Binary Battle (Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, ZX Spectrum)
A downloadable game
You have just woken up to find out your floppy disk is full of viruses! Unfortunately, it contains the only copy source code of the game you have been working on in the past months...
Recover the source code before the disk is damaged beyond repair! Luckily, you have an excellent antivirus program, Binary Battle, at your disposal. Use it to destroy all the viruses before it is too late.
Go through the depths of five levels of your disk, kill viruses, upgrade your powers, collect coins and spend them on upgrades, find keys to the encrypted chests and find the exit to the next level.
Your disk has limited health, which decreases as the viruses attack. Also, each action generates heat, and if your drive overheats, your disk slowly takes damage.
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Binary Battle is a novel take on the dungeon crawler genre. It was inspired by GEOS and the PC game Folder Dungeon. It is compatible with both PAL and NTSC machines.
On C64, press "Q" during the game to switch between music and sound effects.
The downloadable archive below contains the user manual in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The manual is designed to resemble the 1980s software manuals.
Credits:
- Code and graphics: Haplo
- Additional graphics: Andy Johns
- Music (Plus/4): Csabo
- Manual: Marukpa
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- An update to the ZX Spectrum versionMay 12, 2024
- ZX Spectrum version is out!Apr 26, 2024
- Commodore Plus/4 version is out!Mar 15, 2024
- Minor update (v1.01)Jan 13, 2024
Comments
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For atari 8 bits version when my dear Haplo ?
Unfortunately, due to platform limitations an Atari port will not be straightforward. Maybe one day.
With my humble opinion is about coding no limitation. Atari has 64kb equal as Commodore 64 even ZX Spectrum with 48KB.
No, the issue is not the available RAM. The first hurdle is that Atari supports only 128 characters (tiles), while this game uses 256. This means the text mode used on C64/Plus4 cannot be used on Atari, and the 6502 code base needs to be changed to switch to graphics mode on Atari and manually render the tiles to the screen.
The second limitation is that Atari only allows two colours in the 320x200 screen mode, while C64/Plus4 allow 16/121. This wasn't a problem on Tenebra and Shift because they only use two colours, but Binary Battle uses more. This means that either some of the features need to be dropped for Atari, or the whole interface needs to be redesigned to fit in one of the smaller resolutions and the 6502 code base changed to deal with it.
So although an Atari port is definitely possible, it will not be straightforward.
Ok Haplo. I know you can.
Really good game, I have played this before on C64 and now I also put it in my new "Gameplay of New ZX Spectrum Games from April 2024" video.
Completed, wonderful game. Full review next Thursday at Planeta Sinclair
Thank you and looking forward to the review!
Awesome game - ZX Spectrum
Perfectly looking game. Shame, the author did not gave it mouse support. The game is just begging for it.
Very cool and extremely innovative game that I have never seen in this form before. The novel idea even delight “non-strategy fans” like me. Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:09:26. Subscription to our YouTube or Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
We really love the GEOS type look :)
The best thing I’ve played on the C64 in a long, long time. What a fantastically clever and addictive game.
hello, I'm a journalist of revistareplay.com.ar, a print magazine about retro culture. I would like to ask you some questions to publish an article in our magazine about your game, where could I write you?
Sure, of course. You can contact me at my gmail address haplotenebra. Thanks.
The music is awesome for the Commodore 64 !
Awesome version for Commodore Plus/4 ! Great Haplo.
Awesome!
Kinda reminds of Folder Dungeon (which is great considering this was inspired by it.) I haven't tried this yet though but imma play it later.
A really good game. And an hard one, I do not get to the second level.
Here is a small video I made while I was playing it. I surely need more training to get to level 2 and beyond!
https://peertube.pcservice46.fr/w/jAYKw22GcmFFVNPpnn6CvD
Due to the highly-randomised nature of the game, some runs are more difficult than the others, but in general the game is not that tough. I can beat it almost every time.
There are some helpful hints in the manual, check them out. In the first level heat management is quite important.
I have to read the manual once again. And I'll try again taking care of heat.
How do you play the game?
What do you mean? Load it in a C64 emulator (i.e. VICE) and use 1531 mouse in port 1 or joystick in port 2.
An entertaining representation of computer security in the shape of a combination of dungeon crawler, strategy and point-n-click gameplay. A Folder Dungeon with an aesthetic more in line with the computing of the 1980s and early 1990s.
amazing game!
Awesome!
Excellent thank you!
https://www.commodoreblog.uk
very good
Love it, reminds me of GEOS.
Unique stuff. Normally I despise black&white games but this is done right. 7/10 imho
cool game thank you
It's so addictive! Great job!
Good job! https://c64universe.wordpress.com/2023/12/23/binary-battle-2023-haplo/
Awesome game!