SOULLESS - Unleash the beast from your C64!

Greetings Retro Chums!

With the release of the amazing new Commodore 64 title SOULLESS now imminent I thought I would treat you guys & gals to some more details about the game, previously unreleased screenshots and some sneaky peeks at the lush new packaging that we are working on.


Firstly, a bit about the game itself. SOULLESS tells the story of Rizek, the ruler of a war-torn land who grew weary of battle. He declared a time of peace but was betrayed by his bloodthirsty Generals who wanted the wars to continue. The Generals plotted against Rizek and enlisted the help of Kalen, an evil Wizard who cast a spell on Rizek, transforming him into a grotesque beast, robbing him of his soul and casting him into a dungeon for all time. Rizek was locked away and forgotten for a thousand years - until a great quake shattered the walls of his cell. Rizek was at last FREE and began his quest to reclaim both his soul and his kingdom. And that is where the game begins.

A still from the superb animated intro!

You start off in the dungeons and must find your way from the deep dungeon into the nearby temple. The dungeon area is inhabited with a few guards and there are no objects to search - so this is a good way to familiarize yourself with the controls and to learn how to avoid the guards and other monsters that inhabit the game.

Rizek begins his quest deep in the dungeons

As you enter the main temple you will encounter searchable objects. Hidden away throughout the game are twelve randomly placed SPIRIT STONES - you will need to find all 12 of these and then take them to the Soul Chamber and place them in the correct order in order to reclaim your imprisoned soul. This gameplay dynamic is similar to Impossible Mission - but, thankfully, is much simpler. The correct order in which you have to place the Spirit Stones is shown in the form of clues that are displayed on the walls of 12 rooms in the game. Each time you encounter one of these clues all you have to do is make of note of the Spirit Stone and which slot you must place it in the Soul Chamber. One of the clues is shown in the screenshot below.

The red clue on the wall shows where to place one of the Spirit Stones
It will help if you keep a note of these as you play the game

The game will even include a printable Spirit Stone sheet in which you can record the position of the Spirit Stones each time you play it. So don't worry if you are are put off by the puzzle aspect of the game, it's very easy to pick up and makes for a very enjoyable part of the game. The searchable objects in the game also contain other things as well as the vital Spirit Stones. Some contain different magic spells that will either slow down, freeze or destroy all the enemies on the screen. You will also find gold & rubies that will increase your score along with potions that will restore your life energy or give you extra lives.

Boom! Rizek has just destroyed all the enemies on
screen by finding Red Magic hidden in an object!

You will also encounter spawn points scattered throughout the map. Once you have activated a spawn point you will return to that point if you lose a life. You can also replenish your life energy from a spawn point as well. You will find that some areas of the map are blocked by locked doors. You will need to find keys to open these doors in order to access more parts of the map. Once you have correctly placed all 12 Spirit Stones in the Soul Chamber Rizek will reclaim his soul and your quest will be complete!

Rizek poses for a photo near to a spawn point

SOULLESS was designed by Trevor 'Smila' Story who also produced the amazingly detailed graphics for the game. The game was programmed by Georg 'Endurion' Rottensteiner (author of the hugely popular C64 game Joe Gunn) and should prove popular with Joe Gunn fans as it does share a few similarities (I.E. It's a huge flick-screen adventure!) - although the main character sprite in SOULLESS is much bigger (think Draconus, crossed with Impossible Mission with a hint of Shadow of the Beast!) Amazingly, the main game and its lavishly detailed 70+ screen map has been crammed into a single load - with the animated intro and end sequence included as separate files (the end sequence can only be accessed once you have completed the game of course). The atmospheric soundtracks for the game were composed by Mikkel 'Encore' Hastrup.

The awesome Premium Disk cover artwork by Smila

To make SOULLESS an extra special release for C64 fans we have really gone to town with the packaging on this one. The game will include a stunning full colour A3 print that features a complete map of the game on one side and a poster of the game artwork on the other. The game will also include a superb 16 page comic booklet showing the game back-story along with a companion CD that features an emulator compatible version of the game, bonus 'making of' materials, a printable Spirit Stone sheet to help you with your quest, the game soundtracks digitally recorded from a real C64 and much more!

A sneaky peek at the Soulless goodies - including the A3 poster / map,
compantion CD, tape & disk versions of the game and the comic book!

SOULLESS will be released in May 2012 and you will be able to buy the game on C64 tape, 5.25" disk and as a digital download from www.psytronik.net and on C64 cartridge from www.rgcd.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

SEUDS 2 scoops a SIZZLER!

