Hired Sword II for the C64 Preview - The Chickenhead Chronicles

Welcome back to The ChickenHead Chronicles - This week I am previewing the upcoming (04/03/2020) game Hired Sword II for the Commodore 64. This is a great RPG in the style of Ultima games on the C64, and falls squarely into the "Rated M for Mature" category with it's Racy images and story. Publisher: www.doublesidedgames.com @Dsidedgames Coder: Roy Riggs @furroy Music: Mike Richmond @RichmondMike www.Commodore4ever.net - Supplies hardware such as the Breakout Box for your C64 or C128 My contact info: www.10marc.com @10marc1 Here is a bit more information about combat, Direct from Roy: Combat Quick Notes At the start of each combat, the battle screen is shown. On the left side is the player, the hearts & skulls show how much life/ouch you have, there is an icon showing you the player, and then your four currently active abilities. On the right side is the same for the monster. Every ability is either an attack, marked with a sword, or a defense, marked with a shield. At the start of each combat you are given three options, Fight, Init, or Flee. Fight begins the combat, Init doesn’t do anything, but selecting it shows both sides’ initiative stats so you can better decide what you want to do. Flee lets you run away from a powerful monster, to have a chance to drink a potion, etc. You can also move your cursor up to highlight all of your abilities and the monster’s as well, again to see what you’re up against. Once combat starts, both sides roll for Initiative, if you lose nothing happens, but if you win you get to see what ability the monster will use each round for this turn. Their next ability will be marked with (Angle Bracket) before it. Rolling the dice! To determine the outcome of each dice roll, it works like the boardgame Risk, where the highest dice from each side are paired against each other. The dice are all compared, from highest to lowest, and any side that has extra dice not matched by the opponent are counted as wins as well. The side with the greater number of wins is the winner of the roll. After the Initiative roll for the turn, there are four rounds of combat. You pick your ability and the attacker’s dice are compared to the defender’s dice. For every die roll that beats the defenders, the defender will gain an ouch/lose a life. What happens when both players attack or both defend you might wonder? This is where your ability’s speed comes into play. All abilities have both a speed and a power, generally faster abilities have lesser power and vice versa. In the event of both players picking an attack, one side will randomly intercept the other based on comparative speeds, so the faster side is more likely to win the intercept. The loser has their attack dice turned into defense dice and the round continues as normal. If both players pick Defense, again speeds are compared and a random winner is chosen to riposte, and the winner has their dice turned into attack dice. Smart players will use the riposte/intercept mechanics to their advantage, if a monster has a very powerful attack and you don’t trust your defense to withstand it, you might want to plan to use one of your own very fast but light damage attacks to thwart their strongest attacks. Combat continues if neither side is not dead or flees. After each round the last ability is marked as used with an * asterix. After four rounds a new turn of combat begins. You roll for Initiative again, or have a chance to Flee if things are not going well, and are free to pick from all four of your abilities again. Of course, you can always just spam the fire button until your foes are vanquished and ignore all of the above!

GEOS Adventures Episode 1 :An Introduction to GEOS on the Commodore 64

Welcome! I am starting a new series this week - GEOS Adventures.
I have been planning it for a long time and it was just going to be part of the ChickenHead Chronicles, but I decided GEOS is worth even more attention. Enter, The GEOS Adventures series.

In this first episode I am covering how to legally acquire GEOS and set it up for use on real hardware, including running it on an SD2IEC. I am working with real C64 hardware. Future episodes will cover GEOS Programs, printing, getting online with GEOS, GEOS for the C128 and much more.
Come join me!
Mentioned in this video:
Download GEOS from here http://cbmfiles.com/geos/geos-4.php
LyonLabs is a great resource for GEOS! https://www.lyonlabs.org/commodore/on...

