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Indie Arcade Cabinet: RASHLANDER

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We were quite impressed with Griffin Aerotech’s Airframe arcade hardware which allows independently created games to run, just like SKYCURSER. So when Ryan Davis got in touch with us to tell us about his new arcade title RASHLANDER, we were quite excited. Ryan told us that his RASHLANDER game had been made from the ground up so that it could run on modern arcade machines, just like Griffin Aerotech’s Airframe.

The game is a lander-roguelike game that feels like sliding slowly across an icy parking lot while dodging every SUV and Smart Car before settling miraculously into a perfect parallel park. Except in space. And everything is exploding!

RASHLANDER is available in four different kits: Software, Pro, Deluxe, and Dedicated Cabinet packages ranging in price from USD$599.99 (Software kit) all the way to $3,499.99 for the dedicated arcade cabinet. More deets here.

image source: Griffin Aerotech – Rashlander

 

Ultra Space Battle Brawl: It’s Bang Bead For Your Switch!

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If you are craving for some Pong, Windjammers or Bang Bead action for your Nintendo Switch, then keep reading! Hang on, Bang what? Ahhhh, if you don’t know, that’s fine, this game plays it a similar way…

So what do you get when you sprinkle some Pong on steroids, a dose of fighting elements, Japanese 80s aesthetic, some cool Indonesian urban house music and a hefty pinch of Windjammers and Bang Bead for good measure? You get Ultra Space Battle Brawl, that’s what!

For those of you that haven’t played Atari’s Pong or Bang Bead and Windjammers on the Neo Geo, Ultra Space Battle Brawl is a fun competitive game fit for settling disputes, be it with your friends and family or rivals, this couch party game has the essence of a flying fighting game melded onto a single screen that is easy to pick up and play but hard to master.

The game provides a choice of ten protagonists, each with their own unique “Ultra” and quirky skills that can easily turn the tide in the heat of battle. Story mode sees you battling through a number of rivals that will determine your fate in the Intergalactic Society, that is if you manage to beat them all. For those that prefer a party game (of up to 4 players), the ‘Versus’ mode is for you. Versus provides the freedom to set the number of rounds and battle modes, be it 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 1 vs 2 or 2 vs 1. Once your character is chosen you are thrown into a battle where the premise sees you smacking the puck towards your opponents end attempting to smash their glass gem while also defending your end. If you manage to win the necessary rounds, you move onto the next (even tougher) opponent.

Sounds simple enough? Um not really, as this game will see your rage meter go through the roof when you battle tougher opponents that require lightning fast reflexes and dexterity to have a chance at beating them. This game does shine when played against other humans, where you rib each other or give high fives when battling on the same side.

The background story to how this game came about is quite cool too – Ultra Space Battle Brawl was first born out of a Mojiken Camp, an internal team building program. During this program the whole Mojiken Studio crew had to build a prototype based on proven products and fresh concepts. From all the prototypes they came up with, it was Mojiken Studio’s co-founder Eka Pramudita’s Ultra Space Battle Brawl that came out on top.

If you also want to come out on top and can’t wait for Windjammers, then you should grab this game for your Nintendo Switch, stat!

Title: Ultra Space Battle Brawl
Developer: Mojiken Studio
Publisher: Toge Productions
Price: USD$14.99

image source: Toge Productions

 

Review – Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

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Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles opens up like a mix of Sea of Thieves and Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild; both excelled in creating a beautiful world with a sense of wonder and adventure, which is also Yonder’s greatest strength.

After creating a character with some very basic options (although you can customise him or her throughout the game with a wealth of cosmetic options such as clothes, hair dyes and other accessories to keep things interesting) you are thrown onto the island of Gemea where the game is set and free to explore the open world at your leisure. The game world is beautifully realised; whist it doesn’t surpass Breath of the Wild (but to be fair not many have), it does an admirable job in creating a large, interesting and vibrant world with lush forests, sunny beaches and snowy mountains. Graphically, it is one of the best on the Switch.

How it looks is where the similarities end between Yonder and the aforementioned games. With no enemies to kill or levels to grind, Yonder presents itself as a slow-paced exploration game filled with rather mundane tasks. The game’s myriad of largely lifeless NPCs dish out most of the side quests, usually involving collecting various resources around the world such as fodder, wood, stones, seeds etc using a set of contextual tools introduced early on in the game. For example, using sickles to cut grass, axe to chop trees, pickaxe to mine ore and so on. There is also the ability to run your own farm by building simple structures and rearing the exotic animals found in the game to store and generate resources.

