Commodore Format Archive

The already thriving Commodore 64 games scene got another shot in the arm this week, as former Commodore Format writer and games developer Andy Roberts announced he had established Thalamus Digital Publishing Ltd., a UK company specialising in retro games for various formats.

“The company is also a rebirth of the old publisher Thalamus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus_Ltd)”, Andy told us. “And we’ll be bringing back some of the old back catalogue in various ways, including conversions to the Spectrum Next.”

HERE’S WHERE IT BEGINS AND WHO’S INVOLVED  

“Our first projects, however, are a series of Kickstarter campaigns to release remastered versions of the old Thalamus C64 games; the games will be released on cartridge, allowing us to make all manner of tweaks to the games and in some cases remaster the graphics, add new levels and music, and add extra presentation sequences.”

“The first game in the Remastered Collection will be Hunter’s Moon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter%27s_Moon_(video_game)), and the Kickstarter will launch on September 29th. We have the blessing of Martin Walker, the author, and will be enlisting the graphic skills of Robin Levy and (hopefully!) the musical talents of Matt Gray, both of whom worked on the original game back in 1987.”

SOME VERY, VERY SPECIAL GAMES ARE COMING

This year is Hunter’s Moon’s 30th birthday, so it’s the perfect time to do a remastered version. But Thalamus Digital aren’t stopping at sprucing up the old gems. We asked Andy what lay in the future, and his response is sure to thrill ’90s Commodore kids everywhere.

“Well, we’ll be doing some sequels”, he says, coyly.

Any we can say for sure?

“Creatures 3.”

Really?

“It’s a long way away. But yes. You can say Creatures 3 for definite.”

Blimey, eh? When there’s more info to be had, we’ll tell you first.  CF 

• This story was published on 30th August 2017
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