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Now that I have a usable controller to use with my amstrad(s) in the form of a prototype, I have been looking for games to play with it.
There was quite a bit of Hype about the CPC retro Dev 2018 on various social media platforms and forums. I seen one game in particular a few times and that was Operation Alexandra. I downloaded this, recorded it to cassette, fired it in and loaded it up. The start up story was great to watch (the first couple of times) and made me smile with nostalgic feelings. I played this for a few minutes and felt like my prototype controller was ... Read More!

My Megadrive extension cable arrived in the post yesterday, so today I set about wiring up the last bits of the prototype controller.

I'm new to soldering, so there was a few screw ups on the way. I had to remove the original header pins that I soldered on as I had removed the plastic that holds them together and in place. I then had to re-solder them and the pins moved a lot as nothing was holding them there except the solder that I was now re-flowing. I thought that the best idea would be to remove them and put a new one on. I had to place it in new holes as I removed some copper pads accidentally.

After the new header pins were on, I soldered in all the wires to the buttons with purple wire as I only have bl... Read More!

I have tried playing some of the games that I have for the CPC 464 using the joystick that I got with the first one that I bought.
The problem with this joystick is that the buttons sometimes don't register and the directions sometimes don't work very well. You can't blame it when it's over 30 years old!
So I thought I'd make a joypad for the CPC myself. I don't see any for sale that are specific for the CPC and new.
The Joypad is going to be similar to an old NES or MasterSytem control pad. Rectangle and simple. What else do you need for retro gaming?!

I ordered a few prototyping boards and a few other items to make the start to my Joypad. They arrived a couple of days ago and I got to work making the st... Read More!

I was looking through the contents of the cassette that came with the Teach yourself Amstrad basic book and found a blackjack game.
I played it for a bit and found it quite addictive, even with it's lack of graphics, sound or even wording that looked vaguely human.
I was thinking about how I could make it better by using sprites for a few things. Maybe even add some background music and sound effects. This led me to look into how to make sprites for the Amstrad. It took me a good bit of searching and reading to try find something that might work. I was thinking I might need to just remake it all in assembler, but I don't quit... Read More!

A while back I found and bought another cpc464 on eBay that was needing some TLC whilst I was looking for a machine for modifying. One that I wouldn't feel bad about drilling holes into the case for an audio input jack.
The buttons for the cassette deck are broken and will need replacing. I'd like to make the buttons myself, but I'm not sure what to make them out of yet. Or how to make them.
I was very close to buying a German amstrad (not Schneider) that was close by but decided against buying yet another 464 just for the sake of it. If I do get a German one, it'll be a Schneider one as I believe there are some pin layouts that are slightly different somewhere (in the 6128 the disk drive ribbon is the change I think, but I'll... Read More!