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XENO SQUAD 128 AMSTRAD CPC

XENO SQUAD – A Dream Finally Comes True! From a childhood dream to a real Amstrad CPC game! After so many years, I can finally say it: I made my dream come true! Ever since I first played the legendary X-COM: UFO Defense (1994), I have been fascinated by its atmosphere, strategy, tactical combat, and the incredible feeling of leading a squad of soldiers against an unknown alien threat. It quickly became one of my all-time favorite games, and for years I had one dream: What if I could create something inspired by X-COM for the Amstrad CPC? The Amstrad CPC has always held a special place in my heart. I love its limitations, its unique graphics, its colors, and the magic of creating something impressive on such classic hardware. The First Attempt Many years ago, I actually started working on this idea. Back then, I tried to develop the game using BASIC. I spent a lot of time experimenting, writing code, and trying to recreate the tactical gameplay that I loved so much. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way I had imagined. The limitations of my programming knowledge, combined with the complexity of the project, made it extremely difficult to achieve the results I wanted. But even though I couldn't finish the game, I never abandoned the idea. I had already created drawings, designed screens, imagined the battlefield, and planned how the game should look and play. I knew exactly what I wanted to create, even if I didn't yet have the technical ability to make it happen. For years, those designs remained just that: drawings, ideas, and an unfinished dream. Bringing the Dream Back to Life Fast-forward to 2026. Technology has changed dramatically, and new tools have opened possibilities that once seemed impossible. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, I finally found a way to bring my old project to life. I returned to my original ideas and started putting everything together. The graphics, the visual style, the music, the gameplay mechanics, the tactical elements, and the overall design were all based on the game I had imagined so many years ago. I worked on bringing these different elements together into a complete experience, while AI helped me with the programming and technical implementation. AI generated the code, but the vision, creative direction, designs, and gameplay ideas came from me. It was an amazing experience to see my old drawings and ideas slowly transform into an actual playable game. Things that had existed only in my imagination were finally appearing on the screen of an Amstrad CPC. XENO SQUAD Is Finally Here! And that is how XENO SQUAD became a reality. This project is my personal tribute to the original X-COM from 1994, one of the greatest strategy games ever created, and to the wonderful world of retro computing. My goal was never to create a perfect copy of X-COM, but to capture some of the atmosphere, excitement, and tactical gameplay that made the original so special, while adapting the experience to the unique character and limitations of the Amstrad CPC. More than anything, this game represents something very personal to me. It represents years of imagination, experimentation, unfinished attempts, and the determination to finally complete something I had dreamed about for such a long time. I know that using AI for programming is a new and sometimes controversial approach to game development. But for me, it became the tool that allowed me to overcome the technical obstacles that had prevented me from completing this project years ago. Without it, these ideas might have remained drawings and unfinished BASIC experiments forever. Instead, today I can finally see my dream running as a real game. I hope you enjoy XENO SQUAD. This project was created with a lot of passion, nostalgia, and love for the machines and games that inspired us. It may not be perfect, but it is something I have wanted to make for many, many years. And finally, after all this time, I did it! Thank you for taking the time to discover my project. Long live the Amstrad CPC! – tollis | RETROART 2026 October 1999. A fireball falls over Thessaly, Greece. AEGIS, a secret European strike force, is sent to investigate – and the war for Earth begins. XENO SQUAD 128 is a brand-new turn-based tactical game for the Amstrad CPC 6128, inspired by the classic X-COM. Lead a squad of four soldiers through a 9-mission campaign across Europe, from a crash site near Larissa to a last stand beneath the Acropolis of Athens. FEATURES 9-mission story campaign across Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Scotland, Norway, Iceland, Romania – and a final battle in Athens10 alien species, each with its own tactics: Greys, Drifters, Hounds, Brutes, camouflaged Stalkers, acid-spitting Spitters, Medics, Zombies, the psionic Overlord and the ArchonReal tactical combat: time units, snap/aimed/auto fire, reaction fire, overwatch, kneeling, line of sight, fog of war, wounds, morale, panic and mind controlLaser and plasma weapons, grenades, Elerium charges, smoke, flares, proximity mines and stun rods for capturing aliens alive3 armour types you can see on your soldiers: Combat Vest, Plated Armour and Power SuitDay, night, fog and rain – each one changes how far both sides can see and how well they fightDestructible terrain: walls, trees and cover can be blown apart, and fire spreadsA squad you care about: ranks, training, nicknames, hospital stays and permanent death, with a Memorial for the fallenRandom maps for every battle, plus Random Mission and a fully Custom Battle modeUfopaedia with a card for every alien you meet3-zone raster split for extra on-screen colours, custom palettes, AY music and sound effects3 difficulty levels (Rookie, Veteran, Superhuman) and a password system FILES xeno128_v1.6.dsk – the game (disc image)XENO_SQUAD_128_Manual_v1.5.pdf – player manual (English)XENO_SQUAD_128_Egxeiridio_v1.5.pdf – player manual (Greek) REQUIREMENTSAmstrad CPC 6128 (128K RAM) or an emulator set to a CPC 6128. CREDITSGame, code and design: Tollis – RetroArt 2026 Trailer: