TL;DR: I'm wondering what to do with this marvelous, oh-so-interesting dungeon crawler I've written: where to post it, maybe even how to provide myself an opportunity to monetize for those who value it enough?

A thousand million billion years ago, I played a game called "Dungeon" on the Cyber-1 at Florida State. It was written in BASIC, played on a remote terminal, and ignited a love for the idea of roguelikes. It wasn't a roguelike as per rogue - it was closer to Legacy of the Ancients or Questron, in that it had a sort of first-person view of the dungeon as you went through, and a few other mechanics that I found really appealing. I didn't know a lot about roguelikes, but dang I loved that game, and ended up putting the hard copy of the game's source - in two listings, because apparently one program generated the dungeon and the other played it - on my wall.

I never ported it to the 64. A house fire and, well, high school and girls and rock and roll all got in the way. I dang sure meant to, though, and that dungeon and Star Traders both loom large in my memory of being able to project games into the imagination.

Elite scratched that itch a lot, for Star Traders, but lacked multiplayer; now, there's Elite: Dangerous, which I love, but E:D has scale far too grand for one to actually experience with other people in the same way as that Cyber-1's Star Traders. C'est la vie, right?

Anyway, so I now have me a C64U... and I've totally enjoyed having it. But while I've enjoyed having the C64, I've been thinking "... wouldn't it be great, wouldn't it be cool, to write games on it like I used to?"

So I did. I wrote a space combat game that honestly felt like a cross between Silent Service and Star Trek, with the worst elements of both: it's still on my drive, and it's gonna stay there. Some day I'll burn it down and try to make it enjoyable; as it is, I'm mostly amused that it works at all.

But "amused that it works at all" isn't the same as "fun to play" or even "fun to write." So I rolled up my sleeves and tried again... and came up with a workable facsimile of that dungeon game.

And it works! Playtesting on the 64 and on VICE actually seemed to bring people - even other people - joy! It's not complicated, it's no Nethack or even Rogue, but it has roguelike elements like permadeath, it has spells, shops, weaponry, even artifacts and special weapons, and ... it doesn't have classes.

Well, it sort of has classes, except the class you play has to do with how you play - if you use a sword and shield a lot, well, you're a swashbuckler! If you cast magic a lot, you're a mage. If you pray your enemies away, you're a priest - and if you hide and stab from the dark, you're a rogue, and so forth, and how you play can morph - early on you might be a fighting man, but late-game you might develop your latent sorcery and leverage it to retrieve...

The Necklace... of Rodney! (Dun-dun-DUNNN!!!!!)

Yes, it's a passing resemblance, if you squint, to "The Amulet of Yendor." But it's a necklace, not an amulet. And Rodney is Yendor spelled backwards, you see, so... clearly different.

Anyway... it's a decent amount of effort, and I ... don't know what to do with it, where to put it so others can see it, or where even to reap the bajillions of fractions of pennies it might be worth to others. So I ask: what now?

My thought is that... honestly, I'd not want to gatekeep the game behind actual money. If you were to want to play it, well, I want you to play it, period. But if you were to play it and think "Wow, this guy earned something," I don't know how to enable that either - or even if it's gauche to think about it that way.

If it is a faux pas to think something like "how do I earn anything off of this dreck?" then - hey, I get it, 'splain and then consider it retracted! Like I said, I have no intention of gatekeeping, I just have no idea how to provide an avenue of such things.

So I ask, with apologies for being long-winded - this is a bit of a passion project for me, and I'm enjoying every moment of it, because I loved my C64 before the house fire, and I loved it enough to replace my 64 afterward. And I want to share that love and the joy of everything with as many people I can.

I'm not a Commodore 64 gamer myself (the system was a little before my time!), but I've really grown to appreciate just how passionate and active the community still is. This is the second C64 story that's caught my attention this week, following my piece on Steel Ranger 2. Most of my usual writing on my site is about retro handhelds, emulation and interviews with developers, but I've recently started experimenting with my own little corner of NeoCities too, and it's been a lovely place to share some of the more unusual things I come across. It felt appropriate in a 'hacky' way to add this article there.

