Briley Witch Chronicles (C64)
A downloadable game
Briley Witch Chronicles is a Japanese-inspired RPG for the Commodore 64, based on the Briley Witch series of novels.
NB: you can buy the sequel, here!
Intro
Follow the adventures of Briley, a modern day girl lost in a strange new world...
“When Briley Forester is torn from her world and dumped into the backward village of Maepole, she discovers that being a witch is hard, and that Smokey, her grumpy talking cat, knows more about men than she does.
Aided by an ancient grimoire, only by learning the powers of witchcraft can she ever hope to survive.
But her journey is fraught with danger. The powerful Whitehead family, haters of witches, will stop at nothing to be rid of her.
And lurking within the forest, the dark spirit lies in wait, ready to strike...”
Take control of Briley as she explores her new life, aided by Smokey, her grumpy talking cat - and best friend.
Features:
- Japanese-inspired RPG, with full-screen scrolling.
- Hours and hours of gameplay (16+ with normal play).
- Story-driven, following the plot of the first four Briley Witch novels.
- Turn based combat, also with cats! And cats can learn new skills...
- Gather ingredients to make powerful potions.
- Lots of characters to talk to.
- Supports 2-button C64GS or compatible joysticks.
- Can be played entirely with a one-button joystick.
- Save/load to either cartridge or disk.
- Includes a full manual.
- PAL and NTSC compatible.
- TheC64 Mini & Maxi compatible.
NB: When using an Ultimate 64 or a 1541 Ultimate cartridge, please use Save To Disk instead of Save To Cart as although the game reports the Save To Cart as successful, it doesn't actually save anything and you will lose progress.
Credits:
Programming, graphics, and sound by Sarah Jane Avory.
Sprite portraits, additional sprites, and bitmap touch-up by Paolo Rathjen.
(C) 2021 Witchsoft.
PLEASE NOTE:
SALES TAX or VAT will be added to your order at checkout.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $9.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Briley Witch Chronicles v1.1.1 ReleasedJan 24, 2024
- Briley Witch Chronicles v1.1.0 FixesDec 21, 2023
- Briley Witch Chronicles v1.1.0 Released... againDec 20, 2023
- Briley Witch Chronicles v1.1.0 ReleasedDec 20, 2023
- Briley Witch Chronicles 2 is released!Dec 01, 2023
- Briley Witch Chronicles 2Nov 09, 2023
- Briley Witch Chronicles v1.0.9 ReleasedMay 17, 2022
- OMG, over 1000 sold! BWC v1.0.8 ReleasedJan 19, 2022
Comments
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Congratulations on the game. Is there currently, or is there any plan in the future for an Italian translation of the game? Thank you
Hi Sara, finally I 've completed the game! I want to thank you for this pearl and ask if you are plaingn to release a physical copy of the game for fans collectors! 😊
Hi Sarah, I was really looking forward to playing this game after purchasing it a few months ago, however I cannot work out how to load it 😐
Can you advise of any emulators I could use please?
Hi! I use VICE, and you need to run it as a cartridge in the emulator by attaching the crt image file.
As simple as that 🤦. Thanks Sarah!
I'm also having trouble trying to load. I'm using an sd2iec with fastload on a C64c. I'll use vice if I have to, but I really don't want to. I don't know what to do with the .crt file. I've only ever used .d64 files.
Thanks for any Help.
The game is an EasyFlash cartridge image, so won't work with an SD2IEC device. For testing on real hardware, I use a KungFuFlash cartridge. Else, it'll work on any emulator (including TheC64 mini/maxi).
Hi Sarah. First off, incredible game. I'm just coming back to the C64 after decades, and I'm 11 hours in and LOVING this game!
I have a bug that I've found. (potential SPOILERS). I am at the point in the game where Alysa has joined, and we need to go to the ruins for a certain item for a spell. During this part of the story, I decided to go to town. When entering the building directly east (right) of the inn as you enter the town causes the game to crash. The music continues playing, but the border rapidly changes color as is sometimes done during load screens. It doesn't affect me now, but I'm hoping that building isn't needed later.
I am playing on a genuine C64 via an Easy Flash 3. I have been keeping saves on both the cart image as well as 1541. It happens from all copies of the save file I have. I've also re-written the newest 1.1.0 version to the cart. (I've always been on 1.1.0).
I can send my save file if you're interested. THANK YOU again for an incredible game. I'll be buying 2 as soon as I've finished this amazing one.
