CONTENTS

- Title Page

- Editorial

- Reader’s Comments

- NEWS

- Sceneworld Issue 17 Released

- Vandalism News #57 Released

- Amiga Power Website Revamp

- Amiganoid 2011

- Snapshotter Update

- Swamp Defense - Demo available for AmigaOS 4.1

- Aladdin 4D 6.0 Beta Testers Wanted

- The SEUCK Vault - Updated

- Ultimate Mag Archive update

- Timberwolf Progress Update

- A-EON Updates

- ACE128 Operating System Update

- SID Recreated

- Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever and C64 Forever 2012

- Jim Slim Music

- PCI Bus Support In NetBSD/Amiga

- CSDB Random Release For Android

- Review: Forgotten Forest

- VicDoom

- The Keep — A game for the unexpanded Vic 20

- Interview With NAFCOM From PoL

- Review: Edge Grinder

Editor

Nigel Parker

Spell Checking

Peter Badrick

Text, HTML & eBook Conversion

Paul Davis

D64 Disk Image

Al Jackson

PDF Design

Nigel Parker

Website

www.commodorefree.com

Email Address

commodorefree@commodorefree.com

Submissions

Articles are always wanted for the magazine. Contact us for details. We can’t pay you for your efforts but you are safe in the knowledge that you have passed on details that will interest other Commodore enthusiasts.

Notices

All materials in this magazine are the property of Commodore Free unless otherwise stated. All copyrights, trademarks, trade names, internet domain names or other similar rights are acknowledged. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission.

The appearance of an advert in the magazine does not necessarily mean that the goods/services advertised are associated with or endorsed by Commodore Free Magazine.

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 Commodore Free Magazine
All Rights Reserved.

Issue 53, August 2011

http://www.commodorefree.com/
Free to download magazine dedicated to Commodore computers

Available as PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ, D64 disk image
and now as ePUB and MOBI e-book

Editorial

What the assembler hack hardcore c programming is going on!

Doom on the Vic 20 who would be dedicated to such a project?

Well ok its not really doom; but it is a first person shoot-em-up with monsters and doors, Impossible that hardware can’t cope the logic doesn’t add up, it will burn up on re entry; there isn’t enough processing power, captain I canny get a fix.

Well after everyone said it couldn’t be done, here we are with 2 previews of what you could call Doom style games playable on the Memory maxed out Vic 20. In this issue we also have a link to a prg file that runs the music and very impressive it is too. Furthermore if this is all implemented in a final version for sale, boxed, then I with the hundreds of other Vic users will be fighting my way to the front of the virtual queue; battling out to pay hard earned cash for such a visual treat for my Vic. A superb effort (although I will also need to factor in a memory expansion pack larger that the one I currently own)

Heck if that’s not enough to write a full magazine about I don’t know what is!

But wait! we have more, come in close the door, take a comfy seat and a really hot strong cup of beverage, take a deep breath; because we have much more in this rather late issue of Commodore Free.

I wonder if I should drop the months listed on the issue, and just have the magazine with an issue number, as I sit here writing this text its now very late at night on the 31st of August and as this is supposed to be an August issue release; then I am once again guilty of letting real life get in my way as being a pretend editor for a Commodore fanzine magazine, so again forgive the late issue.

We have in the issue an interview with “NAFCOM” and find out who he is and what he does and why it is exactly he is called “NAFCOM” and no its nothing to do with Faulty communications equipment, (apparently) but I don’t want to spoil the interview so you need to read on.

We still have the usual sprinkling of the latest gossip hidden in secret messages we call the news section, carefully thrown together on the last day of the month and wait! We have yet more “cool stuff”

- 2 games reviews

- 1 common theme

- And a partridge in a pear tree

Oh did I mention Vic Doom

Yep! Finally after all the editing; I have lost it and need to lie down. Don’t let this put you off reading the magazine though.

Thanks for reading and feel free to let the comments flow, good or bad I would like to hear what you have to say

All the Best

Nigel (pretend editor)

www.commodorefree.com

Reader’s Comments

Hello, Nigel

As there has been many news items on my projects including SCACOM I will soon announce a Computer Collection Vienna (or short CCV) this has a new design update and I'm very proud of it.

Parts also available in English - check out here:

http://scacom.bplaced.net/Collection/index.php (German, full)
http://scacom.bplaced.net/Collection/indexen.php (English, parts)

I have included a picture in attachment named "ccvad.jpg", maybe you could or would want to use it in your next Commodore Free? I sure I could make an English one and send it to you if this would be possible.

(Editor: Sure sounds great)

SCACOM Aktuell (The German) magazine is now at number 22, and will get a new design update as you can see in the attached jpg named "scacom22_cusa" and some other pages you can see here:

http://scacom.bplaced.net/scacomakt/scacomprev.png

This is just an preview, the new issue will be available in next few days.

