Hello, in my last issue of Retro News Flash, I covered the game Randoom Ancient Stones and ran a short report on it. It's a really great game, I really liked it. All the best from Magisthan´s Spielekiste. 🙂
Gracias a ti por darle la oportunidad. Me alegra que te haya gustado! Si tienes un minuto, no olvides valorarlo en la parte superior derecha del panel.
Thank you so much for your positive review of the game. I'm really glad you liked it, and thank you very much for posting and sharing the review on your wonderful blog.
I gave Randoom 2 a go on my U64 last night. The game has nice graphics, some good music and the game is pretty much like the first Randoom, which works well. The power ups in the game enhance it even more. I was quite addicted to this game last night and want to say well done. I look forward to the next game.
I finally had the time to try out Randoom Ancient Stones and enjoy it. I found the game very fun and addictive. The arcade gameplay is very well done. The graphical aesthetic is very pleasant and fun. The music is excellent. In short, a great game and perhaps the C64 Game Of The Year. 🎉
Congratulations to the entire team involved for the magnificient work they have done! 👌
I also wholeheartedly appreciate the special mention. The truth is, I don't deserve it. 🙏
By the way, are you planning a port of the game to Amstrad CPC? If you can't find anyone who's up for it, I'll volunteer for the programming part. 😅
Impressive! You've blown my life score out of the water—I'm stuck in single digits. I never thought anyone could get more than 9 lives XXXD. I'll have to fix that.
Thank you so much for giving us this great gameplay.
I took a look at this longplay and what would also make the game a bit more difficult, would be, if the color-order weren't always the same, but were randomly generated by the C64, before each level. Then the player wouldn't be able, to plan entire moves in advance, which would always play out the same way, if you played the game repeatedly. Because then you'd have to adapt your gameplay to the color-order randomly selected by the C64 each time. This could be realised by a click-function in the game-menu, that would offer a choice between "fixed color-order" and "random color-order".
You have a Machiavellian mindset ;-P I'll make a note of that. It's a good idea! (Although I suspect that videogamedat would finish the game just as easily.)
Nice that you like my idea. I would just be interested to know, what exactly you mean by "Machiavellion"? When I google it, this word isn't exactly described in a positive way.
XDD, just kidding. Here, when someone wants to hurt someone else and make them suffer, we say they are Machiavellian. It seems that the difficulty of designing the game this way seems almost evil. But hey, I'm sure advanced players would appreciate more difficulty in the game.
Great game. I already liked the first Randoom game, and this one here, is just as good. It's fun to play. Good work. By the way, a two-player simultaneous function could be a lot of fun in both Randoom games.And I could also very well imagine a four-player simultaneous mode (using a 4-player-adapter). I am sure, it would be a great party-game, when you have friends visiting.There would be a lot going on then, on the screen, but it would definitely be a lot of fun. If multiple human players could play simultaneously, there could be different game-modes. For example, you could set it up, so that you could either play together as a team, to complete the respective levels together, as quickly as possible, or it could be set up, that the human players must play against each other, based on the principle, of who can defeat so many cpu-powered opponents the fastest. Just a few suggestions, that are currently popping into my head, as the gameplay would be really great for a multiplayer-game.
Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions! The multiplayer modes you mention would undoubtedly be a great addition to the game. The technical problem with a Commodore 64 is that it is impossible to display more than 8 sprites in the same row. In this game, with the added sprites of several players, there would be many occasions when more than that number of sprites would coincide on a platform. It would be a great challenge to design levels where that did not happen or to create a multiplexer that would prevent such overlaps. Well, there are other options, such as making software sprites or even creating an 8x8 sprite matrix to draw on... Another option that wouldn't be bad would be to port the game to a modern platform where you could add everything you mentioned and even online multiplayer. These are things I'm considering for the future, as the mechanics of the game allow for many variations that could be a lot of fun.