Oh, I'd better fix that!
Awesome! For anyone that stumbles upon this before it's fixed, that room is no longer needed, and there's probably supposed to be a door there to prevent entry after a certain point.
Just finished the game tonight. Absolutely fantastic. I'll be grabbing 2 ASAP.
v1.1.1 fixes this issue.
Hi Sarah, is a version of the game with different languages planned?
Hi Sarah. I think I found a bug.
After getting Kays Soup I went to Cheaton and when I enter the house I escaped before (door is open) the game crashes with flashing lights.
If you are interested I can send you the save game to test it. It's reproducable.
Kontakt@retroarts.de
v1.1.1 fixes this issue.
great! Thank you :-)
Could I plug this game in our magazine? Please complete the form on this page and I’ll reach out directly. www.TheBitBlast.com
Hello ! The crt file of the game does not work on vice... I don't know how to play on my real c64. thank's for your help.
May need a newer version of VICE than you are using
gosh, I'm stuck... I can't cross the river (broken bridge) to find the lost ring, I tried for days without an idea. I'm giving up.... I really wish have a walkthrough...
If I remember right, you need to interact with the broken bridge to trigger the next quest.
Thank you Sarah, why I didn't think at that??? Doh!
I've been waiting for a game like this on the C64. Great job and I'm already looking forward to the second part.
hai, sorry to bug you again but im stuck with a question mark (nothing to do with your fabulous work as such but i thought asking cant hurt)
If you could be so kind : what cartridge format have you used and what tools to combine the banks or compile the code into one .crt image please. Im personally much interested in 1mb format .crt images and it seems the docs arent very abundant. If you dont wanna give away trade secrets i totally understand but i thought asking cant hurt.
Thanks in advance (even if you keep it NDA hehe)
I can't speak for what Sarah uses, but the CC65 compiler suite is quite suitable for developing for bank switched cartridges, regardless whether you code in C or machine code.
I use 1mb EasyFlash cartridge format. All code and data is built using my custom build system, and I use the cartconv VICE util for making the cartridge .crt format.
There are docs available about the EasyFlash format if you search for it.
thanks, i figured it out the hard way already but thanks for answering. I basically used a hex editor to copy paste the chunks (CHIP s) and how to use eapi, other than that 64studio isnt in a total finished state but does the trick ... looking forward to bwc2 !!!
Im finally past the point where i can get out of town ... i was wondering all the time if this was a one-person project but there seem to be two (which doesnt make it less impressive) im just gonna have to put this in my all-time favourite top 10, more like 5 probably top 3 games ever for the c64 (exclusive ?)
Altho i understand the massive amount of work it must take for 2 people to fill up 670kb of cartridge memory we are all rooting to see the engine used for more ... it seems like a waste to have a storytelling framework like this used for only one game ...
now , if everyone dont mind, im gonna continue some
Most of the work is all mine, but I have help from an artist friend on portraits and the odd bitmap touch-up, as well as some of the combat sprites.
As for using the engine some more... I'm aiming to get Briley 2 finished this year, and beyond that I have some other RPG ideas (plus plans for Briley 3 and 4)...
wow , thats active, keeping a tight eye and replying the same day yourself, i must say i have been nothing but impressed and the way the game uses the 1mb format (like EOB, the scene-release) opens up vast possibilities (including in my dreams games surpassing the 10 disk 1,8 mb format of some ultimas) by using crt images as floppies and a floppy to save (just dreaming)
I read you write lite novels and short stories too so i dont have to guess who did the storyboard and the directing heheh and to hear you are already on briley 2 fills my 64 with joy ... as always as i ask anyone on and off scene, (thanks for everything but) dont rush it plz, just release when ready so its the best possible experience.
Thanks in advance (and retrospective) for all the hard work, i enjoy a blast of neutron now and then too but since im a finish-the-gamer more than a run-with the packer i wont get to the zetawings until i killed neutron first (a nice projcet too for a 16kb .crt compo)
You truly have some mad skills. Im really looking forward to more witchsoft (and smokey !!)
(and thanks for the really fast reply - quality CS you wont get from crotter hahah) have a nice day !!
Hello, Is there a way to see the current version I have installed ? Thanks.
Hi! I'm wondering if anyone can help me, I'm having a real problem getting the game to boot. I'm on an original C64 with original SID. I'm using a King Fu Flash. The load screen starts up and I get to a full progress bar, then it just hangs there. Joystick presses etc don't do anything. I've tried unplugging all peripherals but there's no getting past that first logo screen with the progress bar. Also tried Re-downloading. And have now tried several earlier releases, they all either never get past the initial load screen, or if they do it's to only show me a garbled screen that I can't get past.