Greetings fellow Retroids,

After the last rather lengthy and somewhat ranty blog entry (!) I'll keep it short and sweet this time. I was recently more than a little chuffed to see that the Shoot 'Em Up Destruction 2 managed to scoop a sizzler in issue 99 of Retro Gamer magazine.

The sizzling SEUDS 2 review (clicky the piccy to embiggen)

I was particularly pleased about this as a lot of work went into the compilation and everyone involved went the extra mile to make this an extra special C64 release. It's also great to see Alf Yngve's work getting the recognition it deserves. To celebrate the new-found Sizzlerdom all future copies of the game will be shipped will now proudly adorn the Sizzler stamp on the cover.

The SEUDS 2 box - now with the RG stamp of approval!

If you haven't snapped up a copy of SEUDS 2 yet then head on over to the BZ RetroStore and treat yourself to some retro fun for the Commodore 64. As a little bonus, everyone who orders SEUDS 2 will also receive a free download link for the original SEUDS compilation too. Bonus!

And that's almost yer lot now. Tune in next time for an update on one of the BIG Psytronik releases for 2012 - SOULLESS (and a sneaky peek at the gorgeous packaging!)

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

The start of a new year - and a new ERA!

Greetings fellow carbon units,

2012 didn't start off very well for Psytronik & Binary Zone I'm afraid. If you've visited the BZ RetroStore in the last month or so you will see I posted a notice on the front page to say there was a delay with orders being processed. In actual fact, I came THIS close to shutting up shop on both Binary Zone & Psytronik at the start of the year:-

This is how close it came to being GAME OVER for Psytronik!

So what almost caused the untimely demise of Binary Zone Interactive after over 20 years? A series of INEPT INK-JET PRINTERS, that's what! During the last few years I have got through a LOT of ink-jet printers - several in fact. This is probably due to me being a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to presentation and with the re-launch of Psytronik in 2008 it meant doing a lot of glossy prints ... And I mean, a LOT! A result of this meant the average lifespan of a printer in the BZ HQ is approximately 12 months. Or in the case of my last printer, 11.999999 months. One of the last ink-jet printers I bought was a Kodak ESP 5250 - I was hooked into this purchase by the promise of cheaper ink (a massive selling point after my previous ink-guzzling HP printer - two of which I owned and were duly flown apart by my glossy printing japes).

Anyhoo, all was going well with the Kodak printer until about the 11th month when I noticed a bit of striping appearing on the black parts of prints. I ran every possible print-head clean and maintenance procedure but to no avail. The quality of prints continued to decline to the point where I was not satisfied they were good enough to be used for Psytronik releases. As I was off work for a week for the Christmas break and my in-tray was bulging with unprocessed BZ orders I decided to get the printer situation sorted ASAP and so I dug out the receipt for the printer ... It turned out I bought the printer on December 29th 2010 - and I was sat there looking at the receipt on December 28th 2011 - One day before the 12 month guarantee expired!! After a few minutes of running around in a circle gibbering and waving my arms around* I decided to pack the printer back in its box (which I had luckily kept "just in case") and zoomed in my Silver Mondeo of speedliness to Comet - which is a bit of a 10 mile jaunt from my home town of Malvernium.

* My reaction to the imminent expiry of the printer guarantee may have been exaggerated slightly.

I arrived at the Comet store at precisely the wrong moment as it was packed with shoppers taking advantage of their Christmas sale. I huffed my way to the counter and was served by an everso nice girl with intense bottle-red hair and cheekily short / tight skirt. But I digress. Instead of being rewarded with a replacement printer and no hassle it turns out that after 3 months a product is no longer the responsibility of the store and it's down to the manufacturer. The girl kindly rang Kodak for me and I tried to speak to a woman in Outer Mongolia (or quite possibly Outer Space) with one finger in my ear to drown out the store din. I just about managed to convey my make of printer and address to the mongol(ian) at the end of the phone and was promised a replacement in 3 working days. Result!