(Editor: Wow looks very professional)

I will announce some news on the project later, and I will send it to you (translated into English), you then can give it away with the next Commodore Free issue if you like to.

Keep up the good work on Commodore Free, thanks for this project and your hard work. Thanks for giving news on my SCACOM project, I also mentioned Commodore Free in the SCACOM Aktuell issues.

Finally thanks, and am looking forward to your answer. You will receive more info soon,

Regards,
Stefan Egger

www.computer-collection.at.tc
Computer Collection Vienna

COMMODORE FREE: Wow you seem to be working hard, Sure I would be glad to give away the English version with Commodore Free, now you have stepped up the design style and have made Commodore Free look more shabby than it already was, Great work, thanks for the feed back.

NEWS

Sceneworld Issue 17 Released

http://sceneworld.c64files.com/
http://sceneworld.c64files.com/issue_17.php

"Scene World" is a Commodore 64 magazine on disk dedicated to various activities of both C64 scenes. "Both" means, that we are supplying information and text of both scenes; NTSC and PAL.

From this it follows that our magazine runs on all C64 and C128, and doesn't matter which broadcast standard your country uses. Our aim is, to provide you a free and hopefully cool C64 magazine.

We are switching to three issues a year, released on the first weekend in April, August and December. Deadline for submissions is the start of the month before - March, July and November.

You can download all the latest issues by navigating to http://sceneworld.c64files.com/issue_17.php

You will also find all downloads & credits!

(also contains World Music #3, a collection of music from the issues #11 - #17 of SWO)

Scene world Issue 17 Contents

- Editorial

- SWO Info

- Feedback

News

- News

Party Scene

- HomeCon VII (by Finchy and Nafcom)

- Riverwash (By V12)

- X2010 Report (By Lolita)

- X2010 Results

- Past Events

Opinions

- Website Reviews (by Merman)

- Commie Users (By Lord Ronin)

PAL Scene

- R3play (By Merman)

- Addresses

NTSC Scene

- NTSC News

- EEEC Report (By Fuzz)

- MR. Wax "Death" (By Wanderer)

- ACUG Commie Use (By Lord Ronin)

- Orycon And C (By Lord Ronin)

PC Scene

- HDD Interview (By IQ-Dna)

- IRC Revisited (By Lord Ronin)

Games

- Game News

- Game Reviews (By Richard)

- Games Programming - Part 1 (By Richard)

- Kaizen Interview (By Nafcom)

Charts

- Charts

Vandalism News #57 Released

The Commodore 64 Disk magazine Vandalism news has now reached issue 57, and is available for download, and you can obtain an issue from the Website

http://www.atlantis-prophecy.org/onslaught/magazines.html

Or CSDB

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/99326/vandalismnews57.zip

Amiga Power Website Revamp

The French language website, “Amiga power” has recently received a revamp, you can view the website and find out more by entering the following URL in your preferred browser

http://amigapower.free.fr/main.html

Amiganoid 2011

The "Amiganoid 2011" will be held on 9/17/2011 from 10 in Room 154 in the "Unperfekthaus" Essen Germany.

The event will feature Aros, Icaros, Broadway, and the right hardware. Also welcome are AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS and of course "real" Amigas

You can have a look at the room here:

http://www.unperfekthaus.de/angebote/154

The event will be free, but the "Unperfekthaus" takes a bit money: For 5 hours 6,50 EUR, 10 EUR for the whole day. This includes all beverages ("flat"). In addition, there is little money for a superb buffet. In addition to our event, there are a lot more to discover Unperfekthaus: http://www.unperfekthaus.de/

Snapshotter Update

New Snapshoter version for AmigaOS 3/4 AROS WarpOS and MorphOS

Snapshoter updated to 1.6.4 (30-07-2011)

Working a lot better under AmigaOS4 and MorphOS, solve some bugs, and add some new features, here is the change log:

http://www.youtube.com/user/xabierpayet videos of some features of Snapshoter working

v.1.6.4

- Fixed problem exporting JPEG images

- Old message changed stored*export when you press left mouse button over any thumbnail to export.

- Less weight JPEG images

- All the Languages updated

- Improved drag n drop support

- Fixed problem with any file extensions and drag n drop.

- Added Right mouse button over SCALE and ROTATE buttons in collage to change only 1 degree, position per click.

- Added Right mouse button over Rotate 45 button to rotate to Right.

- Now is possible select the Layer to place it pressing the Space Bar

- Repaired bug with sticky mouse over scale and rotate icons in the collage mode.

- Fixed problem with thumbs.db under Windows XP

- Better performance

more information and downloads are available from her: www.xabierpayet.com

Swamp Defense - Demo available for AmigaOS 4.1

Swamp Defense is a tower defence game. It is a complete self made development and highly optimized for Amiga OS 4.1 based computers with Radeon cards. It also works on classic Amigas with Radeon graphics cards.

