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The new URL for my website is www.norecess464.com Thanks for continuing to follow me! I've been working on a personal project for some time now called PiStudio. It's a new development environment that runs on a Raspberry Pi and connects to an Amstrad CPC through the CPC-CPLINK from Revaldinho. PiStudio transforms the CPC into a development workstation where you can code, compile, debug, manage files, and explore/maintain Git repositories, all directly from the CPC's keyboard and screen (in a full-overscan 92x32 character resolution). It's built around a suite of integrated tools that work seamlessly together, featuring a shared clipboard, a unified interface and the ability to open documents across applications. It's designed to run entirely offline, with certain optional features leveraging network connectivity. At its core, the idea is simple: the Pi quietly handles all the heavy work, while the CPC remains a responsive front-end. The experience feels natural and authentic, you are working on your CPC, just with capabilities that would have felt like science fiction back in 1985! Text EditorThe editor is the heart of PiStudio. It's a full-featured code editor tailored for development, but equally capable for any text file. Key features:
DebuggerThe debugger provides real-time inspection and stepping of programs running on the actual CPC hardware. When your program hits a breakpoint (BRK instruction), the CPC client captures the full Z80 state (with partial Gate Array support for now) and sends it to PiStudio. Key features:
Hex EditorA dedicated binary editor for working with raw data files, disk images or memory dumps. Key features:
File Manager A dual-pane file browser that unifies access to the Pi's file store, the CPC's physical disc drives and remote PiStudio instances on the network. Supported drives:
Source ControlA full Git front-end designed for keyboard-driven workflows. Key features:
Chatbot / Code Assistant An AI-powered assistant built into PiStudio, supporting both OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Anthropic (Claude) as providers. Key features:
translate entire documents, generate new files with AI-generated content, etc. The Chatbot is also accessible as a tool dialog from within the Text Editor. Developer GuideA comprehensive, fully offline reference encyclopedia covering all things Amstrad CPC. Articles are linked together through hyperlinks. This is a massive embedded knowledge base organized into searchable, reviewed articles (about 3MB of uncompressed text to this day). Content categories include:
SettingsAnd finally, a System-wide configuration for PiStudio. Configurable options:
Few words about the CPC ClientThe client side runs a compact Z80 assembly program (available as ROM or disc formats) that:
Availability This post is just an announcement. While PiStudio is already quite solid in its current state, I want to complete a real personal project with it first, giving myself the necessary time to refine and improve the overall experience. To keep the distribution simple, PiStudio will be released as a disk image to be written to a Raspberry Pi SD card. Closing wordsI want to thank Rabs who initially pointed me to CPC-CPLink project and TotO, who as usual has been a continuous source of inspiration and advice while designing PiStudio.
Stay tuned! Like every December for the past three years, it has become a small ritual for me to write about what I have been doing with my Amstrad CPC/Plus hobby during the year. I already wrote retrospectives for 2023 and 2024, so now it's time to look back at what 2025 brought. :) MagazinesThis year began with the arrival of two magazines. CPC Anachronie #2 and 64 NOPs #3 The first one was CPC Anachronie #2, written entirely in French. It really stands out because of its excellent printing quality. With over about a hundred pages, it mainly focuses on new games created by the community. It also includes some more general content that is not directly related to the Amstrad, which I think is a great idea. The only part I don't really connect with is the “Pop Culture” section, because it is a bit far from my personal interests (cosplay, interviews with YouTubers, and so on). Overall, I recommend it: it's a relaxing magazine to read before going to sleep. The second magazine I received was 64 NOPs #3, and this one is entirely in English. The team behind it has clearly found its style and rhythm, as it comes out at the same time every year. It feels like much more than a magazine you read once and forget. In a way, like Amstrad Live back in the day, 64 NOPs is becoming a strong technical reference: something programmers can return to later, depending on what they are building. 64 NOPs #4 should be available for order soon, so grab a copy if you can! Books My own library If you read my previous retrospectives, you probably know how much I enjoy old computer books. I continued my “book hunting” with one rule that I still continue to follow carefully: one book per paycheck (in Canada, we are paid every two weeks). I received too many books to describe them all, but here are a few real gems:
