Psytronik @ Revival 2013

Greetings Retro Chums!

The first Retro event that I attended this year was the rather marvellous REVIVAL 2013, a two day Retrothon organised by my good chum Chris 'Boyo' Wilkins and Craig Turner from Turnarcades Custom Arcade Machines.  I had previously attended the 'Retro Ball' that was also organised by Chris which I thoroughly enjoyed so I was looking forward to seeing what Chris & Craig had cooked up for Revival 2013.

For more deets head over to www.revivalretroevents.com

For the event I decided to take two complete systems to display on the Binary Zone / Psytronik stand.  The first of which is the much photographed / slightly controversial / often commented on SPECADORE 64 - Which is basically a C64C with a custom paint-job to make it look like a Sinclair machine.  The simple story behind this beastie is that the keys and case on my old C64C went a horrible yellow colour over time so I gave it a black re-spray, swapped over the keyboard for an original Breadbin C64 keyboard and even added a little raised 'Sinclair' logo (+ Speccy style colour stripes) to the case using a craft-knife and oodles of patience.

The mighty SPECADORE 64 - Behold its beauty!

The second machine I took along was the Commodore 64X - Which is one of those PC's-in-a-C64 style case courtesy of the now defunct Commodore USA.  As it's basically an all-in-one PC it's handy for running emulators along with PC remakes of retro games.  Playing the PC remake of Armalyte on a remake of the Commodore 64 using a USB remake of the Competition Pro joystick is a bit of a treat, I can tell ya!

Roll up!  Roll up!  Get yer retro goodies here!!

With the Kenzimobile loaded up with my kit and a box of Binary Zone / Psytronik stock I zzoomed along the M6 to sunny Wolverhampton.  It's actually quite a short journey from the Zone to the venue so I made good time getting there and was soon setting up my bits and bytes on the table that Chris had allocated for me.  The venue itself was great - lots of room and different areas to explore.  There were literally TONS of retro machines, arcade cabs and pinball machines already set up so I had some fun checking them out before the event properly began.

So many awesome arcade cabs to play!

One of the (many) highlights of Revival  2013 was seeing the Fix It Felix Jnr arcade cab that was right opposite my stand.  In fact, one of my favourite memories from Revival 2013 was watching a guy playing the game who was obviously completely smitten by the machine.  He was on it for AGES, then he was taking photos of it, and then he was on his phone to somebody excitedly telling them about it.  Bless!

I'm gonna WRECK IT!!

Other highlights of the weekend include chatting with various chums from the homebrew & retro scene including Boyo, Chris Abbott & Tanya (with their adopted Thing on a Spring), Steve 'STE'86' Day, Richard Bayliss, Jason Kelk, Andy from RCM, Stu from Ovine, Oliver Frey & Roger Kean, Max Hall & Jackie, the RV gang (including nudie Bane o_O!), the guys from OCEAN, the Cosplay girls (Amy & Georgie) and of course, everyone who came up to my stand to talk RETRO!

Some more of the attractions at Revival 2013! ;)

All in all, I really enjoyed my weekend at Revival.  It was well organised, the Retro Lords did a fine job compering and a nice touch was Craig going around asking the exhibitors if everything was okay and if they needed anything - it's the little things like that which make a difference!  The only slight downer was when I discovered my ZipStick joystick was missing from my stand on Sunday morning which meant nobody would be able to play on the Specadore that day - but the RCM chaps stepped in a lent me a joystick which solved that problem - and then, my joystick was actually returned to me later that day thanks to it having my name and details on a sticker on the bottom - nice one!


To get a taste of Revival 2013 have a look at the video below - you can see me at 2:53 giving a little wave to the camera and again at 4:23 having some fun with the Cosplay girls - *grin!*!



Thanks for reading!  See you ...  At a future Retro event, hopefully!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

ULTIMATE COPS - A new games compilation for the C64!

Greetings fellow Retronauts!

For this blog entry I will be focusing on a new game compilation for the C64 that is now almost ready for release.  ULTIMATE COPS will feature four complete COPS games by Alf Yngve - along with two bonus COPS games - one of which is a brand new release and one is a previously unreleased game.  Here's how this collection of games came about ...

They are the LAAAAW!

Back in the early 1990's Alf Yngve released a game for the C64 called COPS.  A slightly modified and improved version of the game (Cops V.2) followed soon after.   This game caught the attention of a lot of people with it's detailed and superbly animated sprites and nicely designed backgrounds.  After the release of Cops V.2, Alf was definitely 'one to watch' and he did not disappoint with his subsequent games that proved to be very popular and he was constatntly impressing gamers with his ability to think outside the confines of the SEUCK editor.

The original classic - now with a slick new front-end!