The game engine is scalable and is optimized for 1920x1080 pixels screen size (should work on AOne and Sam460 in this Resolution).

The full version will be available within the next weeks for 20,-€ and includes following features:

- 15 unlock able maps (gets more maps after release)

- 8 types of enemies

- endless waves after unlocking the maps (if you are good enough)

- connection to amiboing.de for High score, Statistics and Achievements

- HD gaming experience (graphics optimized for 1080p)

- River Pirates is coming this year as second defense game and it is included in license of Swamp Defense

Download Demo:

http://amiboing.de/gameDetail.php?id=11

Additional game info´s and How to Play:

http://amiboing.de/games/swampDefense/

Aladdin 4D 6.0 Beta Testers Wanted

We are searching for a few great 3D Amiga artists. We need help beta testing Aladdin 4D 6.0 first on Mac OS X, then other operating systems including Amiga OS 4.x, MorphOS and AROS. Experience in other 3D animation packages is a plus. Experience creating 3D objects is a double plus. Please be ready to show examples of your work. You don't get paid for beta testing but you do get beta and final versions of Aladdin 4D 6.x for free. Please contact us via the link below.

http://www.discreetfx.com/contact.html

More information about Aladdin 4D is available via the link below.

http://aladdin4d.com/

Best regards

DiscreetFX

The SEUCK Vault - Updated

Another C64 update (after a recent large batch of Amiga games was also added to the site):

- The Shadows of Innsmouth by Anthony Burns

- Nyaaaah! 15th Anniversary by Richard Bayliss

- games from Carl Mason and Tim Ager, including Strike School, VIOS and Bottom

- two special ZIP files with over 200 SEUCK games trained by Martin Pugh

http://www.seuckvault.co.uk

Ultimate Mag Archive update

The Ultimate C64 Scene Mags Archive is the most comprehensive collection of magazines from the illusive yet dominate C64 scene underground. The new update includes 1GB of new disk and paper magazines, including some bug-fixed releases! http://mags.c64.org

Timberwolf Progress Update

http://www.amigabounty.net/?function...4&historyid=53

Thomas Frieden posted a status update for the porting of Firefox to Amiga OS 4.1.

Text:

I'm aware that we have been quiet lately, but don't worry, there's been work going on, and Timberwolf is making progress.

The 4.0 code base of Firefox now fully builds and a prototype implementation of the new rendering code was implemented, based on the old rendering code.

Instead of "fixing" the old code, though, we opted for a complete rewrite, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the old code became really bad with time (the usual thing that happens with experimental code). Secondly, re-implementing it all would get rid of any artefacts in the code that were still necessary in the 3.5 source tree. Basically, it's a clean start.

With the information gathered in the previous effort, it only took me a few hours to rewrite the skeleton for the widgets module. This does not include the rendering code yet. This will be up next, right after fixing a few outstanding bugs that cause crashes on exit.

In the process of porting the 4.0 base, we also ported a new version of sqlite. We'll release that in the near future (when I find the time, if you need it up front, drop me a mail).

I'm usually quite bad at predicting how long things will take (Actually, precisely "when it's done", of course), but I hope to have the rendering code in the course of the next two to three weeks (depending on how much time I have for working on the project). We will release a new pre-release version as soon as we have something that can be remotely used.

We also wish to take the opportunity to thank all of those that supported us, and apologize for the long stretches of silence. We're still at work, and although progress is slow, we'll eventually get there.

Created by: tfrieden

A-EON Updates

The "Golden" Child - Nemo revision 2.1

A-EON Technology is pleased to announce that the Nemo revision 2.1 "gold" motherboard has passed inspection and full production of boards destined for the AmigaOne X1000 beta-test team is now underway. AmigaKit, the official distributor of the A1-X1000, will take delivery of the first batch of boards from Varisys next week and will begin shipments to team members shortly after.

Link: Video of Nemo revision 2.1 motherboard in production -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceePT8mOguM

In other good news Steven Solie, the AmigaOS Development Team Leader, has confirmed that AmigaOS4.2, the latest version of the Amiga Operating System will be released with the AmigaOne X1000.

Link: http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/

Let's "Keep this party going!"

The AmigaOne X1000 is not like other computers. It is the natural evolution of the Amiga's PowerPC lineage and is a culmination of efforts by real Amiga enthusiasts, developers and beta-testers to create powerful, modern desktop hardware for the Amiga Operating System.

Please visit the A-EON Technology website at http://www.a-eon.com for more details.

