To boldy go ... Sub Hunting!

Greetings, Programs!

Here's an interesting little Psytronik related tidbit for ya ... I recently discovered that an "Enterprising" individual (pun intended) had ported Sub Hunter onto the somewhat obscure Elan Enterprise computer! This rather unexpected conversion is based on the amazing Amstrad CPC conversion by Paul Kooistra but has been tweaked for the Enterprise to include elements from the C64 version. So lets fire it up and have a looksee, shall we?


In order to get the Enterprise version of Sub Hunter running on my PC I downloaded a copy of the ep32 emulator. Once the disk image containing the game had been dropped into the emulator I was ready for some Enterprise Sub Hunting ACTION!


As you can see from the picture above the colours on the loading screen are based on the Commodore 64 version. The intro begins with the hi-res Psytronik logo from the CPC version and features an identical intro to the CPC - although the colours of the intro pics have been changed from the CPC sepia shades back to the monochrome C64 style. The nice parallaxed section of the intro is also present and correct and the marvellous intro theme from the CPC version can also be heard in all its glory.


Once the main game has loaded you will see the front-page once again contains elements from the C64 version (the animated bubbles) and the rippling logo reflection is also present. Unfortunately, although the credits for the original Sub Hunter authors (Frank Gasking & Richard Bayliss) are visible there is no mention of the author of the CPC version (Paul Kooistra) on the title page of the game. This is a very annoying oversight as the Enterprise conversion is based on the CPC code! Tut-tut.


Anyhoo, hitting fire launches your Sub into action and you will see straight away that the actual game is almost identical to the Amstrad CPC version of the game. The colours seem to have been toned down slightly which makes seeing the swimmers you have to rescue a bit easier but everything else is pretty much the same as the CPC version (although this version of the game does suffer from slow-down at times).


Aside from a few technical issues and the annoying lack of credit for all the hard work Paul Kooistra put into his CPC version of the game this is a pleasing conversion of Sub Hunter and it's nice to see the game running on another system. It would have been nice if the person responsible for the Enterprise port had contacted Psytronik first as at least I could have ensured that the game contained the correct credits - but apart from that, the Enterprise conversion of Sub Hunter is well worth a look. It's also worth noting that Hervé Monchatre has been helping out with this version of the game and produced specially modified versions of his amazing CPC tunes for the Enterprise version. These sound much better than the glitchy tunes that were present in earlier versions of this port. He also requested that Paul Kooistra was reinstated into the credits scroll in this game - which was duly done. Nice work Hervé!


If you would like to play Sub Hunter on the Enterprise you can get the ep32 emulator HERE and here's a link to a .zip file that contains the disk image of the game:- Sub Hunter Enterprise Version. The .zip file also includes a ReadMe.txt file that contains instructions for loading the game into the ep32 Enterprise Emulator.


Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

More Psytronik goodies on the way!

Hiya gang!

Things have been busier than the Mayor of Busyville on a busy day at the Psytronik HQ recently. I've actually been working on FOUR Psytronik releases simultaneously (eep!) which I'm trying to have finished and released by the end of 2009. The good news is two of the releases are now ready and are now available in the BZ retro store. They are The Wild Bunch (which I talked about in the last blog entry) and the superb VIC-20 RPG package Realms of Quest.

Realms of Quest for the VIC-20 - featuring swords, scorcery, dungeons AND dragons!

And on the subject of Realms of Quest, congratulations from the Psytronik team go to Peter Hamilton from Midlothian who has won himself a rather smart Commodore Computer Club polo-shirt as he was the first person to order the game. Well done to Peter for winning the shirt and our thanks go to the excellent guys at the Commodore Computer Club for donating the shirt.

There was a bit of a delay with the release of the disk version of The Wild bunch as some eagle-eyed gamers spotted a couple of minor bugs in the tape version of the game. These bugs were duly squished by Jon and I'm pleased to say the disk version of the game is now being shipped and the disk features the full and final bug-free version of the game. While Jon was busy fixing the game it gave me a bit of extra time to work on the game artwork. In the end I decided to have the Premium inlays professionally printed in full colour and the inlays also feature the game instructions printed on the inside in full colour too - coooool!