A sequel to COPS soon followed and continued the adventures of Mike 'Mad Dog' Mctavish and Singh 'Big Bang' Kapoor.  This time the Cops were taking a well earned vacation from all the crime in Euro-City - but crime never takes a holiday and soon our heroes found themselves battling villains at their holiday resort!  Holiday Cops features a slightly different graphical style to the original (including more nicely drawn locations) and some dangerous situations for the Cops including a tricky boat section!

Crime never takes a vacation - but fortunately,

neither do the COPS!

The third COPS game was produced at around the same time the first Jurassic Park movie was released.  In order to grab a slice of the dino-mania the movie generated at the time the game features a 'Dino-Land' section in the the game with assorted dinosaurs giving chase to the Cops!  Other locations include a bank vault and airport section.  This game was originally bundled with the Psytronik release of the Alf Yngve game Archetype and featured a new front added by the C64 demo crew Xentrix.

The previously unseen Cops III artwork - how much action in one pic?!

In 2012 Alf decided to produce his biggest and most ambitious COPS game yet.  COPS: The Final Chapter concludes the story of Mike 'Mad Dog' Mctavish and Singh 'Big Bang' Kapoor.  For the final part of the saga the Cops are brought out of retirement in order to rescue the kidnapped Pope (!) and take on a multitude of baddies along the way.  Alf really pulled out all the stops for this game which features separate (pseudo-interactive) intro and end sequences and some clever level designs including an amazing exploding bridge section!

Get to the CHOPPAH!

When Alf told me he was working on a fourth Cops game I thought it would be a nice idea to bundle all the Cops games together into one compilation - and that's when I came up with the idea for ULTIMATE COPS.  Rather than release the games in their original form the games have all been specially enhanced for this 2013 release.  The first two Cops games now feature brand-new front-end designs coded by Richard Bayliss with graphics by Steve 'STE'86' Day.  I decided to tackle the redesign for Cops III myself in order to move away from the (still impressive) demo-style front-end of the original release to a design that more closely matches the other games in the pack.

COPS III - Complete with new front-end and new soundtracks!  Rarr!

The artwork for the ULTIMATE COPS compilation is rather special - and there's a little story to how this came about.  A while ago I decided to digitally restore the cover of Zzap!64 issue 1 so I could hang a big print of the cover on my wall.  As part of this restoration process I managed to remove the text and Zzap! logo from the cover and painted in the missing sections on the picture underneath - which left a fully restored version of the Oliver Frey 'Elite' painting.  A few years later Oliver Frey and Roger Kean got to see my restored Elite picture and they were so impressed with my work they asked if they could sell it on www.oliverfreyart.com in return for a royalty payment.  Rather than receive royalties I asked if I could use an existing Oliver Frey design as the artwork for a Psytronik release - and they agreed!

I was working on ULTIMATE COPS at the time and while I was perusing the various designs on Oliver's site I spotted the painting he had created for Chase HQ II (featured as the cover for Zzap! 64 issue #68).  I figured this would be PERFECT for ULTIMATE COPS as the game begins with you in the back of a red car shooting at motorbikes - and there's a helicopter later in the game.  Oliver & Roger sent me a gorgeous hi-res print to work with and I set to work fitting the artwork into the Psytronik template.  The pressure was on to create a logo that would compliment the amazing artwork, but I was happy with the first design I came up with and that's the one I went with in the end.

Oli Frey artwork on a Psytronik release!  Awesome!!

To round off the compilation brand new bitmap loading screens have been produced for the games.  Carl 'Mase' Mason has done a superb job with the new loading screens for Holiday Cops, Cops III and Cops:The Final Chapter - which is a stunning conversion of the Oli Frey cover artwork.

ULTIMATE COPS will be released on C64 tape, disk and as a DELUXE download in June 2013.

Thanks for reading, and remember, WINNERS DON'T DO DRUGS! (Er, unless you are Charlie Sheen).


Kenz / www.psytronik.net

SOULLESS - Unleash the beast from your C64!

Greetings Retro Chums!

With the release of the amazing new Commodore 64 title SOULLESS now imminent I thought I would treat you guys & gals to some more details about the game, previously unreleased screenshots and some sneaky peeks at the lush new packaging that we are working on.


Firstly, a bit about the game itself. SOULLESS tells the story of Rizek, the ruler of a war-torn land who grew weary of battle. He declared a time of peace but was betrayed by his bloodthirsty Generals who wanted the wars to continue. The Generals plotted against Rizek and enlisted the help of Kalen, an evil Wizard who cast a spell on Rizek, transforming him into a grotesque beast, robbing him of his soul and casting him into a dungeon for all time. Rizek was locked away and forgotten for a thousand years - until a great quake shattered the walls of his cell. Rizek was at last FREE and began his quest to reclaim both his soul and his kingdom. And that is where the game begins.