So the Christmas holiday came and went and my liver was Jagerbombed into submission over the New Year - but still no printer. I then returned to work (in the real world) while the Binary Zone orders continued to pile up - much to my concern. And then ... What was waiting for me when I got home around 10 days after my voyage to Comet? An alarmingly SMALL package from Kodak - far too small to contain the replacement printer that I was eagerly awaiting. Ripping into the package revealed a replacement print-head for my printer. Not what I was expecting but it would get me out of a fix - and hey, it was free. So I purchased a full set of ink (not wanting to risk putting old dried-up ink cartridges into a new print-head) and at long last prepared to process orders - some of which were around 3 weeks old! My face fell off when instead of seeing a glossy Psytronik inlay emerge from my printer I was in fact rewarded with a BLANK PAGE. Things had gotten WORSE with the new print-head and my printer was now only capable of spewing out blank pages.

Aaaaaargh! I just want a working printer - dammit!

I was climbing the walls at this point as I really needed to process some orders - IMMEDIATELY - so I decided to abandon that printer for now and invest in a replacement printer to get me out of a pickle. After all, actual ink-jet printers are pretty cheap, it's the INK that's expensive. But then another disaster stuck. Another trip to Comet revealed my printer had been discontinued (after 1 year!) - and the nearest equivalent was the cheaper ESP C315 model. I plumbed for that one as I was desperate at this point so I rushed home with it, set it up, faffed around finding an extra file that wasn't included on the installation disk - (I'm looking at you .ini file), and out emerged a glossy inlay print ... that ... looked ... shite! For some reason the black parts of the image looked all blotchy - totally different to the crisp black images the Kodak 5250 used to emit. Further investigation revealed that I couldn't use the BEST quality printer setting unless I fed the printer branded Kodak photo paper - but that was no use to me as I cut up my prints to use as tape inlays and disk sleeves etc. so it would be no good me printing those on glossy Kodak paper. So the printer was all packed up and returned to the store for a full refund (that took about a week to reach my card, I might add). This meant I STILL had no printer and the weeks were creeping by - so I decided to sort out my original printer. I rang up Kodak and the bloke working in a call center on the planet Venus told me there was nothing they could do as it was more than 12 months old. I then explained (in a slightly louder voice) that the printer stopped working BEFORE it was a year old, and the replacement part they sent me did not fix the problem - it in fact made it WORSE. The bloke went off to speak to a more important Venusian who took pity on my poor burbling self and said they would send me a replacement printer. Wikkid!!

So with trembling anticipation I awaited the replacement 5250 printer - and sure enough, a nice hefty package arrived by courier from Kodak. Now imagine the expression on my face when I opened the package only to see a C315 printer grinning back at me ... They had sent me the same make of printer that I had recently returned as that one had replaced my model!!

Kodak you imbeciles! You made me go and break my lab!

That was the last straw. Over a month had now passed since I was able to process a Binary Zone or Psytronik order and there seemed to be no end to my printer woes ... I just wanted a printer that WORKED, dammit!! I'd really had enough at this point and it was time to make a pretty important decision ... Should I actually call it a day with Binary Zone?!?! Something else to bear in mind is that over Christmas & New Year I was unable to process orders - so instead of doing that I played video games, watched movies and generally sat around on my ARSE enjoying not being at work - just like a normal person!! But after a while my little creative mind started going into overdrive and I started to miss doing BZ stuff (I have been running BZ for over 20 years after all, it's what I do!) - and that's when I had a brainwave - one of those zen-like moments of clarity that solved everything. Why not ditch ink-jet printers and buy a gorramn LASER PRINTER!! No more having to fork out for expensive ink cartridges, no more clearing gunk out of clogged printer innards, no more having to chuck away sheets of paper after one of the inks decides to run out midway through a print. So after doing some cyber-research one of these babies was delivered to the Binary Zone HQ (in supa-quick time with NO hassle - thanx Amazon.co.uk!):-

Oooh, so shiny and new and lasery!

And by golly it's FAB! I have never owned a laser printer before so I was already excited by the prospect - and I was VERY impressed with the quality of colour prints - they don't actually look like photos, more importantly, everything that comes out the printer looks like it has been PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED - which is very important when it comes to Psytronik stuff. So I was more than happy with that. And the actual printer itself didn't cost much more than an ink-jet printer and came fully loaded with colour toner. Yes, I know the toner will cost a lot more to replace when it runs out - but I will get gazillions more prints than an ink-jet was capable of. The main thing is it's RELIABLE, it's fast, it's quiet, the quality is consistently very good and there's no worry of dried up print heads or clogging. Also, and this is probably the most important thing of all, it has made me excited about doing Binary Zone & Psytronik stuff again. So you can expect great things in 2012 from the Zone - as we enter a new ERA of releases presented in glorious full-colour glossy LAZORVISION(tm)!

