Dr. Wuro Industries – new ideas for the Commodore C64
The Commodore C64 may be several decades old, but retirement clearly isn't on the agenda. Dr. Wuro Industries is one of the developers and creative labels still providing the legendary home computer with new games and projects today. Behind the name is German developer Christian Gleinser, also known as ZeHa in the retro and C64 community.
His C64 games combine the direct feel of classic 8-bit titles with original ideas and a modern approach to controls and game design. Dr. Wuro Industries became particularly well known for games such as Shotgun, Frogs, Shadow Switcher and Straight Up. Local multiplayer plays a major part in several of these games – people sitting around the same computer rather than disappearing into online lobbies, user accounts and multi-gigabyte day-one patches.
Vince and The Visitors – a new C64 platform game
At DragonBox you'll also find Vince and The Visitors, a recent game from Dr. Wuro Industries. This 2D platform game takes inspiration from the console experience of the late 1980s and early 1990s and brings that style to the Commodore 64. Rather than simply imitating an existing classic, Vince combines traditional pixel graphics and retro charm with ideas and mechanics developed specifically for the game.
R8sterblock – putting pixel ideas onto paper
Dr. Wuro Industries isn't limited to software either. The R8sterblock is a specially designed drawing and notepad with an easy-to-read grid divided into 8 × 8 squares. That makes it particularly useful for designing pixel art, sprites, tiles, level maps and other layouts where ordinary graph paper somehow manages to turn counting squares into unpaid manual labour.
You can also use the R8sterblock for memory maps, hexadecimal values, dungeon maps, technical sketches or just about anything else that benefits from a structured grid. When developing for classic 8-bit systems, drawing an idea with a pencil on actual paper can still be surprisingly effective.
Weihnachten auf dem Commodore – type in your own programs again
DragonBox also carries Weihnachten auf dem Commodore, a traditional type-in program booklet for the Commodore 64. It brings back something that was once an integral part of the home-computer experience: typing a program into the machine yourself, running it, discovering that one character somewhere is inevitably wrong, hunting it down – and learning a little about how the computer actually works along the way.
Dr. Wuro Industries therefore represents several sides of today's C64 and retro-computing scene: brand-new games for genuine classic hardware, creative tools for designing your own pixel graphics and game ideas, and publications that invite you to get actively involved rather than simply consuming finished software.
Dr. Wuro Industries at DragonBox
At DragonBox you'll currently find Vince and The Visitors, the R8sterblock and Weihnachten auf dem Commodore. So if you'd rather use your Commodore 64 than merely keep it on display, and still enjoy playing, experimenting and discovering new things on it today, you've come to the right place.
