Longshot has released version 1.6 of the Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium (July 2023) which is a documentation about the CRTC 6845 (and some others circuits). Note that the CRTC is a generic component used in several computers including the IBM PC.

It is possible to check if an emulator is good with the SHAKER tests by Longshot. SHAKER is a program designed to run on CPC machines produced by AMSTRAD in the 80s-90s. The objective of this program is to carry out extensive tests on the video circuits of this machine. These video circuits are the GATE ARRAY and the CRTC 6845. AMSTRAD produced several series of GATE ARRAY and used CRTC models produced by different manufacturers (HITACHI, MOTOROLA, UMC, AMSTRAD). This has been causing compatibility problems on operations that exceed the functional specifications of these circuits. The identified CRTCs are numbered from 0 to 4.

Informations about the availability (24th September 2023) of Memory Full, history of Amstrad CPC demo scene by Hicks : all the work will be sent to the printer this week, and you will received a message as soon as the shipping delay will be known. Then 80 kilogrammes will need to be shipped by the post office.

Locus Eremus is a new action game for Amstrad CPC by Antero Martinez.

The game is made in basic 1.0 with assembler parts, with 5 levels and an end. It is available as WAV, CDT and DSK.

Mimo's Quest by Christ PERVER is an adventure game released in 2020 and last updated in August 2023.

And one more computer running soon SymbOS by Prodatron : the Amstrad Notepad 200 !

If you wish to try it with an emulator, you can download a version of the 18th July 2023.

Prodatron's notepad NC200 being out of order, it lacks for the moment the possibility to start on a real NC200.

One or two ears, one brain at least ? Then you are ready to listen to the lastest chiptune compilation by McKlain : Press Play Then Any Key (ok, but where is the damned Any key on a qwerty keyboard ?).

The Picomem ISA card created by FreddyV is for all 808x computers and brings additionnal RAM (if you don't have 640 Kb), EMS memory, hard disk and disk drive images support, thanks to a Raspberry Pico (like the PicoGUS sound card). It's still work in progress. Rodrik Studio did two videos about the Picomem, one in english, the other in french :

• english video
• french video (see below)

Seen on CPCWiki, it is possible to replace an AY-3-8912 original sound chip (originals for sell are costly) by a replacement chip created by vRetro Design (better to put the chip in a socket after removing the original) : AY-3-8912 functional equivalent for 25 euros.

There is another replacement chip : AY-3-8912A-TS (Turbo Sound) but contrary to what was thought at the start of the CPCWiki thread, it isn't usable on an Amstrad CPC. It's only for ZX Spectrum and it offers 2 AY instead of one.

The clone had a timing problem but it has been corrected by vRetro on the 12 October 2023 as announced by SerErris.

Even if I knew ugBASIC for having seen it on the System-CFG forum, I didnt write about yet. It's interesting as it is a compiled basic which works on many computers including the Amstrad CPC(+). So it's Amsnews which reminds me to do my duty. In fact this compiler write the code so a program works whatever the features of the targeted computer, a feature who doesnt exist in hardware will be managed by software. For ugBASIC's github it's here, the official site here, an official FB group of ugBASIC and even now an ugBASIC forum. Good reading.

You can download 19 MIDI songs by Manfred GROSS which can be read by the Ultimate CPC MIDI Sound and MIDI Interface by LambadMikel for your Amstrad CPC.

RetroVirtualMachine v2.1.9 by Juan Carlos González Amestoy was released today. It's an Amstrad CPC emulator for MacOS, Windows and Linux. This version features bug fixes.

PunyInform v5.1 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.

Shawn Sijnstra (and Stefan Vogt) continue to update VEZZA his Infocom/Inform/Z-machine interpreter for Amstrad CPC and PCW (and other computers) to play adventure games without needing a memory expansion (Inform format v1 to v8), under CP/M and not Amsdos.

The program you need to dowload is different if you are using an Amstrad CPC (vezza-nb.com) or a PCW (vezza-90.com).

Amtix issue 9 by Fusion Retro Books was released at the start of October 2023.

Find Fusion Retro Books on Twitter and Fusion Retro Books on Facebook.

Furnace by Tildearrow is a chiptune tracker for many sound chips, including the one for the Amstrad CPC. Thanks to McKlain fo the information o Twitter.

Jewel Master by Raul Garcia (Retromaniacos) is one of the first released games for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest.

It's a simple arcade game, use QAOP to move and get the 4 treasures. I am blocked at one level (see screenshot below) as there were only 3 treasures.

The video below is showing the game.

Nita by haThus is one of the first released games for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest.

It's a platform games whose grapgics are really nice. I hope you will be better than me against the ennemies to pick up back all the stolen eggs by the villain.

The video below is showing the game, but on the youtube channel of the creator, there is a video showing how the game was made.

Ghost Trick Delirium (halloween edition 2023) by GGP for Amstrad CPC+ and GX4000 is a modification of the recent Ghost Trick for ... Halloween. Available on the Amstradiens Facebook group and Gamejolt.

Last information was 9 days ago (13 October 2023), the books of Memory Full, history of Amstrad CPC demo scene by Hicks are now printed. All shipping should be done for October and should have already started.