A still from the superb animated intro!

You start off in the dungeons and must find your way from the deep dungeon into the nearby temple. The dungeon area is inhabited with a few guards and there are no objects to search - so this is a good way to familiarize yourself with the controls and to learn how to avoid the guards and other monsters that inhabit the game.

Rizek begins his quest deep in the dungeons

As you enter the main temple you will encounter searchable objects. Hidden away throughout the game are twelve randomly placed SPIRIT STONES - you will need to find all 12 of these and then take them to the Soul Chamber and place them in the correct order in order to reclaim your imprisoned soul. This gameplay dynamic is similar to Impossible Mission - but, thankfully, is much simpler. The correct order in which you have to place the Spirit Stones is shown in the form of clues that are displayed on the walls of 12 rooms in the game. Each time you encounter one of these clues all you have to do is make of note of the Spirit Stone and which slot you must place it in the Soul Chamber. One of the clues is shown in the screenshot below.

The red clue on the wall shows where to place one of the Spirit Stones
It will help if you keep a note of these as you play the game

The game will even include a printable Spirit Stone sheet in which you can record the position of the Spirit Stones each time you play it. So don't worry if you are are put off by the puzzle aspect of the game, it's very easy to pick up and makes for a very enjoyable part of the game. The searchable objects in the game also contain other things as well as the vital Spirit Stones. Some contain different magic spells that will either slow down, freeze or destroy all the enemies on the screen. You will also find gold & rubies that will increase your score along with potions that will restore your life energy or give you extra lives.

Boom! Rizek has just destroyed all the enemies on
screen by finding Red Magic hidden in an object!

You will also encounter spawn points scattered throughout the map. Once you have activated a spawn point you will return to that point if you lose a life. You can also replenish your life energy from a spawn point as well. You will find that some areas of the map are blocked by locked doors. You will need to find keys to open these doors in order to access more parts of the map. Once you have correctly placed all 12 Spirit Stones in the Soul Chamber Rizek will reclaim his soul and your quest will be complete!

Rizek poses for a photo near to a spawn point

SOULLESS was designed by Trevor 'Smila' Story who also produced the amazingly detailed graphics for the game. The game was programmed by Georg 'Endurion' Rottensteiner (author of the hugely popular C64 game Joe Gunn) and should prove popular with Joe Gunn fans as it does share a few similarities (I.E. It's a huge flick-screen adventure!) - although the main character sprite in SOULLESS is much bigger (think Draconus, crossed with Impossible Mission with a hint of Shadow of the Beast!) Amazingly, the main game and its lavishly detailed 70+ screen map has been crammed into a single load - with the animated intro and end sequence included as separate files (the end sequence can only be accessed once you have completed the game of course). The atmospheric soundtracks for the game were composed by Mikkel 'Encore' Hastrup.

The awesome Premium Disk cover artwork by Smila

To make SOULLESS an extra special release for C64 fans we have really gone to town with the packaging on this one. The game will include a stunning full colour A3 print that features a complete map of the game on one side and a poster of the game artwork on the other. The game will also include a superb 16 page comic booklet showing the game back-story along with a companion CD that features an emulator compatible version of the game, bonus 'making of' materials, a printable Spirit Stone sheet to help you with your quest, the game soundtracks digitally recorded from a real C64 and much more!

A sneaky peek at the Soulless goodies - including the A3 poster / map,
compantion CD, tape & disk versions of the game and the comic book!

SOULLESS will be released in May 2012 and you will be able to buy the game on C64 tape, 5.25" disk and as a digital download from www.psytronik.net and on C64 cartridge from www.rgcd.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

SEUDS 2 scoops a SIZZLER!

Greetings fellow Retroids,

After the last rather lengthy and somewhat ranty blog entry (!) I'll keep it short and sweet this time. I was recently more than a little chuffed to see that the Shoot 'Em Up Destruction 2 managed to scoop a sizzler in issue 99 of Retro Gamer magazine.

The sizzling SEUDS 2 review (clicky the piccy to embiggen)

I was particularly pleased about this as a lot of work went into the compilation and everyone involved went the extra mile to make this an extra special C64 release. It's also great to see Alf Yngve's work getting the recognition it deserves. To celebrate the new-found Sizzlerdom all future copies of the game will be shipped will now proudly adorn the Sizzler stamp on the cover.

The SEUDS 2 box - now with the RG stamp of approval!

If you haven't snapped up a copy of SEUDS 2 yet then head on over to the BZ RetroStore and treat yourself to some retro fun for the Commodore 64. As a little bonus, everyone who orders SEUDS 2 will also receive a free download link for the original SEUDS compilation too. Bonus!