ACE128 Operating System Update

Requirements

- Commodore 128(D)(CR)

- 64kB VDC RAM

- RAM Expansion at least 512kB

- floppy disk drive

- mass storage device at least 16MB

- RGBI display

- composite display*

- printer*

- Nic*

- keyboard

- mouse (or other input device)(*optional)

Hardware support

Main Computer:

- Commodore 128 VDC 64kB

- Commodore 128D VDC 64kB

- Commodore 128DCR VDC 64kB

Output Devices:

- composite monitor

- RGBI monitor

- printer (also Centronics interface)

Input Devices:

- keyboard

- joystick

- mouse

- lightpen

- trackball

- touchpad

- paddles (for games)

- lightgun (for games)

- Suncom Icontroller

- Serial Mouse Interface (Commodore 1351 compatible)

- 64HDD PC-mouse (Commodore 1351 compatible)

- Mycromys V3

- 4 Player interface*

Storage:

- disk drive Commodore 1001

- disk drive Commodore 1541 / compatible

- disk drive Commodore 1570

- disk drive Commodore 1571

- disk drive Commodore 1571CR

- disk drive Commodore 1581

- CMD-FD Series

- CMD-HD Series

- CMD RAMLink

- IEC-ATA V2 (not as device for installing system)

- SD2IEC

- MMC2IEC*

- µIEC/SD

- µIEC/IDE+CF

CMD Support:

- CMD FD Series

- CMD HD series

- CMD JiffyDOS

- CMD SuperCPU128

- CMD RAMLink

- CMD RAMDrive

- CMD SmartMouse

- CMD SmartTrack

- CMD SwiftLink

- CMD Turbo232

- CMD 1750

- CMD 1750XL

- CMD SID Symphony Stereo

REU:

- REU 1700 128kB

- REU 1750 512kB

- REU 1764 256kB

- CMD 1750 512kB

- CMD 1750XL 2MB

- GeoRAM

- NeoRAM

- BBGRAM (Battery Backed up GeoRAM)

- GeoCART

Ethernet / Transfer:

- 64NIC+ (RR-Net compatible)

- RR-Net old

- RR-Net New

- Comet64

- ETH64 (Ethernet64)

- FB-NET (RR-Net compatible)

- SilverSurfer (RS-232 card)

- TFE (The Final Ethernet)

- CMD SwiftLink

- CMD Turbo232

RTC:

- 64HDD (software)

- CMD RAMLink

- CMD FD-2000

- CMD FD-4000

- CMD HD

- CMD SmartMOUSE

- CMD SmartTRACK

- SD2IEC

- µIEC/SD

- µIEC/IDE+CF

- RTC64*

- BB-Real Time Clock*

- GeoCART

- The Right Time*

- Clock Calendar Cartridge*

- Dallas Smartwatch

- Dallas RTC IC DS12C887*

Additional:

- Datassette

- CassAdapt

- DVD/CD drives

- EPROMMER*

PC Software:

- 64HDD Freeware / Professional

- DriveGhost

- WarpCopy 0.6

(*not sure if will be possible at least the test)

Current state

Updated: June, 15, 2011

OS status: in development

Current work:

- Window drawing & handling

- Keyboard handling

- Desktop validating

- BIOS upgrade

Done:

- ACE128ICE 2.0

- Pointer handling

- Icons handling

- VDCImage utility

SID Recreated

I was sent these two links by a reader with the title SID recreated but nothing more about the project!

The second link to VISIAL6502.ORG has some very highly details pictures of the Sid chip as seen through a microscope the individual parts were then stitched together to form a picture, you need to see it on the website as its to large to print really Here is a small version though for the people who don’t have internet access

http://www.swinkels.tvtom.pl/swinsid/

http://visual6502.org/images/pages/Commodore_8580_SID.html

The first website SWINKELS (nothing like doing things in reverse order) Is interesting here are the specifications

Features of SwinSID X2:

- Two AVR cores for double performance (48 MIPS)

- Two SID chip emulation

- Nearly full software compatibility with SID

- 6 voices

- 2 oscillators per voice with adjustable phase and mixing mode

- 16 waveforms stored in flash ROM

- Exponential ADSR volume fades without envelope bug

- White noise generator with pitch regulation

- FM modulation between voices

- Hard sync modulation

- Built-in socket for optional SID chip

- Low pass filter with self-oscillating resonance

- Standard 4 bit sample playback as 4th voice

- Extended sample playback mode (6 channels x 8 bit)

- 2x oversampling to minimize aliasing effect

- 16 bit mixing and output

- 31,25 KHz sampling rate

The site states that this project is a direct replacement for the Sid chip and will fit as a direct replacement into the SID chip socket on the Commodore 64, emulating a Sid.

More information when I have time for a full read up on the project, Does sound very interesting indeed though.

Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever and C64 Forever 2012

August 26, 2011 - Cloanto released today Amiga Forever 2012 (http://www.amigaforever.com) and C64 Forever 2012 (http://www.c64forever.com) , the latest versions of the award-winning Commodore-Amiga preservation, emulation and support suites for Windows.

By adding powerful content authoring and integration functionality, Amiga Forever and C64 Forever 2012 close the circle between gaming, productivity and preservation of digital culture while adding new features and providing easier access to a universe of free and legal downloads.

