Search found 1387 matches

by AndyC
Tue Sep 26, 2023 1:25 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Did Pope John Paul II own a ZX Spectrum?
Replies: 12
Views: 313

Re: Did Pope John Paul II own a ZX Spectrum?

Well he definitely didn't finish JSW without at least the official POKEs to correct the various game breaking bugs. I suspect it's urban legend entirely though.
by AndyC
Tue Sep 26, 2023 8:16 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (The Oliver Twins): vote
Replies: 13
Views: 406

Re: Devfinitive Edition (The Oliver Twins): vote

I was very much torn between Fantasy World and Treasure Island, both of which I have fond memories of. As much as I love the setting of TI, I think Fantasy just about pips it on a technical level - the design is tighter and the inventory and lives issues resolved. Wonderful Dizzy, alas, doesn't make...
by AndyC
Sun Sep 24, 2023 2:34 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Game Collecting - How high would you go?
Replies: 30
Views: 870

Re: Game Collecting - How high would you go?

I'm baffled by this... I might almost understand the original 'big box' version of a game going for a high price, but the budget re-release? The Hit Squad games were individually numbered, so there are collectors out for a complete set even more than other brands. And obviously the really crap game...
by AndyC
Sun Sep 24, 2023 2:31 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: ULA+ palette question
Replies: 22
Views: 550

Re: ULA+ palette question

I believe that, like most 8-bit machines with a palette based display, it's effectively instant. You can certainly achieve "waterfall" like effects, since that only really requires rotating palette entries once per frame. I'd assume you could also create "raster bar" type effects...
by AndyC
Sat Sep 23, 2023 8:52 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: ULA+ palette question
Replies: 22
Views: 550

Re: ULA+ palette question

The additional point, is that something like ULA+ is expected to always have software to program the registers to specific values for a game (or other software). Hence in the true Sinclair tradition, why would anyone include the extra complexity to implement points 2 or 3 above? The main reason I c...
by AndyC
Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:37 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: ULA+ palette question
Replies: 22
Views: 550

Re: ULA+ palette question

Interestingly, it doesn't actually seem to specify the "default" colours when it is enabled. Although I'd assume most implementations default to the equivalent Speccy colours and presumably the FLASH colours default to match the default colours but without the FLASHing effect.
by AndyC
Sat Sep 23, 2023 3:13 pm
Forum: Emulators
Topic: Looking at the memory while its being emulated
Replies: 5
Views: 264

Re: Looking at the memory while its being emulated

I'm not sure it would ever show you want you want, even if it existed. Unlike a "modern" computer there's no concept of allocated and unallocated memory, nothing zeroing out "free" space. Starting from a zerod out memory map you might see how much is never written to, but you can...
by AndyC
Sat Sep 23, 2023 3:01 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: ULA+ palette question
Replies: 22
Views: 550

Re: ULA+ palette question

If you enable ULA+ and define your own palette, classic games will use it. ULA+ games will, obviously, override it with their own palette selections, of course.
by AndyC
Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:15 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: ULA+ palette question
Replies: 22
Views: 550

Re: ULA+ palette question

Iirc there was a mistake in AGD where it always enabled ULA+ mode, even if the developer didn't intend it. And as a result a whole bunch of AGD games ship with a broken palette if you play them on a machine that has ULA+ hardware. I think it's been changed in more recent versions, but that involves ...
by AndyC
Sun Sep 17, 2023 11:55 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Don Priestley): vote
Replies: 32
Views: 878

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Don Priestley): vote

Perhaps controversially: 1) Popeye - this is the one I played first and it absolutely blew me away, I couldn't believe you could get graphics like that on the spectrum. It's connections to actual Popeye are probably as vague as Ritman's Batman, but it was great nevertheless. 2) The Trap Door - hones...
by AndyC
Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:53 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: How did Manic Miner move from Bugbyte to Software Projects?
Replies: 6
Views: 378

Re: How did Manic Miner move from Bugbyte to Software Projects?

Makes sense. It was probably supposed to say "should a game be withdrawn from the market, upon written request it would be returned to the programme" Moving the comma like that changes whether the written request is to remove it from the market, or to get the rights once it has been removed.
by AndyC
Thu Sep 14, 2023 9:25 am
Forum: ZXDB Fixes
Topic: ZX80 v. ZX Spectrum
Replies: 24
Views: 493

Re: ZX80 v. ZX Spectrum

I think it's the sort of thing where a hard and fast, entirely quantifiable rule is never going to be possible. At some point it comes down to judgement about what is "interesting" enough to archive (and the same sort of thing applies to museums across the globe). A Speccy version of a ZX8...
by AndyC
Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:13 am
Forum: Programming
Topic: A very BASIC font question
Replies: 18
Views: 468

Re: A very BASIC font question

How is it possible to load the BASIC as a code file with the LOAD "" CODE? It's not, the loading routine will ignore BASIC programs if you tell it to load a CODE block. More likely, because you're getting "invalid filename" and emulating a +3 is that it's trying to load from dis...
by AndyC
Sun Sep 10, 2023 10:11 pm
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Spectrum SCR editor
Replies: 12
Views: 630

Re: Spectrum SCR editor

In general, I don't use Windows system functions. I can see I have a reference to user32.dll, because I needed to check the Windows taskbar position and height. I don't know if that will prevent it from running on Wine, it shouldn't. I believe I could find a workaround, if that's the case, a second...
by AndyC
Sat Sep 09, 2023 6:58 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote
Replies: 33
Views: 884

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote

I suppose it's possible the game just progressed while the licence was under negotiation and other characters were just avoided in case they didn't get it. Or were just too difficult to figure into a plot that worked with what the engine was capable of.
by AndyC
Thu Sep 07, 2023 7:08 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Help with the mythical Amsoft PF 1 printer cable
Replies: 10
Views: 218

Re: Help with the mythical Amsoft PF 1 printer cable

Physically they're the same and I think the pin layout should (almost) match as well. The CPC printer port is only 7-bit though, so it's possible there won't be enough pins wired to send a full 8-bit signal (D7 on the +3 is marked as GND on the CPC). Would probably work though, I think Amstrad just ...
by AndyC
Wed Sep 06, 2023 10:10 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote
Replies: 33
Views: 884

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote

I don’t think the licence would have been that expensive, Batman at this point was still really well known for the 60s TV shows, which were often repeated when Good Morning Britain staff went on strike. Sure, but the licensing of other characters might have been an issue as some of these things wer...
by AndyC
Sun Sep 03, 2023 4:55 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Joffa): discussion
Replies: 21
Views: 801

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Joffa): discussion

catmeows wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 1:48 pm Did any one played the Caped Crusader ? Is it worth to play?
I've never actually sat down and played it in anger, but it seemed like a pretty nice arcade adventure. I do really like the presentation of it.
by AndyC
Sun Sep 03, 2023 9:37 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote
Replies: 33
Views: 884

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Jon Ritman): vote

Head over Heels
Batman
Bear Bovver

A pretty easy choice given that I was never much of a football fan.
by AndyC
Wed Aug 30, 2023 9:47 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Were some games meant to be cheated on?
Replies: 40
Views: 1016

Re: Were some games meant to be cheated on?

There are levels in Krakout where there’s the ball chewing sphere that can end a game pretty quickly. Getting past those is just luck, whether being able to skip the level or somehow miss the sphere within the level. I absolutely hated those things, they completely ruined what would otherwise have ...
by AndyC
Tue Aug 29, 2023 10:46 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Were some games meant to be cheated on?
Replies: 40
Views: 1016

Re: Were some games meant to be cheated on?

It was a full-price game, so is that an indication that it was fully play-tested - even if it was by the authors who knew it inside out by the time it launched - to confirm that it was possible? :lol: :lol: :lol: In the eighties? Honestly, you'd be lucky if anyone had actually bothered to make sure...
by AndyC
Fri Aug 25, 2023 9:38 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Robocop question
Replies: 2
Views: 184

Re: Robocop question

Yeah, there is a similar thing with the nose, a couple of them only have a few pixels difference. When you get it, the level will finish automatically so if it doesn't you don't have it quite right.
by AndyC
Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:17 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Should game reviews mark down games for being unoriginal?
Replies: 52
Views: 735

Re: Should game reviews mark down games for being unoriginal?

You spend ages walking through rooms that serve no purpose other than to increase the distance between A and B (and, often, straight back to A again), many of them without enemies, hazards or important items to obtain. At that point, the size of the map just becomes padding... And considering the i...
by AndyC
Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:48 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Should game reviews mark down games for being unoriginal?
Replies: 52
Views: 735

Re: Should game reviews mark down games for being unoriginal?

Exactly. HoH and Batman both play very differently from, say Knightlore or Sweevo's World. The Ritman games are much more progression focused, once you learn how to "get past" a certain bit you've got closer to your goal. Whereas the others have a lot more back tracking as they're mostly b...