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cyningstan.bsky.social
The Necromancer is the final enemy in #Ossuary. He is the cause of all the chaos you've battled through. If you kill him, then you will keep your gold... and your life! You can download the game from cyningstan.itch.io/ossuary #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Keen-eyed viewers might notice that this is a different hero from the earlier posts in this series; it seems that using the wand to fight daemons was a fatal mistake. This new hero has an intelligence of 11, however, so the wand and amulet are the best combination both for daemons, and for the necromancer who is enlarged here in the inset. Note how the inventory is full of potions, many of which will be needed for the final battle with the necromancer.
November 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM
sudotruth.bsky.social
Throwback:

On this day in 1980, Microsoft inks a contract with IBM to build the OS for the IBM PC. MS-DOS, born from a Seattle foundation, would ignite home computing and launch Bill Gates & Paul Allen’s empire.

#TechHistory #MSDOS #IBMPC #Microsoft #ThrowbackThursday
November 6, 2025 at 6:31 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The Dagger is a small, cheap blade weapon, the usual starting weapon for characters with Blade skill. The damage caused to enemies is based on the Agility of the player character. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Although Yaneve the Warrior could handle a Sword, there were none in the weapons shop. So Yaneve chose this handy dagger instead. She'll make do with the dagger till there's a decent sword in the shop. Her dagger is enlarged in the inset.
November 6, 2025 at 2:31 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The eleventh of the Jam Levels is the only one that needs Multibot. It needs both a gun to shoot the generator, and a spring to jump over the remaining forcefield, and Multibot is the only one that carries both. Get #TeamDroid from cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Multibot begins the penultimate level. Multibot has all three attachments: walker to allow lateral movement, phaser to shoot, and spring to leap. Here, Multibot is preparing to step sideways out of cover, and shoot one of the guards who should be in Multibot's line of fire. Multibot's disadvantages are the small memory, lack of inventory, and the lack of any instruction in ROM.
November 5, 2025 at 6:38 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
Once #BarrenPlanet had been tested it was time to launch it into the world. I've launched three projects since, and the process hasn't changed much. You can read about the launch process at dos.cyningstan.org.uk/post/201/bar... #gamedev #ibmpc #msdos #cga
The Barren Planet title screen, the first thing a player sees when they launch the game. This is a 3D render of barren terrain bearing a few of game game's most iconic units: the Mining Base, a Gun Platform, a couple of Ground Rovers and a few Hoverbugs. This image is used in full colour for the manual cover, but is here reduced to the four-colour palette for the CGA title screen.
November 4, 2025 at 3:02 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
Daemons are spirits of the underworld, the strongest monster in the game apart from the Necromancer. Blades bounce off them, so defeat them with scrolls or the magic wand. You can download #Ossuary from cyningstan.itch.io/ossuary #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Daemons appear at level 20. Our hero's use of the wand is probably unwise here, because intelligence hasn't increased for a long time. The banish spells in our inventory would be a much better way of dealing with the daemon, who is enlarged in the inset.
November 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
Shortly after its release, Sparcie made this review video about #StarCadre Combat Class. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4yi... #ibmpc #msdos #cga
MS-DOS Homebrew: Star Cadre: Combat Class
YouTube video by Sparcie
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The currency of the game, gold Coins found in the dungeon can be spent in the shops, or "cashed in" for city-wide credit to free up some of the character's inventory space. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Brittina the Mage starts her adventure with twenty coins in her inventory. Some items in The Chambers Beneath can be stacked, and stacks of items have a number superimposed to show how many items are in the stack. Coins can be stacked up to 16, but Brittina starts with two stacks of ten. One stack is enlarged in the inset.
October 30, 2025 at 4:50 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The tenth of the Jam Levels in #TeamDroid bring the guards, forcefields and generators from the previous level, and add to them piles of crates that need moving out of the way. Soldier is an obvious choice for this level. Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Soldier has shot its way through the crate obstruction, and is now getting ready to shoot a guard and one of the forcefield generators. Soldier will have to shoot the upper forcefield generator to get access to the datacard. The guards shoot, so it might be a good idea to shoot the upper guard before trying to take the data card across its line of fire.
October 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
Testing #BarrenPlanet wasn't an afterthought. After more than two years of development, I needed to make sure that the game worked. I discuss the testing process in a blog post at dos.cyningstan.org.uk/post/200/bar... #gamedev #ibmpc #msdos #cga
In the absence of any image specific to testing, here's a debriefing from one of the battles from First Landing, the campaign supplied with the game. The Nuvutech player has apparently annihilated the attacking Avuscorp forces, which are therefore nowhere to be seen.
October 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
Spectres in #Ossuary are spirits through whose ghostly forms normal weapons pass without harm. They can only be destroyed with a wand or a banish spell. You can download the game from cyningstan.itch.io/ossuary #ibmpc #msdos #cga
We meet our first spectres on level 15. Our hero's intelligence isn't quite good enough to deal with spectres using the wand without taking too much injury, so we've opted for the banish spell instead. These have an approximate 50% chance of defeating the spectre outright, but there's also a small chance that the scroll will crumble to dust on failure. The spectre is enlarged in the inset.
October 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM
keyofw.bsky.social
I am so not an artist but the thing with doing a solo project is you gotta figure the art part out. Here's my attempt at PcJr compatible industrial fans

#gamedev #indiedev #retro #ibmpc #pixelart #promosky
October 26, 2025 at 3:27 AM
retromagazines.net
You are sorely missed, Dom DeLuise. 😔