Yes, this is laser-printed - and the 36 page
booklet looks superb in LazorVision(tm)

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

That was the year that was ... 2011!

Greetings Programs!

Well, now that 2011 has been stuffed into the bin with all the Chrissy wrapping paper and turkey leftovers and I'd like to start this blog entry by sending a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has helped and supported Psytronik Software in 2011. I'm hugely grateful to everyone who has written or helped out with a Psytronik release, and of course, to everyone who bought a Psytronik game this year ... It takes a whopping amount of my (very limited!) spare time to run Psytronik Software but I don't mind as it's just so darned satisfying to see a release come together and appear in the BZ store in all it's lovingly packaged glory. It's also great fun putting together packages for eager retro fans as I know how cool it is to receive a shiny new game for your fave computer, rip off the shrink-wrapping and load it for some retro gaming fun!

Anyway, that's quite enough back-slapping and hugging for now. Now lets take a look at the Psytronik releases from 2011 complete with thoughts and musings about each one plucked directly from my addled brain type device:-

1,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs (C64) (12th Feb)

The first Psytronik release to bolt out of the starting gate for 2011 was the amusing Alf Yngve beat 'em up romp 1,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs. Once again Alf managed to push SEUCK in all sorts of directions that it wasn't designed to go and using cunning design and some ingenius tricks he actually managed to coax a scrolling beat 'em up out of an editor designed for shoot 'em ups! The combination of wacky storyline, tongue in cheek humour and cartoony graphics resulted in a pretty darned nifty release. Richard Bayliss also assisted by bolting on a new front-end and plumbing in some in-game power-ups and the cream on this particularly yummy cake were the oriental soundtracks that were specially composed for the game by Jon Wells. My only teeny niggly regret with this release is I didn't have the chance at the time to do a loading bitmap for the game - but I made up for this when the sequel to this game came along, but more about that later in this blog entry!

Sub Hunter (Amstrad CPC) (13th Feb)

The incredible Amstrad CPC conversion of Sub Hunter was one of my favourite Psytronik releases in 2011. I've always had a soft spot for the Amstrad CPC computer so I was really pleased to be able to release some Amstrad games thanks to the awesome skills of CPC programmer Paul Kooistra. I had a great time working with Paul during the development of Sub Hunter and was absolutely blown away by the quality of the completed game. Paul had managed to squeeze almost every single feature from the C64 game into the Amstrad version (including that stunning parallax scrolling) - and in some places he even managed to IMPROVE on the original C64 game! Herve Monchatre also did a superb job in converting the music from the C64 version onto the Amstrad. And the amazing thing about the CPC version of Sub Hunter? It was all crammed into just 64K!

AutoCross Racing (PC) (13th Feb)

AutoCross Racing is a fun PC release for Psytronik that came together REALLY quickly! I'm a huge fan of top-down racing games (I used to play loads of them on the Amiga) and as soon as I saw footage of the game in action I knew it would make a great Psytronik release - and I wasn't wrong, the actual game itself is a total hoot to play and is jam-packed with neat options. The game was produced for the PC by Kevin Murphy who I already knew from the C64 game Flubble & Squij - that very nearly got a Psytronik release back in the 1990s. Anyway, it took just over a week from seeing a video of the game to having a fully packaged Psytronik version of the game ready to go! Mat 'Preferred Image' Recardo also helped out with this release by rendering some action-packed artwork that was used for the packaging.

Sheepoid (C64) (1st June)

Sheepoid is a psychedelic shooter from Richard Bayliss in which you control two Sheepoid units defending the universe from a variety of weird and wonderful attackers from the beyond the Neon Vortex ... Or something! The game was inspired by Lazer Zone - by the hairy hero Jeff Minter and I thought it would be good fun to release the game in some rather colourful Psytronik packaging at the RetroVision event ... And it was at RV that I finally got to meet Richard in person for the first time ever - and a jolly nice chap he is too. STE'86 (Steve Day) delivered a gorgeous loading bitmap and Mat Recardo produced the superb cover design. This was based on artwork by Alf Yngve that was originally produced for a Jeff Minter themed edition of my old Commodore Zone mag that was never produced in the end. It was just a shame Jeff himself didn't turn up to the event to see the game ... Baaa!