The main story quest is painstakingly simple and the only real sense of progression comes from unlocking previously inaccessible areas of the map by dispersing the ‘murk’ (a mysterious dark shroud covering certain areas) by finding enough pet fairy ‘sprites’. There is no real sense of urgency to this though, as the Murk is not at all dangerous and there is no time limit or any order in which part of the map needs to be uncovered first.

I must confess that I usually like my games with a mature and engaging storyline, deep combat mechanics and RPG-like progression systems. However, I recently played through Yonder during a month long overseas holiday and found it to be the perfect companion game for such an occasion. It is something I could pick up and enjoy for a few minutes to half an hour at a time without the stress of levelling up or acquiring better gear to take on bigger bosses. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is all about discovering its world at your own pace and having the most relaxed time doing so, and like what my 3-year-old daughter said when she watched me play, “it’s beautiful”.

 

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House
House plays pretty much anything and everything but has almost time for nothing. A devout beat’em up fan, House enjoys a round of captain commando every now and then and can never forget spending hours in dark arcades playing warriors of fate after school. Oh yeah, his favourite console of all time is the original Famicom!

 

 

 

Lessons A Huge AAA Success Like GTA 5 Can Teach Indie Developers

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Grand Theft Auto 5, Rockstar Games’ colossal juggernaut of a title, was developed on a budget of $265 million. The end product was a detailed open-world game with cutting edge graphics and AI programming of unparalleled complexity (for the time).

All that is just about as distant as you can get from indie game development.

Rockstar has decades of industry experience, GTA is one of the most popular mainstream AAA franchises around and the company spent more than half of its hundreds-of-millions budget on marketing. It also just cracked over 95 million copies sold.

Anyone with an inkling of what indie development looks like will know that these things are worlds apart.

And yet, in the underlying fabric of the game itself – not the product – are lessons that small teams working remotely and one-man devs can learn from, if only conceptually. Development of a title like GTA 5 is a unique beast in terms of project management, and unlike anything most AAA developers have to deal with let alone indies, so we’ll be focusing on just the game itself.

It’s also a tough example because, due to its high budget, there was very little the developers couldn’t allow themselves. Even so, interviews and other sources have revealed that over the course of the game’s development a number of features and mechanics were cut either due to time or monetary constraints.

This brings us to our first lesson, and one that can be applied to gaming universally – scope. You need to know the scope of what you want to do, what you can get done, and sync the two together. Game development can be arduous work even when the crunch hasn’t set in, and indie developers are certainly hit harder than AAA in this regard.

In the case of indie devs, when they’re working from a much smaller budget or are developing for free, the stress of getting your title out into the open can be confounded with making that title the best it can be. Feature-creep must be avoided, cut what needs to be cut and stay focused on your scope.

Too many indie developers give up their daily lives to create their first game, release it, then patch it profusely only to end up with health issues, broken relationships and a financially unsuccessful game because they lost sight of what could be feasibly achieved.

Big productions like GTA 5 have specific committees to keep an eye out for this, reining in the project if too many features are planned, pushing the limits of deadlines and budgets.

On the other hand, indie developers have more control over their work and need to be their own supervisors. If GTA 5 had stretched itself too thin because adding additional feature X and Y would be “cool”, it wouldn’t be the critically acclaimed success it is today.

Another thing GTA 5 gets right is the ratio of content to scale. AAA titles these days pride themselves on how expansive their maps are and how much sheer content there is – you’d think that more is universally better. Thing is, even though the settings of Los Santos and Blaine County are large, together, they’re hardly the largest open world in gaming.

Instead, Rockstar knew to limit the physical size of the map to the amount of content they’d produce. Thus, GTA 5 has a large amount of unique content distributed evenly and organically throughout the action-space. Things aren’t too cramped nor are they too far between.

Relating gameplay content with map size is very specific to open-world sandboxes, but the principle can be applied to any game. The pacing, amount and length of content needs to be in balance.

There is no golden ratio and that “balance” varies depending on the project. Maybe a sombre exploration game is well balanced when quiet moments are predominant, where an action-packed FPS is well balanced when you keep the adrenaline pumping.

Generally, as an indie developer, realistic goals are essential, and no-one should be gunning for a spectacle the scope and size of GTA 5 right off the bat. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from the game and how it implements basic game design principles, because these principles are universal and GTA 5 implements them masterfully.

image source: Rockstar Games

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Logan Smith
Logan has been obsessed with Rockstar Games ever since the Grand Theft Auto series went 3D with GTA III. He spends his time wandering Los Santos while eagerly waiting for Red Dead Redemption 2 to finally land.

 

 

 

Open Fodder: An Open Source Port Of Cannon Fodder

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Surely you all know (or at least) heard of Sensible Software’s brilliant military-themed action strategy shooter, Cannon Fodder. If you had an Amiga back in the day, we bet the house that you would’ve played Cannon Fodder.

Roll on to present day and we now have a nod to this awesome game with the brilliant open source port for modern operating systems (Windows / Linux / Unix), Open Fodder. This project (source code can be found on GitHub) is the brainchild of one Robert Crossfield (aka: segrax) and the mysteriously named, Dr Novice.

While Open Fodder is packaged with two demos, the full game requires the retail release available from GOG or the data extracted from the Amiga version using the WHDLoad installer.


source: Robert Crossfield

 

Bear Beware!

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We don’t have to convince you that interest in retro games has never been higher. Take John Darnell’s Bear Beware! (previously known as Sleepwalker) for instance – it was released on the Commodore 64 in April 2017 which quickly became a fan favourite amongst retro  gamers.

Fast forward to 2018 and John Darnell (Another Fine Mess) is about to release Bear Beware! on Android, iOS, PC and Mac so it can be enjoyed on modern systems, not just on the old trusty C64. There is even a hint that Bear Beware! will be coming out later for the Nintendo Switch – which is absolutely awesome news!

So what’s this Bear Beware! game all about you may ask? Well, it’s origins date back to 1984! Yes, 1984! Back then John Darnell (working for Software Projects in Liverpool developing Kane 1 & 2, Dragon’s Lair, Escape From Singes Castle, Star Paws and Jet Set Willy 2) had conceived Bear Beware! but the game was lost to the mists of time. Luckily for us John hadn’t forgotten about the game he came up with all those years ago, re-coding his original idea from scratch, delivering a fantastic arcade adventure that fans of classic retro games like Jet-Set Willy will love!

Bear Beware! revolves around the heroic efforts of the protagonist Security Guard Hero rescuing his little sleepwalking Funfair Buddy and getting him back to bed before he wakes up. Sounds easy aye? Welllllll, you must traverse 25 levels infested with all kinds of nasty peeps that are hellbent on stopping your Buddy getting back to bed.

Bear Beware! will be available free to play in the comings weeks (March/April 2018). You can follow the exploits of Bear Beware! on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

image source: Bear Beware! by AFM

 

Review: Pan-Dimensional Conga Combat

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By: Kevin Tilley (Unkle K)

Being an old timer harking from the days of the Atari VCS and Commodore 64, the complexities of modern gaming sometimes get the better of me. Not only that, but with a large family and demanding job, spending hours gaming each day is an impossibility. Short, sharp bursts of gaming not only fit into the small amount of free time I actually have, it also suits my rather limited attention span as well. Cue RGCD, who have been bringing us pick up and play Commodore 64 games for years now, and in 2016 released Pan-Dimensional Conga Combat on the Windows platform via the RGCD itch.io store.

After nearly two years since the original itch.io release, and a rather quiet Greenlight campaign, Pan was released on Steam on February 16.

Self-described as “a rhythm-synchronised, old-school, score-chasing arcade game that plays like some alien coin-op from another dimension”, Pan is a mash of the old and new. I can only describe it as the love child of Volfied and Robotron, with a hint of Geometry Wars thrown in – an impressive pedigree indeed, and fortunately for us, it all gels together perfectly.

Set in a rather confined arena, Pan has you navigating the screen and obliterating everything that moves with your bullet tail. The tail follows you around at a distance that is proportional to your speed – the faster you move the longer your tail gets. You can also charge your on board laser cannon whenever the free roaming purploids drift into your tail. Once charged, you have a short burst mega destructive cannon at your disposal, which is essential when the action hits a certain level of franticness. To complete each level you must make a predetermined set of kills. There are also various score chains you can achieve and an assortment of enemy types to get your head around – with most of them homing straight in on you Robotron style, in various speeds and patterns. Enemy portals are destroyed by looping your tail around them, and levels are completed by entering the warp which opens up as soon as you reach the kill quota.

Pan is a frantic and compulsive score chaser that will have you pulling your hair out in disgust and immediately pressing the button for another go. Controls are simple and the game is immediately accessible. There are enough game modes present to keep you more than interested for a good while (include arcade and a survival mode) and the Steam release introduces online leader boards and achievements. For a game like Pan, these simple additions really add to the games longevity.