And that's almost yer lot now. Tune in next time for an update on one of the BIG Psytronik releases for 2012 - SOULLESS (and a sneaky peek at the gorgeous packaging!)

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

Psytronik to exhibit at the REPLAY EXPO 2011!

Greetings Programs!


I'm pleased to announce that Psytronik Software will attending the REPLAY EXPO 2011 and will be exhibiting at the show. The REPLAY EXPO is the largest retro event to be held in the UK and takes place on November 5th & 6th at the Norbreck Castle in Blackpool.

Hopefully there will be some of THIS happening at the event!

I will be releasing TWO new Psytronik Commodore 64 titles at REPLAY - Firstly there's the sliding block puzzle game ORACLE III and secondly there's the fab SHOOT 'EM UP DESTRUCTION SET 2 compilation - both of which have been featured in previous blog entries. To celebrate Psytronik being at REPLAY I've updated the artwork on both releases to feature the REPLAY logo on the front!

Two new Psytronik titles to be released exclusively at the REPLAY 2011!

As well as showing off the latest Psytronik releases I will also be demonstrating the new Commodore 64x system - which is basically a full PC system crammed into a gorgeous Commodore 64 style keyboard. There has been a bit of a mixed reception to this system from die-hard C64 fans, but trust me, when you play the PC remake of Armalyte running on a PC remake of the Commodore 64 with a USB remake of the Competition Pro joystick you're gonna love it, it really is a beautiful thang!

The super-sexy Commodore 64x - see it in action at REPLAY 2011!

Of course the mighty Specadore 64 will also be accompanying me to the event which will be used to demonstrate the latest Psytronik releases. I will also be running the stunning new C64 conversion of Prince of Persia which you will be able to play on REAL C64 hardware at Replay.

I never thought I would get to play THIS on the C64!

I will also be running some hi-score competitions during the Replay weekend with bundles of Binary Zone and Psytronik goodies up for grabs for the winner. So if you plan on attending the event come and visit the homebrew section and we'll have a natter about all things RETRO - you will also be able to pick up some Binary Zone BARGAINS from my stand while you are there!

See you there!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net

Psytronik gets all puzzled!

Greetings Psytronikoids!

An interesting release has recently been added to the Psytronik Software C64 line-up which came to us literally as a bolt from the blue ... Well, kinda! The game is called Oracle III - The Final Chapter and was originally produced in 1995 by Art Project Studios. Unfortunately, the game was never commercially released on the C64 due to problems with the publisher at the time. Our chum Jazzcat suggested Psytronik as a possible publisher and after seeing the game in action I decided it would make a nice addition to the Psytronik range.

Psytronik has not actually released a puzzle game before and I was immediately impressed with the quality of the graphics and overall presentation of the game. I got in touch with the author in order to start the ball rolling on making this an official Psytronik release. The actual game itself was complete and the version I received to test already had been updated to include messages to say it was a Psytronik release so it was literally ready to be released straight away on the Psytronik label - but then things started to get even more interesting!

In of the message exchanges between myself and the game author Tufan 'SoNiC' Uysal, he sent along an example of one his SID tunes - a superb ambient track. He mentioned that back in 1996 he was thinking of changing the game music to his own compositions and would be interested in making new music for the game. I was so impressed with the music he sent me we decided to delay the Psytronik release of Oracle III slightly so that the game could include brand new soundtracks for the 2011 Psytronik release.

But then things got even better! Tufan had been sending me mp3 recordings of the soundtracks for the game recorded from his very own SID chip. This gave me the idea of bundling a free soundtrack CD in with the game that features all the music from the game. Tufan had also been thinking along the same lines and so we decided to run with that idea and include a CD with the Premium version of the game - that way people will hear the music with the filters as intended (the music was produced on the 8510 SID chip and so may sound different on the older 6581 chip).

Another problem that had to be solved was what to do for artwork for the game. Oracle III is a puzzle game that features blocks that are moved around the screen by your character that looks like a frog (or F.REE R.OAMING O.BJECT G.RAPPLER - as I decided to call it). The object of the game is to move two or more matching blocks next to each other in order to remove them. Once all the matching blocks are cleared you move onto the next screen. Anyway, for the artwork I called on the assistance of my chum Mat 'CGI' Recardo (he of www.preferredimage.co.uk fame) and sent him details about the game. Mat designed an excellent cover picture featuring a cool robotic-frog moving blocks around on a spacey backdrop. Perfect! I dropped in elements from the game as a border around the artwork to complete the cover design - you can see the completed artwork below.

Oracle III - The Final Chapter will be available for the C64 as a Premium & Budget disk release and as a digital download in October 2011. You will be able to pick up your copy exclusively from the Binary Zone Interactive Retro Store.