The new versions build on a powerful synergy of original components:

- RP9 file format, which is a compressed cross-platform archive containing media images, configuration, description and ancillary data, developed by Cloanto

- RetroPlatform Player and API to interface with different emulation plugins

- Cloanto's unique portfolio of ROM and OS licenses

The new packages can emulate the full range of 8-bit (C64, VIC 20, PET/CBM, etc.) and 16/32-bit systems (Amiga, CDTV, etc.) using an intuitive media player-like interface. The advanced RP9 authoring functionality sets new references in preserving and making accessible digital culture from the 1980s and 1990s. Content created or edited with the Windows software can be played back on other systems, including mobile devices (in part under development).

The 2012 versions not only include hundreds of software enhancements, but also add content of historical interest, like new interviews with Amiga legends Robert J. Mical and Dave Haynie, also with HD-quality video footage.

Amiga Forever 2012 is available now in three editions:

- Value Edition (downloadable installer for Windows systems)

- Plus Edition (downloadable ISO image with additional Windows and platform-neutral content)

- Premium Edition (physical Plus Edition content plus additional videos on 3 DVDs)

C64 Forever 2012 is available now in three editions:

- Free Express Edition (feature-limited version)

- Downloadable Plus Edition (downloadable installer plus CD ISO image)

- Boxed Plus Edition (downloadable Plus Edition content plus boxed CD)

Amiga Forever and C64 Forever passed official Windows 7 logo tests on both x86 and x64 systems. Prices for both Amiga Forever and C64 Forever start from $9.95 (special upgrade offers).

For more information:

Press Release with Graphics and Links

http://www.amigaforever.com/news-events/af-2012/

Jim Slim Music

PROTOVISIONS latest game release Jim Slim where you control a round red character through various platform adventures has had a music release!

Enjoy this sonic Delight by clicking on one of the downloads below, then show your appreciation by purchasing the game.

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/index.php?id=101598
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/99125/JIM_SLIM_SONGS.D64
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/99159/Jim_Slim_Music_Demo.sid

PCI Bus Support In NetBSD/Amiga

Basic support for PCI bus support was committed in -current, along with the driver for Phase5 PCI bridge, present on CyberVision PPC and BlizzardVision PPC cards. Source: http://www.netbsd.org/ports/amiga/ .

Interested users will be able to download the "bleeding edge" system builds, with PCI support from:

http://releng.netbsd.org/

Currently drivers for Prometheus PCI are being written. Stable PCI bus support will be included in the upcoming NetBSD 6.0 release.

CSDB Random Release For Android

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=101667&rss

What is it?

It's just a simple little fun android app that connects to the CSDB web service and grabs a random release, showing some basic info (Name, Rating, Type and year) and the screenshot.

What are the requirements?

You need an Android device (Obviously) and it must have connectivity to get to the web service and send emails.

The applications has developed and been tested on my LG Optimus.

There is only portrait orientation. And the developer has no idea what its going to look like on a bigger screen.

How do I use it?

It's simple, just press the little "Get One"(the cassette) button to get a release. If you like it, you can press the email button (The envelope) to send a link to your email address) If you want to go back (just one release) you can click the blue back-arrow button.

Why is there a cool down timer?

People don’t like it when you hit their web-services too hard and might block you. So the application has a cool down timer to try to control load.

How do I change the Email address?

Press the menu button on your device.

Why won't the email work?

I'm using the default email activity, if that works it should work in my app, if not, no idea :(

Review: Forgotten Forest

By Commodore Free

In the dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house, in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room, and in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard, and in the dark, dark cupboard was a really bright light, you move slowly and tentatively to the light and suddenly; everything goes black, you slip and fall!

Well you get the basic idea there, not sure where I was actually headed with that text, still it’s all over now!

Released for the Sideways SEUCK Compo 2011

Forgotten Forest is rather surprisingly a sideways SEUCK game, you play there hero lost in a forest doomed to the elements, fighting for survival against all manner of beasts, with only a gun to save you from natures ravaging daemons of peril.

The tape version has the usual SEUCK Compo 2011 loading screen and music, Once the game loads you are given a brief title screen. Quite nice Scary forest type music plays on the title screen, with discordant sounds, setting the game up well, as it builds up into some sort of techno music, which doesn’t seem to fit the them of the game at all.

Your job is basically to master and tame the forest and find the treasure, you can walk left and right and shoot left right and diagonally walking left and pressing down causes you to crouch down.

Pressing fire and launching the game sees our man bottom middle of the screen, with our hero and his flame blowing gun, move in a direction and press fire to blast out killer erm flame thingys , you need to walk left here on the main screen, and more creatures will appear, some on webs some running over the floor, it does get very hectic and fast action is abundant, something unusual for a SEUCK game.

