Indie Retro News reports on new games and hardware for old systems like the Amiga and C64, plus retro-styled indie games.
HN links it for news on new C64 and Amiga games, demoparty results and ports, and commenters recommend browsing it.
TL;DR: Yes, good idea. I do that.
I write software for Amstrad CPC in C using SDCC compiler (wow that even claims to supports C11 see http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/ ).
I made a framework, available on https://github.com/cpcitor/ , that was forked into https://github.com/lronaldo/cpctelera/ used for a number of recent CPC games.
When transferring from the jack output of my PC to a CPC-464,
I use a "cassette jack adapter" that I bought second-hand for 1€.
Faster and more reliable that going through a cassette.
Even when transferring to a machine fitted with a disk drive (e.g. a CPC-6128) the audio cable option has the benefit of no moving part (no swapping disks, etc) and is thus faster than using a PC to write to a floppy disk to be read by the CPC. I use this cable: https://coolnovelties.co.uk/coolnovelties/amstrad-cpc-pcw/278-amstrad-cpc-6128-cassette-tape-recorder-cable.html .
SD card readers exist for the CPC, and other ways to inject data from the PC, but nothing beats a 1-10€ adapter/cable, simplicity and cost-wise.
Similar things exist for the Commodore 64, e.g. http://www.indieretronews.com/2014/09/ucassette-best-tape-loader-for-c64.html
If you want to try my CPC software, it's on https://github.com/cpcitor/ with a very easy "getting started" method (git clone, a few extremely common dependencies, scripts fetch and compile specific tools for you, up to an emulator if your compilator can compile a SDL program). Details on…
The engine was completely reverse-engineered for the C64 (after first gaining expertise by creating an iOS version), and the project seems to have been in progress in some form or another since 2006.
Based on the news I've read in Indie Retro News, it actually sounds like the art is completely done from scratch. (which makes some sense, given C64 graphics quirks/limitations). Though the exact art process hasn't been revealed, art duties were split amongst a few notable C64 pixel artists who have explicit credit for their contribution.
So, near as I can tell it's 100% reverse-engineered from scratch.
(early screenshots and dev info here: https://www.indieretronews.com/2022/09/eye-of-beholder-c64128-could-this-be.html)
I guess it's all about which 8-bit we have fond memories of but ... the C64 is not known for having a great palette. It looks rather dull and washed out.
The Amstrad CPC probably had the most vibrant palette of all of the 8-bits.
A C64 artist even tried to prove otherwise, but IMHO scored an own goal : http://www.indieretronews.com/2016/02/is-c64-palette-far-superior-to-amstrad.html
I just noticed the Shadow of the Beast demo (SOTB), this is one of the quintessential Amiga games. Wonderful art and music (also rock-hard difficulty).
Not long ago the game was ported to popular modern formats, for anyone interested: http://www.indieretronews.com/2014/10/shadow-of-beast-legacy-popular-remake.html
Recently I browsed http://www.indieretronews.com/. This is a site with information about new games for old computers like Commodore 64, Amiga and so on, and also for retro styled indie games for modern systems. I even posted it to HN.
The Lunatico demo got 2nd place at X'2016. Here you can find videos of the winner and the rest: http://www.indieretronews.com/2016/11/x2016-c64-had-one-hell-of-demoparty.html