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net.

Some good news, some sad news

Firstly, the good news ...

In February last year I recorded a special Psytronik Software episode of my retro game music podcast One Man & His Mic. The 1 hour show featured music from almost all of the Psytronik releases available at the time from Sceptre of Baghdad right up to the PC version of Armalyte. The show was included as a bonus extra on the Armalyte CD-ROM and you can read all about the making of the show in this Psytronik blog entry HERE.

As over a year has now passed I've now made the show freely available to listen to and download on the One Man & His Mic webpage. And that's not all! Rather than just plonk the existing 1 hour show online I've completely remastered and extended the show by an additional 20 minutes. It now features FIVE extra tracks including the superb in-game theme from the C16 / Plus/4 title Adventures in Time, a remix of the theme from the C64 game City Bomber (which will hopefully be released on the Psytronik label at some point!), the sublime intro theme from the Amstrad CPC version of Sub Hunter and MORE! To listen to the show scoot on over to the OMAHM Series 2 webpage and fill your boots ... er, or your ears.

One Man & His Mic - Psytronik Software Special

01. Sceptre of Baghdad Intro (DJ Skitz)
02. The Sceptre of Nu Baghdad (Kate Z)
03. Archetype - FZ vs JMJ Remix (FeekZoid)
04. Nukenin & The Ronin Title (TMR) [C64]
05. PsykoZone Intro (FeekZoid) [C64]
06. Sub Hunter Title (Maniacs of Noise) [C64]
07. Escape from Arth Title (FeekZoid) [C64]
08. Mayhem in Monsterland Title (Tonka) [PC]
09. Creatures Remix (Infamous)
10. Creatures 2 Redux (Infamous)
11. Joe Gunn in-game (Laxity) [C64]
12. Armalyte Loader (Martin Walker) [C64]
13. The Path Of Destiny - Knight 'n' Grail Subtune #2 (Project N.A.)
14. Knight 'n' Grail - Good Ending Orchestral Mix (Hans Axelsson)
15. The Last Amazon Title Tune (Richard Bayliss) [C64]
16. The Wild Bunch (Jon Wells) [C64]
17. Star Sabre In-Game Tune (Targhan) [Amstrad CPC]
18. Armalyte PC Title Tune (Infamous) [PC]
19. Adventures in Time (Luca / Fire) [Plus/4]
20. City Bomber - KateZoid Fusion Mix (Kate Z)
21. Sub Hunter CPC (Herve Monchatre) [Amstrad CPC]
22. HyperViper (Jamie Howard) [C64]
23. Sceptre of Baghdad Outro (DJ Skitz)

And now the sad news ...

I'm very sorry to have to report that my good friend Paul Hadrill (aka DJ Skitz) passed away peacefully on February 16th 2011 after an incredibly brave five year battle with a brain tumour. Paul was a very popular member of the C64 remix community and as well as producing many fine C64 remixes he also regularly hosted live radio shows on SLAYRadio and attended many retro computer events and gatherings. He also contributed the opening and ending tracks for the OMAHM Psytronik Special mentioned above. Paul was a close personal friend of mine and will be missed by myself and many people who got to know Paul through his radio show and contributions to the C64 scene. He may be no longer with us but his memory and excellent remixes will live on. Farewell to my most excellent friend, DJ Skitz.


Thanks for reading,

Kenz / www.psytronik.net (09/03/2011)

Gentlemen, start your engines ... !

At the end of last month I received details about a PC game that the author asked me to evaluate for possible inclusion in the Psytronik Software range. The game was a top-down racing game called AutoCross Racing, programmed by Kevin Murphy. Kevin had included some screenshots of the game with his initial email and as soon as I saw the screens I just knew I would like this game!

Vrooom, whizz - now, this looks like FUN!

I'm a big fan of retro style top-down racing games and used to spend hours playing games like Super Cars 2, Roadkill & Micro Machines on the Amiga. So as soon as I saw the screenshots of the game and the video of the game in action I was already won over - and this was before I had even PLAYED it! I just had a good feeling about it.

It came from the desert!

A few days later the game arrived at the Psytronik HQ on CD-ROM and after a quick and easy installation I was ready to roll. And the good news is the game played just as well as I had hoped! I was instantly hooked on AutoCross Racing - it has a really cool retro racing vibe to it. It's really quick and easy to get into, it plays like a DREAM and, most importantly of all, it's FUN!

Some serious peddle being put to the metal!

Everything about this game just seems to WORK. You can adjust the camera height to view your car from a comfortable distance, you can even switch the camera to the other cars in the race if you wish. The music by Dafunk is great - and as another nice touch you can also add your own music to the game by simply adding mp3 files to the Music folder! So I was soon whizzing around the tracks with remixes of classic C64 tunes like Formula 1 Simulator and Miami Vice playing. Fab!

