Hi all,
I’m releasing a playable demo of Aegis: Dernier Exode, an original space exploration, mining and combat game for the Amstrad CPC 6128. It is written in Z80 assembly, mode 0, with no firmware calls during play. The “Sector Alpha” demo takes 15 to 25 minutes and ends on a portal (“to be continued”).
What it offers: real drift inertia, asteroid mining, trading at the base and at a station, buying a cannon, a pirate patrol and then a destroyer to fight, radar and ship indicators, disk save/load, original PSG music, remappable keys. Technically: double buffering, IM1 interrupts at 300 Hz, banks 4-7 used as overlays for the menus and title screen.
- Hardware: CPC 6128 + disk only (save/load use the disk; no 464/tape version).
- Tested: WinAPE and Caprice32, full playthrough. Not yet tested on real hardware with a real disk controller. Reports from a real CPC, especially for disk save, would be very welcome (please work on a copy of the .dsk).
- Keyboard: default keys follow a French CPC layout (ZQSD); QWERTY equivalents are in the README. Keys are remappable.
- Disclosure: developed with the assistance of generative AI tools for code, text, sound and part of the visuals. The game text is in French.
Free download: Aegis : Dernier Exode - démo « Secteur Alpha » (Amstrad CPC 6128) by Frag
Trailer (1 min): https://youtu.be/PlD5ykTjThM
First coverage: AmstradPower article Aegis: Dernier Exode, exploración, minería y combates espaciales – AmstradPower and a gameplay video by XeNoMoRPH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9afg7bk54
I’d love to hear your setup, how far you got, and what you liked or disliked. Open question: would you prefer a QWERTY preset or another default layout? Thanks!
Code & Logic Involvement
Full Vibe-Code (AI generated almost all game code)
Assets & Pipeline Involvement
In-game sprites / Background tiles
Music / Sound effects
Build tools / Asset conversion scripts
Story, dialogue, or manual text
Project Notes & Prompts
Models/tools: Claude (Anthropic) for Z80 assembly code, build/conversion scripts (Python), game and manual text (French), and design discussion. [Add any image or sound generation tool you used, with what it produced.]
Assets: part of the visuals and the music/sound effects were produced with AI assistance.
Human intervention: I defined the game design, universe and mechanics, validated each step, and iterated on the result. I spent many hours refining graphics pixel by pixel [adjust if needed], tested the game on WinAPE and Caprice32 (full playthroughs), and made every decision documented in the project log. Tools used by hand: VSCode, PASMO, IMG2CPC, CPCDiskXP. Not yet tested on real hardware.
Code: Z80 assembly written by Claude from my specifications. I defined the architecture (IM1, memory map, no firmware calls in game, bank overlays), reviewed and tested every result on WinAPE and Caprice32, and directed each iteration.
AEGIS_DEMO_ALPHA_v0.1.zip (46,4 Ko)
