Ah .. I think I know why I was fixated on polygonal planets..
I've watched this too many times over my life, I think.
haha

Starglider screenshot

Just a question from someone who likes polygons:
Should the planet be textured? Or could it employ some spherical plotting routines? (Maybe with land / cloud polygons overlaid?) Could give you some nice ways to auto-generate many planet types. 😉 (Just thinking aloud..) 😊

I really wasn't sure what colours to use for my home-made joystick.
Then I thought of the dog-bone controller. 💡
Seems obvious now.
😎

A duck, taped with duct tape. 😋

But but.. I like the duct tape mod! 😢

Or do you mean duck tape?
😋

😄👍

YouTube video by Level106 The Last Ninja — System 3 (C64 C64emu 60Hz no commentary)

The Last Ninja (C64)

He's a ninja. He's bad-ass. He's been trained to use all the ninja weaponry. Henchmen and dragons, he can defeat them all. 🥷

He did skip the swimming lessons though. Do you think that'll be a problem? 😋

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZCL...

Very nice!
Feels like just the right level of retro. 👍

Stuck in my latest retro joystick build adventures, AliExpress has pointed me to a USB stick with "The C64" branding on it, and "5370 Video Games for C64MINI"! 😮

It does say they may not *all* work.
So.. "We threw a bunch of files on a USB, please buy it?" 😂

www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009...

The Airwolf helicopter, landed.

But but.. Helicoptero Fantastico has wheels!
😋

The way we all feel about the computer sometimes.. 😊

It's much more fun to love a platform if you can love to hate it too. 😋 I got into making my post on the tweet-site, paste it here, add a few more words, paste it to threads, add a few more words, paste it to mastodon, and maybe add more words if I need to. ..Then do a corrective reply if needed. 😄

Blew up my home PC .. again. 🤔
Third time dead: logic board, power supply.. logic board again?
I've decided that this PC is unlucky, and I've ordered another.
The new one is an ex-lease.
It has ten cores — twenty threads.
First task: open twenty virtual C64's at once?
😄

You might think "That island infrastructure doesn't look much like Sim City". But that probably just means you haven't seen the C64 version, which looks really really similar.

Still a surprisingly engrossing game, despite the simplistic graphics. Deploy the killer lizard! 🦎
😊

YouTube video by Level106 Raid on Bungeling Bay — Brøderbund (C64 C64emu 60Hz no commentary)

Raid on Bungeling Bay (C64)

An excellent shoot-em-up from the guy who would go on to create Sim City — hence the intricate infrastructure on the islands.

Fly around, shoot planes/ships/turrets. Dodge missiles and incoming fire. Destroy the factories.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qrg...

YouTube video by Level106 Scramble Infinity (C64 VICE 50Hz no commentary)

Scramble Infinity (C64)

I don't remember there being a really good Scramble game for the C64. Then, in 2021, long after we'd forgotten about such concerns, along comes Scramble Infinity.

An absolutely gorgeous conversion. Love that music too.
😊

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9dz...

The Pyramid for the C64. The map, shown between each level, which shows your descent into the pyramid.

The Pyramid for the C64. Gameplay: protecting the gem from one of the aliens, before you collect it.

The Pyramid for the C64. Gameplay: taking out an alien while waiting for the gem to come to you

The Pyramid for the C64. Gameplay: zapping a line of aliens, waiting for the appearance of the next gem.

The Pyramid (C64)

There's a C64 version of The Pyramid. Doesn't feel like it has much code in common with the Speccy one, as they're using the full screen, and an entirely different set of aliens, which are sprite-sized. But the overall feel of the game is quite similar.
👍

The Pyramid (ZX Spectrum)

This was a time when it was okay for a shoot-em-up to just be a shoot-em-up. Enter a room, shoot anything that moves, use the gems to open up the next room, rinse and repeat.

There is an overly elaborate story on the cassette inlay, but that can safely be ignored. 😊

I really should take the time to play Lords of Midnight again properly. But finding time is usually the problem. 😊

So the game-play for the gif for the ZX Spectrum version came from The RZX Archive.

Bubble Bobble (C64)

While I'm geeking out about cool loaders on the C64, "Bubble Bobble" on disk had a cool fuel-gauge type of thing that always impressed me. But you had to have the original disk. I don't think any of the hackers/crackers cared to replicate the fancy loader. 😊

Lords of Midnight cassette loader (C64)

It must have been a few weeks since I mentioned the cool tape loader for Mike Singleton's "Lords of Midnight", which shows off its excellent 3D landscaping engine.

It's quite a mesmerising effect. I should have tried it back when I had access to weed. 😋

Galaga (arcade)

A timeless arcade game, this one. Love the bug aliens and their curvy attack patterns. The idea of being able to get your ship captured and getting it back to wield the powerful double-ship is also inspired. 🐝

Ten out of ten. Would challenge-stage again.
😊

The Last Ninja 2 (C64)

I don't think local planning authorities give serious consideration to the health and safety concerns of time-travelling ninja's in their sewer systems. 🤔

Shaun of the Dead. Shaun sits down to play a game with Ed.

Exactly! I wanna do Operation Wolf on the C64, Duck Hunt on the NES, and lots of Light-Gun games in MAME. The Sinden is close, but I think we can make something smart enough now to not need the white border. 🤔 I'll see if someone works out how to hack the G'AIM'E, or a new player enters the game. 😉

Monty on the Run for the C64. The loading screen.

Monty on the Run for the C64. The high-score entry screen. What happens if we tell the game we want to cheat? 😉

Monty on the Run for the C64. The high-score entry screen. ..asked and answered. 😊

Monty on the Run for the C64. The game, with the toy boat on the water you have to collect. 🛥️

Yeah, the cheat for Monty on the Run is to type "I want to cheat" on the high score. It'll answer "yessum boss!" and the screen+border will turn grey.

Start the game — you're not invincible yet! — go to the second screen and collect the boat. The stompers will change, and you're now invincible. 😊

Timber (arcade)

Timber is an adorable game, with well drawn cartoon-style high-resolution sprites — it uses the same hardware as Tapper and Spy Hunter. An early implementation of two player simultaneous game-play, which it says in large friendly letters. 😊

It's just.. less exciting in one-player.

G’AIM’E: Plug & Play TIME CRISIS Gun for Modern TVs (GAIME) TIME CRISIS, POINT BLANK, STEEL GUNNER series - all officially licensed. Awesome games, reimagined with this new Lightgun controller!

Yeah? Ouch. I like the look of the Wii Walther.
Someone should laser-scan it so it's 3D printable. 😉

I like the idea of the G'AIM'E, which looks like it might start shipping soon. But it seems to be tied to a console. I want to plug it on to any old emulator. 😊

www.kickstarter.com/projects/tas...

Sinden light-gun in three different colors. 😎

I do most of my retrogaming on my PCs in the office and living room. So my retro controllers are USB or have USB adapters.. So for the TV on the spare bedroom, I just hid a mini PC behind it, and it runs like a champ. 😎

I just gotta get a Sinden light gun or similar, and life will be perfect. 🤩

An SX-64, the executive edition of the C64, with some carefully labelled and biro’d/pencilled disks. 😁

I keep all my carefully labelled disks in the storage cubby of my SX-64. 😜

Bounder (C64)

A bouncy game with bouncy music.
What more could a gamer ask for? 😊

Using parallax to do a platform game from above was a genius move.
🎾