#RetroComputing #RetroComputer #IBMPC #IBM-PC #NCR #PC6 #Intel8088 #DomDeLuise #80s #PCXT #PC-XT #PC/XT
An advert for the NCR PC6 80s computer. Behind it, Dom Deluise is standing in a vintage pilot's outfit, making a flying gesture with his arms.
October 25, 2025 at 4:54 PM
coolowt.bsky.social
O.K. let's try this again and nail this sucker for good 👊🤜💥🤛 This time 🕢 I win 🏆😜 du deutscher Schwein 🐖🤣
#gamescwt #indy #lucasarts #fateofatlantis #indy4 #indianajones #dosgames #retrogames #retrogaming #amiga500 #ibm #ibmpc
Bad grammar Who is your daddy now?
October 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
If you like the #cga nostalgia palette, you can play #StarCadre in those colours. Just launch the game with the '-p' option (for palette, or purple, or pink, take your pick). #ibmpc #msdos
Star Cadre: Combat Class in play. Scout Aremiy creeps into a doorway and spots Emynt in the adjacent room. The game is played in a palette of black, cyan, magenta and white, which is the default palette for CGA graphics and is used by many CGA games.
October 25, 2025 at 1:07 PM
assosilicium.bsky.social
#silicium collection
Data General/One (1984)
Parmi les tout premiers portables #clamshell
Batterie, écran LCD et lecteurs 3,5"
Arrivé entre le #GRiD Compass (1982) et le #Toshiba T1100 (1985)
🧳💪
#retrocomputing #MSDOS #80C88 #Lotus123 #WordStar #IBMPC #heritage #geek #toulouse
DG/One, 1984 : l’école « road warrior » avant l’heure. MS-DOS, LCD, disquette 3,5"—un pont entre l’IBM PC de bureau (1981) et les laptops de la fin 80.
October 25, 2025 at 8:36 AM
keyofw.bsky.social
Okay, now the pause menu displays current abilities with instructions, and arranges them based on how many you've collected:

#gamedev #indiedev #tandy #ibmpc #retro #pixelart #promosky
October 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
coolowt.bsky.social
Unlike in many Sierra-On-Line games 👊, dying 🪦 in a LucasArts adventure game 🕹️ is almost impossible - that said 🗯️, there are exceptions ... 🫠
#gamescwt #indy #lucasarts #fateofatlantis #indy4 #indianajones #dosgames #retrogames #retrogaming #amiga500 #ibm #ibmpc
Oh no
October 24, 2025 at 9:22 PM
coolowt.bsky.social
The adventure 🏝️ continues 💯 Algiers 🇩🇿 and the dig site ⛏️ - and yes, X marks the spot 😉
#gamescwt #indy #lucasarts #fateofatlantis #indy4 #indianajones #dosgames #retrogames #retrogaming #amiga500 #ibm #ibmpc
Knife thrower in Algiers Asking for the way X marks the spot Dig site
October 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
My new game #Barbarians has a long history that predates my current interest in developing for #ibmpc with #cga graphics. Here's a composite image of it running on the #Psion Series 3 (2010), the ZX Spectrum (2012) and #msdos (2025). The MS-DOS version is at cyningstan.itch.io/barbarians-dos
Barbarians, from top to bottom, running on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (released 2012), the Psion Series 3 (released 2010), and MS-DOS (released 2025).
October 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
keyofw.bsky.social
Some screenshots of rooms I've been working on now. Had a collision issue with the moving platforms that I had to fix.

#gamedev
#indiedev
#promosky
#ibmpc
#pixelart
October 23, 2025 at 9:49 PM
coolowt.bsky.social
With the bad weather outside 🌩️🌧️🌪️ playing 🕹️ Indy and the Fate of Atlantis is the perfect way 💯 to spend the afternoon👍 I'm currently in Tikal 😜
#gamescwt #indy #lucasarts #fateofatlantis #indy4 #indianajones #dosgames #retrogames #retrogaming #amiga500 #ibm #ibmpc
Tikal Parrot Pyramid Tomb
October 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The ninth of the Jam Levels in #TeamDroid introduces forcefields and generators. Forcefields can only be switched off by shooting the attached generator. The obvious robot for this task is Soldier, with its built-in phaser. Get the game from cyningstan.itch.io/team-droid #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Soldier has already destroyed a guard robot that was patrolling the central section of this level. Now, soldier is preparing to shoot both of the forcefield generators in a single turn. With the forcefields destroyed, Soldier can then access the data card and the reader.
October 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
cyningstan.bsky.social
The Cloak is a garment that provides light protection. Its dark colour aids the character's Stealth skill in remaining unseen, and it also aids the character's Dodging skill for defence. Get The #ChambersBeneath from cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #roguelike #ibmpc #msdos #cga
Aren the Ranger buys a cloak at the ranger supply shop. The cloak will increase the effectiveness of Stealth skill for the purpose of not being seen by monsters. If Aren develops Dodging skill, the cloak will provide a little bit of armour that will help with dodging blows. The Cloak is enlarged in the inset.
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
vintage.computer
Whether or not Bill Gates ever said it, that 640KB limit defined the early IBM PC era, and reminds us how far computing has come (and how bloated software has gotten). #VintageComputing #RetroTech #BillGates #IBMPC #VintageComputer
Image titled “Wow That’s Fascinating – Bill Gates Once Said 640KB Was Enough for Anyone.” The design features white monospaced text on a blue background with rounded corners and a light gray border, resembling a retro computer terminal window. Text reads: “There’s a famous quote—often attributed to Bill Gates—suggesting that ‘640KB ought to be enough for anybody.’ Whether or not he actually said it, that was the original memory limit for IBM PCs. It’s a reminder of how rapidly our expectations—and software bloat—have grown.” At the bottom, small white icons of a globe and circuit chip appear beside the text vintage.computer.
October 22, 2025 at 12:00 PM