So I've been out of the C64 scene for a little while, and I'm itching to do some C64 development once again (I'm Andy Roberts: you may remember me as the unofficial third member of Apex, and I also spent many years writing for Zzap! and Commodore Format).

Back in the day, I used to write my code on an Amiga (using Amy, a lovely cross-assembler written by Ash Hogg).

The question is, what's the norm these days? What are the best tools for putting together C64 projects on the PC? In particular, I need:

1. A decent assembler (something that lets me develop/debug/test on the PC with an emulator).

2. A decent Bitmap editor (so I can draw bitmaps on the PC and convert to the C64). Something that also lets me take a high-res picture and convert it to a C64 bitmap.

3. A decent sprite editor (something that can handle animations and large multi-sprite objects).

4. A decent char/block/map editor.

5. A decent code repository (I'm rusty as can be!).

6. A decent sprite/char/bitmap ripper that will let me extract graphics from a d64 image (or similar).


Any help would be enormously appreciated :)

Run UAE on your PC and use those Amiga tools once again...

Let's not forget CBM prg Studio!
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The disadvantage to Charpad V1.8.3 is that I can't insert existing charsets into a chosen sized tile. Which would be a huge help for building the new levels for Trance Sector if this option was enabled. (Click and drag a char to one of the columns of a tile. Click on the char on the tile (or the tile itself) and set the colour of it.

As for a decent bitmap editor. I recommend OxPaint by Oxidy/Fairlight

... and for music. Try Goat Tracker or Cheese Cutter
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I use a combination of C64 Studio, SpritePad, CharPad and Timanthes (drawing tool).

If you already have an image editor you feel comfortable with, you could always use BMP2Koala. It should convert regular bitmaps to C64 koala bitmaps quite nicely.

@ajordison

I'd probably use CBM Prg Studio if it would function properly on my PC.
However, it's prone to crash Explorer, so I uninstalled it.

Ok. I'll sort through some of the old logs for you.
Could take some time though.

You guys are awesome - thank you so much for the info (there's a tonne of stuff out there - I really didn't fancy wading through dozens of programs).

@ajordison - Don't suppose you fancy adding support for PDS files?

hiho andy me old mucka.

I do all my animations in promotion - think dpaint with a bit more power.
Then i let the programer do the work converting it
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i dont have that problem - " OY PROGRAMER MAKE THIS WORK" seems to work for me haha
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As long as the programmer can yell "OY PIXELER MAKE THIS PRETTY" I wouldn't have a problem with that