pa...
Phamart the Ranger has laid a snare to entrap the serpent. All Phamart needs to do is fire once at the serpent to get its attention, even with just the sling to avoid wasting arrows. All being well, the serpent will be ensnared, and Phamart can finish it off using the sling before the serpent frees itself. The snare is enlarged in the inset.
The Snare is a dangerous trap that not only causes injury to any victim caught within it, but also holds them captive for a number of turns. Stealth:5 skill is required to lay this trap. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Both droids are taking different approaches in the multiple chambers of Double Trouble level 10. Soldier is shooting the forcefields to traverse the complex, while Multibot is jumping over them.
Double Trouble's tenth level is another one divided into small chambers. There are forcefields that block they from one chamber to another, so keep your phasers handy! You also need to shoot or avoid the guards. cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #TeamDroid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
And now thanks to multiple participants a pretty much fully featured SDL3 port to DOS!
github.com/libsdl-org/S...
A volcano pokes up above the sea surface.
Like its naighbour Dapra, Dalen is a volcanic world, with plenty of active volcanoes piercing the ocean surface. These are dangerous even for Air Fighters to travel over, so all the units in the game avoid them. cyningstan.itch.io/waterworld. #ibmpc #msdos #cga #BarrenPlanet #Waterworld
I'm very much liking the look of this game. I can't wait to see it come to DOS. And also to see how it looks on text mode systems like the PET and the ZX81.
Jade has won the game! Having already slain three Obsidian warriors, seen on the bottom left at Jade's feet, they have then captured the Obsidian warriors remaining on the highway. The alternating colours in the stack show that the stack has been captured and recaptured a few of times.
Slain enemies in #Puluc for the #Psion are stacked up in the corner of the screen, beside your player image. When you capture the last free enemy piece, the game is over and you have won! A running score is kept. Get Puluc for the #PsionSeries3 from cyningstan.itch.io/puluc
A stack of boulders with a robot on top
Generating the landscape in The Sentinel
A panorama of landscape 0000 in The Sentinel
A contour map of the landscape in The Sentinel
It's finished! The Sentinel, Geoff Crammond's epic game, is now fully documented.
* 41,902 lines of lovingly annotated source code
* 51 deep dives (116,240 words)
* Buildable repository
* 100% handcrafted AI-free content
* 7 months’ work
thesentinel.bbcelite.com
#retrocomputing #C64 #BBCMicro
Jeindrire the Medic is equally competent in blade combat and light firearms, and is strongly considering looting Thestia's laser pistol, to use instead of their blade. But Jeindrire can't carry both without becoming encumbered and slowing down, which makes this a difficult choice.
Check out fallen enemies' inventories in #StarCadre Combat Class. Some of your units might be lightly armed, and benefit from weapon and armour upgrades kindly bequeathed by the enemies you've dealt with. Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/star-cadre-c... #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Meleel the Ranger has just bought a Sling from the ranger supply shop. The sling can fire any pebbles that Meleel picks up from the dungeon floor. The game doesn't trouble the player about picking up ammunition for the sling; it's always assumed that there are small projectiles to hand. The Sling is enlarged in the inset.
The Sling is a simple leather projectile weapon capable of launching pebbles and other small objects at an enemy. The damage caused to enemies is based on the Agility of the player character. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
In level 9 of Double Trouble, Soldier is set up to travel to the turntable, position itself, and fire at the guard, all in this turn. It will take Carrier a bit longer to do the same thing, as it needs the shoot instruction from the library instead of having it in ROM.
There's no way of avoiding battle in the ninth level of Double Trouble. Patrolling guard bots block your way to the teleporters that lead to the card readers. Get the game and the level pack from cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #TeamDroid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The cursor highlights an area of deep water.
All of the boats and ships can travel over Deep Water, as well as the Air Fighters. It is here that most of the large-scale naval battles take place, since the bigger ships can't navigate shallower water. cyningstan.itch.io/waterworld. #ibmpc #msdos #cga #BarrenPlanet #Waterworld
A game in progress. Several warriors are out on the track, and Jade has captured one of Obsidian's warriors, placing one of their own warriors on top of it. Jade must now drag that capture home to be slain without being recaptured by the menacing Obsidian warrior ahead.
As you move in #Puluc, you can land on enemies, capturing them. You then drag them home for ritual slaughter. While you are doing this, your enemy can recapture you and free their warriors again. The game is available for the #PsionSeries3 from cyningstan.itch.io #Psion
Some of the rooms are slow on the Speccy version too, but I think this is one of those games where the 3.5MHz Z80 helps a lot while the VIC-II doesn't.
Bulleth the Scout uses their Stealth skill to peer into a long corridor without being detected and immediately attacked by the enemy Ceirrassi. Bulleth should now retreat back into the room behind, and let a soldier or an auxiliary take care of Ceirassi.
Entering an unseen area can be intimidating in #StarCadre Combat Class, you've no idea what's there. This is a good time to make use of Stealth. Make sure you don't leave your unit in the doorway though! Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/star-cadre-c... #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Aren the Ranger is wielding a Shortbow. Because he is also using a Quiver, Aren doesn't need to hold the arrows. The Sling in Aren's other hand guarantees that when Aren runs out of arrows, the Sling will automatically take over as the primary weapon, and Aren will always be able to defend himself. The Shortbow is enlarged in the inset.
The Shortbow is a compact bow for causing moderate damage to enemies at a distance. Arrows must be held in the offhand, unless a quiver is equipped. The Shortbow needs Archery:3. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The eighth level of Double Trouble is mindbending. Both droids began in the top left chamber, and Bouncer has travelled against the conveyor belts to reach the bottom left chamber where both the data cards are. Thinker waits for the data card to travel down the conveyor belt.
Double Trouble level 8 is like a merry-go-round, with conveyor belts taking the robots clockwise around the complex. But you'll probably solve it more efficiently if you find a way to go against the flow sometimes. #TeamDroid cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The cursor highlights the shallows off the coast.
Shallows are the areas of the ocean generally near the coasts. Their waters are calm enough to allow hoverbugs to float over them, but they are not deep enough to allow Cruisers or Battleships to pass. cyningstan.itch.io/waterworld. #ibmpc #msdos #cga #BarrenPlanet #Waterworld
The game has just begun: Obsidian (with the black warrior pieces) took the first turn and presumably threw a 2, moving their first warrior from the city. Jade's five warriors (green on the Psion LCD, grey here in the emulator) are still at home, waiting for Jade to throw the casting sticks and move one of the warriors out.
Beginning a game of #Puluc, each player has five warriors lined up ready to set out from their city. Casting sticks act as dice, determining how far you can move. Capture or slay all your opponent's warriors to win. You can get the game for the #PsionSeries3 from cyningstan.itch.io #Psion
Vametier the Medic is already carrying as much as they can reasonably manage: a strength of five, minus two, gives three, which is the number of items they are already carrying. In this gathering mission, carrying the items should be left to Vemetier's colleagues if the player wants Vametier to have the energy to perform their medical duties.
If a #StarCadre Combat Class unit carries more items than they can manage, they'll start to slow down. Each unit can carry a number of items equal to their strength minus 2, before encumbrance takes effect. Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/star-cadre-c... #ibmpc #msdos #cga
A Psion Series 3 and a Hewlett Packard 100LX playing Barbarians.
It looks like the #hp100lx will be replacing my ailing Psion Series 3 as my daily driver. I'm quite impressed with the built-in software. And of course it has all my games on it, along with a bunch of other people's games. So it won't be all work and no play. I need stronger reading glasses though!
I'm thinking about a little patch utility that'll grab CGA's own font and plonk that in your chambers.dat file in place of the game's font. The utility could do the same for my other games too. I'll look into it once health issues get out of my way for a bit.
Lanera the Warrior has found a Shield in the dungeon. She can't yet use it, as it requires Dodging:2 skill and Lanera doesn't have Dodging skill at all. But the shield can be put aside for a while, maybe stored in the safe deposit box in the merchant shop, and picked up again when needed. The shield is shown enlarged in the inset.
The shield is a round wooden buckler with an iron rim, the shield provides protection from enemy blows when equipped in the offhand. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The droids have just begun to solve the puzzle of Double Trouble level 7. Thinker is about to rush to pick up the phaser, ready to fire at the guards in the next chamber before the pick-up and shoot actions disappear from the library. Soldier has the same errand; it has the shoot action in its ROM but must still rush to pick up the data card in time.
Level 7 of Double Trouble is split into a number of chambers. Two droids must each figure out their own way of crossing a chamber full of patrolling guards. A phaser is provided for the purpose of shooting them. #TeamDroid cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Sandbanks on the coast of an island.
Sandbanks clog up rivers and coastal areas around the islands. Air Fighters and Hoverbugs can travel over Sandbanks, but of the sea units, only Mining Boats can navigate these areas, and even those at a careful pace. cyningstan.itch.io/waterworld. #ibmpc #msdos #cga #BarrenPlanet #Waterworld
Today, YouTube creator Sparcie uploaded this lovely video showcasing The #ChambersBeneath - check it out for a brief overview of the game! www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwR6... #ibmpc #msdos #cga