Hy. Thanks for answering and the interesting technical infos. Yes, i know about this sprite-limit problem and the idea of software-sprites or the thing with the 8x8 matrix, sounds very interesting. I can't really comment much on the programming of the C64, because you will certainly know better, but these suggestions sounds good. Better than the idea with the porting to modern platform, because if you ask me, then that would take away a lot of the game's charm, because what's special is, that it runs on retro-hardware. But maybe some of your other ideas could be realised, sometime in the future?
On the C64 alot of programming-tricks where used, in the last years by different people, to realise unbelievable things in demos or games. I am always surprised, what is possible in the meantime, on a C64. Do you know the little demo "Field Sort" from Lft, this is also very interesting, when it comes to sprites etc (can be found on the CSDB, by the way). But, back to the topic. A 2-player mode would be really nice to have in your Randoom games, because games that can be played together at the same time, are often the ones, that are most fun. Perhaps a way could be found to include a second human player in the future?
And just a fast idea, but it could also be fun, if, for example in a 4-player mode, the other players were the objects to be hunted (the guards), or rather the one player, who had the right color. One player could always be the adventurer and the others the guards etc. Or the second human player could also be one of the guards, besides the other, cpu-controlled ones. Could also be interesting to play. Of course, you would have to think this through further, but then less cpu-controlled sprites would be needed and the second player would have a meaningful task in the game. But, just an idea.
The truth is that, as I mentioned, the basic mechanics of the game allow for infinite variations to consider, and I will definitely take note of them for possible sequels. The next version will likely be a ‘back to the roots’ in terms of appearance, but with the gameplay improvements (control, fluidity, bonuses, etc.) from the second version, and adding some of the things you suggest. More enemies and multiplayer modes.
Awesome game with a great concept and a high fun factor. Some ideas and graphics are somewhat reminiscent of the classic "Pang" and "Bubble Bobble". Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:07:09. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
Wow!! I don't know what to say... Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kind words you have dedicated to the game. Things like this make it worthwhile to devote time and effort to programming for the old Commodore 64. I am very happy that you enjoyed it so much.
Hi. This game is great fun and I simply can't stop playing it. However I have a question for you: I generally don't continue plays because in the game, you know, luck can make the difference in every run. But I felt that also the ability to continue a game or not is 'randoom': sometimes I am asked to continue, and sometimes not, even though the last time I started a new play without continuing the last one. Can you check, please, if the 'counter' is working as intended? I have the doubt it asks to cointinue for three times always, even if you choose NOT to continue. Thank you.
Thank you for your positive review. In theory, it should be possible to continue three times. It is likely a bug that decreases the counter regardless of whether you continue or not. I will review it as soon as possible and reprimand my testers ;-P
Thank you for the information and congratulations on your magazine!!
Today I played Randoom 1 again and it's from heaven to earth with 2, first the movement and jumping are more abrupt, notable improvement in the new one, the issue of not having progression makes it feel like the levels are repeated and only the platforms change, in the CRT although the plots are seen better the red cube with the orange one get too confused, in the emu it is more passable but here you lose lives very easily because of it. In conclusion there is a huge improvement compared to the original version👌
I agree about the graphics. As for the gameplay, (I try to be objective although it's difficult talking about my own game), I think it surpasses the original in several factors: The movement feels more fluid. It's quite noticeable if you play one and then the other back to back. The animation of the sprites makes the game more eye-catching and dynamic. The bonus/malus bubbles, the golems, the hunter and some more details that add to the gameplay make it more varied and therefore more entertaining. Finally, two game modes have been added to adapt the gameplay to different types of players.
Of course it has many things that can be improved and even things in which it can be inferior to the first one but in the playable section it has been worked a lot to make up for lacks of the original randoom.
Congratulations for this great sequel to Randoom, one of my favorite games of recent years, one of those I had most fun with. Graphics, sound and playability are all very good, and the more I play Randoom Ancient Stones the more I like it.
So far I only have a few minor complaints.