Graphics are solid without being outstanding, with the limited palette of colours supported by attractive pixel art and various visual effects, that don’t reach ‘Minter’ levels of trippyness but do their job regardless. The soundtrack is perfectly suitable, with various beats and breaks complimenting the gameplay and adding to the overall experience.

Pan-Dimensional Conga Combat deserves to be played. It’s an honest and fun score chaser that will test your (probably aging) reflexes and reward persistence. Old school gamers looking for a quick blast will love it, and younger gamers should give it a go and prove their superiority on the online leader boards – c’mon, I dare you! Highly recommended.


source: James Monkman

Footnote: A special package is still available on itch.io which contains the game (the itch.io download and a Steam key) as well as a set of two matte-finish A2 RGCD posters.

 

NESmaker – Make New Cartridge Based Games For the NES

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We’ll keep this short and sweet – if you want to realise your childhood dreams of making a new (cartridge based) playable game for the NES but don’t have the necessary coding expertise, then hit the NESMaker Kickstarter immediately. Hurry up, ’cause there are only a few hours left to secure this awesome bit of dev-kit!

Go on, unleash your inner game developer without the need of coding skills!

PS: Don’t worry about funding, the project has already blown waaaaay past its goal and has unlocked a number of stretch targets!


source: The New 8-Bit Heroes

 

Reset64 Magazine 2017 Commodore 64 Game of the Year Award

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It really seems that each subsequent year for modern C64 game development improves on the previous, and 2017 has been no different! On behalf of the staff at Reset Magazine, I would like to congratulate all of you who have been involved in C64 gamedev in 2017, whether as an individual or as part of a team. 2017 has been nothing short of stunning, beginning with The Bear Essentials (released digitally in 2016, but physical version with a 2017 © stamp released later), and finishing in style with the long awaited Sam’s Journey on Christmas Eve (with a few releases making it out before the new year, too). In between, well, we were spoilt for choice.

The physical releases from the likes of Protovision, RGCD, Psytronik and Poly.Play also impressed, with each distributor/publisher raising the bar for the presentation of their physical releases – perfectly complimenting the outstanding quality of the games themselves. So much thought went into the packaging, artwork, labels, instruction booklets etc. to keep us collectors more than happy!

We will look at 2017 as an amazing year for Commodore 64 games of a quality that could arguably challenge many of the years during the computer’s heyday. It was great to see so many of the contemporary developers remaining so active, old timers returning as well as a host of first time coders, artists and musicians joining in all the fun. Make no mistake, gamedev on the C64 is a challenging and time consuming task, and we are truly appreciative of the efforts and hours that everyone involved has put in.

So to sum it all up, although there can only be one game awarded GOTY, we truly believe that you all deserve to be congratulated (whether or not your game or crew is mentioned within this article), and we take our hats off to everyone involved in the 2017 C64 games development scene.

Kevin (Unkle K) Tilley, Reset64 Editor.

Kevin Tilley (Editor’s Pick)

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
Sam’s Journey is a truly astonishing C64 platformer that, amazingly, lives up to all of its hype! Breathtaking presentation, colourful and fast graphics; Sam’s plays like a high-end Amiga platformer with mechanics and design sensibilities not seen in a C64 game before. Beautiful to look at and fun to play, it’s my GOTY and a truly amazing game from Knights of Bytes. Nailed the physics too, KoB 😉

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
Jason Aldred came from nowhere to deliver this superb Galaga/Gaplus inspired shooter. Incredibly polished, with wonderful presentation, graphics (the animations are superb) and a suitably stunning soundtrack from Pulse Bot. It’s one of those games that you can come back to again and again and it is incredibly addictive. The physical release from Protovision is stunning, and that box-art by Lobo!! An amazing effort from Team Galencia!

– The Bear Essentials (Graham Axten/Pond Software):
Graham Axten produced a game that tugged right at my nostalgic heartstrings with The Bear Essentials. Bear could easily have been a full price release from Thalamus and contains more than one nod to the games from that legendary Commodore 64 games publisher from back in the day. It’s one of the most charming games I’ve seen on the C64, and the final level blew me away. I’m tearing up right now thinking about it!