Many thanks to my friends Tom&Jerry and KailoKyra for helping me to get some of those books. Hardware Thanks to my friend “R.” (he will recognize himself ;-) ), my machines received a major upgrade. CRTC selector, ROM7 switcher and custom-made MX-5 My Amstrad CPC 6128 (aka. “The Development Machine”) now includes a CRTC switch with CRTC 0, 1, and 2. I can also disable the internal AMSDOS ROM (useful for a UniDOS setup located in ROM 7), and there is a big Reset button (very convenient). On top of that, this machine now has a custom MX-5 board that lets me plug in five expansion cards: Nova, Gemini, FlashGordon, Albireo, and finally a CPC-CPLINK. As a developer, this machine is basically everything I ever dreamed of. My CPC 6128 also got a Commodore 1084S-D2 monitor. I still keep my old CTM644 as a backup, of course. The image is much sharper with the 1084S, especially when reading text in MODE 2 (80×25 characters). Another nice improvement is the stereo speakers, which are an obvious upgrade compared to the single speaker inside the CPC's keyboard. Fun detail: I bought that monitor through local ads. Since I live in Canada, most monitors here are 60Hz. The technical manual clearly says the 1084S-D2 only supports 60Hz… but that's not true. My Amstrad with its 50Hz works perfectly on it too. But wait, there's more :-) Expansions for my Amstrad Plus My Amstrad Plus also received an MX-5 with the same configuration (except, of course, the CRTC selection, since this machine has a CRTC emulation inside the ASIC). All of these upgrades fit perfectly with my long-term goal: doing all my programming directly on the Amstrad. After years of cross-development on a PC, I now want to use my laptop only when I feel like spending a few hours coding in a coffee shop. Many thanks to my friends “R.”, PulkoMandy and Zik for your amazing work on the hardware side! Side project: HxC Manager HxC Manager in action (old photo) Earlier this year, I released a new version of the HxC Manager (v4.2). It includes a few small improvements, such as using the CLR key to return to the root folder while browsing, and the C key to clear the current slot (a feature that had been removed since v3.0 and later). HxC/Gotek drives feels a bit outdated to me now that I'm using mass storage devices for the Amstrad, but they are still useful to execute track-based programs: R-Type (Easter Egg), Pinball Dreams, Batman For Ever, phX, Phortem, etc. Main project: finally, Sonic GX got released in 2025! The first part of the year was devoted to giving Sonic GX a proper ending, along with gameplay balancing and level tweaks. I didn't track the hours I spent on it, but it was probably far too many! From June until the release in November, I shifted into heavy testing. I fixed every crash I encountered (some of them were truly challenging). In the end, I made the tough choice to focus on critical bugs and accept releasing the game with a few balancing issues and minor glitches. Another year would have been needed to polish everything to an even higher standard; but after seven years of development, I felt it was time for me to stop and finally release the beast as it was. All Sonic GX team members received their t-shirts! :P Sonic GX was released during Benediction Coding Party #5 in France, and I feel the launch was a real success. The game was widely discussed, played, and reviewed, and most of the feedback was very positive. I'm genuinely happy with the reception. Seeing people describe Sonic GX as a major hit for the Amstrad GX-4000 is the best reward I could have hoped for. That said, the release was surprisingly stressful for me. Just a few hours after it went public, cartridges were already showing up for sale on eBay. We had to quickly set clear guidelines for sellers, since the game is released for free and with no commercial intent. I was also worried that players might uncover hidden crashes. Even though 3–4 of us tested the game intensively, we couldn't realistically cover every possible scenario. On top of that, I ended up providing technical support to emulator authors to help improve their ASIC emulation. Now that almost two months have passed since the release, the most intense excitement has settled down but it was truly an amazing experience. I want to thank “R.”, TotO, CeD, Targhan, Slype, Nemo Kantio, Rabs, Gerald... for the testing and support! Media Since Sonic GX was anticipated this year, I wanted to step up communication around it. I sent a private build to the great team at Pixel Addict (an excellent retro-gaming magazine), and a