I could argue that characters every now and then get lost in the background color, a black outline would have been nice but as matter of fact, this apparent issue hasn't caused me any accidental deaths, so...
...Instead, perfectly overlapping enemies cost me a life several times. It also happened in the original Randoom, but I am pretty sure it was less frequent. Maybe you could simply alternate the Z priority between two overlapping sprites to let the player know of the danger?
Other simple quality of life improvement you may consider is defaulting the continue option to YES! There's nothing worse than accidentally selecting NO because you are eager to get back to the game and forgot not to press fire repeatedly to cut to it quickly.
About the sprite design we had that debate with Errazking, the graphic designer. We did some tests and we decided that aesthetically they looked better without the black border. As the sprite was in multicolour mode, the border was too wide and saturated the design with black. An overlay with a high-resolution sprite as a border was also not viable because multiplexing was not possible. It has to be taken into account that there are situations where all 8 sprites can be on the same platform height. In any case I'm glad to hear that it didn't cause any major problems.
As for the sentry overlapping is a ‘defect’ already detected and discussed in randoom 1. There are fairly simple ways to mitigate or even fix it, but we decided that it is an addition to the difficulty of the game that adds the incentive to be attentive to the remaining colours to avoid falling into the trap of hunting a sentry ‘escorted’.
On the ‘continue’ part, you are absolutely right. I'll make a list of issues to fix to update the version soon.
I just managed to finish Randoom: Ancient Stones for the first time — on HARD difficulty! What a beautiful game. Tons of fun, clever design, and absolutely worth the challenge. I’ll be writing an enthusiastic review for Zzap! Italy very soon.
A few bugs and issues I noticed while playing:
After entering my name at the end, when I completed the game, it froze on a blank blue screen (like a BASIC screen, but empty). Not sure if that's expected or a glitch.
I’m playing on a Breadbin C64 with an Ultimate II+, and noticed that if I reset the machine during gameplay, some of the game text remains "burned" into the screen
The difficulty/continue mode selector behaves a bit strangely — sometimes it stays on the selected option, other times it jumps back to the previous one unexpectedly.
The 3-continue system (which is a great feature!) seems buggy — sometimes I get fewer continues than expected, or none at all, even if I haven’t used any yet.
And here are a few suggestions that might improve the overall experience even more:
The scrolling text at the end is fun, but after such a colourful and lively game, with nice, Pang-style in-between level pictures, it would really shine if it scrolled over a beautiful image or illustration. The plain white-on-black text feels a bit underwhelming after all that action.
The backgrounds are colourful and effective, but they could use a bit more definition in some places. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish where a platform ends. I often think I’ve cleared a ledge, only to bump my head because the edge isn’t clearly visible.
A pause button would be very helpful — and perhaps also a way to quit a game when things go south. Alternatively, you might consider not starting the level automatically after the "Start Level" screen, but waiting for the player to press fire.
During invincibility, a more obvious visual cue would be great — maybe a flicker or the same glow effect used when golems are capturable?
All in all, though, fantastic job — I had a blast playing and really admire the work and energy you’ve poured into this. Looking forward to spreading the word!
Thanks for testing and for your suggestions. I'm already working on version 1.1 to fix some of the issues you mentioned. I'll take your suggestions into account in case I can apply any of them in future revisions.
The pause feature is the one I'm least keen to add, as it takes away from the arcade spirit of the game. However, quite a few people with prostate problems are asking for it, so I guess I'll have to do it ;-P
In the meantime, one trick would be to find areas where the sentries can't reach you so you can go to the toilet in peace ;-)
Felicidades Dozznar y equipo !!! Valió mucho la pena la espera de esta versión 2 de Randoom !!! Excelente terminación, jugabilidad, gráficos, sonidos, música, pantallas, diseño... Que más !!!! ENHORABUENA !!! 😎🤩
Very cool and addictive game 🙃The title reminds me of RANDOOM from 2021 on C64. I wouldn't be myself if, as editor of K&A PLUS magazine, I didn't offer a physical cartridge edition of this game. If you are interested in this, please email me.
