Developer Gábor has begun sharing early progress on a new RPG for the MEGA65, with a name that wears its absurdity proudly: The Thing of a Bad Thing. Created in BASIC65, this project isn’t just about building a game—it’s an experiment in creating tools and a pseudo-3D engine for other developers who want to make similar titles.
The inspiration is clear. Gábor references the Fighting Fantasy gamebook naming style as the tongue-in-cheek source of the title, and the gameplay concept draws heavily from first-person RPGs like The Bard’s Tale. What sets this apart is the platform: MEGA65, the modern reimagining of the never-released Commodore 65, and BASIC65, its expanded BASIC language.
Two short demo videos have been released, showcasing the barebones engine. It’s still in the early stages, but the framework already suggests a navigable first-person environment, built entirely using BASIC65. Gábor notes he’s not a seasoned programmer, so input from the community is welcome, especially when it comes to refining the tools or optimizing performance.
Rather than locking himself into a single game, Gábor is building an underlying toolkit. The idea is to give others the opportunity to create their own pseudo-3D RPGs on the MEGA65 using BASIC65—something that’s been rarely attempted with this hardware.
While the game is far from finished, the project is active and can be followed on GitHub, where the source code and updates are being posted:
https://github.com/lipi650/TheThingOfABadThing