What KFF Firmware version do you have? Some EasyFlash games doesn't work but last update fix a lot of them.
Very nice and comprehensive Zelda-style adventure. Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 00:51:28. Subscription to our YouTube or Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
Sarah, any chance you can help me getting it working on my C64c with Kung Fu Flash? I can load the game up but as soon as I hit the button to start the game I get to see the next screen with easy and normal but then it kicks me right back to the page where I can click start new game or continue. I’m in an endless loop. All versions
Sounds like a problem with the analog line to the SID chip (which is used to read the 2nd fire button). This can happen with SID replacements that don't support the analogue inputs.
You can disable the 2nd button reader by pressing the F3 key; you'll get a beep to signify it's disabled.
I do have the Nano SuinSID installed at the moment. I'm waiting for my 8580 to arrive. I will give this a test and see if I can get the game working, thank you so much you rockstar!
Wow this game is stunning!
Hi,
Thank you for making this game.
Would you consider a NES port?
I hope this is not a stupid question.
Thank you
Stephen Houston 🇦🇺❤️💚💙👍😊
Sarah, I know I'm a pest, please don't be angry with me ;-)
Is there any chance to convert the easyflash format of the Briley.CRT to the magic desk format?
This should allow anybody to build an (e)eprom based cartridge (of course this config would require a disk unit to save the game).
In example I was thinking about this project:
https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Universal_C64_1MB_cartridge.html
You can use my EasyFlash 1CR for that. I designed it more or less with Briley Witch in mind and released it as an open hardware project specifically to allow people to build their own cartridges. But I also sell kits and ready-to-flash cartridges if you don't want to source all components yourself.
No Magic Desk required.
Daniel,
thank you for your suggestion, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'm ordering 10 PCB on your PCBway page.
A little, technical question: would it be possible to convert the game from .crt to .d81 and play it from a 3.5" floppy disk?
if I'm not wrong, the C= 1581 drive should format 800 kb, while the .crt file is less than 700k...
The game is designed to run from a cartridge, so it wouldn't be possible. It's not the size that's the issue, but speed. The game relies on being able to access data from a cartridge immediately.
Gotcha. I some way expected your answer (I supposed if it was possible you already offered it as .d81 too), but I had to try :-)
Thank you, anyway.
Just a last question: do you know if is there any hardware project that allows to make a single cartridge for Briley (instead of Kung Fu etc.)?
I mean: (e)eprom based cartridge.
There are some projects on github (like MagicDesk based cartridge with 1 Mb of "storage": https://github.com/msolajic/c64-magic-desk-1024k) that sound interesting, but I'm not sure if Briley would work.
I know that Kung Fu etc. are a modern and easier way to do, but I love the feeling of hard-coded cartridge, one game per cartridge...
Hi, unfortunately I ran the second time in a situation, where I am running out of MP and Energy...I am completely stuck. Have to get 3 things from the forest - this is impossible to me. Furthermore I am not able to save in forest, and running through the forest encountering 3x several beast attacks, and sometimes encounter no fight at all running through the forest by being able to run away always is just more frustrating - reloaded the game 30 times for now, but cant win without getting MP. Where do I get MP? I am not able to rest somewhere or force sleep?! I do not want to edit savegames or replay the whole game, very frustrating currently. These situations destroys whole gamefun. I am f... Now and stuck because I saved too often and can't fill my magic at all. Big design flaw in my opinion.
Solved by using 'Anuletius', restarting many times and having much luck...this was really hard - meow. Possibly just missing something but some food for Briley or plant adding at least 1 MP, possibility to rest to regain Magic or something like that would be fantastic...however, I am going on to play now. Beside the situation of being stuck its a fantastic game.
Hi! Enjoying everything so far!
I've only recently started playing (1.09) despite getting the game in late 2021. I had just passed the climactic scene with Jorin and then encountered a graphics glitch of some kind. The following cut scene had all black sprites and the room was washed out in whatever orange-brown the C64 uses with other graphics that looked like the wrong shapes were being used, and no actual detail in any of them. I should have taken a photo. I saved when I could and reloaded and everything was fine.
Machine: PAL-Converted 250425, R3 Vic-II, TOLB timing IC by Eslapion, Kung Fu Flash cartridge.