We are working on fixing some important bugs. It would be a shame to transfer it to the physical cartridge. I want to have a version that is good enough, and then we can talk about it.
One question. According to the compiler (Oscar 64), I have generated a CRT file in Easy Flash format. As it is, can you write it to a cartridge? I don't know much about the different cartridge formats on Commodore 64.
I'll know the answer to your question when I ask one of our experts in the field, but I can do that if you want. My role, in addition to writing reviews, is that of a "headhunter," which means that I look for developers and if their work catches my eye, I invite them to talk to me and offer a physical release 😁 If they are interested, I refer them to my editor-in-chief, as he has the final say. With him you can get along with everything 🙃 I invite you to contact me by email. There we will talk more freely.
¡Felicidades Diego por el lanzamiento de R2! Un gran juego que ya me se de memoria jejeje. Felicidades también para su majestad Errazkin que cuando trabaja quedan cosas muy chulas y por supuesto para el bueno de Narciso que se curró otra BSO gigante y de muy buena calidad👌👾🕹️
![Randoom Ancient Stones [C64]](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzIyMjY2OTc4LmpwZw==/original/EmEep7.jpg)
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I placed your awesome game into the best C64 homebrew games of 2025.
Thank you very much for considering me and sharing the video!
Remastered needs a emulator c64, but vice w10 was slow, any free web/gl2?
Hello, in my last issue of Retro News Flash, I covered the game Randoom Ancient Stones and ran a short report on it. It's a really great game, I really liked it. All the best from Magisthan´s Spielekiste. 🙂
Thank you very much for the review and for sharing it here!
Best regards!
Great game
Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I placed your awesome game in my top new games for September 2025.
Thank you very much for the video and your positive review!
Best regards !
You are welcome 😀
Juegazo! Muy bueno y divertido! Es que no hay ningún pero......
Gracias por el juego y por descubrirme un compilador tan sorprendente como el Oscar64
Gracias a ti por darle la oportunidad. Me alegra que te haya gustado! Si tienes un minuto, no olvides valorarlo en la parte superior derecha del panel.
Mil gracias!
Great game, thanks.
Thank you very much for playing and sharing!
Such a beautiful arcade game would deserve a physical release! I would love to have a copy of Randoom Ancient Stones next to my beloved Bubble Bobble
It would be an honour to share a bookshelf with that masterpiece!
Thank you very much!
Lo mehón.
jaja, Muchas gracias!
What's the best email address to use to contact you about a magazine interview?
Hi Mayhem!
You can contact me at diegooroz1@gmail.com
Thank you very much!
Cheers, sent you an email
This is a fun game. It tastes even better on my work laptop, when I plug the usb joystick to decrease my daily productivity.
XDD. I'm glad you liked it! I hope you don't have any problems with that.
Best regards!
Lots of fun!! Fast and smooth gameplay. And on top of that, good music and good graphics. Got me back to the golden age of arcade machines.
Thank you very much! That was exactly the idea behind this game. We are delighted that you saw it that way.
Best regards
Wonderful game! Highly addictive arcade action.
Hi!
We appreciate your positive feedback.
Best regards!
Big thanks for your wonderful game. It's probably my favourite arcade puzzler since Millie & Molly ;)
I wrote a short review and took some CRT photos: https://beyondnostalgia.substack.com/i/169722272/news-c-a-new-c-game-called-rand...
Hello Akeley!
Thank you so much for your positive review of the game. I'm really glad you liked it, and thank you very much for posting and sharing the review on your wonderful blog.
Best regards, my friend!
I gave Randoom 2 a go on my U64 last night. The game has nice graphics, some good music and the game is pretty much like the first Randoom, which works well. The power ups in the game enhance it even more. I was quite addicted to this game last night and want to say well done. I look forward to the next game.
Hello Richard!