preview of the game was reviewed over the summer in Issue 30. The review was positive, which gave me confidence for the final release. I also posted an update on the CPCWiki forum, where I announced that I would present the game in person with the team at Benediction Coding Party #5 in November! I was also interviewed for Fanzine GX and 64 NOPs #4 (scheduled for publication next year). Of course, I talked a bit about Sonic GX, but those interviews covered more than just the game. Finally, I contributed to CPC FANZ BZH #3 by writing two articles which should be released sometime next year. I truly enjoy CPC FANZ BZH. It's actually my favourite Amstrad publication with a great balance of community content, game reviews, and technical articles, plus an impressive effort to make everything look excellent. Don't miss CPC FANZ BZH #3, it's going to be great. Benediction Coding Party 5 Me playing Sonic GX at the Benediction Coding Party 5 Over the past decade, I attended Revision 2018 to present our phX demo, which placed second in the Oldschool Demo Compo. A year later, I went to Alchimie 2019 to show a first playable level of Sonic GX. And this year, I wanted to release Sonic GX at a party. The Benediction Coding Party #5 felt like the perfect choice, both because of its date and because of the people who would be there. For me, it mattered a lot to launch the game at an event where participants could truly discuss it and appreciate it properly. It's not at a random retro-gaming event where some people can't tell the difference between a Sony PlayStation and an Amstrad GX-4000. Benediction Coding Party #5 was incredible: honestly, probably the best demoparty I've ever attended. Eliot really knows how to organize a party: the venue is great, and it's not too far from Paris, which is ideal for visitors coming from far away. This was the very first time Sonic GX was played publicly in its final version, on Cracky’s machines. I won't write a full party report, but the people were a big reason the event was so enjoyable. The food and drinks were truly fantastic: ATC brought an excellent homemade drink, Roudoudou (and friends) arrived with cheese and even made pizzas, and many others contributed similar treats. Prodatron also shared some great beers from Germany! :) Special mention to Zisquier, Cracky, and Genesis8: three incredibly friendly people I met for the first time and really appreciated for their great personalities. It was also really nice to see some familiar faces again: especially CeD and Targhan, who both took part in the development of Sonic GX. A special thought went to TotO, missing in person, but still with us in spirit during the event! :) Me and my friend Prodatron. As I joked to someone at the party, one day we'll have to admit that we don't attend Amstrad parties only for the machines. We come to meet each other first, and the Amstrad is just the excuse. :) Living in the woods in rural Québec (Canada), I can't easily travel to European demoparties. But I promised myself I would go to a similar event again in about five years, and trying to turn this into a regular habit. Oh, and I almost forgot: I also gave a technical presentation about Sonic GX during the party, with more than 100 slides covering many different aspects of the project. I spent about a month preparing it. I didn't get much feedback afterward, so I guess it will take some time for people to digest it. :) Special thanks to Genesis8: I think he walked into a trap and maybe regretted it, because he recorded the entire presentation while holding his iPhone the whole time. What a great real physical achievement, hehe! Looking ahead to 2026 Wow—again, what a year. I'm still amazed by how many various activities I can do around these 40-year-old computers. I truly love this hobby: it's a real escape from the modern world. And it's not just nostalgia. It's also about creativity, in a context where everything feels understandable, reachable, and possible to master (to a certain degree, of course).
I definitely won't be making a new game or a new demo for quite a while, for sure. Both are extremely demanding, the bar has to be set very high to truly impress and make a difference. For now, I want to focus on more relaxing projects (things with no pressure) so I can reconnect with what made me fall in love with the Amstrad when I was a teenager. I'd like to bring back that naïve, simple excitement. I already have a clear idea of what's coming next. It has already started, and for now I can only say this: it will be different from anything I've done on the Amstrad before. So that's it. I wish you a fantastic end to the year and a great start to 2026. See you in a year for the next retrospective! This ambitious project began in 2018, and after seven years of dedication, we're thrilled to announce that it's now officially available for download!
