Spectrum Computing

New piece of music: The Ride:

New piece of music: The Dynamene:

New piece of music: Saint Michael (Lauda Sion):



Emilia, the hero of the game, at one moment has to climb to the Saint Michael's Abbey, in Piedmont. It is an astonishing monument, whose foundations were laid more than one thousand years ago. The end of the piece is an harmonization of a fragment of the well-known Lauda Sion sequence, sung in three voices and accompanied by instruments.

New music! This is the theme for the main character of Silk Dust: Emilia

I wrote another piece of music, this time I leaned towards a slightly more electronic vibe. It is called Steam Pressure and I hope you will like it:

New piece: Intermezzo

New piece, this time for a full orchestra: Varenna Suite.

Great music! I don't suppose you could really put this music into the actual game?

Thank you very much! It would be quite difficult to play the music within the game, at least on 8-bit systems. Moreover, it would be quite hard to render it satisfactorily. As a solution, I heard about someone who has burned a minidisk and hear the music while playing. I thought it was a fun way to do it Or a cassette, to be period-correct with our beloved Spectrum

Hello! I have written a new piece of music, called Mediterranean Sunset. If you have played the game, you know what is this about



I hope you'll like it. I am still planning to write a final piece of music to conclude the work.

I finished the work on the Silk Dust soundtrack!

As you know, you can listen all the pieces on SoundCloud:

I created a soundtrack project on Itch.io where all the pieces (AIFF 16 bit 44.1 kHz and FLAC 24 bit 192 kHz, plus a bonus piece called Turin Suite) can be downloaded for a small fee:

https://darwinne.itch.io/silk-dust-original-soundtrack

There are also labels to print for cassette, CD and MiniDisc

It's time I played this properly, before the film gets made and appears at Cannes!

I don't use the word 'evocative' often, but it certainly applies here. As with The Queen's Footsteps, almost everything has something interesting about it, whether it's involved in the solution or not.

That said, after solving two puzzles, I'm wandering about in circles, but I'm NOT going to look at walkthroughs yet. Hopefully with fresh eyes later I'll solve it and get on the road.

@DarwinNE where is the most up to date version of Silk Dust? I don't know if there's a bug or I'm doing something wrong. I'm playing the version in the SC archive and I can't make this work (SPOILER):

Spoiler

I've got the bucket, plugged it, filled it with water, dried the floor in the black room, but I've reached a dead-end. I can't "talk voicepipe" to get Sergio.

The ZX spectrum link on your itch page doesn't work for me in Chrome or Edge.

Hi! I'm really glad you appreciate the atmosphere of the game.The most up-to-date version I published is version 1.0.1, published in September 2022. I tried to download it from Itch.io and it works (with Safari). Have you got an issue also trying from my website?

http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/index.php ... ge=English

Spoiler

I just checked with my walkthrough and this version of the game seems to work correctly on the Spectrum. Have you discussed with the mechanic, already, when Emilia is in need for the paraffin I mean?

Thanks Davide. It works - the problem was as you say. I did all the examines and discussions previously then I got stuck, and when I restarted I rushed and must have missed out that conversation.

Now I'm on the road at last. I'm sure it will be plain sailing from here...

That's cool! If you are stuck somewhere, don't hesitate to ask for hints.

DarwinNE wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 11:22 am That's cool! If you are stuck somewhere, don't hesitate to ask for hints.

You'll regret that offer!

I'm stuck on part 2 in the abbey (and now I want to go there!).

Spoiler

I've taken Salvatore for a drive, he dropped the key, I got the tunic, I entered the abbey and spoke to Father Antonio, read the newspaper. I think I examined everything in the abbey but didn't find anything else. I try to "drive car" but I'm forgetting something, but don't know what.

Presumably I need to enter the Friar's cells, but no idea how. Maybe bring an end to prayer time somehow? I can't find anything to that end though

Thanks that works. I did try that, but I must have worded it slightly wrongly.

Completed! I nearly lost hope on the boat, but I'm glad I persevered and solved it myself. I struggled in parts because I forgot that I was playing a story, and not just a puzzle solving game.

That was great. The descriptions helped me to form vivid pictures of the scenes, which combined with ~small play zones meant I could keep my map in my head. I'm still no Fred Dibnah, but I know a lot more about steam engines thanks to you!

@DarwinNE Sending you a PM with the final code.

Just a small advertisement

The Silk Dust Original Soundtrack is available with a 50% discount on Itch.io for a few days:

https://darwinne.itch.io/silk-dust-original-soundtrack

Just a few lines to say that the Silk Dust original soundtrack participates to the August 2023 Creator Day and Sale, in bundle with a piece that is called New Star and there is a 55% discount on both:

https://itch.io/s/100231/august-2023-cr ... y-and-sale

As usual, the Silk Dust game can be downloaded for free from itch.io or from my blog.

I hope you'll like it!

Hi to all,
it has been a while. I just wanted to say that the Silk Dust soundtrack can be downloaded free of charge from Itch.io:

https://darwinne.itch.io/silk-dust-original-soundtrack

A few months ago, I added the full score of Varenna Suite, that you can also download free of charge. Enjoy!

Hi there.

Went to download the +3 disk image and it wouldn't load into Spectaculator or into my Disk Image Manager tool so I cracked it open in the HxD hex editor.

It looks like whatever you are using to generate the disk image has a slight error when writing the signature out. It's writing out:

"EXTENDED CPC DSK FILE" at the start of the disk.

As per the spec and many many tools it is supposed to be "EXTENDED CPC DSK File" (Note the case).

Once I hex edited that both tools were happy to proceed. Off to check it out now.

Update: I've sent a PR into the z88dk team to correct their disk writing tool. (Yay signatures in files)

Damien

Hi damieng,
thank you!

I will correct that soon.

Cheers,
D.