This time, I found it fascinating that two completely independent Sabre Wulf remasters arrived for the C64 within just four days of each other, with their developers taking quite different approaches to a 42-year-old game. I've written a little about both projects, their development and the people behind them. I know this probably isn't news to anyone here, given how closely you all follow the scene, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway!

This will probably be my second and final C64 news article for now, but I've thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the community and the work people are still putting into these old machines.

New Release: Awesome Slam Siblings Infinite!

Hello Commodore Community. Seems we have a new game that is inspired by Super Smash Brothers (Nintendo). I'm currently traveling, so I haven't been able to fully test this game. Either way, it is creating a major buzz on the Lemon forums... So here are some links for those brave enough to try it. Feel free to post your opinions here.

Credits: Code by Music by Søren Trautner Madsen and Trap, Music by Søren Trautner Madsen, Graphics by Solevi, Testing by Vic, and Docs by Jazzcat.

Downloads:

CSDB: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=265225

With Trainers: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=265227

---

Other links for Discussion: https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79408

I’ve been reading through Finnish developer Lasse Öörni’s development notes for Steel Ranger 2, his enormous new Commodore 64 action adventure. Which is pretty damn niche, since who runs a C64 these days (I know I don’t, but I find it all interesting regardless!)

He’s spent over four years making it, handling almost everything himself, from the programming and graphics to the music. The finished game has over 800 screens to explore and a 45-minute soundtrack, all running on hardware from 1982.

I put together a super little article about the game, the technical challenges Lasse encountered along the way, and how wonderful it is that people are still making games of this scale for the C64 in 2026. This isn’t on my usual site, just my curiosity with NeoCities which I’ve been enjoying the last couple weeks or so.

I guess this article is for just a handful of folk, but no better space than the literal C64 community here to share it!

--=#> AVAILABLE TO BUY <#=--

FREEZE64 issue 89 featuring the great Shaun Southern is now available to buy from

https://freeze64.com/freeze64-issue-89/

Also includes CCRAP games, SID-tunes, hidden messages, POKES, dev diary, Front Line map, John Rowland, Julian Rignall + MORE!

#Commodore64 #C64

I recently got a remarkably well preserved collection of disks from my c64 days, some commercial and a lot of plain personally generated disks as well. I have a new C64U and the original 1541 drives, and I'd like to make some archives of these disks to ensure they don't get lost if something happens to the disks themselves.

I know for all of the non-commercial disks, Ulticopy and converting straight to a d64 image is fine, but for both fun and to experiement a bit, I wanted to try copying them to g64 as well for a more "original" copy of the disks. And this is where I seem to be missing a step in my process. I have Maverick, the 1541 and a blank g64 image on a usb stick. I can load up Maverick, load the dual nibbler, and point it at the 1541 as the source drive and the blank g64 image as the destination. The copy seems to succeed, and the g64 can be mounted to one of the virtual drives, but there's no directory listing to be loaded. I can "view" the g64 image in the C64U menus and that just shows some text that says "GCR-1541"

I assume I'm missing some final step that I need to convert the nibbled data from Maverick to an actual g64 image but I'm not having a lot of luck figuring out what. I had assumed this was something that could be done entirely with c64 software since it would seem like something like Maverick wouldn't have been all that useful back in the day if you needed a completely different computer and software to make the copied floppy usable. But maybe I'm way off the mark and even back then there was some need to convert the copied data back into a physical floppy. Does the Maverick nibbler only generate something useful after applying one of their patches for a known game/commercial disk and so isn't usable for personal disks? Or maybe I've done something wrong that broke the nibble? I think I might have had a FastLoad cartridge inserted when I tried this.

Again, I know that I don't NEED to make a g64 from these personal disks, but I figure experimenting like this is still useful from a learning perspective, so that's what I'm looking to do here.

Hello!

I am putting together a pre-order for new keycaps for the C64, called SA 64 and SA 64C, respectively. They are inspired by the famous SA Retro keycap set, a favorite in the in mechanical keyboard community.

The keycaps are premium doubleshot ABS keycaps in the SA profile, which is similar to the Commodore house style for their C64 computers.

They come in two varieties:

SA 64 is brown with a lush burgundy contrast and cream legends.

