I have reviewed six games from the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest:

#CPCRetroDev 2020


The results of the 2020 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest have been announced, and they are as follows:

PRO category


  • Best game: The Abduction of Oscar Z (Dreamin’bits) – €300 prize
  • 2nd best game: Sorcerers (SalvaKantero) – €225 prize
  • 3rd best game: Ánima (SugarFree) – €150 prize
  • 4th best game: Promotion (BiteStudios) – €100 prize
  • 5th best game: Fire Tyre (CNGSoft) – €70 prize

UA category (for games developed by students of the University of Alicante)


  • Best UA student game: Karting Garden (Neon Labs) – €150 prize
  • 2nd best UA student game: Raven Squad (Raven Games) – €75 prize

Special mentions


  • Best arcade game (awarded by Arcade Vintage): Ánima – €150
  • Best multiplayer game (awarded by Gee-k.net): Sorcerers – €100
  • Best music (awarded by IndieGameMusic): Sorcerers – €75
  • Best newcomer game (awarded by Ready and Play): Poisoned Escape (Cracktime Studios) – €70
  • Best “Opera Prima” (awarded by Blast Annual): Karting Garden – €50
  • Best artificial intelligence (awarded by Pablo Ariza): The Abduction of Oscar Z – €200
  • Best soundtrack (awarded by Gominolas): The Abduction of Oscar Z – €200
  • Best overall product (awarded by Jon Cortázar): Sorcerers – €200

The Abduction of Oscar Z swept the board with 557 points – exactly 200 points ahead of its nearest challenger, Sorcerers. All 49 games can be downloaded from the #CPCRetroDev 2020 site. As always, congratulations to all the winners!

I will endeavour to play some of these games this weekend and hopefully write some reviews over the next few days.

#CPCRetroDev 2020


#CPCRetroDev logo
The deadline for submitting entries to the 2020 edition of the #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest closed last week, and a record 49 games are vying to win a share of €2,315 in prize money! I’m guessing that the COVID-19 lockdown has prompted more people to try to program a game for the competition while they’re stuck indoors.

The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held this Friday 13th November at 18:00 UTC on the University of Alicante’s YouTube channel. In the meantime, you can watch gameplay videos of all 49 games on YouTube.

I have reviewed Sgt. Helmet Training Day 2020 – a new game from The Mojon Twins that was released a few days ago.

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Updated version of the Sean McManus Software Collection


Screenshot of The Further Adventures of Fred
Screenshot of The Further Adventures of Fred
Those of you who bought the magazines Amstrad Action and Amstrad Computer User in the early 1990s and typed in the listings that were published in them every month may well recall the name of Sean McManus, whose programs regularly featured in these magazines. He also wrote a machine code game called The Further Adventures of Fred, and it was due to be published on the covertape for issue 118 of Amstrad Action – but unfortunately the magazine ceased publication after 117 issues, although Sean still released the game into the public domain.

Sean has now tweaked The Further Adventures of Fred so that it’s a bit easier. The first level was particularly unfair as it put you in immediate danger of losing a life, so it’s been modified slightly and swapped around with a later level. Several of his listings have also been updated to include built-in instructions, better presentation, or changes to the keyboard controls.

Sean’s collection of his CPC work was originally released in 1997, and you can download the updated 2020 version from his web site. Even after 30 years, he still remembers how to program in Locomotive BASIC!

New reviews


I have reviewed five games:


Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Corsair Trainer


Bitplane Technomantes has released a one-level preview of their new game Corsair Trainer. It’s an entrant in the Assembly Online 2020 game development competition and it’s a space shoot-’em-up with very smooth 50Hz vertical scrolling. You may remember the name Bitplane Technomantes from a few years back when they released the technically amazing and highly playable Dragon Attack in the 2016 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest. The programmer, Axelay, is the man responsible for several other great Amstrad CPC games, and Corsair Trainer also features the very distinctive and beautiful artwork of rexbeng.

You can download Corsair Trainer from the Assembly Online 2020 site. Be warned that even on the lowest difficulty setting, it’s very tough to reach the end of the first level! I hope that Axelay will make the final version a bit easier.

Video of Corsair Trainer on YouTube

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Buccaneers


Screenshot of Buccaneers
Screenshot of Buccaneers
Screenshot of GB Tetris Emulator
Screenshot of GB Tetris Emulator (Plus version)
Matranet is planning to release a beat-’em-up called Buccaneers. I know very little about the background to this release, but it’s based on an arcade game from 1989 by a Spanish company called Duintronic. It seems that a ZX Spectrum version was being developed but was never released.

However, the original development team of Juan Carlos Sánchez Álvarez and Manolo Matamoros have released a playable demo for the Amstrad CPC, featuring music by McKlain. Your comrades have been captured by Caribbean pirates and you must rescue them. The demo enables you to play the first of eight levels for two minutes. It’s a side-scrolling beat-’em-up with beautiful Mode 1 graphics and a very jolly soundtrack. You can download the playable demo from Matranet, although it requires 128KB of RAM. The boxed version can be ordered from Matranet at a cost of €32 excluding shipping, and it will even include a 50ml bottle of honey rum from Andalusia!

New version of GB Tetris Emulator


40Crisis has released version 1.1a of GB Tetris Emulator. New features include a marquee surrounding the playing area to provide an even more authentic Game Boy emulation experience (as you can see in the screenshot on the right) and some changes to the keyboard controls, and if you’re playing the game on a standard CPC, you now have 27 colour schemes to choose from. The new version can be downloaded from the CPCWiki forum.

Brick Rick


Screenshot of Brick Rick
Screenshot of Brick Rick
Juan José Martínez has just released Brick Rick – a platform game that plays very similarly to one of his previous releases, Magica (which has been reviewed on this site and was rated 8 out of 10). Rick is working on a building site that is being invaded by aliens, and he has to get rid of them by hurling bricks at them and stunning them. There are 50 levels and each level has a time limit of 60 seconds.

You can download Brick Rick from Juan’s site, and as with Juan’s previous Amstrad CPC games, you can order a physical copy from poly.play, which is expected to ship in early November 2020.

New reviews


I have reviewed five games:

Another conversion of Tetris


Screenshot of Tetris (Crazy Piri)
Screenshot of Tetris (Crazy Piri)
Almost as soon as 40Crisis released his Game Boy Tetris emulator for the CPC, Crazy Piri released their own conversion of Tetris! Unlike 40Crisis’ version, it’s not an emulator, but it is clearly strongly influenced by the Game Boy version and uses the same graphics, although it includes a different set of tunes and sound effects. You can download it from Crazy Piri’s site.

New reviews


Missas has returned with a review of CPC Soccer.

Robert Small has reviewed two games: