Spectrum Computing

You should realise that it's not a version of "these" famous Pirates: https://www.mobygames.com/game/214/sid-meiers-pirates/ I've never got deep into it but it seems to be some kind of a turn-based board game where there are two sides, each with its own fleet of ships. But could be interes...

It was discussed many times here and on WOS but I'll leave searching for these old threads for others :) Here you can can check which +3 disk games have some additional content: https://zx-pk.ru/threads/31635-spisok-igr-s-uluchsheniyami-skonvertirovannykh-i-eshche-net-s-3.html (the forum is in Russi...

Yes, probably it could be faster. Hard to say how much however, without getting deep into it. I suppose it wouldn't be an easy job. it cannot be done with one or two pokes and would require a serious rewrite. But I guess that with very good programming it could run at similar speed as Batman or Head...

I've tried it and it is really promising - nice looking, easy to install and use.

Currenlty it supports only basic 48kB model but I guess it may change in the future.

Just the name is unfortunate, easy to confuse with Spectaculator.

I do play recent RPG games for Spectrum if that matters :) I played and completed: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/30064/ZX-Spectrum/Los_Amores_de_Brunilda https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/17203/ZX-Spectrum/Viking_Quest_2_Heart_of_Town https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/20749/ZX-Spectr...

I have mixed opinions of Keith Burkhill works. His version of Commando is simply great. On the other hand I dislike his Ghosts'n'Goblins and could never understand why some people like it. It's smooth but that's all. It is difficult, has bad graphics (small, simplistic and limited) and is only about...

Well, I don't know many of them but judging by the screenshots maybe that's better. An interesting case is SAS Operation Thunderflash which is actually an all right looking isometric game. But try to play it and you'll discover very quickly why it got so low notes. It's simply impossible. Some reall...

They still exist and some time ago they changed name to Atari but they aren't Atari, my feeling is that they hadn't "moral right" to do it :) But they made good games in the past. My favourite would be North&South. Actually I played it more on PC and Amiga than on Spectrum but the Spec...

Neons in Renegade level 3 (Big Bertha level) use flash and it looks quite nice. Maybe it's a cheap trick but it adds a real value to the game. You know, in the 80s I really aprreciated animated background. Leaves on the trees moved by the wind, moving clouds in the sky, flowing and sparkling water, ...

As a non-coder, I'm still trying to get some idea of how much code is "enough" for most games? What is a comfortable amount to work with? Let me give you some estimate, how much space is needed for different things in a game: graphics: 5 - 20kB level data: 5 - 20 kB music: 5 kB screen buf...

The code got bigger because the games got bigger. If a game has more content then it requires more code to deal with that content. Another thing is a shift from games written in pure assembler to games written in higher languages or a mix of a higher language like C and assembler. It raises an inter...

This is not a true story.

Yeah, sure

Speaking of the cooperation between a coder and an artist... Doing a hobby, not-profit project in a team of several people bears extra challenges. First of all someone may quit. Get bored or occupied with real life. It happens. Or maybe he doesn't quit totally but will promise some stuff and never d...

It's up to the developer. In my own games I do them for 48kB model but also include AY music :) It's possible to play AY music on 48kB model. You don't need to modify the hardware and solder anything. You just need to connect a proper interface. And on emulators, you usually also have some option li...

Well, good luck with your quest! I've checked it now and actually Google returns some possibly useful links about retro stuff in South Africa (not necessarily Spectrum). Maybe you'll find something useful there??? https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=south+africa+retro+computers#ip=1

South Africa, you say? Well, you put the difficulty bar really high I guess it could never reach other parts of the world.

Is there any retro community in South Africa? I've never heard about it. But you should probably start with them if they exist.

Well, I'm really accustomed to it, like many of us here I guess. It was my first contact with a computer and for some time I couldn't imagine that it could work in another way. But it isn't the most comfortable way. Full screen editor is simply better. Practically all modern programming environments...

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... rum/OK_Yah

You probably know it but maybe someone will find this beginner advice useful: - Dont make comments like "Decrease A register by one" . It's a useless comment. If you have a DEC A command then it's obvious. But a comment like " Decrease number of lives " is very useful. So describ...

Yes, these are tips for Dizzy games.

It's for Dizzy 1-4 , just as the filename says - "DizzyHelpPart1-4.zip"

It's Christmas time, so it's time for my gift game for the Spectrum community. This time I wanted to do something a bit different. It's a game with a religious theme, you don't have them very often, don't you? ;) It's not a Christmas theme however. It's maybe a less known biblical story, yet I found...

Maybe somebody would be kind enough to drop me a reminder when these titles are added to the SC archive, so I can upload the RZX files?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/ad ... ew_rzx.php

It was made as temporary solution but it seems that it will last for years

It's an ambitious project so good luck with it. An important thing with these kind of games, that people often overlook, is balancing them. So they aren't too easy or too hard. So there isn't any single army unit or trick which beats everything else and makes everything else useless and unnecessary....

Merry Christmas everyone

Some backstory for people not so well versed in Russian games and in Russian culture generally. This is a work of Vyacheslav Mednonogov, a famous Russian programmer who created in the 90s such megagames as Black Raven or UFO: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=15244 His nick Copper Feet i...