Hyper Viper (C64) (24th June)

This was the debut release from programmer Jamie Howard. The game is a nice conversion of the original MSX version and not only featured everything from the original game but also included additional features as well. This was an interesting release for Psytronik as it was the first game to feature properly licensed music (the title tune is a cover of AM180 - as featured in the movie 28 Days Later). STE'86 produced a jolly loading screen for the game and Smila produced the eye-catching box art. All in all, a fun retro-style release and a great debut title from Jamie. I just hope he gets around to completing his C64 conversion of the MSX game Polar Star as that looked absolutely belting!

Shoot 'Em Up Destruction Set 2 (C64) (9th November)

Here's another of my fave Psytronik releases from 2011. As Alf Yngve is so darned prolific it can be tricky keeping up with all the cool C64 titles he keeps producing so I came up with the idea of releasing another compilation of his games - which is a great way to quickly get a bevy of his titles into the Psytronik range (and to offer extra value for money for all you lovely retro fiends!) I then thought it would be cool to make the compilation a sequel to the first SEUDS compilation - and to present the games with similar artwork to the original. For SEUDS 2 I chose two unreleased games from the Psytronik back-catalogue (Bloodwheels & Trojahn), a recent side-ways scrolling shooter (Super Tau-Zeta) and the brand new game 2,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs. Richard Bayliss did an absolutely superb job enhancing the games with power-ups, special effects, new front-end presentation and music etc., I worked with STE'86 on the loading screens (we produced two bitmaps each) and I also produced logos for 2,000 KFM, Bloodwheels & Trojahn. Interestingly, Alf was so impressed with the bitmap that Steve produced for Trojahn that he revamped the game completely to bring it up to a similar standard. I'm also very pleased that I got to make up for my lack of input on 1,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs by producing the loading screen and front-end logo for its sequel. As well as handling all the tape masters for SEUDS 2, Richard also worked wonders with the disk menu - which was done in the same style as the original SEUDS menu but with a re-worked bitmap screen ... And if all that wasn't enough, SEUDS 2 also featured a complete extra game as well - the excellent Forbidden Forest inspired game Forgotten Forest ... Bonus!

Oracle III (C64) (18th December)

The final Psytronik release for 2011 which just managed to get into the BZ store before the end of the year (albeit on a pre-order basis) was ORACLE III. This was one of those releases that started off simply enough with the idea to release a previously unreleased - but completed - puzzle game on the Psytronik label. It then got totally more elaborate with brand new ambient soundtracks being composed for the game, a soundtrack CD being bundled in with it (featuring recordings done from the composers own SID chip) and the whole thing being re-compressed to use less disk-space (oh, and the Psytronik logo was bolted onto the loading screen as well). Mat Recardo once again came up trumps (chortle!) with some excellent rendered cover-art that nicely depicted the in-game action. Oracle III was a great way to round off 2011 and it was great to add a different style of game to the Psytronik catalogue.

REPLAY EXPO 2011

In last blog entry I mentioned that Psytronik was going to be exhibiting at the REPLAY EXPO in Blackpool ... I bet you are all BUSTING to know how I got on at the show aren't you? Well, here's how it all went ... I was initially unsure as to whether I would attend the 2011 show as it would involve a 300 mile round-trip and it was all a bit of an unknown for me as I missed the first REPLAY show in 2010. I received a nice call from Dave Moore (one of the show organisers) that convinced me I should come along and everything else seemed to click into place at just the right time. On the Friday before the event I loaded up my mighty silver Mondeo and set a course for Blackpool. The Journey to the event was actually easy-peasy. I'm not usually a fan of the M6 but once you get past Birmingham it's plain-sailing all the way to Blackpool. 157 miles later (I know it was that far as I reset my mileometer just as I set off) I was standing outside the Norbreck Castle - the venue for REPLAY! I had a quick recce of the place to get my bearings and chatted to a few familar faces before I checked in at my hotel - the lovely Poldhu - which is literally 100 yards away from the venue. I then headed back to the Norbreck and bumped into Vintage Matt from RetroVision and somehow accidentally (heh!) ended up in a pub type environment with lots of the RV peeps - and a very nice evening of stout imbibing and pub japes ensued followed by a tasty CURRY. I had arrived!

The Specadore 64 got a lot of attention at REPLAY!

