Spectrum Computing

In ZX Spectrum Next 16kb of memory for sprites means 128 sprites with 16 colours per point (https://wiki.specnext.dev/Sprites). That is, you can cover 2/3 of the screen with sprites. In Nemesis the Warlock, the game area is 2/3 of the screen. Killed enemies can be moved to the background in layer2....

The reason I ask this is that it's become apparent that NEXT games can lose the 'identity' of the Spectrum by straying outside of classical limitations. removing old limitations is not a problem, adding the new ones is what making the new gfx non-authentic in some respects the new gfx is actually e...

Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:21 am In this case, I would consider it a mod.

a mod of what? as nothing was MODified!
and yes, it should be "mod OF", not "mod FROM"
a RIP would be "RIP from"

a mod is when you take a working software and modify it
an it's still working after every modification

i remember a real atari with crt, its visible area (with overscan) was quite wider than 40 columns, maybe even wider than 42

i mean, the one using all the block types (with or without deprecated ones) and giving a message in the end if it was loaded properly

Reusing a few sprites is not taking/ripping SIGNIFICANT chunks of graphics. who said about reusing just a FEW sprites? nobody prevents the author of the said chess game to rip ALL the graphics from Rex and JSW and using it for different sets of pieces, board decorations, popup message backgrounds o...

PQR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:47 am Renegade: managing one more flying kick at a storming Big Bertha, and then finishing her off while she's lying on the ground. Instant gratification!

defeating Big Bertha without a single flying kick

is a chess game with Rex and JSW sprites used to represent the pieces a mod of both? by Einar's logic it is

He hacked one base game for graphics, another for code. NO, he either ripped assets from two sources OR modified ONE base with assets ripped from another source. If someone rips all graphics from your game to create their game, it's a MOD. NO. It's just ripped gfx. The original was not MODified . A...

If the author of a game simply copied graphics directly from another game, it would be a "mod", not inspiration. For instance Ku-Ku is a mod of both Project Future (copied code) and Sabre Wulf (copied graphics). it cannot be a 'mod' of both, there must be one base to modify it taking/ripp...

public beta 30
fixed black stripes in fullscreen (when the 'fake border' extension is turned off) suddenly becoming non black
fixed multicolour and border visible state being lost when the emulator is paused
(watching video memory immediate state is still more useful in debugger)

public beta 29 - added a new way to copy blocks in dux files - fixed AY/YM regs unused bits emulation - added emu state changes echo in fullscreen mode (same as the window title, you can set the message time in the ini file) also six additions to the game pack: Downtown Gemelos Herbert's Dummy Run ...

by the way, what game Crash is talking about?! "…which is set against a horizontally scrolling lunar landscape…", "Scrolling is smooth…", "…just a horizontally scrolling shoot em up…" MASK III is a flip-screen game! did they had some version we've never seen? or did th...

These two games aren't too similar to begin with, except both having a man walking left to right shooting things (and this was equally "unoriginal" for both of them). Venom is technically better, has much more variety in weapons, enemies and screens/areas but less action. Almost an adventu...

I get that you don’t like the video output of the Amstrad CPC computers, you are entitled to your opinion. But let’s not get carried away with this, as both the ZX Spectrum and the Acorn BBC Micro can, when connected to some monitors (that have their controls set up for high contrast, high brightne...

It doesn't work like that, black is black, the bright colours aren't quite as bright as emulator screenshots and, in general, the emulator colours aren't really reproduced as well as they could be. It's a lot like the early days of spectrum emulators, where the authors just assumed non-bright colou...

Russians used the Spectrum as a substitute for a PC and somehow made a monster out of it. Of course, it's nice to see some games on steroids for Russian models, but a good Spectrum game is not just about the hardware, but the idea, the charm and especially the authentic spirit of that time from the...

well i think it will depend on the language of the question asked
i doubt any russian user will consider those early titles "the greatest"
or even "above average"

Well there are 27 colours rather than 16, so yes the brightness levels between some are further apart than they would be on the Speccy, but there are also more intermediate shades that can be used. no, it isn't "there are also intermediates" but "even low/intermediate brightness diff...

I think that's a weird argument, considering the Speccy palette. Although I'd say again that judging the graphics by looking at pin sharp modern LCD displays does them a disservice. An old school CTM monitor is a lot more forgiving and blends the colours somewhat which helps. Although why some prog...

I would like to ask why you're not using an emulator that has a decent debugger/memory viewer built in which lets you examine RAM and make changes and then you can save your stuff out as whatever snapshot format you want. are there any? it is either: - not enough features - window is too small/big/...

Yes I wrote in PHP very quickly a "kind of" parser that you loaded a SNA file and a list if RAM addresses . Then you can modify that RAM addresses . I used it mainly for changing item names in some games I play. I did it very quickly. What I'm saying us that I agree that a parser/editor w...

you mean "by people most actively proposing new snapshot formats"? yeah, you are right. don't be silly, i meant hackers and modders wut, you suddenly lost the ability to understand context of the written text? definitely a good way to convince one of the emulator authors to support your n...

the low need for such thing for emulator authors eh, so this means you think emulator authors have low need for their emulators being used by some of the most active people in the community :? but anybody can take any FOSS emulator and modify it to suit their needs, without trying to introduce Yet ...

Whilst that makes it easier from a hex editor perspective (well unless your hex editor happens to not use 16-bytes per line) it also makes it a pain in the ass to deal with from a programming perspective. You can't use a standard loader, like you could with a package or RIFF format and you can't ev...