iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 17h

In 2002/3, while at Zed Two, I coded two complete Pocket PC games that were never released. One of these was and official conversion of Tetris. Here's @stepickford.bsky.social's hand-drawn design for the layout and how it looked in the game.

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Reposted by Carleton Handley

Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The desk Richard is looking at in the second picture was mine, you can see the back of my 1541 disk drive. The other guy in the pics is David Fish, Walking Circles’ excellent artist. Adrian Page’s back is shown, he tended to do the gfx for my #C64 games. The whole office was really a storage unit.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Very sad to hear of the passing of my friend @bone6502.bsky.social. He was in QA when I first met him at Creations, and by the time we were at Zed Two, he was one of the finest coders I'd worked with. I know we're all getting older, but we're losing too many of the old UK games crowd far too soon.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Moby Games has a few errors and omissions in my profile, so I'm claiming it. To do so, I have to post the following message here. I'm claiming my @mobygames.com profile: www.mobygames.com/person/11734...

mobygames.com

Carleton Handley - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Carleton Handley - MobyGames

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

What a wonderful video. I did a tiny bit of #C64 demo coding back in the 80s but preferred to make games. Mainly because it's easier than some of the trickery described here!

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Today I learnt that my #C64 game APB appeared on not one, but two compilations in the 90s. I was aware of the TNT bundle, but there was also something named Winning Team. I don't have either in my personal collection, so I may try to pick them up someday. www.bigboxcollection.com/WinningTeam....

bigboxcollection.com

3D box view of Winning Team (1991, C64, UK, Compilation)

BigBoxCollection: high-res 3D boxes of over 900 games from 1982 to today

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This is such a great site. Not sure physical is the answer in the digital age but it definitely was when I was growing up in the 80s. Sitting on the bus home reading the manual to a game I’d spent weeks saving up was a great time.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Wasn’t expecting to get a burn off @retrogamermag.bsky.social on my Sunday morning read! 😉 I thought our home conversions of a mediocre arcade game were OK.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

At the #britfest in Altrincham. Came mainly for Sleeper who didn’t disappoint. May as well continue drinking in the sun and watch the Happy Mondays later.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I had plenty of games cancelled during development. It was even worse when something was complete and still didn’t get published. Chun’s memories here are all too familiar.

development.it

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I've been revisiting the #C64 source code for Millie & Molly for reasons. In there I found some old prototype screens from when I was using Rainbow Island sprites and Rick Dangerous backgrounds. And the even older 8x8 char version with my very own programmer art.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Monte’s stuff just gets better and better. This looks like a belter.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

There was a surfeit of brilliant #C64 conversions around this time, before arcade machines got more powerful. Mr Do, Up ‘n’ Down, Spy Hunter and this all jump to mind.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I’ve been reading @jazrignall.bsky.social’s excellent book Games of a Lifetime. The early chapters are evocative of the OG arcade years. I’m now in Aberystwyth where most of Julian’s memories are from. I’m hoping some kind of portal to the past opens so I can see Asteroids arrive for the first time.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Crystal Computing became Design Design became Walking Circles. The latter was my first job. We had boxes of these games in the back room. Wish I’d kept some. Along with a rather splendid T-shirt. Not that it’d fit me now.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

At the Manchester Palace for Karate Kid. They’ve just cancelled it in a pretty perfunctory way. Lots of upset families. Pathetic.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Watching Race Across the World and pretty sure this Mongolian coffee shop has ripped off the 80s video game Elite’s logo.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I recorded the Retro Titans podcast recently. I've not listened back myself yet but hopefully I don't go off topic too much. This one's a bit different in that it focuses more on modern retro. And I'm sure when I do these things they add a northern accent filter. retrotitans.libsyn.com

retrotitans.libsyn.com

Retro Titans - the giants of retro and indie gaming in conversation

Retro Titans: the podcast dedicated to the epic world of retro and indie video gaming. Interviews with the people who brought us the games, computers and consoles we love - and those who are bringing ...

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Pleased to say Millie & Molly is built into this, looks like a fun bit of kit. Nice mix of new and old #C64 games on there.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Mike's conversion of my Unity version of M&M looks to be coming along very nicely.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Battling being old to stay up for the Artemis II #splashdown. Even though I’m 54 these events are few and far between. I flash back to my 80’s Space Shuttle bedroom wallpaper, and the Voyager II project we did in primary school. This stuff shows the best of humanity in a time of some of our worst.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I worked on both Skull and Crossbones and Spitting Image, albeit the #C64 versions. The former was an Atari arcade game which I don't think even had a UK release. It did OK though as mags liked the pirate theme so it got a few front covers. The game is bang average on all formats, including arcade.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Think I’ve finished the extra levels and features for my #SpectrumNext conversion of my #C64 game Runn ‘n’ Gunn. The game is 80% bigger and there are a couple of surprises. Need to do the boring tidying now.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Who doesn’t love the glamour of a late 80s UK game dev studio? Google can keep their town halls and break out areas. Here’s Walking Circles at a similar time.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Wanderer on the #C64 was my first ever professional product. Coded when I was 16yo I basically converted the Speccy code and mostly didn’t know what I was doing. It scored 16% in Zzap and was described as a ‘vector graphics turkey’.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I recorded a Podcast with @retrotitans.com last night. As always good fun to ramble on about games development. Phil noticed I still play video games, something rarer than you’d think in the industry. I tend to agree, I’ve worked with loads of game devs who don’t actually play games. Wonder why.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Completed the excellent Öoo earlier. I wish I had the kind of mind that can come up with these kinds of concepts. Have to say you could probably make an excellent version of this for the #C64. youtu.be/tSJyHEjyGuA?...

youtu.be

Öoo | Official Trailer

YouTube video by Games Must Play

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Went to a retro gaming market in Bolton today. Crazy busy and I didn’t manage to fill any gaps in games I’ve written but don’t own. Picked up @merman1974.bsky.social ‘s book (signed!) and @jazrignall.bsky.social ‘s book though. Plenty of of reading there.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I don’t normally do politics on here but my word this man says everything I wish I had the nerve to. Let’s all be kinder to each other.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Looking forward to this, some of my favourite gaming memories are playing against my friends on two player #C64 games. Rocketball, Kikstart, Hypaball and probably my favourite Pitstop II. I have no interest in online gaming and I miss playing games together like we did back then. I’m old.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Looks like the #C64 Black Mini Edition is 20% off on Amazon at the minute. Four of my best games are on there along with 21 other amazing modern 8bit games. I'm still playing through - and being amazed by - Sam's Journey.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

How has somebody who worked on one of my favourite ever games (Lemmings) ended up converting a random homebrew I wrote for the #C64 in 2020? Amazing.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Don’t tell me I don’t know how to treat my wife on Valentine’s Night. We’re in the Pixel Bar in Manchester. To be fair it was her idea. Some pro-gamers are on the TV earning more money than any developer I’ve ever worked with.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

I had two Game Gear games published. One was the original FIFA game. The other was the official Winter Olympics game of 1994. Sadly we didn’t do Curling which is a fave of us Brits as we’re good at it. Otherwise I think it’s a pretty solid effort.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

I never knew Skull and Crossbones was included on a compilation. One more on the list of physical releases of my #C64 games I don't own.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

From when part of creating a game was also making your own bespoke utilities. I coded at least five map editors and a couple of sprite tools BITD. Degas Elite (ST) and DPaint 2 (PC) changed some of that but even in my Zed Two days (early 2000s) I wrote a map editor for a PS1 game I was developing.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

I’ve set up the #C64 Mini Black and I’m suitably impressed. Always wanted to play Sam’s Journey but never got around to it. I’m stuck on the second screen!

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I’ve eventually got hold of a #C64 Mini Black Edition. It includes 25 modern C64 games, four of which I coded. @stepickford.bsky.social‘s version of Millie & Molly also adorn the box. Looking forward to trying out some of the other games on there. Quite a few look amazing.

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Reposted by Carleton Handley

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 22/01/2026

Help us make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

In 2019 Grid Pix was the first game I coded for the #C64 in the modern era. It led to some amazing physical versions and a glowing review in Retro Gamer. No wonder I got back into coding for the old machine. I've released eight games since then and worked on plenty of abandoned projects.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I reckon 2026 is the year I complete the #ZXSpectrumNext #ZXNext port of my #C64 game Runn 'n' Gunn. I made some rapid progress early in 2025 but didn't have see great change later in the year. This is known to programmers as the 90/90 rule: w.wiki/A6MJ

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

I received an @evercade.co.uk for Xmas. I fancy picking up one of the Indie packs as my first cart. I can't decide which is the best. I see there's a #C64 cart, wouldn't have minded getting some of my games on there. Perhaps if the do another I can pitch ;)

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Vinny was a real help during the development of RnG. He gave a load of helpful feedback on Beta versions. There was only one difficulty level, now classed as hard mode, before I sent it to him. Developers get good at their own games and can lose sight of the challenge.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

The quality of modern #C64 games is sky high and I never come out on top in these lists. So it's nice to be number one (and seven!) in this one. 2025 is a stretch though, M&M and RnG are from around 2020. Almost retro-retro. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQm1...

youtube.com

Top 10 Commodore 64 Games (Dec 2025) #retrogaming #commodore64 #newgames

YouTube video by Retro Flashback

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes was such a good game I’ve bought this without knowing much about it. £11 and change feels a real bargain.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I went for an interview as a #C64 dev at Ocean after I left Walking Circles. I don't think I even heard back from them and ended up getting a job at Tiertex. This photo reminds me of how young nearly everybody working in computer games was in the 80s.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

It's that time of year. Get you thinking Santa hats on an try to solve the 24 Christmas Picross puzzles in my free #C64 game Grid Pix Advent. thalamusdigital.itch.io/grid-pix-adv...

thalamusdigital.itch.io

Grid Pix Advent (C64) by Thalamus Digital Publishing Ltd.

A **FREE** Xmas version of Grid Pix

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Back in the day I bought so many issues of the Official PlayStation Magazine just to try out the demos. It’s even easier to try stuff before you buy these days. Obviously I’d recommend Millie & Molly but there’s lots of good stuff here.

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Carleton Handley @carletonhandley.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

This Spitting Image news is from Dec '86, when I was still a schoolboy. It took them a long time to find a publisher because I started coding the #C64 game in the second half of '88. I think the only reason Domark ended up with the licence was over the controversy of Split Personalities.

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