Saturday!! After nomming a tasty cooked brekkie at the Poldhu Hotel (served up by the Yoda-esque lady there) I headed to the Norbreck to set up my Psytronik table. I was situated next to my good chum Jason 'TMR' Kelk (he of the Retro Gamer Homebrew section fame) so it was great to be able to have a natter with him. I took a slightly scaled-down setup to REPLAY as I wasn't sure how much room I would have - so I only had two systems to set up. The first of which was the crowd-pleasing SPECADORE 64 - which is always popular at these events - and the second system was my shiny new COMMODORE 64x - which is the new PC-in-a-C64-style-case ... I planned to run emulators and Psytronik promo videos on the C64x, as well as the PC remake of Armalyte - which is awesome being played with a retro style joystick (a USB Competition Pro) running on a C64 style PC! The Specadore 64 featured the recently-released conversion of Prince of Persia running from an EasyFlash cart that I had literally received a few days before the event. This gave people the chance to play the stunning C64 conversion of the game on REAL hardware. I also demonstrated some new Psytronik releases including SEUDS 2 - with 2,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs being a highlight as it caused much mirth with its amusing power-ups (poodle attack!) The Psytronik stand was in the entrance area of the event (not in the main hall) so everyone attending REPLAY would have to pass me at some point! This meant there were plenty of people throughout the day going past so I had lots of interest in the Psytronik goodies that were on display. I ventured into the main hall at various times throughout the day and was blown away by the size of the event. It ... was ... HUGE! I've attended a LOT of retro events in the past but this was easily the biggest I've ever seen - a mindscrambling array of arcade cabs, retro & modern systems and pinball machines were available to be played on (if you could figure out how to get the freeplay arcade cabs to start!), there were impressive stands set up by various sponsors and retro selling peeps, HUGE screens showing what was going on, lots of Cosplayers, boothbabes and various heroes from the retro scene (Jeff Minter!! Oli Frey!!), it really was an incredible sight - it wasn't like any other retro event I'd been to, it was a proper EXPO! In the evening I headed along to an aftershow gig at another hotel that featured SID 80's (minus MadFiddler, sadly). Unfortunately, this was hampered by a massively overlong quiz, hugely expensive drinks and awful acoustics. The day was rounded off with a bazillion mile walk into town with various peeps to a restaurant that didn't exist. So an emergency kebab was duly purchased while we were amused at the shouty drunken antics of the skimpily dressed girls in the middle of Blackpool on a freezing Saturday night in November. And a classy bunch they certainly were! ;)

Me 'n' Yak!

Sunday!! Hangover part 2, and a room smelling of cold kebab (it was cold when I ate the bloody thing!) Another lovely cooked brekkie was served up by Mrs Yoda - I loved the way I came down to brekkie and she shuffled next door to bring it to me, already prepared! And as it was beautifully sunny outside I had a nice walk along the sea-front to clear my head and enjoyed some moments of zen-like calm before heading over to the Norbreck for REPLAY DAY 2! My second day at REPLAY started out pretty much the same as the first - but I was determined to PLAY MORE GAMES so did spend a lot more time in the main hall on Sunday. I also recruited Vintage Matt to be my camera co-pilot at one point and we went on a most excellent mission to get photographed with as many cosplayers and girls on the stands as possible. Our mission was very successful I'm pleased to say! All in all, I really enjoyed my time at REPLAY. As well as being a cracking event I knew loads of people there so there was always someone I could chat to and everyone else I met was friendly and seemed to be having a good time. One thing that amused me about the Psytronik stand was that a lot of people didn't actually notice the C64x as at a glance it looks just like and old breadbin style C64 - the Specadore 64 got a LOT more attention than the latest addition to the Commodore range ... ! There wasn't really much about REPLAY that I *didn't* like. I did notice an odd musty pong in one of the side-rooms near to where the talks were being held (a few people noticed this, apparently), the after-show gig on Saturday was a bit naff - although we did our best to liven that up with some incredible "free-form darncing" - Ben Daglish was most impressed with our efforts! I couldn't get a look-in on the Pinball machines - they were in constant use each time I went past them - and quite a few of the arcade machines seem to require some magical trickery to get them going, but these are minor niggles only and didn't spoil my enjoyment of the event one iota.

Me - In my natural environment. :)

And that pretty much sums it up for REPLAY. Would I go again? Definitely! I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and it was definitely worth the 300 mile round-trip. A massive YO! to all the people I met and spoke to at the event (far too many to list here), I look forward to seeing you all again in 2012! You can view a selection of photos I took at the event by clicking the link below:-

MY PHOTOS FROM REPLAY 2011!

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

Psytronik to exhibit at the REPLAY EXPO 2011!

Greetings Programs!