Thank you for your kind words and positive review. I am honoured that you enjoyed it. Likewise, I look forward to your next game!
I finally had the time to try out Randoom Ancient Stones and enjoy it. I found the game very fun and addictive. The arcade gameplay is very well done. The graphical aesthetic is very pleasant and fun. The music is excellent. In short, a great game and perhaps the C64 Game Of The Year. 🎉
Congratulations to the entire team involved for the magnificient work they have done! 👌
I also wholeheartedly appreciate the special mention. The truth is, I don't deserve it. 🙏
By the way, are you planning a port of the game to Amstrad CPC? If you can't find anyone who's up for it, I'll volunteer for the programming part. 😅
Thank you very much, SkyBerron!
It would be an honour to see the game on the CPC. If you need graphics for porting or anything else, count me in.
The game is colorful, fun to play and a great idea. I added it to my new video with other recently released games. I hope you like it.
Thank you very much! I love that the instructions and credits are displayed on the left side. Fantastic channel!
Cool concept! Did a complete longplay on hard mode, hope it can be useful and/or admitted here! Thanks :)
Impressive! You've blown my life score out of the water—I'm stuck in single digits. I never thought anyone could get more than 9 lives XXXD. I'll have to fix that.
Thank you so much for giving us this great gameplay.
I took a look at this longplay and what would also make the game a bit more difficult, would be, if the color-order weren't always the same, but were randomly generated by the C64, before each level. Then the player wouldn't be able, to plan entire moves in advance, which would always play out the same way, if you played the game repeatedly. Because then you'd have to adapt your gameplay to the color-order randomly selected by the C64 each time. This could be realised by a click-function in the game-menu, that would offer a choice between "fixed color-order" and "random color-order".
You have a Machiavellian mindset ;-P
I'll make a note of that. It's a good idea!
(Although I suspect that videogamedat would finish the game just as easily.)
Nice that you like my idea. I would just be interested to know, what exactly you mean by "Machiavellion"? When I google it, this word isn't exactly described in a positive way.
XDD, just kidding. Here, when someone wants to hurt someone else and make them suffer, we say they are Machiavellian. It seems that the difficulty of designing the game this way seems almost evil. But hey, I'm sure advanced players would appreciate more difficulty in the game.
Great game. I already liked the first Randoom game, and this one here, is just as good. It's fun to play. Good work. By the way, a two-player simultaneous function could be a lot of fun in both Randoom games. And I could also very well imagine a four-player simultaneous mode (using a 4-player-adapter). I am sure, it would be a great party-game, when you have friends visiting. There would be a lot going on then, on the screen, but it would definitely be a lot of fun. If multiple human players could play simultaneously, there could be different game-modes. For example, you could set it up, so that you could either play together as a team, to complete the respective levels together, as quickly as possible, or it could be set up, that the human players must play against each other, based on the principle, of who can defeat so many cpu-powered opponents the fastest. Just a few suggestions, that are currently popping into my head, as the gameplay would be really great for a multiplayer-game.
Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions! The multiplayer modes you mention would undoubtedly be a great addition to the game. The technical problem with a Commodore 64 is that it is impossible to display more than 8 sprites in the same row. In this game, with the added sprites of several players, there would be many occasions when more than that number of sprites would coincide on a platform. It would be a great challenge to design levels where that did not happen or to create a multiplexer that would prevent such overlaps. Well, there are other options, such as making software sprites or even creating an 8x8 sprite matrix to draw on... Another option that wouldn't be bad would be to port the game to a modern platform where you could add everything you mentioned and even online multiplayer. These are things I'm considering for the future, as the mechanics of the game allow for many variations that could be a lot of fun.
Hy. Thanks for answering and the interesting technical infos. Yes, i know about this sprite-limit problem and the idea of software-sprites or the thing with the 8x8 matrix, sounds very interesting. I can't really comment much on the programming of the C64, because you will certainly know better, but these suggestions sounds good. Better than the idea with the porting to modern platform, because if you ask me, then that would take away a lot of the game's charm, because what's special is, that it runs on retro-hardware. But maybe some of your other ideas could be realised, sometime in the future?
