Michael Cranford Returns to Finish Shadow Snare on Commodore 64
Michael Cranford, best known for designing and programming 1985's The Bard's Tale and its 1986 sequel The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight, has resumed work on a long-delayed project originally announced in 1983.
Cranford's career also includes credits on Maze Master, Dark Seed and the home ports of Super Zaxxon (Commodore 64) and Donkey Kong (Apple II).
After leaving the games industry in the 1990s to pursue an academic career, he has returned to develop Adventure 2: Shadow Snare as a native Commodore 64 role-playing game.
Cranford has stated that he announced Adventure 2: Shadow Snare at the end of Maze Master in 1983 and never completed it.
He has now returned to 6502 assembly language to build Shadow Snare directly for the C64.
Cranford framed the effort as a fulfillment of his original promise: he is revisiting the project with four decades of additional experience while deliberately working within the real Commodore 64's limits, including its memory, color, sound, and storage constraints.
A playable demo of Shadow Snare is available now, giving the retro community an early look at Cranford's approach to modern C64 development.
Reviewers and attendees have noted that Cranford is pushing the platform's technical boundaries while keeping development native to the C64 hardware rather than porting from modern systems.
That choice distinguishes Shadow Snare from many contemporary retro revivals that also appear on platforms such as the Nintendo Switch eShop or are featured in showcases like Nintendo Direct; Cranford's work remains committed to authentic Commodore 64 constraints and tooling.
Cranford's promotional material has attracted attention as well: the game's website and a so-called cinematic trailer reportedly make use of generative AI, and some observers criticized the trailer for visual slowdown and sloppy presentation.
Cranford is scheduled to present Shadow Snare at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, which runs October 9th through 11th, where attendees can see the demo and hear directly from the developer.
Shadow Snare represents a rare case of an original 1980s-era concept being completed by its creator decades later on the original target hardware.
For fans of CRPG history and Commodore 64 development, Michael Cranford's return is a noteworthy development in the retro gaming scene, combining legacy design credentials with low-level 6502 assembly work and a public demo ahead of the expo presentation.
Michael Cranford, best known for designing and programming 1985's The Bard's Tale and its 1986 sequel The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight, has resumed work on a long-delayed project originally announced in 1983.
Cranford's career also includes credits on Maze Master, Dark Seed and the home ports of Super Zaxxon (Commodore 64) and Donkey Kong (Apple II).
After leaving the games industry in the 1990s to pursue an academic career, he has returned to develop Adventure 2: Shadow Snare as a native Commodore 64 role-playing game.
Cranford has stated that he announced Adventure 2: Shadow Snare at the end of Maze Master in 1983 and never completed it.
He has now returned to 6502 assembly language to build Shadow Snare directly for the C64.
Cranford framed the effort as a fulfillment of his original promise: he is revisiting the project with four decades of additional experience while deliberately working within the real Commodore 64's limits, including its memory, color, sound, and storage constraints.
A playable demo of Shadow Snare is available now, giving the retro community an early look at Cranford's approach to modern C64 development.
Reviewers and attendees have noted that Cranford is pushing the platform's technical boundaries while keeping development native to the C64 hardware rather than porting from modern systems.
That choice distinguishes Shadow Snare from many contemporary retro revivals that also appear on platforms such as the Nintendo Switch eShop or are featured in showcases like Nintendo Direct; Cranford's work remains committed to authentic Commodore 64 constraints and tooling.
Cranford's promotional material has attracted attention as well: the game's website and a so-called cinematic trailer reportedly make use of generative AI, and some observers criticized the trailer for visual slowdown and sloppy presentation.
Cranford is scheduled to present Shadow Snare at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, which runs October 9th through 11th, where attendees can see the demo and hear directly from the developer.
Shadow Snare represents a rare case of an original 1980s-era concept being completed by its creator decades later on the original target hardware.
For fans of CRPG history and Commodore 64 development, Michael Cranford's return is a noteworthy development in the retro gaming scene, combining legacy design credentials with low-level 6502 assembly work and a public demo ahead of the expo presentation.
