The Trap Door

One of the tasks you have to complete is to prepare ‘boiled slimies’. You do this by putting the slimies in a cauldron, and releasing a green robot-like monster from the depths of the Trap Door. What is supposed to happen (and which can be verified by watching walkthroughs on YouTube of the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions) is that the robot can be made to breathe fire on the cauldron and boil the slimies – but on the CPC version, no matter how many times the robot heats the cauldron, the slimies remain uncooked.
I will not bore you with the technical details, but after a lot of digging in the code, I have fixed the bug, so after 32 years, The Trap Door can now finally be completed on the Amstrad CPC! You can download the fixed version of The Trap Door from NVG, and there is also a discussion on the CPCWiki forum which prompted my decision to create a fixed version.
YouTube user Novabug has wasted little time in creating a walkthrough of the Amstrad CPC version, which you can watch below.
Missas has reviewed Xifos’ 2018 remake of Ghosts’n Goblins.
I have reviewed Behind Closed Doors Seven. This is one of two text adventures that have recently been released by Zenobi Software for the CPC (the other one being Ramsbottom Smith and the Quest for the Yellow Spheroid). Zenobi Software is much better known in the ZX Spectrum community for its huge catalogue of homebrew text adventures, so it’s great to finally see a release for the CPC 32 years after the company’s first ZX Spectrum release.
I have reviewed Behind Closed Doors Seven. This is one of two text adventures that have recently been released by Zenobi Software for the CPC (the other one being Ramsbottom Smith and the Quest for the Yellow Spheroid). Zenobi Software is much better known in the ZX Spectrum community for its huge catalogue of homebrew text adventures, so it’s great to finally see a release for the CPC 32 years after the company’s first ZX Spectrum release.
I have reviewed three games:
The Dawn of Kernel

You can download The Dawn of Kernel from usebox.net, and if you want to add a physical copy of the game to your collection of Amstrad CPC software, you can buy it from poly.play.
New reviews
For the first time in eight months, I have reviewed some games! Here are my opinions of three Spanish games:
Mike the Guitar

The Dawn of Kernel
Juan José Martínez’s new game The Dawn of Kernel is due to be released on 21st August 2018, so there’s not long to wait now! Juan has uploaded a teaser video, which you can watch on YouTube.
The World War Simulator: Part II

Pink Pills: Manic Moritz and the Meds

The Classic Adventurer

So far, three issues of the magazine have been released. PDF versions are available to download for free, and you can also buy physical copies, although it’ll hit your wallet, as these are print-on-demand copies, and shipping is quite expensive. Here’s a taster of what’s in the first three issues:
Issue 1
- In-depth interviews with Mike and Pete Austin of Level 9 Computing and Veronika Megler (one of the authors of The Hobbit)
- The making of Doomsday Lost Echoes (which should be of particular interest to Amstrad CPC fans)
Issue 2
- Interview with Stefan Vogt about the recently released Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death
- In-depth interviews with Fergus McNeill of Delta 4 and Tim Gilberts of Gilsoft (who developed The Quill, a program for creating text adventure games)
Issue 3
- Interviews with Brian Howarth of Adventure International UK, Anita Sinclair of Magnetic Scrolls and Vicky Carne of Mosaic Software
- A gallery of artwork by Terry Greer (who contributed graphics to Interceptor Micros’ range of adventures)
#CPCRetroDev 2018
The 2018 edition of the #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest has been announced, and there are prizes worth a total of €1,500 to be won, including €300 for the best game. The deadline for submitting entries is 31st October 2018, and this year’s contest offers bonus points for tributes to Topo Soft’s 1988 game Chicago’s 30.
Last year’s contest saw some pretty impressive games such as Baba’s Palace, Cris. Odd Prelude, Bitume and Laser Boy. Let’s hope that this year will also see lots of great new CPC games being released.
Athanor: The Legend of the Birdmen

The second part of the trilogy is also a text adventure, but with improved graphics that are loaded from disc, like Sram or many of Lankhor’s adventures such as La Secte Noire. The photo on the right shows you what the packaging looks like. Those of you who are familiar with the ‘feelies’ that were included with Infocom’s range of text adventures will notice that Athanor: The Legend of the Birdmen also includes several objects which act as clues to help you solve the game.
To order a copy, visit Safar Games and follow the instructions there to e-mail Éric.
Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death
Stefan Vogt’s text adventure Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death has also been released and can be downloaded from Pond Software.
Galactic Tomb

You play an élite commander, and you must travel to the three worlds of Pherenos, Robota and Microbia, to find the three tombs of Siemb and retrieve artefacts from them that will enable the evil emperor Shakar to extend his life – and his reign of terror – further.
Galactic Tomb is a brilliantly presented game with very colourful graphics and excellent music. You can download the game from ESP Soft’s site (scroll down to ‘Descargas’ and click on ‘Galactic Tomb (dsk)’). Currently the game requires at least 128KB of RAM, but a cassette version which is compatible with 64KB machines is planned. Don’t miss it!
The Shadows of Sergoth

To download The Shadows of Sergoth, visit CPC-POWER, where you can download a ZIP file containing the game and instructions in either English, French or Spanish. This game requires 128KB of memory, and it’s also brilliantly presented and offers many hours of exploration and combat.
Ghosts’n Goblins

You can download the remake of Ghosts’n Goblins from the CPCWiki forums, but as it’s intended for the GX4000 and Plus machines and not the normal CPC range, you’ll need a suitable emulator such as WinAPE in order to play it.
The Dawn of Kernel

Sir Ababol: NES-OM Edition

Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death
Stefan Vogt has developed a text adventure called Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death for the Amstrad CPC. It’s already available for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum from Pond Software as free downloads, and the CPC version should be available soon, according to a tweet from Stefan. It’s written using Professional Adventure Writer (PAW), so it’s text only and runs on CP/M.
ZEUSDAZ’s YouTube channel added

Missas is back with reviews of three recently released games:

Robbie Strikes Back may play a bit more slowly than Pssst!, but it features colourful Mode 0 graphics and it plays music throughout the game. You can download it from Play on Retro.