Leofard will say 'Briley, go get your cat door sorted!' before the cat door sequence... I was confused there.>. Not much before thankfully.
Lovely game so far! I found a small glitch, I just returned Ayleth's bangle, Smokey wasn't present/in my party but he pops up and says thanks for the fish anyway :)
this looks so cozy
@Sarah is the Amiga Version far away? Such a beautiful game
Sorry, it is, but I will get back to it one day. Just have too many projects to do right now...
Understandable. Thank you anyway Sarah and good luck with your actual projects.
What a beautiful project! I'm not sure if I'll be able to play it (mostly because of finding the time ...), but I love what I see here!
THANK YOU FOR THIS GREAT RELEASE !!!!
I MIEI PIU' SINCERI E CALOROSI COMPLIMENTI PER IL TUO MERAVIGLIOSO CONCENTRATO DI EMOZIONI E DIVERTIMENTO.
SONO VERAMENTE ALLIBITO.
Io iso sempre CCS64 per la quasi tutti i giochi, mentre utilizzo il Vice per Briley Witch Chronicles, Sonic the Hedgehog (che reputo come il migliore in assoluto per C64 superiore al Megadrive per una "differente" atmosfera, grafica e interazione grazie al fatto di essere un 8bit !)
Spero che Lei faccia o stia compilando un nuovo grande gioco!
Ti/Le auguro altri successi !
Tanti saluti e abbracci sinceri!
Thank you for this quite cool game.
Just a side note: the manuals' toc is out of sync with realitiy. Can this be fixed at some point? And to have this pdf used for printing a 'real' manual, it's always better to have an even amount of pages, I think.
Hello. On 1.0.9 I noticed that when I walk the upper corner at Calibor's shop, while Calibor is hammering, I see a blue flicker on the top of the screen, both on C64C (with UII+) and on VICE, and on real hardware I can notice the audio slowing just a teensy bit. Is that an issue of mine?
My the way, it's a beautiful game giving me lots of fun
I really would like an option to swap the two buttons. I cannot seem to get used to pressing the "back" button for the main action and vice versa. I am playing in VICE 3.6.1, and the emulator doesn't have an option for this either. If anyone know how this can be achived please reply.
I saved to a KFF. I don't know if I got a save failed error. But now I can't move down in the game. Can move joystick down in menus but not on map. Is there any way to extract save file ?
I've been playing the game for about 9 hours and so far it's fantastic, however during my gameplay two of the save slots seem to have become corrupted (If I try to save to one of those slots I get a "Save failed" Message). Is this a known issue? I'm using a Kung Fu cart.
Seems there is a problem in the cart save code so I will be fixing that.
If you have a SD2IEC device, I'd recommend using that to save games.
I've released v1.0.9 which fixes the save to cart problem. Best to use and SD2IEC device (or a real disk) to save the save games before updating to v1.0.9, otherwise progress will be lost as the save games are saved as part of the crt file.
But if a new crt file is saved out via the Kung Fu Flash menu (thus including the save games), I can fix it if saving to disk first is not an option .
Great, thanks! :) - on my emulator I can't seem to save to disk. Is it possible to convert the emulator's save-state from an early version so that it works on 1.0.9?
I'm very glad to have found this. What I like most is how you are taking your own fiction into the game. I once wrote that I thought that Below the Root (Zilpha Keatley Snyder) for the C64 and a few other computers at the time was a rare (the only?) example of expanding on canon world fiction for previously published novels within a game - approved and directed by the author - and has been rarely replicated since. Of course you are breaking another barrier which is actually being the one to program the game! So I must ask -- without having read your books and only having just found the game, does this game expand upon your canon world lore in any way - or is it more of a "based on the books" approach? Thank you, - Robinson Mason
The game largely follows the books, using the same world lore. In fact, most of the dialogue text came from my novels. The game tells the same story as the novels, with the same characters and locations, but I did change some parts to make it work better as a game, adding some parts to allow for some extra side quests. I used the first 4 Briley witch novels to make the game, and will be using books 5-7 to make Briley 2, and books 8-10 to make Briley 3. After that, I'll need to stop and write more novels. ;)
Thank you for the quick reply! Appreciate that detail and will certainly check the game and books out. Book .... #10! Wow and great news to hear a "2" will be coming. Since you are the author of the game(s), I think it would be fair to say technically the added side-quests would then be "canon", too? Well, unless the main character died in-game during a side-quest, that wouldn't work ... haha.