On the C64 alot of programming-tricks where used, in the last years by different people, to realise unbelievable things in demos or games. I am always surprised, what is possible in the meantime, on a C64. Do you know the little demo "Field Sort" from Lft, this is also very interesting, when it comes to sprites etc (can be found on the CSDB, by the way). But, back to the topic. A 2-player mode would be really nice to have in your Randoom games, because games that can be played together at the same time, are often the ones, that are most fun. Perhaps a way could be found to include a second human player in the future?
And just a fast idea, but it could also be fun, if, for example in a 4-player mode, the other players were the objects to be hunted (the guards), or rather the one player, who had the right color. One player could always be the adventurer and the others the guards etc. Or the second human player could also be one of the guards, besides the other, cpu-controlled ones. Could also be interesting to play. Of course, you would have to think this through further, but then less cpu-controlled sprites would be needed and the second player would have a meaningful task in the game. But, just an idea.
The truth is that, as I mentioned, the basic mechanics of the game allow for infinite variations to consider, and I will definitely take note of them for possible sequels. The next version will likely be a ‘back to the roots’ in terms of appearance, but with the gameplay improvements (control, fluidity, bonuses, etc.) from the second version, and adding some of the things you suggest. More enemies and multiplayer modes.
Sounds very good! Looking forward to this.
Awesome game with a great concept and a high fun factor. Some ideas and graphics are somewhat reminiscent of the classic "Pang" and "Bubble Bobble". Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:07:09. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
Thank you very much for sharing the video and for your positive feedback. Subscribed! :-)
me acuerda un pochito pang y bubble bobble, la mecanica es muy interesante! me gusta
Muchas gracias Antonbal. Me alegro mucho y que lo disfrutes!
Hi. In the meanwhile, I wrote this review. Please use a translator.
https://www.thegamesmachine.it/randoom-ancient-stones-recensione-c64/
Wow!! I don't know what to say... Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kind words you have dedicated to the game. Things like this make it worthwhile to devote time and effort to programming for the old Commodore 64. I am very happy that you enjoyed it so much.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hey there, I hope you don't mind, but I enjoyed this game so much that I added it in my new Best C64 games of 2025 video
Thank you so much for sharing the video!
My pleasure 😀
Thank you! Randoom Ancient Stones (2025, Picaro Games)
To you for playing it and reviewing it!
Hi. This game is great fun and I simply can't stop playing it. However I have a question for you: I generally don't continue plays because in the game, you know, luck can make the difference in every run. But I felt that also the ability to continue a game or not is 'randoom': sometimes I am asked to continue, and sometimes not, even though the last time I started a new play without continuing the last one. Can you check, please, if the 'counter' is working as intended? I have the doubt it asks to cointinue for three times always, even if you choose NOT to continue. Thank you.
Hello P.bes!
Thank you for your positive review. In theory, it should be possible to continue three times. It is likely a bug that decreases the counter regardless of whether you continue or not. I will review it as soon as possible and reprimand my testers ;-P
Thank you for the information and congratulations on your magazine!!
Hi, many thanks for fixing the bug I reported!
Enjoyable and it is good that there are 3 continues. Looking forward to more games!
Today I played Randoom 1 again and it's from heaven to earth with 2, first the movement and jumping are more abrupt, notable improvement in the new one, the issue of not having progression makes it feel like the levels are repeated and only the platforms change, in the CRT although the plots are seen better the red cube with the orange one get too confused, in the emu it is more passable but here you lose lives very easily because of it. In conclusion there is a huge improvement compared to the original version👌
Lovely game :) nice music
Thank you!
ok-ish gameplay. graphics are rough, though - especially the backgrounds. would have been better with more refined graphics. 6.5/10
I think the 1st game plays better, despite the simplistic graphics.