Buy your AV Header and maybe an REU from here: www.commodore4ever.net 

Buy your SD2IEC and pick up a few games from The Future was 8 bit. www.tfw8b.com

Micromys V mouse adapter can be purchased from Amigakit www.amigakit.com

Here are some 10MARC related links: www.10marc.com

www.patreon.com/10marc Twitter @10marc1

Episode 53: The Truth about Amiga in America

We have a special guest again this week! Join myself and Eric (Intriq8) from Amigalove as we discuss the real truth behind the Amiga in America. Here's a clue - it was not a European only machine and was very popular here for years.
Mentioned in this video: Amigalove - Americas best Amiga and Commodore forum www.amigalove.com
Twitter: @Amigal0ve
YouTube: www.youtube.com/amigalove
Retro Man Cave: www.youtube.com/retromancave 
Twitter: @TheRetroManCave Neils
Video on Amiga in America: https://youtu.be/8l2_tgwl8GU 
Amiga Bill: www.youtube.com/thegurumeditation
Twitter: @thegurumeditate
 The Amigos (Boat and Aaron) www.youtube.com/amigosretrogaming
Twitter: @Amigosretro & @thedevilbunny

My review of Viva Amiga: https://youtu.be/bL_tfMIJ8hw

Episode 52 - Amiga AGA Graphics vs. PC VGA Graphics

This week on 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast I am going to be comparing the lovely AGA Graphics of the Amiga and comparing them to the original PC VGA and SVGA graphics. Guess who wins? Special thanks to John "Boatofcar" Shawler for giving me the motivation to do this video, and make sure you check the Amigos out here: www.everythingamiga.com
 Visit my website at www.10marc.com Want to support me on Patreon?
 www.patreon.com/10marc
 I am also highlighting a few really nice Amiga AGA games on this video, including the 2019 release for Reshooter-R. You can purchase it here: www.amigashop.org
 

Episode 51 - Amiga 2000 Adventures Part II: Featuring the Video Toaster

This week on 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast I am revisiting my fairly new Amiga 2000. I cover some history and capabilities of this fine machine, and spend some time with my Retargetable graphics Card, the Picasso II. I also spend some time with the Video Toaster 2000 as we play with a few cameras and some fun transition effects. Come join me! Mentioned in this video: SCSI2SD from Intertial Computers http://www.inertialcomputing.com/ Zorro II Cards still available from: www.irixlabs.com www.icomp.de Open Video Toaster Software: http://www.discreetfx.com/DownloadToa... Follow me on Twitter @10marc1 Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/10marc

Episode 50 - 2019 Amiga Hardware Year in Review

This week I am covering new hardware that has come out in 2019 for our Amigas. We have had quite a few new and really great hardware products this year. If I missed any, please let me know in the comments. The new year also is bringing in a new 10MARC logo and startup video created by the incredibly talented Kevin Saunders, and new audio intro by the incredible Mike Richmond. I am also starting a Patreon, and would love it if you would consider supporting me and my channel in the future, take a moment to check out my Patreon site and perks right here: www.patreon.com/10marc Here are links to all the cool stuff in my video: Stephen Jones Checkmate Case www.checkmate1500plus.com Irix Labs Classic 520 Accelerator : www.irixlabs.com Amiga 500++ Motherboard: a500plusplus@outlook.com ROMulator: www.amigaonthelake.com RGB to Component converter: www.retronicdesign.com Edu Arana A1000 CPU relocator: www.arananet.net Vampire V4 Standalone: https://www.apollo-accelerators.com/ Amiga Tabor Board A1222 www.a1222plus.com Amiga Dust Covers from Retro Ready: www.retroready.one

Episode 49 - The RetroTink 2X Upscaler Review

This week I am reviewing the really clever RetroTink 2X Upscaler. This device is intended for use with consoles that output 240P and upscale and filter it to 480P, so I thought it would work well on my RGB to Component converter I reviewed in Episode 48. And I was right! It works like a champ to allow display on almost any HDMI TV, and also works so well with my Commodore 8 bit computers. Buy your own Retrotink here: www.retrotink.com Pick up you RGB to Component converter here: www.retronicdesign.com Want those awesome games like Ms. Rodman, Vic Nibbler and others? Also the fantastic Penultimate cartridge! www.tfw8b.com Like Pixel Vixens artwork? www.youtube.com/c/pixelvixen Twitter @lapixelvixen David Wright created the really cool Christmas Intro Graphic this week