Beep! Beep! Coming through! *CRASH* Sorry Mister!

As the game would be getting a release on CD-ROM as well as a digital download the next thing I would need is some ARTWORK. The game didn't actually have any cover art at this time so I contacted my good chum Mat 'Preferred Image' Recardo to see if he wanted to help out with this release (as I know he is a bit of a fan of driving games). I sent the game to Mat and he very quickly delivered a beautiful 3D rendered image that very nicely captured the feel of the game (in fact, it looked just like the game - but in 3D!

Mats rendered cover image for AutoCross Racing

I then took Mats cover image and, using the Armalyte CD-ROM box as a template, created the final box artwork for the game which you can see below. I was very pleased with how the artwork turned out as it matches Armalyte very nicely - especially when you put them side by side on your games shelf! I think this has got to be one of the fastest Psytronik releases ever - it went from the initial email from Kevin to being a pretty much ready for release in approx two weeks!
The full game will be released by Psytronik Software later on this month - but you can try it out RIGHT NOW by downloading the excellent playable demo which is now available on the Psytronik Software DOWNLOADS page. And you can also find more information about the game on the main Psytronik site (click HERE).

And finally, a bit of techno-trivia for you. Kevin Murphy was a name already familiar to me as he co-wrote the C64 title Flubble & Squij that was ALMOST released by Psytronik Software back in the 1990s! So with AutoCross Racing it's nice to see a game by Kevin getting a proper Psytronik release at long last. :)

Thanks for reading!

Kenz / www.psytronik.net (06/02/2011)

One Man & His NEW Mic

Greetings once again Retro Chums!

Now that Armalyte is almost ready to be released for the PC I've been spending time working on some extra bonus goodies that will be included on the Armalyte CD-ROM. As I will soon be doing a second series of One Man & His Mic retro music podcasts I decided to make a special show devoted to Psytronik Software that will be included on the CD-ROM.

It has been over a year since I last did a podcast so my first job was to set up all my recording gear once again. One of the reasons that I haven't actually done a podcast in a while is because my old mic broke! This gave me the chance to try out my shiny new gold Behringer mic that I received as a Chrimbo prezzie (thanks Nan!) After a bit of crawling around under my desk to plug in various leads I was ready to rock and roll. But straight away a strange problem reared its head. I couldn't record any sounds internally on my PC! For some reason any internal recordings were really, REALLY faint and for a while I couldn't figure out why. But then I found the problem. My new mic is actually a USB device and when it's plugged in it takes over ALL the recording settings on my PC. Not really a problem - I only actually need the Mic when I'm recording my talky bits for the show so I unplugged it and I could then record stuff internally. Sorted!

Here's where the magic happens - in the recently re-painted Psytronik HQ!

My next task was decide what tracks to feature in the show. As the show is going to be about the history of Psytronik software I arranged the Psytronik releases chronologically and then chose two tracks from each game - one for the main track and one to use as a sound bed behind my talky bits. Once I had selected the tracks for the show I then recorded any of the tunes that I hadn't already recorded previously. I then dropped the tracks onto the multi-track editor in Cool Edit leaving a 30 second gap between each one for my talky bits. Each One Man & His Mic show is 1 hour long and luckily enough the tracks I had chosen from all the Psytronik games perfectly fitted into 1 hour! Here's the tracklist for the show:-

One Man & His Mic - Psytronik Software Special!

01. Sceptre of Baghdad Intro (DJ Skitz)
02. The Sceptre of Nu Baghdad (Kate Z).
03. Archetype - FZ vs JMJ Remix (FeekZoid).
04. Nukenin & The Ronin Title (TMR) [C64].
05. PsykoZone Intro (FeekZoid) [C64].
06. Sub Hunter Title (Maniacs of Noise) [C64]
07. Escape from Arth Title (FeekZoid) [C64].
08. Mayhem in Monsterland Title (Tonka) [PC]
09. Creatures Remix (Infamous)
10. Creatures 2 Redux (Infamous)
11. Joe Gunn in-game (Laxity) [C64]
12. Armalyte Loader (Martin Walker) [C64]
13. The Path Of Destiny - Knight 'n' Grail Subtune #2 (Project N.A.)
14. Knight 'n' Grail - Good Ending Orchestral Arrangement (Hans Axelsson)
15. The Last Amazon Title Tune (Richard Bayliss) [C64]
16. The Wild Bunch (Jon Wells) [C64]
17. Star Sabre in-game tune (Targhan) [Amstrad CPC]
18. Armalyte Title Tune (Infamous) [PC]

The next step was to jot down any notes and bits of trivia that I want to mention about each game and then record my links. I plugged in my new Mic and set to work waffling about each Psytronik game in turn. The sound quality of the mic was excellent - much better than my old mic - nice one Behringer! I always try to keep my talky-bits to around 30 seconds so you never have to wait for too long for the next tune to play when you listen to the show. I also try to record each link in one pass to give the show a kind of "live" feel - although some links took a few attempts when my tongue got tied in knots or when I remembered something else I wanted to mention. The links are then normalized and hard-limited to make them nice and clear and are then dropped into the editor between each main track. The soundbeds are then tweaked and arranged in the editor to play behind my talky-bits at a low volume.