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who showed interest, support, encouragement, and motivation throughout all these years -- your energy truly kept us going strong. CREDITS Code & Level Design: Arnaud “NoRecess” Storq Graphics Conversion: Cédric “CeD” Quetier Audio Conversion: Julien “Targhan” Névo Design & Support: Richard “TotO” Gatineau Instruction Manual: “Slype” We sincerely hope you'll enjoy playing SONIC THE HEDGEHOG on the Amstrad console. A little tip: yes, you can beat the game in about 10 minutes if you speedrun it -- but to achieve the best scores, you'll need to find all the Chaos Emeralds, carefully hidden across the levels… Have fun, share the build, and let's make the GX-4000 shine the way it always deserved to! 👉 CLICK HERE to download the GAME CARTRIDGE, its INSTRUCTION MANUAL and the TECHNICAL PRESENTATION. A new version is available.
What's new:
Download the program here. One year has passed since my post called Retrospective 2023. I really enjoyed writing it (especially after receiving some positive feedback about it), so why not create a follow-up for 2024! This article is not intended to provide a close representation of the progress of the Amstrad community. Instead, it's an annual overview of my activities around my favorite hobby: the Amstrad CPC/Plus. I'm going to start with literature. This topic has been a serious focus for me for a few years now, and I'm giving an increasing interest on books, magazines, and other publications related to my preferred 8-bit machines. I had a lot of fun this summer isolating myself on my patio to immerse in such readings, or simply as a healthy screen-free activity before bedtime. To begin with, I received some high-quality magazines in my mailbox. The first is the issue #2 of 64 NOPs (January 2024, French content). To me, that issue represents a great step-forward: varied content, mainly for advanced programmers, complemented by satellite articles (interviews and meeting reports). I admit I haven’t "digested" everything yet, but trust me that’s a good thing -- 64 NOPs is the kind of publication I enjoy revisiting, especially for its fascinating snippets of source code that grabbed my attention but take a few reads to fully understand. But my favorite discovery of 2024 is CPC FANZ BZH #2 (March 2024, French content). I expected an enjoyable read, but I wasn’t prepared for something so captivating. The presentation is impeccable: breathtaking illustrations paired with flawless printing. The content is exactly what I expect from a magazine -- varied, technical, accessible, informative, cutting-edge, written with an humor that does not alter the professionalism of the authors. For both 64 NOPs and CPC FANZ BZH, I’m impressed by the print quality. It’s such a leap forward compared to what was produced in the ’80s and ’90s -- I'm truly amazed! Again, I acquired numerous books, mainly from Micro-Application (French publisher). BTW, if you read this -- I’m actively searching for the book Trucs et Astuces 2 (Volume 17), please contact me if you want to sell me a copy. But back on the topic, I had a great surprise for some of the English-language books, as I was able to purchase few of them shipped directly from the United States at a very cheap price (I live in Canada). Few unexpected new books of 2024 also caught my interest: Generation Amstrad CPC written by Patrick Hellio and Marion et les crocodiles d'AMSTRAD by David Hecq. Both are amazing reads, I highly recommend them (I'm still not done with Generation Amstrad CPC !). Last year, I shared photos of my printed reference documents. What I can’t buy (or buy affordably), I print myself. I have taken a step further by purchasing proper binders for better organization. As a result, I now have documentation for all major software on the Amstrad, along with classical fanzines, various articles, and few rare books. I also keep my other Amstrad computers well-organized (I own every model of CRTC), including my beautiful Amstrad CPC 464, which I occasionally bring out for nostalgia. With such a setup, my wish of having at least one functional machine for my retirement days is secure :) I had already printed some articles from the venerable Amstrad Cent Pour Cent magazine. But I went much further, printing even more technical articles, all neatly organized in new binders too. If the Internet was about to collapse, thanks to all those reference materials I would have absolutely no trouble continuing my hobby solo, haha! Moving on, another highlight has been on the hardware front. I