It's been quite a random few days. Wormhole has crept forward with a few tweeks here and there, but nothing massive. I've been debating what my next step should be, from a commercial perspective. I had been thinking of Steam Early Access but given the heavily scripted nature of the game, most advise seems to be that EA is not such a good idea. So, likely a Kickstarter, but not until much more of the game is done given the problems that game projects have on KS these days. The plan for a closed beta still holds, though. In theory I have enough for the demo already, but I think I want to add a bit more content to fully show the game to those beta players. I also need a way to distribute that demo - Steam, I guess.

Interestingly, the Spectrum Next game I hinted at is looking like a definite thing now! This is both cool, and slightly scary. Writing an 8bit game in assembly code was not easy 40 years ago, and is not much easier now. Maybe harder, as expectations are high, and Next games have to deliver more than the old vanilla Spectrum's did. I can't say much about the project yet, suffice to say it is an isometric game - a technique that was (probably) first developed on the Spectrum, and endures to this day. I've never coded such a thing before - I remember we all tried to figure out the coordinate maths one afternoon in the 80's and failed - but I think I have it sussed. My plan is to prototype in Lua using Love2D on the PC and then port that to Z80 assembly. I don't want to be developing the concepts in assembly, instead, get those things right where it's easy, and then concentrate on making them as good as possible on the Next. Oh, and, Stoo Cambridge will again draw the graphics.

Later, as with Wormhole, I plan to port upwards to the Amiga AGA and then upwards again, to PC. Anyway, this project is likely an ongoing part of this blog from now on :)

Here's a shot of my isometric test app -

The maths is a bit odd, after a lifetime of 2D, but it seems the trick is remember that everything is just 2D until the very last moment when it needs to be rendered to the screen.

Speaking of the Amiga, my interest in returning to it has grown a lot over the last few months. I've just put in an order with Retro Passion for a refurbished machine (new capacitors, Gotek, etc.) and will post progress on that as it comes. I cannot remember much about how it works, mind you!

And finally, rejoice, for I am finally reunited with all my retro 'junk' from various attics and storage units. My new office (room) is somewhat stuffed. I actually have more things than I remember owning. The sensible thing would be to thin the collection out and regain some space, but it's not going to happen. Hoarding is not about selling things, after all.

Here's one end of the office!

p.s. I also borked my RG 35XX plus trying to put Garlic OS on it, like everyone told me to.

Here it is, not playing anything -

Perhaps we'll bury it in the garden, like an ex-hamster.