I'm pleased to announce that Psytronik Software will attending the REPLAY EXPO 2011 and will be exhibiting at the show. The REPLAY EXPO is the largest retro event to be held in the UK and takes place on November 5th & 6th at the Norbreck Castle in Blackpool.

Hopefully there will be some of THIS happening at the event!

I will be releasing TWO new Psytronik Commodore 64 titles at REPLAY - Firstly there's the sliding block puzzle game ORACLE III and secondly there's the fab SHOOT 'EM UP DESTRUCTION SET 2 compilation - both of which have been featured in previous blog entries. To celebrate Psytronik being at REPLAY I've updated the artwork on both releases to feature the REPLAY logo on the front!

Two new Psytronik titles to be released exclusively at the REPLAY 2011!

As well as showing off the latest Psytronik releases I will also be demonstrating the new Commodore 64x system - which is basically a full PC system crammed into a gorgeous Commodore 64 style keyboard. There has been a bit of a mixed reception to this system from die-hard C64 fans, but trust me, when you play the PC remake of Armalyte running on a PC remake of the Commodore 64 with a USB remake of the Competition Pro joystick you're gonna love it, it really is a beautiful thang!

The super-sexy Commodore 64x - see it in action at REPLAY 2011!

Of course the mighty Specadore 64 will also be accompanying me to the event which will be used to demonstrate the latest Psytronik releases. I will also be running the stunning new C64 conversion of Prince of Persia which you will be able to play on REAL C64 hardware at Replay.

I never thought I would get to play THIS on the C64!

I will also be running some hi-score competitions during the Replay weekend with bundles of Binary Zone and Psytronik goodies up for grabs for the winner. So if you plan on attending the event come and visit the homebrew section and we'll have a natter about all things RETRO - you will also be able to pick up some Binary Zone BARGAINS from my stand while you are there!

See you there!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

Psytronik gets all puzzled!

Greetings Psytronikoids!

An interesting release has recently been added to the Psytronik Software C64 line-up which came to us literally as a bolt from the blue ... Well, kinda! The game is called Oracle III - The Final Chapter and was originally produced in 1995 by Art Project Studios. Unfortunately, the game was never commercially released on the C64 due to problems with the publisher at the time. Our chum Jazzcat suggested Psytronik as a possible publisher and after seeing the game in action I decided it would make a nice addition to the Psytronik range.

Psytronik has not actually released a puzzle game before and I was immediately impressed with the quality of the graphics and overall presentation of the game. I got in touch with the author in order to start the ball rolling on making this an official Psytronik release. The actual game itself was complete and the version I received to test already had been updated to include messages to say it was a Psytronik release so it was literally ready to be released straight away on the Psytronik label - but then things started to get even more interesting!

In of the message exchanges between myself and the game author Tufan 'SoNiC' Uysal, he sent along an example of one his SID tunes - a superb ambient track. He mentioned that back in 1996 he was thinking of changing the game music to his own compositions and would be interested in making new music for the game. I was so impressed with the music he sent me we decided to delay the Psytronik release of Oracle III slightly so that the game could include brand new soundtracks for the 2011 Psytronik release.

But then things got even better! Tufan had been sending me mp3 recordings of the soundtracks for the game recorded from his very own SID chip. This gave me the idea of bundling a free soundtrack CD in with the game that features all the music from the game. Tufan had also been thinking along the same lines and so we decided to run with that idea and include a CD with the Premium version of the game - that way people will hear the music with the filters as intended (the music was produced on the 8510 SID chip and so may sound different on the older 6581 chip).

Another problem that had to be solved was what to do for artwork for the game. Oracle III is a puzzle game that features blocks that are moved around the screen by your character that looks like a frog (or F.REE R.OAMING O.BJECT G.RAPPLER - as I decided to call it). The object of the game is to move two or more matching blocks next to each other in order to remove them. Once all the matching blocks are cleared you move onto the next screen. Anyway, for the artwork I called on the assistance of my chum Mat 'CGI' Recardo (he of www.preferredimage.co.uk fame) and sent him details about the game. Mat designed an excellent cover picture featuring a cool robotic-frog moving blocks around on a spacey backdrop. Perfect! I dropped in elements from the game as a border around the artwork to complete the cover design - you can see the completed artwork below.

Oracle III - The Final Chapter will be available for the C64 as a Premium & Budget disk release and as a digital download in October 2011. You will be able to pick up your copy exclusively from the Binary Zone Interactive Retro Store.

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net.

SEUDS STRIKES BACK!