Just to show I am not actually totally rubbish at playing games I made it to level 2, here I am being attacked by some killer massive mutating bees, same thing different graphics , the animation on the bees is quite good and the movement how they suddenly lurch from a hovering point and then follow you, seems very bee like!

For a SEUCK its very good indeed, it does have a one more go feel you expect from a good game, and as you move to the bees the levels toughness increases just enough, sadly my playing skills wouldn’t let me beat this level, but that’s me not the game.

Nicely thought out action, and great sprites the forest backgrounds look really good, with all the action it sometimes escapes me to duck rather then try my shooting skills, that do seem rather poor. With some in game music and tweaking this could easily be worthy of a commercial release on it own right and if it were to be commercially released then I would purchase a copy. It’s always interesting how the SEUCK engine can be used to create very original looking games. Although sadly the engines limitations mean the games will never make exceptional titles (not without some inward tweaking of code), or unless as some have done they are enhanced with “tweaking” by using extras it’s a great effort and well though out

Credits:

Code: Chris Yates / Jon Wells
Music: Richard of Blazon, Scene World Magazine, The New Dimension
Graphics: Alf Yngve
Design: Alf Yngve
Loader: Martin Piper

Download:

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/98165/Forgotten_Forest_DISK.d64
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/98163/Forgotten_Forest.zip
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/98164/Forgotten_Forest_TAPE.tap

Score:

Graphics: 6/10
Music: 4/10 Just in game sounds and the tape loading screen
Gameplay: 6/10

Overall: 6/10

VicDoom

It had to happen, the impossible now made possible, the unthinkable has been re-thunked!

Of course; it was only a matter of time, and now that time has passed, some genius has ported DOOM now to the VIC-20! Well, ok, don’t get to excited (although it’s a great achievement) you have to work within the machines limitations. This version needs to have quite a large memory expansion pack, and playing it with WinVice I had to setup 40k, to play the game demo

To setup the Vice emulator you need to run vice

In a windowed environment you do this by starting start XVIC

Then click on the SETTINGS option and then the VIC settings options

Then select FULL BLOCKS 0/1/2/3/5

Then perform a reset of the emulator using the keyboard shortcut keys using

ALT + R

You should see (if everything has worked) the memory goes up from 3583 Bytes Free

To 28159 Bytes Free

You can now drag the file into vice to run it or Mount the D64 click

FILE then click ATTACH DISK IMAGE

Select drive 8 And navigate to where the file was downloaded from

Pixelled and coded by Denial member Kweepa this first person shooter runs in 32×64 pixels. The games frame rate is about 3 or 5 frames per second, so the tech sheet says. There is a map to view your progress in the game and sound and music is planned, although memory requirements even with the Expansion are high.The Code is a mixture of C and some assembly language.

To download the files you need to look here

https://github.com/Kweepa/vicdoom

Click on the GREEN DOWNLOAD button and select ZIP file, this contains all the source files and also the latest D64 disk image to try out, you need to hunt around the downloaded zip file for the d64 but its in there, unless you want to compile your own version.

If you click this link Kweepa has some test music that sounds amazing on the Vic, very DOOM but as stated, memory requirements are so tight it couldn’t be included, just yet!

http://www.kweepa.com/step/vic20/doom/testmusic.prg

Because the memory requirements are so high its prevented me trying the game on a real Vic, (I didn’t have a large enough memory expansion card) so I had to use emulation, the frame rate sadly lets the game down, however we must remember this is a work in progress and so as such isn’t a finished item, some interesting Doom style elements have been implemented like the guys face that animates.

Documentations says the keys needed to play the game are

1234 — SELECT WEAPON
TAB — MAP
FIRE — W
A S D — MOVE
J L — TURN
K — USE

Although while playing I found

S moves back
W moves forward
A D move left right
I Fire key
K Open door

The game does have “aliens” that move round and can shoot you, and you can shoot them

As a “preview” it’s looking pretty good and of course who doesn’t have a soft spot for the Vic

As the Vic was my first Computer and I still have the original packing and datasette, I do feel an affection towards the machine, at the time it was such a breakthrough

The Keep

A game for the unexpanded Vic 20

Just like buses that come in three, here is a second game in the Doom style for the UNEXPANDED VIC!

From the same coder we have a version running on the unexpanded Vic 20, this version doesn’t have any monsters, and here you are up against a timer to find the keys to get to the next level. Its all fast paced, zoom around looking for keys and exits before the time runs out (lamp) then you make your way to the next level to find more keys, lots going on very fast paced. The game has a map so you know where you are and where you need to go. Another great effort on the Vic

Don’t have a Vic head to here and watch a short demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_lPwASqyU

Information from the Programmer

Make your way to floor 256 before your lamp expires!

Choose from a fixed series of maps, or random maps.

