The legendary Commodore 64 has just got another great Shoot 'em up for you to try, as retroteamgames has released another update for their breakthrough prototype called Chrome Horizon. Far from a standard hobbyist project, this title aims to prove that the "breadbin" still has untapped potential when paired with modern development workflows. In fact not only was this game written entirely in C using the Oscar64 compiler, but it has advanced Raster IRQ multiplexing, supporting 16+ simultaneous hardware sprites., ultra-smooth 50/60fps parallax scrolling logic and a custom SID music routine integration.
Chrome Horizon is a high-performance shoot 'em up that serves as the flagship project for the creator's anticipated book, "Modern Code, Classic Steel: Engineering Professional Action Games for the C64". The project invites players and developers alike to experience the power of modern C on classic 8-bit hardware, shattering the long-held myth that high-octane action requires pure Assembly language.
- The level featured in this prototype is purely a technical demo and does not represent a full, finished level.
Links :1) Source
For some reason I just now remember: The German only "64 'er Sonderheft - Top Spiele 2" provided the complete Katakis development kit on disk back in 1992. Officially. Manfred Trenz himself provided the manual.
ReplyDeleteHowever – this all is very misleading. In the last chapter Trenz writes: "Of course you've still got to code the game itself. The Katakis Development Kit will not do the work for you in this regards."
So it's "just" an editor for animated sprites, bosses and charsets. Plus a level editor. But no code logic.
In other words: "this game written entirely in C using the Oscar64 compiler" is a legit statement. Kudos to the developers for pulling this off.
I hope for proper music in the finally release - maybe I find some time to provide something, if you want.
www.winz.run/c64_download/file?cat=64er&name=64er_spiele_02 (this is just the PDF scan of the mag. Manual starts Page 6)