Honourable Mentions:
There have been so many other games I would have loved to have voted for. Rescuing Orc is another favourite – it is such a beautifully designed and playable game. I also loved LuftrauserZ, Platman Worlds and John Darnell’s charming Sleepwalker amongst many others. Oh, and then there’s Frogs, which is another absolutely charming multiplayer game from Dr. Wuro Industries. Any of these games could have featured in my top 3, they’re all so good!

image source: Jason Aldred & Protovision

Cameron Davis

– The Bear Essentials (Graham Axten/Pond Software):
I’m thrilled that games like this exist on our beloved micro – it’s just so charming! With plenty of secrets to discover, a wild array of cute (but deadly) creatures to avoid and great platforming action, The Bear Essentials has provided me with more joy than any other recent C64 release I can think of. A world without this Essential game is something I couldn’t Bear to think about. (You’re fired – Ed)

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
Planet Golf is the demanding but beautiful girlfriend of Commodore 64 games. You’ll be driven mad with its fiendish level layouts and excruciatingly annoying traps, but when you do everything right it’s the best feeling in the world. I love this game even though it feels like an unhealthy relationship at times!

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
This modern spin on the Galaga formula is not just a technical marvel – it’s by far the best shmup to hit the C64 in years! The movement of all the ships (oh, so many ships) feels nice and fluid, the blasting action satisfyingly explosion-filled, and there’s a real sense of accomplishment to survive the first few levels! We really are lucky to have games of this calibre grace our system.

Rob Caporetto

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
Arcade-esque games are totally a ‘been there, seen that’ proposition on the C64 in the homebrew age, where many try to rekindle the feel, but most I’ve felt have always missed that something. Galencia, on the other hand? Nails it. From its old school difficulty curve, its high level of polish, and the overall polish of the package, it’s a labour of love which totally, totally manages to feel fresh, and challenging for 2017!

– LuftrauserZ (Paul Koller/Stein Pedersen/RGCD):
I’m a sucker for games involving air-combat, and working around gravity, both of which are core to this C64 adaptation of the indie hit. What blows my mind away the most though? The fact that the original game has been squeezed over into a C64 cartridge. In full. The pace is even more frantic, the controls flow excellently, and the challenge on offer is intense – for anyone after a fresh twist on arcade action, LuftrauserZ is easily one of the best picks you can go for!

– Rescuing Orc (Juan J. Martinez/Vanja Utne/Poly.Play):
One of the great things with the homebrew community is in seeing less visited genres make an appearance on our favourite micro. Rescuing Orc brings over the tradition of the exploratory platformer, with an old-school difficulty to match. The challenge of course being to locate your friend said Orc, whilst exploring the world, and dispatching the devious hordes who stand in your way. Compared to some of the other releases in 2017, that level of challenge may be a turn off, but despite some misgivings, it’s a throwback release, which is well worth checking out!

Honourable Mentions:
Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
The Knights of Bytes crew have been working on this one for a long time, and it truly, truly shows on so many levels. Compared to many other platformers on the C64, it’s expansive, packed to the brim with levels, and power ups and features. If I’d been able to spent more time with it before submitting this GOTY, I expect it would have made the top 3. But considering I’ve not put anywhere near enough time in, an honourable mention will have to do…

Petunia Pickle’s Pumpkin Preview (Anthony Stiller/Vanja Utne/Pond Software):
Seeing new faces start off with amazing releases is something I always find mighty positive. It might sound a little too biased here, but I had a lot of fun with this little preview, and it being by a good friend is just the icing on the cake.

image source: Knights Of Bytes & Protovision

Paul Morrison

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
I’ve been playing arcade shmups like Galaxian since the 1970s. I love them, so it always rankled with me that the Commodore 64 didn’t really have any that could truly stand among them. Consider me rankled no more. Galencia is an incredible clone of Galaga which has kept me playing since its release date. I’ve played it more than most of the PC and PS4 games I’ve bought this year, and I’m going to keep playing it. It may have been 35 years in coming, but it’s the best game of its type on the C64, and it’s my Game of the Year.

– LuftrauserZ (Paul Koller/Stein Pedersen/RGCD):
The original PC game was a simplistic but fast-paced shoot ’em up which featured an absolute mountain of extra weaponry to experiment with. That Paul Koller has replicated the game so accurately on the 64 is nothing short of miraculous. I’ve got a pretty sweet crate right now, but I’m looking forward to unlocking more and seeing just how destructive I can become.

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
I played Desert Golfing and Stick Golf on my phone for far too long, becoming totally addicted to seeing how far I could progress or if I could whittle down my best scores. Planet Golf captures the feeling of those games emphatically, whilst adding a flavour that could only have come from our beloved C64. It’s hair-tearingly frustrating at times, but that one-more-go factor is in full effect.