My shiny new mic with the OMAHM show on the screen in the background.

Now the show is really taking shape! DJ Skitz delivered a very cool Sceptre of Baghdad intro jingle (complete with a loud mother-hubbard of a breakbeat) which I slotted into place at the start of the show. When I'm using the multi-track editor I can usually edit a complete One Man & His Mic episode using just four separate tracks. One for the main tracks, one for the sound beds, one for my talky bits and a spare track for any twiddly stuff or crossfades. The picture below shows how the edited show looks in Cool Edit.


With everything in place I then created a mixdown of the show which I test out in my mp3 player while I'm travelling to work. While I'm listening to the show I make mental notes of any sound levels I need to change or if I have any ideas for gags or extra audio snippets I can sneak into each show. The show is then finished off with me adding or changing any bits that I thought about when I tested the show. A final mixdown is then created along with a high-quality mp3 which will be included on the Armalyte CD-ROM.

I'm really pleased with how this show has turned out. It's nice and varied as it contains some cool remixes of music from Psytronik games (there's some real treats on there for Knight 'n' Grail fans!), a nice selection of Commodore 64 tunes (recorded from a REAL Commodore 64 of course) and I'm also happy that there's an Amstrad CPC tune included in the show which adds to the variety. As well as being included on the Armalyte CD-ROM the show will also be released online later this year as part of series 2 of One Man & His Mic - so keep an eye on www.binaryzone.org/podcast for details about series 2!

And that's it for now. Thanks for reading and I'll see you ... IN THE FUTURE

Kenz / www.psytronik.com.

Retrovision 2010

Greetings Programs!

Firstly, an apology for the lack of blog updates recently. This has been due to various factors - some personal, some mundane (including repainting the Psytronik office which took a MONTH due to all the retro stuff that had to be moved around!) All this resulted in the Psytronik releases being put on hold for a while and, unfortunately, this meant the games I was hoping to release just before Christmas (Armalyte PC & Star Sabre 128) were not completed in time. But don't worry folks, work has now resumed on these releases and both games will soon be available.

So what has been happening with Psytronik Software recently I hear you cry. Well, I've just got back to the Psytronik HQ after attending the awesome Retrovision 2010 event and I thought I'd better type up a report of the event while it's all still fresh in my mind! So are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin ...

My epic voyage to RV2010 began on Friday February 5th 2010 with me pointing the Kenzmobile(tm) in the direction of Milton Keynes. I was being accompanied to the event by my good buddy DJ Skitz (of SlayRadio fame) and in order shorten the journey a tad I crashed at the SkitzHQ after some tasty pizza scoffage (a Dominos "big smoky" - for techno buffs who are listening).

Me & Skitz zzoomed off to Oxford on Saturday morning and arrived at the event venue (The Folly Bridge Inn) just before noon. We would have arrived a bit earlier had it not been for a slight navigational error. I noticed I already had "RV guesthouse" programmed into my TomTom but what I didn't realise was it was actually a different place we stayed at a couple of years ago - so I was expecting it to navigate me to the White House View Hotel opposite the Folly and we ended up somewhere else completely! Nyeeeeeuurrrrrr!

Dunnu-dunnu-dunnu-dunnu-BEERMAN!

Anyhoo, once at the Folly a quick recce revealed the main room to be pretty much set up and operational (and stuffed with an amazing amount of retro-tech, the most I'd ever seen at an RV event in fact!) Me & Skitz unloaded the car and got the Binary Zone / Psytronik stand set up and running. This was the first time I had taken three separate systems to an event so I had a bit more setting up to do than normal.

The Binary Zone table crammed with Psytronik goodies!
(Photo by VinnyM)

My table featured a Spectrum 128 +2 complete with audio CD loading system and supa-clear SCART TV lead, the Specadore 64 (I couldn't NOT bring that along as it always proves to be popular at these events!) along with my new addition to the Specadore family, the 1541 MK II Microdrive (okay, it's a 1541 drive sprayed black complete with Speccy stripes to match the Specadore!) I also took my PC with me in order to demonstrate the full PC version of Armalyte for the first time - and this proved to be VERY popular.