Keys

W, A, S, D — move
J, L — turn
I — map

Joystick

Directions — move
Fire — map

http://www.kweepa.com/step/vic20/thekeep.prg

Enjoy!
Kweepa

Follow the progress on the denial forum here

http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5262

Interview With NAFCOM From PoL

By Commodore Free

Q. Please introduce yourself to our readers

Hello and welcome, I am Joerg Droege from Germany. Being active in the scene since 1998, as organizer for my own group, magazine and testing games.

Q. How may our reader recognise you, what Commodore projects have you worked on

I have been running up and down all golden cracking groups asking them to release a fixed version of Outrun Europa, (which's music playing routine is awful and damaged) for years, until I found Hokuto Force to do it with me. I got all the people together, some were no more than demo sceners and involved in cracks, and we released the best version out there :)

I am also organizer of a magazine on diskette called "Scene World"; the special thing here is that we focus on covering the NTSC scene as well as the PAL scene, and assure that the magazines runs perfectly on NTSC as well. Also we included IDE64 support (latest magsys version does autodetect that). Furthermore I worked for a short period of time for magazines like Digital Talk and Arachnophobia (which was my fave diskmag and is now unfortunately pretty dead).

Q. The handle Nafcom where did this come from

That's quick to tell:

Using the reverse of "fan", and taking the first 3 letter of "Commodore" equals "Nafcom"! :)

Q. You are one of the founding members of POL, who or what is POL and what does it stand for. How was POL formed, and what was the reason for the groups formation

P.o.L. was founded back in February by Silverfox, Diabolo and myself as "Power of Lamers" to prove to the scene that you can also release something if you are not part of the elite.

We released a magazine written in Basic, called "Pulp", that was German and was pretty advanced even for something being just written in BASIC.

Later on, Silverfox lost interested in his own group and quit, while I took over to turn into an international group. I always had the idea to release something that would get the NTSC and PAL sceners work together, and since Driven back then (and now again) was dead already, the NTSC scene had no magazine on disk anymore. I was up there to fill the gab.

We renamed ourselves to "People of Liberty" and all members are friends I knew from other groups. We found the idea was cool and so we united and released something!

Q. Can you list the current members

(inactive members not included)

- Black (7/1-2004 -> ) .... Coder

- Crome (29/3-2001 -> ) .... Musician

- Drake (9/6-2001 -> ) .... Diskmag Editor, Graphician

- IQ-Dna (30/4-2004 -> ) .... Diskmag Editor

- Megatron (12-1999 -> ) .... Cover Designer, Graphician

- Nafcom (2-1999 -> ) .... Diskmag Editor, Organizer, Webmaster

- The Overkiller (4/4-2002 -> ) .... Diskmag Editor, Net Trader, Public Relations Manager

Q. Can you explain what this Disk based magazine is and how would our reader obtain a copy

It's about converting NTSC and PAL related news. That includes also games news, PC related news that is connected to the C64 (e.g. emulator news, etc). The magazine runs on any C64 out there (hence the term Disk Magazine), even on emulators and special hardware like the IDE64.

Another cool thing is: you can control it with a joystick, the keyboard or a 1531 mouse!

You can obtain a copy by downloading from the internet on various sources like the C64 Scene Database, Pouet or from our homepage at www.sceneworld.c64 .

I will also be nice and send you a copy on real disk if you send me a letter or email:
nafcom@c64.org

Q. One prolific writer won a competition in SCENE World magazine I think it was me! Ah yes it was, How can a reader contribute to Scene world magazine, and do you feel we are in competition with each other I.e. C= Free and Scene World

Indeed that was you Nigel! :)

No, we are not in competition. Neither with the various diskmags or among each other, nor even with the papermags, may they be free or commercial. In fact a co-operation is always welcome! We had co-operations with LoadStar and the GO64! Magazine for example.

Q. Why did you feel there was a need for the Disk magazine Scene World

I didn't like the fact that the NTSC scene was not involved in what is happening in PAL land, and the other way round! Also Driven is dead, so there has to be somebody filing the gap!

Q. How often are the issues released, and the magazine took a break for some time can you explain what circumstances caused this?

Back in 2005, we have been on the top of the diskmag charts on 2 magazines (Arachnophobia and Vandalism News, I believe), despite certain sceners always nagging on us saying we are sooooo cheesy. Demotivated by the negative comments over the years, we decided to stop it.

When I visited Andrew last year, we decided we grab all we have from 2005 and release ONE >FINAL issue. The feedback on this one has been so positive that we decided to continue :)

Q. Do you work to a deadline or just when you have enough text to produce a copy?

We work per deadline, even though personal issues of some editing staff members (including myself) sometimes cause delays but that's no biggie, I mean there are no "timely" diskmags anymore, but the latest issue we just released today is hopefully a new step to more steady releases. We have been re-organizing ourselves, so we should be making progress here :)

Q. If our reader wanted to join POL how would they, and what talents are needed in the group

Coders and graphicians are people we need more of, so we could release maybe even some demos!
We work this way:

We arrange what is still needed to release production X and then it's up to everybody's own creativity what the end result looks like, It might be unique and questionable for some but hey, so far it worked well and this way we support individual skills and creativity :)

Q. Commodore Free has been criticized for not being "elite" i.e. I try to cater for all users and all levels have you had similar problems with Scene world

We had the exact same feedback coming from the PAL scene. While the NTSC scene welcomed us with open arms , the PAL sceners often criticized us for not being "demoescene exclusively".