didn’t need anything major for my 8-bit machines (I still have so much to explore with my UniDOS setup!), except for a minor speaker replacement for my Amstrad CPC 464 due to some unpleasant crackling sounds. Thanks again, Rob! :) On the other hand, I acquired two expansions for my Amiga 600. The first is a simple Gotek drive emulating a second floppy drive (affordable and compact -- how could I resist?). The second, more exciting addition is a SDBox connected to the parallel port. It allows hot-swapping SD cards (no need to reboot) for reading and writing data. This has been a long-time wish of mine because, for the first time (in my house, at least ;-) my Amiga can exchange files with my Amstrad (via Albiero under UniDOS) without requiring a PC as an intermediary. Two fully autonomous machines that can now communicate each other, wohoo! Finally, I have kept a good pace with my own creativity. I have made a significant progress on the programming of Sonic GX, whose latest preview released earlier this summer seems to have been well received. Since then, the game has continued to advance, and all my efforts for the rest of the year are now focused on the two final levels of the game. I’m optimistic and I now think that a release by the end of 2025 is achievable, with no pressure and at the high level of quality we are aiming for. Earlier, I mentioned my love for CPC FANZ BZH #2. I reached out to the authors, and after few great discussions, they gave me the opportunity to write two quality articles for CPC FANZ BZH #3. It’s a true privilege for me to be published! The first article covers the best practices for programming with respect to the system (a theme too often ignored, in my opinion), and the second one explores my advanced use of sprites in Sonic GX. Don't blame me: it's all written in French. I can’t wait to see the final result once printed! And here we are, with another year that comes to an end. The next 12 months looks just as busy, with the completion of Sonic GX and likely an in-person appearance at the next Amstrad meeting organized by Eliot in France (the timing seems perfect for me). I'm NoRecess, I'm a geek and I'm an Amstrad nerd!!!
See you in 2025, which promises to be truly exciting (the Amstrad CPC 6128 will be 40 years old!!!). J'ai eu l'occasion de m'entretenir avec Nicolas "Dr JVTek" PERRET pour discuter de mon parcours professionnel dans l'industrie du jeu vidéo. J'ai aussi pu aborder mon hobby qui est la programmation pour les machines Amstrad CPC et GX-4000. So after all this time, you thought that Sonic GX was vaporware, right ? How wrong you are! :) Many things happened to the game in the last months... First, we rewrote the title screen, this time it's almost a 1:1 with the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis version. Of course, it's fully animated with all the horizontal scrollers, if you had a doubt. Actually, now many elements are highly inspired from the 16-bit version of the original game. Above: the "zone name", the "scoring" and the "game over" messages are now displayed directly into the game viewport... And below, those are screenshots of the new boss-fights, all of them featuring unique gameplay. Now each zones have their own unique Bonus Stages... Sonic now moves faster and features small/long jumps (as a consequence, the camera moves faster, too). Checkpoints have been added in the middle of the maps to avoid restarting from the beginning when loosing... Many levels were enhanced with better gameplay. Also, many bugfixes were provided, and all the numerous collision issues we had are now gone. Those previewed screenshots/video are probably the last ones before the final release of the game. We don't want to spoil anything... So the eternal question -- when does this game will be available to everyone !?? Well, the answer is simple: this game is a labor of love, we keep adding stuff till we can, and we will continue till we are satisfied enough with the final result. Also, we actually raised the technical bar again and again since we thought that the GX-4000 could handle it (and with reason), meaning more work for us. A tentative release now could be end of 2025, but I don't promise anything now loll. =) To conclude this post, here is a video showing the various elements of the gameplay... here it's running on emulator (that was more practical to record the various parts of the game) but the game behaves exactly the same on the real hardware. Thanks for reading! See you in my Xmas post ;-)
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