Anthony Stiller

– LuftrauserZ (Paul Koller/Stein Pedersen/RGCD):
Paul Koller’s demake of Vlambeer’s aerobatic blaster is a miracle. Somehow Paul has captured the frenetic feel of the original and crammed in almost all of the features. Fast, furious and more fun than a barrel full of barrel rolls. Buy this game immediately.

– The Bear Essentials (Graham Axten/Pond Software):
Graham Axten of Pond Software brought so much joy to my C64 when he released The Bear Essentials. A delightful, highly playable platformer, polished like a shiny red apple, Bear is what C64 gaming is all about. Check out Graham’s dev diary, too, if you get a chance.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
Jason Aldred turns run-of-the-mill Galaga up to 11 with the exhilarating Galencia. With superb design, crisp graphics, and faultless gameplay, Galencia is a marvel to behold and has been a firm favourite in the RESET offices. A stellar release!

Honourable Mention:
Rescuing Orc
Juan J. Martinez’s wonderfully named game, Rescuing Orc, is everything I love. An adventurous romp with sword in hand, perilous leaps, varied enemies, deep caverns, and bats! Bats are great and so is Rescuing Orc.

Merman

– Argus (Trevor Storey/Achim Volkers/Saul Cross/Psytronik):
From the moment I saw the preview video on YouTube, I knew this was going to be special. The first-person view of the action is superb, there is a huge and involved quest to complete and Psytronik pulled out all the stops with the amazing Ultimate Edition (cramming loads of extras into the box, including the poster with the all-important map of the land of Argus). A landmark RPG for the C64 and my game of the year.

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
Antonio Savona strikes again with a beautifully crafted game. The physics of the golf ball – and the fast-forward option – work really well, but it is the superb presentation that stays with me. The clear sampled speech and the amazing introduction sequence (with digitised graphics) set a high bar for others to reach.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
A very polished shoot ’em up, particularly the mutating aliens. It really captures the Galaga style and brings it up to date with great graphics and sound. So glad it was finished.

Honourable Mention:
Just sneaking into 2017 was the digital release of SAM’S JOURNEY. I have only had time to play it briefly but it looks amazing – it could already be my game of the year for 2018!

Richard Bayliss

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
I purchased a digital download of Sam’s Journey on Boxing Day 2017. The game has very stunning presentation. The game is really colourful, but when it comes to playing it, I was almost late for work, due to its pure addictiveness. The game has a fun story line, and each world is well crafted. The ideas put into this game really pushed the Commodore 64 to its limits. There are some very colourful maps, cute enemies, which Sam can jump on (or avoid). The power ups are truly amazing. This game gets my vote to be the best ever game of 2017.

– Slipstream (Bauknecht/Psytronik)
I always wondered what the Commodore 64 could spin out for the C64 gaming world. We have seen many C64 demos, and demo coders of big groups today continue to show off their talent. Now what if you had this idea to produce a game, which uses some of the demo effects, such as realtime, vector animation? Bauknecht has proven this by developing something spectacular. The game has stunning presentation, along with some very amazing animated effects. The concept was quite original. You take control of two different modules through a simulation. This game reminds me a little of Domark’s Star Wars. Slipstream has very slick presentation, thumping soundtracks, and is also addictive to play. I love this game for the originality and addictive game play. It is very difficult to master at first, but you’ll get used to this game after a few attempts. Slipstream is a stunner.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
I always loved a good and decent shoot ’em up. Looking at this game. It takes me back in time and reminds me a lot of Galaxians, Galaga, Gaplus blended in together. This game is well designed, has some good bonus rewards for the play. Some alien attack patterns can end up as a little surprise. The Galencia like to transform into different types aliens. There are plenty of in game options, to enhance game play even more. You can even select competition mode, which is a real challenge. This is a really good retro-standard shoot ’em up. Nicely animated sprites, graphics, loading picture, music, etc. I enjoyed this game a lot, due to the quality arcade standard, presentation and excellent music. Some funny boss fights in between. Nice loading and intro graphics. Great series of options.

image source: Psytronik

Damian Caynes

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
Antonio Savona’s Planet Golf was not only a very playable game, but had superb production qualities and awesome digital sound. The intros were brilliant, and the game itself was difficult and addictive.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
One of my favourite arcade games as a kid was Galaga, and Jason Aldred’s Galencia hits all the buttons. It has bright, colourful graphics and excellent fx, as well as masterful attack waves and bosses. Well worth the asking price, and I can’t wait to get it on cartridge.