SA 64C is warm beige, and burnt orange with dark legends.

These keycaps are modern MX keycaps, which means that they need a compatible keyboard as well. To that end I've also designed a keyboard, the Keyboard 64.

The keycaps are part of a pre-order/group buy - you can leave a comment here to indicate interest, but i'd really like it if you could visit https://klackretro.com and fill out the form. The caps will be priced between US$70 and $80 for the doubleshot tops. The front prints (the PETSCII) is a separate price which has not yet been finalized.

The keyboards are a separate item. It is my hope that the open source community designs keyboards for users to make themselves or organize small buys, but new keycaps are useless with a compatible keyboard, so this board will be launched and stay in production until the end of the keycap process. Beyond that, the board will stay in production only if there is continued demand.

Finally, I have applied to Commodore for official licensing on the keycaps. If granted, the chickenlips logo will feature on the logo keycap. If not a K! logo will be there or it will be a blank cap.

Please visit https://klackretro.com for feedback and more information! Thanks!

Really pleased to announce that testing is complete and the newest game on Word BBS is now available: FICS (Free Internet Chess Server). Play (or even just watch) chess - worldwide! You can play as a guest or authenticate using your FICS account :)

I am somewhat in the middle of remaking a popular C64 game to run for free in the browser. It will look modern, but have the mechanics of the original title. I am renaming the title and crediting the original music composer and so forth.

Are people here interested in such titles and is it ok to post about it when it’s done? I won’t make any money of it, so it’s just for fun and to share some joy of the good old days in a new wrapping.

good morning all!

fairly new to my first c64u, and I have been playing around with BASIC v2 :). performance has been iffy even with PETSCII animations, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to dive into assembly just yet 🥶. are there any languages / compilers that are robust and effective for c64 / 6502 / 6510? Thx muchly!🙏 ☺️

My BBS has a line running Image BBS 3.0 on a C64 in VICE. You call it from a web browser and the screen is 40-column PETSCII, as a C64 caller saw it. You don't need a C64 or a terminal program.

There are eight Image games on it: Battle Mex, Conquest, Empire, Ghostbusters, Murder Asylum, Orion, Super Murder Motel Plus and Weirdworld. Everyone plays the same game file, so in Murder Asylum the person you're hunting is another caller.

The board has one line, so one caller at a time, like most C64 boards had. After someone hangs up it answers again in a few seconds. Calling needs a free account.

If you run Image on a real C64, I'd like to hear about your board. And if something on mine looks wrong, tell me.

https://tentaclebbs.com

Hello!

Is there a complete v6 release or newer, or are the newer versions only available as smaller update packages?

I can only find the full v5 collection and separate v6 updates.

Does anyone have a link to a complete v6 or later release?

Chapter 9 part 2 devlog of the Polychrome Raycast Game engine for C64. After preious episode showed mirroring PETSCII sprites, I decided to use same code to implement animation transforms to make objects have more character, as I work toward making a playable p(doom) demo before committing to a full novel game experience for the inimitable 8bt bread bin.

Full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ZBMCIj0sQ

Hey guys, I've been trying to fix something very strange. Working my way through a commodore c64 board, trying to repair it. But I dont know how to fix this scrambled character stuff. "(" are empty spaces usually.

Based on some research it might be that a bit is stuck, an issue with reading ram from u10 but I spend so much time trying to find an issue with it, replacing it with multiple working ram chips, and I even tested, with my multimeter, the connections to every single other chip that is on the board. Yes that took a lot of time, but I wanted to make sure that the pcb was not damaged in that way.

The only weird thing that I could find is that R42 does not have an 82 omen resistor, it has a 33 omen one. This the last thing I might be actually able to try with this board. Including the desoldering of the 4 chips next to the vic.

I have replaced ALL the other chips (through sockets so I can easily put them in and out again) from a working Rev B board. The one I'm trying to get to work is a Rev A board. But that shouldnt be an issue right? It is still the same 250407 board.

Other than just switching out the chips I tested all that I was possible with a 48 ic programmer that also supports limited chip testing through xgpro.

It does boot into basic, it does boot into the dead test cartidge, it does boot into the diagnostic cartidge.