This has changed a lot, probably by people realizing we need to work together more and be one Scene World (heeh). The atmosphere changed a lot to the more positive and people asked us more and more when the next issue will be released :)

Q. Do you feel the Commodore world has an "exclusion zone"

It might have had in the past, but this zone is getting smaller all the time.

Q. Finally you are trapped on a desert island that has power and a commodore 64 and monitor, tape and disk drive to keep you sane. You have been allowed to take 10 disks with programmes on them (only 1 program per disk though), what programmes are they and can you explain the reasons for taking them with you.

A track copier program, if I want to copy one of the 10 disks to another one, you never know, sometimes desert islands aren't so desert ;)

Power Drift, because it's an awesome racer!

Scene World #10 - one of the best issues we released so far!

Outrun Europa as I think it's the best arcade racing game on the C64!

Q. Do you have any other comments you would like to add

Concentrate on teamwork, not working against each other!

Thanks for your interest in my work on the C64 and its scene!

Review: Edge Grinder

By Commodore Free

Now available from Retro Gamer CD as a 16k cartridge (although the current batch as of this text was out of stock) more details of the cartridge are available her http://www.rgcd.co.uk/

And you can see a demo being played on YouTube her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXtt974Iofk

The game has been coded by Jason T.M.R. Kelk , the graphics and maps are by Trevor Smila storey with music by Sean Odie Connolly

Cosine will not be releasing the .PRG or .D64 version of Edge Grinder officially until STE'86completes a loading screen - so until then it will remain a cartridge exclusive release. Once released by Cosine the game will be a free download

Edge Grinder is the first Format War "Collaboration" where programmers on other 8-bits to consider ways to convert it from the C64 to their platform of choice.

The Story

Guide brave test pilot Lim Tandell, flying his prototype spaceship through the artificial Edge World and suddenly finding himself under attack. It becomes Limbo's job to destroy the evil creatures, freeing the world from their tyranny. Along with blowing away enemies and battling through the Edge World itself, Lim Tandell can further boost his score by taking the risk of grinding his ship against the edge of the landscape.

Downloads

C64 object code (16K zipped - updated 2nd August 2011)
C64 source code (28K zipped - updated 2nd August 2011)
Background and sprite data (44K zipped - 2nd August 2011)
In-game map (89.8K PNG - updated 31 May 2011)

Programmers Information

Please note: this is now the final version of the game, the source code might be a little messy but this is the version of the target being released on cartridge by RGCD. The C64 source if formatted for the ACME cross assembler, whilst backgrounds and character sets were constructed using CharPad V1.0 and the sprites with SpritePad V1.8, both by SubChrist Software. The C64 music was composed with the Electronic Music System by Cosine.

Booting up the game (from the format wars website)

We are given the main screen nothing to select so armed with a joystick in port 2 and a smart "Biggles" style headset and an even stronger cup of beverage than I normally would have I press the fire button and am launched into the game. As you can guess this is a sideways scrolling shoot-em up, and someone has just pointed out if you learn the patterns you learn the game!

Music is great good beat but not a heavy techno track as you would expect (yep thank goodness for a change), the music plays and loops on the title screen and through the game with no other sound effects.

The game curve has been handled exceptionally well and you soon get the sweats as you progress further and further, various aliens and attack formations are greeting the more experienced user.

With Jason handling the coding you expect a certain standard as he seems to be something of a perfectionist, and as a meeting with him where he demoed some code, if it didn’t work he would scrap the code or scrap the idea or both.

Thankfully the game works very well, the scrolling is silky smooth and with just the user having to remember to hit FIRE and kill things, move up down and left and right it’s a none taxing brain game.

Graphically the game works well, superbly drawn sprites and landscapes with just minimal stars in the back ground, it’s easy to pick out the aliens and get them to eat some virtual dirt.

Doesn’t seem to be any “pickups” or bonuses to collect, well not from my flying skills anyway however there are some “sticky” items that hang around, at first I though these were power ups and flew into one, crashing my craft in the process. Incidentally crashing actually works to the players advantage as the ship explodes out some debris that kills everything on screen but keeps moving along, (see the picture) well in reality actually hitting or crashing something alien causes all the aliens to disappear on the screen, giving you some breathing space for the next attack wave

It’s all been done before but excellently executed and packed into 16k,

Graphics: 7/10
Music: 7/10
Playability: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

Mindless destruction of helpless brain dead alien craft! YOU KNOW IT!