Hi Reflex64, thank you very much for commenting!
I agree about the graphics. As for the gameplay, (I try to be objective although it's difficult talking about my own game), I think it surpasses the original in several factors: The movement feels more fluid. It's quite noticeable if you play one and then the other back to back. The animation of the sprites makes the game more eye-catching and dynamic. The bonus/malus bubbles, the golems, the hunter and some more details that add to the gameplay make it more varied and therefore more entertaining. Finally, two game modes have been added to adapt the gameplay to different types of players.
Of course it has many things that can be improved and even things in which it can be inferior to the first one but in the playable section it has been worked a lot to make up for lacks of the original randoom.
Best regards!
Nice Game!
I take note of the interesting conclusions of your review. An essential contribution to the continuous improvement of my products. XDDDD
Best regards Don Roberto!
Awesome!!!! Very addictive. Improves the first Randoom in all aspects. Speed and skill are the key (and a bit of luck always is welcome).
A game that despite you finish always you can play it again other day. Return to the arcades
Thanks for the review! Some of the blame for all this is yours ;-)
You are a demanding betatester XDD
Can I play this comoodooorooo game on the Mister FPGA? Also is it true that Robosoft is already working on a port to MSX ??
Jajajja. Sinver gamberro! Gracias por comentar! y guarda tu dinero para el vespertino que tiene que estar al caer ;-P
Eres más malo que un dolóh
Congratulations for this great sequel to Randoom, one of my favorite games of recent years, one of those I had most fun with. Graphics, sound and playability are all very good, and the more I play Randoom Ancient Stones the more I like it.
So far I only have a few minor complaints.
I could argue that characters every now and then get lost in the background color, a black outline would have been nice but as matter of fact, this apparent issue hasn't caused me any accidental deaths, so...
...Instead, perfectly overlapping enemies cost me a life several times. It also happened in the original Randoom, but I am pretty sure it was less frequent. Maybe you could simply alternate the Z priority between two overlapping sprites to let the player know of the danger?
Other simple quality of life improvement you may consider is defaulting the continue option to YES! There's nothing worse than accidentally selecting NO because you are eager to get back to the game and forgot not to press fire repeatedly to cut to it quickly.
Oh and there seems to be no pause button?
Cheers,
Davide
Hi Dave!
About the sprite design we had that debate with Errazking, the graphic designer. We did some tests and we decided that aesthetically they looked better without the black border. As the sprite was in multicolour mode, the border was too wide and saturated the design with black. An overlay with a high-resolution sprite as a border was also not viable because multiplexing was not possible. It has to be taken into account that there are situations where all 8 sprites can be on the same platform height. In any case I'm glad to hear that it didn't cause any major problems.
As for the sentry overlapping is a ‘defect’ already detected and discussed in randoom 1. There are fairly simple ways to mitigate or even fix it, but we decided that it is an addition to the difficulty of the game that adds the incentive to be attentive to the remaining colours to avoid falling into the trap of hunting a sentry ‘escorted’.
On the ‘continue’ part, you are absolutely right. I'll make a list of issues to fix to update the version soon.
Thank you very much for your feedback!
thank you, don’t forget a pause button!😃👌🏻
XDD ok
Hi there!
I just managed to finish Randoom: Ancient Stones for the first time — on HARD difficulty! What a beautiful game. Tons of fun, clever design, and absolutely worth the challenge. I’ll be writing an enthusiastic review for Zzap! Italy very soon.
A few bugs and issues I noticed while playing:
After entering my name at the end, when I completed the game, it froze on a blank blue screen (like a BASIC screen, but empty). Not sure if that's expected or a glitch.
I’m playing on a Breadbin C64 with an Ultimate II+, and noticed that if I reset the machine during gameplay, some of the game text remains "burned" into the screen
The difficulty/continue mode selector behaves a bit strangely — sometimes it stays on the selected option, other times it jumps back to the previous one unexpectedly.
