Throbby Heartache
A downloadable game
So I was looking at my game, Throbbin' Headache, and thinking,
"I should do a deluxe version with small improvements, bug fixes and other corrections."
However, after looking, and starting the process of tweaking and improving, I realised it was February already, and what would be better than a deluxe version of my fever dream game than a follow-up with a vaguely valentines theme?
Instructions
Robby and Roberta ( Yes, there's two of them now! ) have caught the Valentines bug. But some nefarious individual has scattered love hearts all over the place. And there are angry cherubs everywhere! ( I bet they're mad because they lost their bows and arrows! )
Avoid the cherubs. Avoid the broken hearts. Collect all the good, love hearts. Progress to the next level. There are 20 levels in all and a few are more than a little dastardly!
Controls: Usual Joystick controls, but also
O = Left, P = Right, M = Jump, H =Pause
Robby and Roberta can jump up high by pressing JUMP.
They can jump far by pressing JUMP + LEFT or RIGHT.
They will bounce off solid walls. They will pass through hollow platforms.
Collect all the hearts to open the door.
Good luck!
Loading the game: You will need an emulator, or a way of loading .tap files into your Spectrum. Select the Tape File, if it doesn't automatically load, type LOAD "" ( J and then shift and PP for the quotes ) and hit enter. You might need to start the tape. If in doubt, refer to whichever instructions relate to whatever it is you're using.
Inspiration
Definitely elements of Manic Miner and similar platform games. Also the much maligned BombJack II and any collect-'em up.
Credits
Game, graphics, loading screen, music were all me. But I did use some tools. (and I might have been inspired a little by a certain Liverpudlian band from the 1960's with my tune... )
MPAGD by Jonathan Cauldwell,
Beepola by Chris Cowley (using Shiru's Tritone V2 Player)
ZX-Editor/ZX-Blockeditor/ZX-Paintbrush by Claus Jahn
Vortex Tracker II by S.V. Bulba
MPAGDMusicizer by David Saphier
This game supports ULA+ (but doesn't need it).
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Minor change to 128K "with tunes" versionFeb 19, 2025
- 128K version available (just added Tunes)Feb 17, 2025
Comments
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Hello!! Sorry for the intrusion, hehehe. My name is Felipe, and until recently, I have been editing games for the Spectrum on cassette. Due to personal and work reasons, I’m going to stop editing, and I'm saying goodbye with a compilation of homebrew games for The Spectrum on USB. I want it to be the best and most complete compilation of homebrew games that has ever been made. It will be a non-profit edition, just to provide users of The Spectrum with a pack to spend hours and hours in front of their ZX. I’ve seen some of your games on http://Itch.io and wanted to ask if you would be interested in contributing any of your ZX games to this compilation. I already have legendary creators from the scene on board, but I’d also like to reach out to you. It can be one game, two, or as many as you want, in .TAP format. Even simply granting me permission and letting me know which games I could include would be enough, and I can download them from http://Itch.io. We have created a system where the games will be encrypted, and no one will be able to use them digitally; they will only be playable on their The Spectrum, Divide, or computer. My email is playonretro@gmail.com. Best regards, and thank you very much
Hi there! Sorry about not writing back sooner. I had a think about it, then got distracted. If you would still like them, you have permission to add "Shovel Duck" and "Throbby Headache DX" and "Throbby Heartache" to the compilation.
Kind regards and good luck.
Hello again;
Sorry for delay, some days with flu. THANKS a lot for your generosity !!! but we already closed the list of games some time ago, because we would never ned hehehehe It's a pity not to have reply before, because i love them a lot. Maybe for next time :)
GREETINGS AND THANKS AGAIN!!! You are great!!!
No worries; these Flu things going around can really take you out of commission for a few weeks - hope you're getting back to normal now.
Yeah, if there is a future one, you have a permissions for those games - but do reach out as I may have others to add to the list.
Kind regards and good luck!
Hello there!
How are you doing? Apologies for the delay, but launching a campaign is incredibly complex and consumes a lot of time very quickly. On Sunday, I opened pre-orders for the pendrive we discussed. I wanted to thank you again for your trust in this mini-project. The pendrive pre-order campaign has officially begun. We've worked incredibly hard to create a carousel menu, with game descriptions for all titles available in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. The price is super tight (many have said it should be higher, even asking if we made a mistake, but our intention isn't to make a profit, but rather to bid farewell to 8-bit tape editions with this pack). The final product promises to be quite good: a metal box, foam insert, a 12-page booklet, a custom-designed pendrive, and a plastic seal. The idea is that users with more modern systems can play your games and those from other creators very easily, inclusively, and directly, all at the price of a pendrive.
You can pre-order here:
https://forms.gle/Z42aMYeTzvoLe1PN6
And here's the game list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ0FRzb8Wgy-yyX5LkY2IPRnLBLrp7MQ...
We've spent months testing all the games and had to exclude a few due to technical issues, but the vast majority are included.
If you place your pre-order, please identify yourself, and I'll have a little something extra for you as a token of my gratitude for your trust and generosity. You can email me at playonretro@gmail.com, and we can continue our communication there. I can send you much more information in this way.
It would help a lot if you could give this pack some visibility. You can also place an order through the banner on www.playonretro.com.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Excellent game with valentine theme. I've also added it to my new "Gameplay of New ZX Spectrum games from February 2025" video, along with other recently released games. Hope you enjoy the video.
Thank you for sharing and doing that - looks like February was a good month for games again.
Absolutely outstanding, you've done it again 🤩 You have truly captured the essence of the magical world of gaming. Your game stands out from the crowd with its unique style and goes its own way without caring what the other games are doing. A true classic that has a perfectly challenging difficulty level for the average gamer. Exciting when you get to find out which path you can take to finally reach the exit. Very rewarding and so much fun. Keep it up 👍 Thank you very much!
Thank you for your kind comments! Glad you enjoyed the game; I have more games planned and a few things I'm working on at the moment so there should be more games later this year. Thank you again!
Excellent news! I admire your talent, you engineers make life extra exciting. I will definitely check out your other games. Thanks for the reply and good luck!
Some feedback, take it or leave it : )
I have discovered that three lives in your game are way too few. Five lives would be more reasonable for most of us if we are to have even the slightest chance of seeing the game in its entirety and all its glory.
I get stuck at level 7 and have still trained many hours. At that level it is easy to lose the few lives you have left and have to start over again and again and again... Since life unfortunately does not have infinite hours, it is easy to give up when you get stuck. It would also make it easier if you found an extra life or two during the game.
Still looking forward to playing your game every night, I haven't given up yet. Thanks again for the amazing games😊
Hey there, thanks for the feedback. It definitely aims to be a challenging game (I've seen others use "save states" and "rollback" features of modern emulators to get around the 3 lives limit). I'll definitely consider putting out a "5 lives" version in the near future, and adding "extra lives" pickups to future games.
Thank you again!
Nice game, purchased!
Thank you! Hope you enjoy it.
Nice !
Thank you for sharing the video - it looks like you were getting the hang of it.
very nice
Thank you!
Thanks!
Enjoy! :-)
Great game, thanks.
Thank you! And thank you for sharing the video, it's always good seeing others play the game.
Very cool game, love it! Also discovered Throbbing Headache, thanks!
Thanks for the kind words. Glad you like the games. Hope you have a good weekend ahead!
Nice game!
Thanks! Love seeing the videos. Hope you've a good weekend ahead!