A still from the cool Wild Bunch intro sequence (exclusive to the C64 disk version)

A lot of progress has been made on the stunning PC conversion of Armalyte which is being handled by the heroes known as S-A-S Designs. I'm very pleased to announce that the main game itself has now been finished and is now in the hands of the beta-testers who will be giving the game a serious thrashing (oo-er) before it's unleashed into the universe at large. Smila has sent over a bundle of new screenshots from the PC version of the game for you to drool over:-

Firing some serious weaponry on the Alien-esque second level

Snaffling some power-ups while walkers stomp around beneath

Unleashing some laser-death torpedoes on an end-of-level baddie

Check out those gorgeous background graphics by Smila!

Rampaging through the shiny sparkling crystalline level

Not only will the CD-ROM contain the full PC version of the game but it will also contain some rather tasy bonus extras too. These will include a stunning MIX-E-LOAD demo (inspired by the famous C64 Delta mix-e-load), an Armalyte MUSIC JUKEBOX featuring the fab music from the PC version of the game and a really neat executable slideshow showing the development of the new game artwork.

The brill Armalyte PC Jukebox - just one of the bonus extras included with the game

The CD-ROM will also contain the original C64 version of the game in emulator-friendly form along with assorted other bonus goodies carefully compiled for your entertainment and enjoyment. To pre-order your Armalyte PC CD-ROM head on over to the BZ store.

The final Psytronik Software release for 2009 will be the awesome Amstrad CPC shoot 'em Star Sabre. The game itself is now finished and I've also produced the inlay for the Premium disk version of the game which you can see below:

At long last an Amstrad CPC title has been added to the Psytronik range!

The game will be available on original Amstrad 3" disks and will be compatible with the Amstrad CPC 6128 along with the CPC 464 (as long as you have a disk-drive and memory expansion!) Hopefully the game will be available in the BZ store some time in December 2009.

The Star Sabre loading screen complete with Psytronik logo - groovy!

One final tasty titbit of news for ya. Since I released the Psytronik Premium Range earlier this year I've been literally swamped with a couple of requests (heh!) from people asking if they can buy the plastic 5.25" disk cases from me. The answer to that question is now YES as I've made the replacement cases available in the BZ store (click here for ordering info!)

At last you can replace those busted C64 game cases!

And that's yer lot for now. Keep an eye on www.psytronik.com for more news and info on the latest Psytronik Software releases.

See you ... IN THE FUTURE!

Kenz / www.psytronik.com

There's a snake in my boot!

For a long time now my coding chum Jon Wells has been working on a C64 conversion of the Western adventure game The Wild Bunch. This was originally released waaaay back in 1984 by Firebird Software on the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad. I'm particularly fond of this game as it was one of the first budget titles I bought for my Speccy and I remember having great fun trying to round up members of the Wild Bunch, drinking and gambling in the Saloon and taking part in deadly gunfights (as you do).

Reach for your guns, you blue-faced varmint! (ZX Spectrum)

Jon is also a fan of the game and one of his early coding projects was a C64 conversion of the game. Work on the C64 version ground to a stop and for a long while it looked like the game would never appear on the C64. This was until Jon unearthed some disks in 2008 that contained his unfinished C64 conversion of The Wild Bunch. After an enthusiastic response from Frank 'Games that Weren't' Gasking, Jon decided to continue working on the game. A development diary was put online (which you can read HERE) and after another year of development the C64 version of The Wild Bunch was finally completed in September 2009.

Aaaarrgh! He got me! (C64)

So what does this have to do with Psytronik Software I hear you cry? Well, when Jon decided to finish off his C64 conversion of the game he sent me an email to ask if I would like to help out with the packaging of the game. As I'd had an excellent time working with Jon on various projects back in the 90s I jumped at the chance of working with him again. I produced a full colour tape inlay for the game along with authentic Firebird-style tape labels to go with it. I also put together a Wild Bunch soundtrack CD which contained music from the game (digitally recorded from my C64) along with various other C64 Western style tunes. 25 copies of the CD were then given away in a prize draw to people who pre-ordered the game from Jon.

