r/c64

New Linux user here, trying to port all my old games to Linux. Their page doesn't make it clear, so I thought I'd ask here.

https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/index.html#download

I've been using VICE since Windows version 2.2, and I don't want to change emulators unless absolutely necessary.

Also, I'd be grateful for any install advice. I want to get everything squared away before I go to create my new Linux drive. Thanks in advance.

Hi all,

Just got a c64 with a tape reader (uk). I am getting bubble bobble. What are some essential games to get? Particular those are play better on c64. Are any of the movie license games (indiana, robocop, terminator etc...) good?

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Chuck (Charles) and John Dougherty? I sure would love to have another adventure in Tarmalon.

I saw Michael Cranford is making a new C64 game.... I'm tempted to hit up David Fox on Facebook and see if he'd like to get another version of Zak McKracken off the ground. :)

For those of you that already had an original C64 and then bought an Ultimate - was it worth it? Did you end up using the Ultimate more than the original? Just curious of people's experiences on this. TiA

Hello, gamers. I’m Michael Cranford, creator of The Bard’s Tale I & II.

Back in 1983, I released a predecessor to The Bard’s Tale called Maze Master. It was a 16K Commodore 64 cartridge game, and after the final battle, I promised a sequel called Shadow Snare.

Instead, I returned to Southern California, joined Interplay, and began working with Electronic Arts. The project took a different turn and became The Bard’s Tale, released in 1985. It went on to considerable success, but I never made the game I had promised.

Until now.

More than forty years later, I’ve returned to the Commodore 64 and 6502 assembly language, and a playable demonstration of Shadow Snare is complete.

A little background about me: After The Bard’s Tale, I left game development and went back to school. I spent most of the intervening years as a software architect building web applications, and I also became an adjunct professor of philosophy.

I was invited to speak at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year, and I was surprised by how much interest there still was in the kinds of games I used to build. So I began building the one I had planned but never made.

Many of the ideas I originally imagined for Shadow Snare never found their way into The Bard’s Tale. I’m returning to those ideas now, using the original machine and working within its memory, graphics, and sound constraints—the same platform on which I built The Bard’s Tale all those years ago. At the same time, Commodore reemerged and started building boxes.

It has been fascinating to work inside a 64K RAM constraint again, making decisions that free up a handful of bytes so I can squeeze in one more piece of functionality.

Shadow Snare is a first-person fantasy role-playing game, but rather than playing a group of characters you roll, you play one character: yourself. The rest of your party consists of companions you meet along the way, recruit, or sometimes summon out of thin air.

The NPCs who join you are more than window dressing. They are essential to unraveling the story and finding your way through particular puzzles and encounters.

Title screen

Combat view with animation and scrolling battle text

On a dungeon level, spell-picker in the journal port.

Playing one character fits my earliest experience of tabletop role-playing. It may sound limiting, but it isn’t. As your capabilities grow, you may eventually attack several times in a round, carrying the force of an entire party through one seasoned traveler.

You enter into a journey along the Eight Ways—paths of formation and power leading toward a final encounter with the Lord of Shadow. The story isn’t simply about grinding for statistics. It is about learning your limitations, discovering who you really are, and traveling between light and shadow along a path that has always been waiting for you.

A playable C64 demo is now being provided to approved playtesters at:

https://shadowsnare.com

It is not a public ROM download. The demo contains seven sample dungeon levels, and I’m initially looking for ten or so thoughtful people who can give me useful feedback about the engine and gameplay. If you apply and are selected, you can help shape the final product, and you’ll be listed in the credits. (Those who are helpful in this phase will go on to help playtest the complete game.)

There is much more about the project, its history, and the current gameplay on the website. I’m planning to complete the full C64 game in the first half of 2027. What exists now is a highly functioning demo with a solid game engine.

I’ll be presenting Shadow Snare at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year, October 9–11. If you can make it, I’d like to meet you and hear your thoughts.

https://www.facebook.com/PortlandRetro/posts/pfbid02BFUzgXThDaczDtM8qpgowHyxVRJoc3oKDKcU7kAavgFbg3rGmKz4J73RwEw9myDpl

If you’re not joining as a playtester but want to follow the project, you can join the mailing list here:

https://shadowsnare.com/news

The moderators invited me to stay for an AMA, so I’ll remain in the thread for the next four hours answering questions. I’m happy to talk about the development of The Bard’s Tale, building games in the 1980s, returning to 6502 assembly after forty years of server-based development with what feels like unlimited RAM by comparison, the one-character and companion structure, my game-design philosophy, or leaving and returning to game development.

My question for you: What do you remember most strongly about the early C64 RPGs—and what would you want to ask someone returning to it after forty-three years?