The only issue I'm currently, really activly facing is this weird character scrambeling.

Through the POKE 53280,2 command I was able to change the border to red, so some functionality defenitly is there.

There are no flashes through the dead test.

I event tried ram of different manufacturers.

I've tested the board thoroughly, really, if there are any suggestions about what to check out still I'd be open to that. Any ideas from people who know what they are talking about is greatly appreciated. I put so much time into this board and I would love to see it come to life again but right now I feel like I'm just going to try to change the resistor and the four chips next to the vic and if that doesent work I have to give up. I dont have any more ideas left.

Sadly I dont own an oscilloscope or something like that so I cant go extremly deep into what is happening during its "normal" working state.

I'm going to think of more things to test until sunday when I will be home next to try more things. I'd appreciate if anyone has a fresh idea.

Thank you for reading this.

I want to introduce my son *slowly* to video gaming. I got my C64 set up in my studio and every few weeks we play a few minutes on a tiny CRT.

So far we played Hotwheels. We hold the joystick together. He loves it, but loading times are though and controls are a bit weird.

Recently I showed him Bubble Bobble. He mainly stayed in the corner making lots of bubbles. I think it was all a bit much for him. Same with Wizard of Wor and Super Mario Bros.

What would you recommend? I am looking for coop games or basic but cute sandbox games, where he can learn how to use the joystick to steer things. It should be forgiving, calm, but fun.

I got a aftermarket electroware c64 psu sent to me rhat is not working. And I have no way to identify the burnt component. Does anyone here have this psu and could open it and chuck? I dont want to throw it away either. There is no silkscreen markings for it...

This is something I wanted to do for a long time. Sentinel is my goto game what I play at least once every year I just wished for a better/easier dogfight, and even mouse support.

I've collected data about how the C64 handles mouse and actually the mouse driver itself not that big, I bet it can be added rather easily to games even with my limited assembly knowledge (however maybe not worth it as only few have the hardware).

I read that everyone disassembling their favorite game in the last two weeks so I gave it a go as well, used Claude - otherwise I would never complete this fun project - so please be easy with me. It now fully playable with mouse only (map and torpedo mapped to the mouse buttons), it still gives a challanging but fair dogfight, a more difficult navigating in warp space (with JOY you can just push down or up all the time and you are safe, with mouse it's not that easy), and a bit clunkier map navigation (you just don't see where are your exact cursor position, misclicking on the map)

No download link, as I'm not sure if I want to publish it and if yes then where (CSDB Maybe?)

Looking for a good not overly expensive joystick to use as currently using the master system gamepad which is okay but doesn't respond and is getting me killed alot

Hi. I've been working on a wavetable SID plugin to replace a bunch of bespoke scripts and emulation frameworks for the last 18 months and now it's here. You have surgical control over every register of the 6581/850 SID chip. You can numberwang the tables or draw your soundscape on the graph editors. It comes with a tool that can dissect .sid files and create instruments. https://residuesynth.com

1541HUD is a OneROM community project for Commodore 1541 owners who want easier ROM switching, USB control, and optional live drive-status monitoring.

Begin with the Windows interface, or configure your drive from the C64 after installing one compatible UB3 OneROM board alongside your original drive ROM. When you are ready, move to a compact Raspberry Pi touchscreen display mounted on the drive.

Add capabilities at your own pace: multiple ROMs, programmable drive addresses, write-protect control, and live telemetry for motor activity, full- and half-track position, stepping, write status, disk density, headers, RPM, and SYNC activity.

The project also leaves room for many more community-developed features, tools, displays, and integrations as ideas and hardware evolve. Firmware, setup guides, and test notes are available on GitHub for builders and testers.

https://github.com/benkrall1973/1541HUD-OneROM-Public/tree/v8.0

https://onerom.org/

There are a lot of conversions these days, many AI-assisted but also a lot of hands-on work. Did anybody consider converting Jones In the Fast Lane? :)

It seems like it would be a great C64 fit - gather friends or family around the TV, take turns so one joystick is fine, minimal animation, limited background computation. Understanding there's an almost infinite set of games to turn one's attention to, I'm surprised this didn't pop up on anybody's radar :).