An early pic of my Wild Bunch C64 inlay.

Once I had produced the tape inlay for Jon I then had an idea. As a bit of an experiment I used the tape inlay template and designed a full colour Psytronik Software inlay for Jon's game Sceptre of Baghdad (which was also the first Psytronik release). I was never happy with the black and white photocopied inlay that the game was presented with back in 1994 so it was really nice to see the game with a proper full colour inlay. When my C64 chums Frank Gasking and Vinny 'C64 Endings' Mainolfi saw the new inlay for Sceptre of Baghdad they urged me to properly re-release the game with the new artwork - and so I did! This led onto the re-release of ALL the Psytronik titles along, the re-release of classic C64 games like Mayhem in Monsterland, Creatures 1 & 2 and Armalyte and of the release of new C64 titles like Sub Hunter and Knight 'n' Grail! So it was the creation of the tape inlay for the C64 version of The Wild Bunch that led to the relaunch of Psytronik Software!

But our story doesn't end there. For the last few weeks I've been secretly beavering away on a special top secret release for Psytronik Software ... I'm very pleased to announce that a Premium Disk Edition of The Wild Bunch will be released by Psytronik in October 2009. Renamed slightly to Wanted: The Wild Bunch the Psytronik disk version will feature a new animated intro and end sequence (not included on the tape version) along with the complete game itself and a brand new bitmap loading screen (drawn in dynamic Kenz-o-Vision)! The game will be presented with full colour glossy artwork and the Premium Edition will also contain FREE copy of the The Wild Bunch soundtrack CD that I mentioned earlier!

The lovely PREMIUM Disk Edition of Wanted:The Wild Bunch!

You can pre-order the tape and Psytronik disk version of the game NOW from the Binary Zone Retrostore. You also order the tape and (very soon) a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD version directly from Jon Wells - click the banner below for details:



And that's yer lot for now, thanks for reading, pardners!

Kenz / www.psytronik.com

New Psytronik website now online!

Greetings blogonauts!

Since the relaunch of Psytronik Software things have gone a bit barmy - so much so in fact it got to the point there simply wasn't room on the Psytronik webpage to include all the info about the new releases. This is probably down to the fact that the Psytronik site began merely as a "history of Psytronik" page hiding within the Binary Zone Interactive website.

Anyhoo, rather than try to cobble info about new releases onto the history page I've been busy working on a shiny new website for Psytronik Software. The end result is now online and is hopefully a bit of an improvement on the old site! At the moment the new site contains all the info from the old Psytronik page - but this time neatly arranged with separate sections devoted to news, releases, history, and press etc. Some sections are still incomplete at the moment but the site will soon be bulging with retro gaming goodliness. Head along to www.psytronik.com to check out the new site.

The new Psytronik site - slicker than the mess dumped in the sea by the Exxon Valdez

So what else has been happening in the weird and wonderful world of Psytronik recently? Firstly, our Summer mega-game Knight 'n' Grail is now ready to be shipped at long last! The final version of the game has been approved by various reviewers and testers and I'll be busy bundling the K'n'G disks in the post in the next week or so. To promote the launch of the game I've put together a brand new promo video for the game which will be unveilled at the LCP party in Sweden later this month. Here's a picture from the promo vid for you to drool over!

Wok-wok-bligga-blogga! There's dungeon capers aplenty in Knight 'n' Grail!

I'm also very pleased to announce the first Psytronik release for the Amstrad CPC range has now been confirmed. It's the stunning 128K version of STAR SABRE which will be available as a premium 3" disk release soon. The game is an excellent sideways scrolling shoot 'em up in which you control a Sabre scout craft on a mission to defend a Xeno-archaeological site that is being attacked by vessels of unknown origin. Featuring excellent presentation, gripping shoot 'em action and funky 128K music this is yet another Psytronik release you should not miss!

Eat laser death you big blobbling red ... er, space thing!

And that's yer lot for now. Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.com