Armalyte on the PC complete with a packaging mockup next to the screen!
(Photo by VinnyM)

This was the first time the FULL version of Armalyte had been on show and it gave people the chance to play the later levels of the game - which caused some "ooo-ing" and "aah-ing" as the beautiful graphics by Smila went scrolling past. I also demonstrated some of the bonus goodies that will be featured with the game including the mix-e-load music demo, the artwork "making of" demo and the jukebox (although anything music-related was pretty much drowned out by all the other retro noises in the room!) The PC conversion of the game is now pretty much 100% complete, I just need to finish off some of the bonus items that will be featured on the CD-ROM. (The game will be officially released and shipped in April 2010 - in case you were wondering!)

Frank "Games That Weren't" Gasking blowing up stuff on Armalyte!

One of the great things about these retro events is that you meet various people from the retro scene and retro forums. It was great to see lots of familiar faces from the YakYak forum, some new faces from the Retro Gamer forum, people I've met at various events and people I've known for years thanks to my retro related shenanigans! The atmosphere at RV is always really friendly and there's always people you can chat too and play classic games with. The namebadges also help to put faces to forum ID's!

Alex Aris battles the H'siffian Empire

The rest of saturday was spent playing games (Trashman on the Speccy! Yayy!), drinking Guinness (double-yayy!), playing MORE games and drinking MORE Guinness! As well as being able to demonstrate the Psytronik releases on the screens I also took along some prototype artwork from forthcoming releases - some of which was exclusively unveiled at RV. The picture below shows the first ever Psytronik Compilation which was inspired by the famous They Sold A Million compilation released back in 1985. Despite not quite selling a million the Psytronik compilation features four cracking Psytronik games, will fill four disk-sides (or two tapes) and will be released in March 2010 - you heard it here folks!

The first Psytronik compilation COMING SOON!
(Photo by VinnyM)

A herd of us then ambled off for a curry at Chutneys (shouldn't that be "Chunteys", Speccy fans?) - who (after keeping us waiting for a yonk outside) managed to accomodate over 30 retro fiends and I was soon replete with a surprisingly hot madras curry which made me hiccup somewhat.

More Armalyte blastage - this time with Piku at the helm

The evening was rounded off back at the Folly with a bit more retro gaming before the racket from Rockband was starting to damage my brain (it was very hard trying to play Bugaboo the Flea with all that din!) so I ambled over the road to the hotel to entertain DJ Skitz with lots of curry induced windypops.

RV2010 - It was just a blur!
(Photo by VinnyM)

And then all of a sudden it was SUNDAY! The very nice people at the White House View Hotel (plug plug) laid on a scrummy cooked brekkie which energized me & Skitz for another day of gaming FUN! I always like Sundays at RV as it's a great chill-out type day. I spent Sunday alternating chatting with RV peeps downstairs in the pub and gaming upstairs. A deelish Sunday roast was then consumed before me & Skitz began dismantling the Zone for the long journey home.

The brill Armalyte artwork demo runs in the background while
the main game runs happily in Windows 7 on the laptop.

And so that was Retrovision 2010 - an excellent weekend! Before I go, I'd just like to do a few shout-outs to various peeps at the event. Due to brain addledness I can't remember everyone I chatted with but special menchies go to:- My most excellent travelling companion DJ "Zer0page" Skitz, Vinny "C64 Endings" Mainolfi (thanx for the photos!), Frank "Games that Weren't" Gasking (thanx for the VIC warez), StarshipUK, VintageMatt, PsychoRob (thanx for the great event!), Amy & Piku, Dungeon Dave & Dawn (I'll bump into you in Malvern ONE day!), the awesomely awesome Bog (good luck in the U.S of A, old friend), Markie (there was no way I was gonna let you miss an RV dude!), THE Jon (not just any Jon), Bane, Alex Aris, Beerman, Mayhem, Jools, MadHippo, Juice, Paul "RG" Drury, Rinoa, SirClive, Renegade Si, Dave Moore & the RS gang and the RCM posse (see you guys in May!) ... Special thanks also for the staff at the Folly Bridge Inn for looking after us (or should I say "putting up with us") and for filling us with copious amounts of lovely food and drink. Sorry to everyone I forgot to mention here - blame the guinness!

If you would like to see the complete set of photos that I took at RV2010 CLICK HERE!

And that's yer lot for now. In the next blog entry I'll be detailing the making of one of the extras that will be featured on the Armalyte CD-ROM. And just to whet your appetite I can tell you that a certain One Man will be setting up his NEW Mic in order to record something very special for the Armalyte CD!

See you ... IN THE FUTURE!

Kenz / www.psytronik.com