Turbo Rascal SE (TRSE) v0.17 is out. It's a complete suite (IDE, compiler, programming language, image sprite level resource editor) intended for developing games/demos for 8 / 16-bit line of computers, with a focus on the MOS 6502, the Motorola 68000, the (GB)Z80 and the 8086. TRSE supports application development for the C64, C128, VIC-20, PLUS4, NES, Gameboy, PET, ZX Spectrum, TIKI 100, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, 8086AT, Amiga 500 and the Atari ST 520 (complete list here). With the benefits of a modern IDE (error messages, code completion, syntax highlighting etc) and a bunch of fast built-in tools, it has never been easier to program for your favorite obsolete system !

You can join the TRSE group on Facebook.

The video below is a gorgeous Amstrad CPC demo programmed with TRSE : Morketid.

Keymaster's Journey by 21st Century Amstrad is a WIP Amstrad CPC gamme for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest. For the moment you can see the sprites which will be used in the game on their Twitter account.

In 2019, Marco Vieth the author of the first Amstrad CPC forr msdos (now maintained by Rainer Lortiz) did release CPCBasic unchained which is converting a Locomotive Basic program of an Amstrad CPC in javascript to use it on a web site.

This version only receive bugs fixes, it's now CPCBasicTS unchained (TS for TypeScript) which is developped, and a new version 0.1.1 was released two weeks ago.

Retro Maniac has done an interview of David Thompson. It's in spanish, but there is also an english traduction at the middle of the page.

AmstradGGP has released a new teaser for its game Mighty Street Fighter with samples. Code and graphics by MaitrejoeGGP, music and sound effects by JackGGP, samples by Roudoudou.

The video is also announcing that it will be possible to play the beta of the game during the RGC meeting the 18th and 19th November 2023 (inscriptions is now possible, limited spots beware).

Amstrad Power is at the start a Telegram group, since the 21th October 2023 it's also a Amstrad news web site, a new concurrent after Amsnews (french).

More is better, it's a sign of vitality of the Amstrad scene (software and hardware).

The small compatibility problems for this replacement chip for the Amstrad CPC sound chip have been corrected with more releaxed timings. Instead of buying an original sound chip for too much money, it is more interesting to buy this functional equivalent AY-3-8912 by vRetro.

The last version of multi platform assembler for Amstrad CPC RASM (v2.1) was released the 24th October 2023 on Github.

This multi platform assembler for Amstrad CPC (for linux, windows, and also for MorphOS on Amiga) let you program for Amstrad CPC. It's recommended to use it with the new emulator also by Roudoudou : ACE-DL released today, to get symbols and breakpoints importation and much more.

It's released ! ACE-DL by Roudoudou (Another CPC Emulator for DownLoad) is available, the port for windows, linux and MacOS of ACE by Offset.

To download it, it's available on Roudoudou's web site.

A new version of Amspirit, an Amstrad CPC emulator by Dmanu78 is available on the System.CFG forum for windows. There is a 32 and 64bit version. Reading all the thread is a good idea if you didnt read it already as it's a complete genesis of this emulator.

This version mostly is correcting bugs, better management of the edsk format to manage protected games and new ergonomic features.

The thread on CPCWiki is here.

mTCP v2023-03-31 by Michael B. Brutman is a set of TCP/IP applications for personal computers running PC-DOS, MS-DOS, FreeDOS, and other flavors of DOS. mTCP needs a 8088 processor (or +), 96 to 256 Kb of system memory depending on the application, ms-dos v2.1 (or +) and a network card (Ethernet adapter, or a device emulating Ethernet) that has a packet driver.

If you go on the mTCP web page, you must know that it's a 39 years old PC Jr which is running mTCP own http server.

Matronica wanted to load programs on his recently bought Amstrad CPC 464 (at the start of 2023). So he did create his ROM emulator using a Raspberry Pico which was announced in April 2023. In June 2023 he added on his card an USB port which let him use either the Albireo or Unidos ROM.

See the initial announcement on CPCWiki about his Amstrad CPC romboard using a Raspberry Pico, the sources are available on Github.

After Tenebra which I highly recommend, Haplo offer us his latest game Tenebra 2 of course still a reflexion/puzzle game. You move in a roguelike environment with an important detail : you can only move in a zone where there is light. The big twist in this second game is that you arent anymore alone during 35 levels. Use run"t2 to launch the game.

Made for the Benediction Coding Party #3, Benediction wrote the demo Standup, code by Eliot, graphics by Voxfreax and music by DMA-SC.

If there is someone who did a lot for the Amstrad computers, it's Frédéric BELLEC whose web site ACME is a reference.

Todays he is needing our help to replace his A4 scanner which is not well suited for scanning items bigger than A4. He wants to buy an A3 scanner whose model he choosed and you can participate to buy it on Leetchi (63 days left to participate).

As usual I am late as Mighty Castle Adventure by Yogtze has been announced in January 2023 on CPCWiki and certainly also on Facebook. Yogtze is on CPCWiki and Twitter.

You should really read the thread on CPCWiki which is interesting and has several nice videos. The game has been showed at the Benediction Coding Party and it's really superb. To follow closely till the release.

Little Devil by Darken Studios is an arcade Amstrad CPC game released for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest. You can download it on the web page of Little Devil.

Video of Little Devil by XeNoMoRPH.

One Wonder by Kaiwa Games is an arcade Amstrad CPC game released for the CPCRetroDev 2023 contest. You can download it on the web page of One Wonder.

Border 0 organizes his ninth score contest on the game Relentless (shoot them up by Axelay, Rexbeng and Tom&Jerry) till the 31st Novembre 2023. See the site for the rules, you will have to use the WinAPE Amstrad CPC emulator to record a SNR file.