News about Amstrad CPC, PCW, Notepad NC100 NC150 NC200, PDA600 and also Amstrad PC







PunyInform v5.2 by Fredrik Ramsberg and Johan Berntsson to write text adventure games

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PunyInform v5.2 by Fredrik Ramsberg and Johan Berntsson is a library written in Inform 6 to create adventure game (pure text, no graphic support contrary to DAAD) using the Z-machine virtual machine which will run on 8bit computers (or more recent computers too). PunyInform has a parser, knowing of common verbs and a framework to write adventure games.

PunyInform is based on the Inform 6 library written by Graham Nelson. Its goal is to make easily adventure games in Inform 6, with a manual describing the differences between the official library and PunyInform..

Games using PunyInform can be compiled in z3, z5 and z8 format (z3 being the best format for 8bit computers, other formats have more features). Compared to the Inform 6 library, it means that there is no support for the Glulx virtual machine but z3 format is important as Inform 6 doesnt support it.

To compile games written with PunyInform, you should use the Inform 6 compiler maintained by David Kinder. Binaries are available on if-archive. PunyInform needs Inform v6.35 (or more).

They are tutorials to write adventure game with PunyInform (end of the page) and all the documentation including a 8 page cheat sheet (quick reference)..

To try your game after compilation, you can use WinFrotz by David Kinder, to create map easily you can use Trizbort.

And finally, to create an Amstrad CPC and PCW disk image, you will have to use the Puddle BuildTools.





From 64 Kb to 1 Mb of RAM on an Amstrad CPC 464 by Noël Llopis

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Noel Llopis presents in his new video how he goes from 64 Kb to 1 Mb of RAM on an Amstrad CPC 464.

The expansion card to be used should have been by Revaldino but some components being hard to get, it's finally the card by Rebobinando which has been used.




Caprice Forever v2023-11, an Amstrad CPC emulator by Frédéric Coste for Windows

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Caprice Forever v2023-11 by Frédéric Coste is a modified version of the Caprice emulator (by Ulrich Doewich) for windows (32/64 bit). This version features :

  • Add SSA-1 Speech emulation
  • Add DK'Tronics Speech emulation
  • Improve Tape viewer including PPI audio direct navigation
  • Improve CRTC1 emulation (Thanks to Philippe 'Offset' Rimauro)
  • Fix minor bugs


WIP Goldorak pour Amstrad CPC+ et GX4000 par Zisquier

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Seventy-seven days still to discover Goldorak by Zisquier, Pulsophonic and Titan. It's a shoot them up for Amstrad CPC+ and GX4000.

The video below of Goldorak is an alpha version (4.4.1) eight months ago.






Video by Retro Erik showing an ISA bus extension for the Schneider EuroPC (8088)

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Schneider made the Amstrad CPC under licence in Germany. They also did create PC XT like the EuroPC (several models). Retro Erik is presenting an ISA bus extension which he saw in another Youtube video. At the end of the video he is announcing that he is working on an universal ISA bus extension with a friend of the Norway retro community.




Becoming the next Titan with Multipaint 2023.02 ?

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To make so beautiful Amstrad CPC loading screens like Eric Cubizolle (Titan), it's easy, you just need to use the same painting program : Multipaint by Tero Heikkinen AKA Dr. Terrorz, and maybe a bit of talent and mostly a lot of work.

Titan is describing Multipaint as a mmix of OCP Art Studio and Deluxe Paint for windows which offers the possibility of using the resolutions and palettes of a whole bunch of old computers including the Amstrad CPC (mode 0 and 1, overscan possible in mode 0).

Two videos presenting Multipaint (beware they are both from four years ago, so not about the latest version and features) :





Balkanoid by Cassette Pixel Crafters, an Amstrad CPC game for the CPCRetroDev 2023

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Balkanoid by Cassette Pixel Crafters is an action Amstrad CPC game for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest.

You can download Balkanoid on its Itch.io page.

Video of Balkanoid by XeNoMoRPH.




Final War by Recreogames, an platform Amstrad CPC game for the CPCRetroDev 2023

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Final War by Recreogames is a platform Amstrad CPC game for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest.

You can download Final War on its Itch.io page.

Video of Final War by XeNoMoRPH.