– The Bear Essentials (Graham Axten/Pond Software):
I really hate to give this game one point, but there have been so many great games in 2017. Graham Axten’s Bear Essentials has a lot of similarities with the style of Creatures 2, but is an awesome game in its own right. Pond must be very proud of this release

Roy Fielding

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
From the moment I first heard of this game, I knew it was one for me. Antonio certainly delivered with a splendid and very professional game. The physical release is sublime with great original artwork by none other than Oliver Frey. Top notch game with oodles of replayability. This game will remain one of my faves, alongside the likes of the Leaderboard range.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
A very close second is Galencia. This game came out of nowhere for me and really grabbed my attention immediately. I am a big fan of early arcade shooters like Galaxian/Galaga so this game really ticked my box on that score. The game looks and plays wonderfully and will certainly be a game to return to time and time again. Very high production value and again, we have a super physical release, with lovely original box art by Fleming DuPont. A wonderful game just slightly pipped (for me) by Planet Golf.

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
This was a very close call between this and Paul Koller’s excellent Luftrausers demake. I went with Sam’s Journey as it is an original title and has one of the most beautiful scrolling engines I’ve seen on the C64, with such vibrant use of colours. A very playable game, albeit probably not one I’d return to as much as and . It’s still super impressive and delivers on the early promises and smashes away the doubts people had that it was not for real. I cannot comment on the physical release as it wasn’t available at time of writing.

Simon Quernhorst

– Rescuing Orc (Juan J. Martinez/Vanja Utne/Poly.Play):
A very nice and atmospheric game, which I really liked playing through the end!

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
A perfect arcade game with fun graphics and always good for a round now and then.

– Frogs (Dr. Wuro Industries):
What a fun game when playing with four players… always great to push ’em into the water.

Roy Widding

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
I decided to give my top 3 points to Antonio and his addictive and funny golf game! Nice graphics, nice music and addictive. Very addictive!

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
I struggled a bit to play the digital version on my real hardware, but except for that, the game is amazing. A brilliant story, a nice plattform adventure, and it is not too hard, so I have kept my interest for this, and I think I still will have that interest when I receive the physical cartridge. (2 points to Chester)

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
The game is so well made/polished/full of details that you can’t leave it out of a top 3. Even if I’m not such a huge shooter fan, I have played this game several times, and it is not one of the games you try and forget… (1 point to Jason)

Honourable Mentions:
I have bought all commercial releases this year, and kept my eye on all free games too. I might have missed some, but I have placed my votes on the ones I kept coming back too and enjoyed playing. There were some games like Bear, Orc, LuftrauserZ and some other Psytronik titles that I liked too, but I had to leave some out of the top 3 so it ended with these.

image source: Usebox.Net & Poly.Play

Jari Karjalainen

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
It definitely came close for not happening in time, but my vote for GOTY goes to Sam’s Journey, without a shred of doubt. It’s not only a logical continuation of new hardware exploitation from Prince of Persia made for EasyFlash, but also yet another thus far missing link between the old C64 games and 16-bit games from all platforms – impressive in every expectable manner, and definitely lives up to its hype.

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
If Sam’s Journey hadn’t made it this year, its place would have been taken by Planet Golf, which will now take the spot. I thought the preview already was fantastic, and the full version is definitely one of the most intriguing, impressive and unique C64 golf games of all time. Definitely worth having in anyone’s collection.

– Planet X2 (The 8-Bit Guy):
My vote for was much more difficult to choose, since there were so many fantastic games put out this year – the Bear Essentials, Galencia, LuftrauserZ, Slipstream and Argus to name but a few, each very impressive in their own ways. In the end, I settled for Planet X2, because it represents a genre that hadn’t been explored on the C64 before, and rather well at that, too.

Frank Gasking

– Sam’s Journey (Knights of Bytes/Protovision):
When playing Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive or Mayhem on the C64 that I remember the goosebumps first I had, experiencing something unlike i’d ever seen before. Although a predictable number 1 from me, Sam’s Journey this Christmas has given me just those feelings. Combining some of the best features from various 16-bit platformers, the game is a sight to behold, and it lives up to all the hype it has deservidely had.

– Galencia (Jason Aldred/Team Galencia/Protovision):
I’m a big fan of single screen shooters like Galaga and Gyruss, so Galencia was a very welcome release to see this year. There are some wonderful touches throughout the game and little sub sections which make this one of the best games of its genre on the C64. It’s been great to see yet another ex-C64 developer come back to the platform too.

