Tony Bartram of AMCOG Games has outlined some of the things he is working on, and some of the things he has planned for next year. These include video tutorials, a video blog, exhibitions, and new games.
Games in the works
There are three games in the works, the first of which he is expecting to be able to release at the Southwest Show, which will take place on Saturday, 25th February, 2023, at the Arnos Manor Hotel in Bristol. Called ‘3D Turbo Boost’, the game is a 3D car game, so when you’re at the show, just listen out for the sound of wheels screeching to find your way to Tony’s stand.
The second game, for which Tony is looking at the Wakefield Show (Saturday, 22nd April, 2023, at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford) is titled ‘A-Maze-ing’ and you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess from the title that it’s going to involve mazes. In fact, Tony describes it as a “sort of mega 2D maze game”.
The third game is to be called ‘Escape to the Light’ and Tony is expecting it to be bigger than the other two. The inspiration for this game were the weird noises and sound effects he found on a fifty year old tape, picked up in a charity shop, and it’s this game that is the subject of the…
Escape to the Light development blog
Covering the process from initial conception of the game through – hopefully – to completion, you can keep a track of Tony’s work on Escape to the Light by following his development blog. Adopting a video format for this, the blog will document the progress made on the game, with episodes periodically uploaded to YouTube.
The first two episodes are already online, with episode one revealing some notes and concept sketches, along with the sounds that were found on the tape, which seem likely to be effects for a film, or a TV or radio show from a lifetime ago, and definitely not a recording of incantations likely to summon a demonic entity – so it’s perfectly safe to listen to. In the second episode, Tony attempts to recreate some of the sound effects for himself, and also demonstrates the recording process as he puts together some music for the game.
Future episodes will cover the initial foray into producing graphics for the game (expected in January) and proof-of-concepts of the game running on both RISC OS and other operating systems (expected February).
RDSP tutorial series
Another video from Tony is the first episode of a tutorial series for using RDSP, AMCOG’s virtual sound chip for RISC OS, which provides a greater range of control and versatility of the sound system than is otherwise available. Episode two in this series should appear later this week.
Exhibition appearances for 2023
If you want to see any of the AMCOG games demonstrated – and possibly even added to you own collection – why not pop along and see Tony at any of these events:
- Yorkshire Games Festival – 4th and 5th February. An event that isn’t part of the RISC OS calendar, the Yorkshire Games Festival will take place at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, BD1 1NQ. The full festival runs for a week, but Tony will be there for the Let’s Play! family weekend, where as well as showing off his ports of Star Mine and Mop Tops to other platforms, he’ll be running RISC OS on one or two machines to promote his RISC OS games – as well as the OS itself.
- RISC OS Southwest Show – 25th February. One of the events most RISC OS users should already be aware of, the Southwest Show is making a comeback in 2023 at the Arnos Manor Hotel, 470 Bath Road, Arnos Vale, Bristol, BS4 3HQ.
- Wakefield Acorn & RISC OS Computer Show – 22nd April. Another event familiar to the RISC OS community, the big show in the North will once again take place in the wrong city, at the Bradford Cedar Court Hotel, Mayo Avenue, Rooley Lane, Bradford, BD5 8HW.
- RISC OS London Show – still to be confirmed (but my money’s on 28th October if it goes ahead). The London Show didn’t take place in 2022 because the venue was unavailable, but should normality resume in 2023, you can probably expect the show to take place at the St Giles Hotel, Hounslow Road, Feltham, TW14 9AD.