The 3-continue system (which is a great feature!) seems buggy — sometimes I get fewer continues than expected, or none at all, even if I haven’t used any yet.
And here are a few suggestions that might improve the overall experience even more:
The scrolling text at the end is fun, but after such a colourful and lively game, with nice, Pang-style in-between level pictures, it would really shine if it scrolled over a beautiful image or illustration. The plain white-on-black text feels a bit underwhelming after all that action.
The backgrounds are colourful and effective, but they could use a bit more definition in some places. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish where a platform ends. I often think I’ve cleared a ledge, only to bump my head because the edge isn’t clearly visible.
A pause button would be very helpful — and perhaps also a way to quit a game when things go south. Alternatively, you might consider not starting the level automatically after the "Start Level" screen, but waiting for the player to press fire.
During invincibility, a more obvious visual cue would be great — maybe a flicker or the same glow effect used when golems are capturable?
All in all, though, fantastic job — I had a blast playing and really admire the work and energy you’ve poured into this. Looking forward to spreading the word!
Hi Dave!
Thanks for testing and for your suggestions. I'm already working on version 1.1 to fix some of the issues you mentioned. I'll take your suggestions into account in case I can apply any of them in future revisions.
The pause feature is the one I'm least keen to add, as it takes away from the arcade spirit of the game. However, quite a few people with prostate problems are asking for it, so I guess I'll have to do it ;-P
In the meantime, one trick would be to find areas where the sentries can't reach you so you can go to the toilet in peace ;-)
Felicidades Dozznar y equipo !!! Valió mucho la pena la espera de esta versión 2 de Randoom !!! Excelente terminación, jugabilidad, gráficos, sonidos, música, pantallas, diseño... Que más !!!! ENHORABUENA !!! 😎🤩
¡Muchas gracias Juan! ¿Nos vemos en los premios commodore manía o este año te lo tomas de descanso? ;-)
Great game
Nice Gameplay! Thank you very much for playing and share.
Awesome game!
Thank you very much for your gameplay! I always keep an eye on your channel.
Very cool and addictive game 🙃The title reminds me of RANDOOM from 2021 on C64. I wouldn't be myself if, as editor of K&A PLUS magazine, I didn't offer a physical cartridge edition of this game. If you are interested in this, please email me.
My e-mail: yahwey88@gmail.com
K&A PLUS website: https://ka-plus.pl/en/
Thank you very much! We will look into this possibility.
Sure 😊 You are cordially invited to cooperate if you are interested. You can find our current releases on our shop page.
Hi ✌️
And what is the issue of releasing a physical version of RANDOOM? From our side as a team we are open to cooperation 🙃
Hello!
We are working on fixing some important bugs. It would be a shame to transfer it to the physical cartridge. I want to have a version that is good enough, and then we can talk about it.
One question. According to the compiler (Oscar 64), I have generated a CRT file in Easy Flash format. As it is, can you write it to a cartridge? I don't know much about the different cartridge formats on Commodore 64.
Thank you very much and best regards.
Hello 😉
I'll know the answer to your question when I ask one of our experts in the field, but I can do that if you want. My role, in addition to writing reviews, is that of a "headhunter," which means that I look for developers and if their work catches my eye, I invite them to talk to me and offer a physical release 😁 If they are interested, I refer them to my editor-in-chief, as he has the final say. With him you can get along with everything 🙃 I invite you to contact me by email. There we will talk more freely.
yahwey88@gmail.com
Awesome & congrats !
Thanks for share!
¡Felicidades Diego por el lanzamiento de R2! Un gran juego que ya me se de memoria jejeje. Felicidades también para su majestad Errazkin que cuando trabaja quedan cosas muy chulas y por supuesto para el bueno de Narciso que se curró otra BSO gigante y de muy buena calidad👌👾🕹️
Gracias compañero! Y agradecerte la parte del testo NTSC. Si te lo sabes de memoria es que hiciste un buen trabajo ;-)