– Planet Golf (Antonio Savona/Aldo Chiummo/Gaetano Chiummo/Ilkka Sjöstedt/Massimilano ‘WiZkiD’ De Ruvo/Psytronik/RGCD):
An extremely frustrating, but fun game, where any errors are your own fault and not the game. Deviously designed courses with some great gravitational effects on later planets make for a game that will keep you playing for a long time. The added polish of the crisp graphics/smooth animation and speech effects round off a great release.

….AND THE WINNER IS!

It is with great pleasure that we announce Galencia, by Jason Aldred and Team Galencia as the 2017 Commodore 64 Game of the Year, as voted by the Reset Magazine staff & contributors. A worthy winner, Galencia oozes quality from a coding perspective, as well as featuring the highest quality aesthetics and super addictive gameplay. It’s the perfect all rounder. The physical edition from Protovision was stunning and extremely high quality, everything from the beautiful art, labels, feelies, posters and that lovely green cartridge! Galencia also achieved the highest number of individual votes in this count and was a hot topic of discussion on social media and retro gaming forums for much of 2017.

Congratulations to Jason, the rest of Team Galencia and Protovision on your achievement!

image source: Jason Aldred & Protovision

Final Standings:
– Galencia (Protovision)
– Planet Golf (Psytronik/RGCD)
– Sam’s Journey (Protovision)
– LuftrauserZ (RGCD), The Bear Essentials (Pond Software)
– Rescuing Orc (Poly.Play)
– Argus (Psytronik)
– Slipstream (Psytronik)
– Frogs (Dr. Wuro Industries), Planet X2 (The 8-Bit Guy)

Honourable Mentions:
Platman Worlds (Psytronik), Sleepwalker (Psytronik), Petunia Pickle’s Pumpkin Preview (Pond Software).

 

Crawl Review – Nintendo Switch

By

Crawl is an innovative and refreshing take on an indie dungeon crawler; your friends are your enemies. Up to a group of 4 players can play together locally (AI replaces the other 3 in single player) and as the human player moves through each room and each level (reminiscent of Diablo), every object/trap/monster summoning circle can be manipulated by your 3 ghostly friends to bring about your demise so they can take your place as the human. The aim being to become the first player to get to level 10 as human so they can tackle the final boss (which is also controlled by the other 3 players).

Mutually inclusive levelling mechanics along with upgradeable monsters and purchasable weapons/items (there is a safe-room like shop on every level to provide some much required reprieve) adds depth to the game so that it’s not simply about who can be human for as long as possible; it is imperative to be powerful both as ghost and human to give you the best shot at making it to the final boss first. There is a deeper level of strategy involved here that I feel would be advantageous to the players who can best exploit them.

From the moment you boot up the game, where it asks you to ‘insert coin’ rather than the ubiquitous ‘press any key’, to the hectic race to level 10 to the exhilarating final boss battle, Crawl is wonderfully retro and a joy to behold. The pixelated graphics brings back memories of classic beat’em ups whilst the cheesy announcer and pumping music reminds of the best of the 90s era arcade games. It is also punishingly difficult; you are supposed to die…a lot, as foreshadowed by the introduction, where you are pitted against powerful monsters with impossible odds of survival.

A typical session may only last 15 to 30 minutes, however with randomly generated dungeons and the frantic moment to moment gameplay, each round is refreshing and getting to the end is often greeted with a sense of achievement and relief at the same time; I beat the boss with what must have been the last sliver of health left on my first try.

I played the review copy of Crawl on the Nintendo Switch (scheduled for released tomorrow – 19th of December), and the game is perfectly suited to the system with the joy cons enabling easy local multiplayer and further solidifies Nintendo’s focus on quality indie games with the Switch system.

Crawl is not a game for everyone, however if you have a few mates around and enjoy a fun retro inspired local multiplayer game (at time of writing there wasn’t any online multiplayer features), then Crawl is an easy recommendation.

Release Date: December 19, 2017
Price: $19.99 AUD, $14.99 USD,  €14,99 EU, £12.99 GBP

*Crawl was supplied for review by Powerhoof

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House
House plays pretty much anything and everything but has almost time for nothing. A devout beat’em up fan, House enjoys a round of captain commando every now and then and can never forget spending hours in dark arcades playing warriors of fate after school. Oh yeah, his favourite console of all time is the original Famicom!