I was fortunate in seeing the Solar Eclipse back then. We were about 20 miles away from totality at the time (on holiday in Weymouth) and seeing it go so dark was surreal. This photo was taken at around 10am!
Last night was still impressive. I thought I tried getting a few photos, but it seems I got lucky with a few reflections in my phone camera.
I may have fried the lens (though to be honest I’m never great at taking photos, and it feels like I got away with it), but rather fry my lens in a once in a lifetime moment than my eyes.
Today I launch a game that is probably my biggest ever – Battleteria.
This project has been my game since the start of the year (with the exception of a month and a half where I worked on another project). I wanted to learn a few concepts in Pico-8. Sprite rotation, storing and retrieving levels, and highscore tables, and after a bit of work I’ve come up with this.
Space Replicants have taken over the galaxy, and the Solar System is the last stop. Guide your ship through 50 waves of enemies in 2 different distinct game modes. There are 10 bugs to fight, two different weapons, and the ability to turn the music off should you wish. Can you find all 4 of the endings? A fast and frantic rotational shooter.
You can play it here, as I’ve embedded it below. Sorry for your lack of lunch break!
Controls
– move spacecraft around the play area
(mapped to X/C on browser) – straight shot
(mapped to Z/V on browser) – spread shot
Hope you like it! If you do, I’d really like the following:-
Please share this post on social media, or mention it on your blog It really helps. Struggling with what to write about? Share your high score!
You can download the game for free on Itch.io for Raspberry Pi and the source code for you to build in Pico-8. If you donate £2 or more you get the Windows, Linux and Apple Mac executables. I have also a Ko-Fi page which I am using as a generic “support my endeavours in various things” page. You can make a one-off donation or memberships.
I’ve got a dev diary coming up where I share the challenges in making it, but how have you done? Here are my high scores and fastest times, to set the bar.
As part of my Scottish road trip I mentioned on the Now page, I headed to Dundee as my partner had one thing she wanted to do (The V&A Museum) and I had one thing I wanted to do.
The Lemmings Statue is a statue in a park close to the site of the home of DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and depicts three Lemmings climbing up one of the columns on the entry to the park.
Lemmings was probably the first computer game I ever really loved. I yearned for the Cartoon Classics Commodore Amiga box set, and I used to draw them on all my school notebooks. I even fancy dressed as one for a school Summer Fate.
Sadly the Commodore 64 version came rather late on, so I never got to play it much growing up, but eventually when my Grandparents inherited a Atari ST, one of the games was Lemmings – the box you see in the photos.
DMA Design – the programmers of Lemmings – eventually became Rockstar North and launched the whole Grand Theft Auto series. The rest is history.
Anyway, it is a very cool art installation in Dundee if you are ever in the area. We also had an amazing meal in Eastfield so recommend booking there if you go.
So as shared by somebody on the Amiga Addict Discord, today is the day that – if you play Championship Manager 97/98 for 30 seasons, on the 15th July 2026, you get an endgame screen, and encouragement to sign up as a play tester and a researcher for future games.1
I played Champ Man 97/98 loads growing up, and really got into the 97/98 version. I would have been 14 when it came out, the cusp of France 98, and me starting to follow Colwyn Bay Football Club, I was at probably my peak fandom. I used to scour the leagues and guides for hidden gem signings (waves at Rob Taylor from Brentford), dress up for cup finals in a shirt and tie, and believed it was bad luck to watch the final.
Anyway, with the universe death of the greatest football game of all time, it’s safe to assume that no football from this day forward counts. It’s true, not just me being a bitter Welshman. Sorry England.
Incidentally, I did this role myself when I was the social media manager for Colwyn Bay about 10 years later. Mainly it was confirming the club colours, crest and various elements were true. Very much a highlight of the season, though sadly I never got into the credits for it! ↩︎
I was watching a reel on Instagram from Martin Lewis (for the non UK lot – a very trustworthy financial journalist, campaigner and consumer rights activist). I’ve attached it below but it’s about one of his biggest gripes – online scam advertisments.
Away from his message (which I 100% support), I picked up on something that I found interesting – he calls non-social media “The Legitimate Web”.
I don’t know if it’s deliberate, but given the state of the internet and how things work, I like that phrase. Obviously, people can set up a blog or a forum and scam folks, but on the whole it’s a lot harder without the machines of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube behind you. Set something up, pump out ads, try to catch some poor unsuspecting granny to scam out of their life savings.
With a bit of work, you seem a bit more legitimate. You create your own vision to present, and invite people in – be it a blog or (in my case) professional WordPress development. It shows you are who you say you are, and therefore probably going to be around a lot more.
– move spacecraft around the play area
(mapped to X/C on browser) – straight shot
(mapped to Z/V on browser) – spread shot