I am confused. The games say EasyFlash. Do you need to buy a cartridge maker to play the game? Can these be run off a sd2idc?
An SD2IEC cannot emulate cartridges and is therefore unsuitable for Briley Witch Chronicles. You either need a device that can emulate EasyFlash cartridge or a real EasyFlash cartridge. Solutions for cartridge emulation are 1541 Ultimate II+, Backbit or Kung Fu Flash. If you want a dedicated EasyFlash cartridge for the game, that you can plug into your C64 and go, you are welcome to contact me.
Hi Sarah.
I'm Italian, sorry for my bad English.
I love your game: Zeta Wings, Soul Force. But I would play Brailey Witch Chronicles, but JRPG is not my type of favorite game. What do you think, i try or not?
This looks like a great game. Very good graphics on a C64.. Wish you had done this 35 years ago ;-)
What's the best emulator to play this on? I don't have a C64 :-(
and are one of those new mini C64 consoles any good? I might buy one of those.
I use VICE: https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
Thanks for the response, will check it out! Game looks great, just read about it in the new Retro Gamer magazine
Vice is the best choice if you want to run C64 on the desktop of your PC. If you want a more authentic experience (with low latency input & output), try BMC64 on a Raspberry Pi.
ok, thanks for the info!
Denise emulator also is very good and when it comes to gaming, not only i would say, it's number-one of all C64-emulators, cause Denise has a RunAhead function for minimizing the input-lag (so it feels like playing on a real C64) and also keyboard-keys can be mapped to buttons on the controller, which also is a big improvement in the playability of alot C64-games, also here in "Briley Witch Chronicles".
where is the woodsman and what shall i do in the deep forest? All i mest is the ghost st the end which kills me.
Woodman is near Chandler's home.
And for this ghost, read well every single line of dialog :)
thx for the ghost tip. as for woodsman the door is closed, but perhaps i must deal with the ghost first.
Don't worry, you'll get access to the woodman later in the game. But I won't tell you when and how. You're around 15-20% of the game now. You'll get some strange quest... But I'll let you discover everything :)
thx for your kind answer and i really love this game. I hope a sequel is planned...
I've already started work on the sequel. In fact, there will be a Briley 2 and 3.
Briley's adventure part 2 will be an instant buy as soon as it is made available. Can't, wait to see Smokey complaining about tuna :)
And you'll see Smokey get an hard life in the game :D
Completed on normal played with real hardware utilizing an Ultimate 1541-II on a NTSC 64c with no issues (played a bit on my PAL machine as well, the dithering likely looks better in PAL, but I like things vibrant). This is my favorite C64 game now. Thank you so very much for the experience. BWC2 will be a day 0 purchase from me.
Wow! What an awesome and meticulously detailed game! The love for what you do shines through your work. I almost feel like the very early beginnings of my own Zelda/Druid type game are nothing. No idea whether life will give me the time to see it through to a final product, but at least there are so many awesome cross-development tools and tutorials for machine coding. I have some unique gameplay elements planned that i've never seen in any C64 game, and i've been playing them on and off since the late 1980's :)). Only 2 hours into this game. Only 1 glitch i've seen which another player commented on previously. It's a temporary graphical glitch which you can see here. It only seemed to occur the first time i entered this area as i aproached the left side of that fence. I glitched first on the fence then when i moved south and until the fence was offscreen it corrected and the graphics further down as seen in this screenshot resulted. Otherwise, flawless so far. Great gameplay. Having spent many hours playing Final Fantasy 7, 8, 10, 12 many years ago, the combat style was second nature and very intuitive. 10/10 from me!
A simple technical question. I'm looking for a Kung Fu Flash cartdrige. Does anyone get the game to run on it?
Thanks for your answer.
I use Kung Fu Flash on my real C64 for testing my games. Briley runs fine, and save to cart works too!
Well, thanks. Now the hard part: founding one that is not horribly expensive. Wish me luck ;)
I have played a little over 12 hours so far and all four save game slots are full. (I`m using Kung Fu Flash). is there any way to delete a couple save slots so I can keep saving as I go? I love this game and want to finish it!!
Dan
You can just save over an existing slot.
Once a slot gets full, it won`t let you save to it anymore. There seems to be a certain number of times a slot can be saved to before it won`t work anymore. Unless I`m doing something wrong.
If you can email me the crt file from the SD card in the Kung Fu Flash, I can fix it for you.
If you can kindly give me your email address , I`ll send it to you, thanks!
Dan