Greetings Psytronikeers!

For a while now I've had the idea of doing another SEUDS (Shoot 'Em Up Destruction Set) compilation for Psytronik and now at long last SEUDS 2 is fast becoming a reality! This is thanks to the ever productive Alf Yngve who not only still has some great unreleased SEUCK games tucked away but is also still churning them out to this day, ably assisted by Richard 'TND' Bayliss, who is doing sterling work adding new front-end presentation to each game along with power-ups, extra graphical effects and fantastic music etc. Lets take a closer look at the four games I have chosen for SEUDS 2.

Super Tau Zeta

"By Your Command!"

This is a recent Alf Yngve production that was originally produced for the Sideways SEUCK competition organised by Richard Bayliss. In this game you control a mini-fleet of ships doing battle in space and on alien planets. Alf has incorporated some very clever effects into this game including a cool space-warp effect, a black hole encounter, asteroid field, parallax scrolling when you are on the alien planets and much more!

Flying over a lovely alien vista in Super Tau-Zeta

Super Tau Zeta has been specially enhanced and now features a snazzy new front-end, superb soundtracks (the in-game tune is a real belter!) and weapon power-ups that have been added by Richard Bayliss and a stunning bitmap loading screen has been produced for the game by Steve 'STE'86' Day (inspired by a certain popular 80s sci-fi show).

Bloodwheels

How much action can I cram into one loading screen? Answer: All of it!

This game was part of the original 1994 Psytronik release line-up but is now being dusted off after 17 years for release as part of the SEUDS 2 compilation. The game is an exciting driving-shooter where you (and an optional player 2) battle your way through various locations in an army vehicle blasting enemy tanks, planes, helicopters and soldiers etc. The game features some very nicely detailed tiny sprites (the enemy soldiers are particularly ee-wee!) destructible background objects (you can level houses!) and there's blasting action aplenty to be had.


Once again Richard Bayliss has coded an eye-catching front-end the game and has added new effects to the game itself including multi-sprite explosions for when you blast those pesky bosses and animated water effects. Richard has also delivered some suitably thumping tunes for you to blast along to (the in-game tune has a nice Matt Gray flavour to it). For the loading screen I decided to transfer the original artwork for this game (drawn by Alf) onto the C64 and have drawn the screen in a similar style to the one I did for the SEUDS 1 game Silverfish (I.E. Lots of explodey action!)

2,000 Kung Fu Maniacs:
The Way Of The Exploding Fish

The other 1,995 Kung-Fu Maniacs are right behind you!

The sequel to 1,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs continues after your epic battle in Blapsville in the first game and once again features the ongoing adventures of the Master of Awesome! This time our hero is tasked with a dangerous quest to find the sacred scrolls that have been stolen by some nefarious Ninjas - and, also, to buy some pickled herring (as you do).


In the game you must battle assorted adversaries in various unusual locations - like on-stage at the "Lord of the Bland" concert (featuring a familiar-looking river-dancing baddie!), at the International Arms Fair, a corrupt art gallery and even at the "Happy Moose Megamart!" Various weapon power-ups can be collected during the game including shuriken, nunchucks, a deadly knife, a garden gnome (?!) and, best of all, the way of the exploding fish!

Once again Richard Bayliss has added extra enhancements to this game including a new front-end, funky Oriental soundtracks, the weapon power-ups I mentioned above and he has even coded a special end-sequence for the game! For the loading screen I decided to make up for the fact that I didn't have the time to contribute any pixels to the first game - so for the sequel I pixelled an eye-catching loader pic featuring Ninjas - cos Ninjas are COOL!

Trojahn

The fourth game in the SEUDS 2 pack is another Alf Yngve classic that has been stomping around for approximately the last 5,000 years (well, since the early 1990s!) The game features the titular Trojahn hero on a mission to rescue his beloved Elena who has been kidnapped by an evil Minotaur. The game uses an interesting arcade style vertical screen with all the action being viewed on the left half of the screen. The right half of the screen is used for occasional interlude screens showing the plight of Elena and her cries for help in comic-book style.


Ste'86 has provided the stunning loading screen for the game, Richard Bayliss will be producing the music and coding the front-end - which will feature additional graphics by little old me!

The Shoot 'Em Up Destruction Set 2 will be released for the C64 on tape, disk and as a digital download by Psytronik Software later this year (exact release date to be confirmed). For more details head on over to www.psytronik.net ...

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net (29/07/11)