Search found 137 matches

by Mike Davies
Fri Aug 03, 2018 6:15 pm
Forum: Hardware
Topic: ZX Vega+ Discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 35839

Re: ZX Vega+ Discussion

I stopped following this saga a long time ago, so I'm not sure why my games aren't on the list as I gave permission years ago and never retracted it. Seeing the finished product I should be thankful... I never retracted my permissions either. On the contrary, I actually spent time over a year ago c...
by Mike Davies
Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:30 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best classic Speccy game beginning with M: vote
Replies: 37
Views: 7664

Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with M: vote

I'm astonished not a single vote for Midnight Resistance. That's how utterly dominant Manic Miner is in our circles.
by Mike Davies
Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:51 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: [insert game name here] would have been great if only you could....
Replies: 13
Views: 3561

Re: [insert game name here] would have been great if only you could....

Slapfight would have been great if you could only see the bullets, and the ground wasn't as busy. Oh yeah, Operation Thunderbolt would have been great if you could only have crosshairs. Wizball would have been great if only you could have that control power-up enabled by default instead of bouncing ...
by Mike Davies
Fri Jul 06, 2018 9:50 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Role Playing Games
Replies: 15
Views: 3322

Re: Role Playing Games

And if you like Forest of the Long Shadows, the following are also done by Martin Page and in a similar vein:
  • Portals of P'Thaal
  • Goblin Mountain
And maybe also "The Seven Parchments of Kandos"
by Mike Davies
Fri Jul 06, 2018 9:09 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Role Playing Games
Replies: 15
Views: 3322

Re: Role Playing Games

  • The Valley
  • Oracles Cave
  • Black Crystal
  • Volcanic Dungeon
  • Out of the Shadows
  • Wrath of Magra
  • The Bards Tale
  • Forest of the Long Shadows
  • Times of Lore
by Mike Davies
Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:17 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Load-screen games...
Replies: 10
Views: 3163

Re: Load-screen games...

The Sinclair User megatape 8 version of Players' Deviants has the in-game mini game as the game loads too. Just pressing keys until all the power cylinders are diasabled.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=1375
by Mike Davies
Tue Jul 03, 2018 4:31 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Robocop - Chart longevity vs piracy
Replies: 16
Views: 3359

Robocop - Chart longevity vs piracy

Ocean's Robocop reviewed in January 1989 hit the charts at number one in March 1989 magazine issues and stayed in the top ten until February 1991 (dates according to Sinclair User issues). That's 23 months in the charts, covering two Christmas periods. It's amazing how this title stayed near the top...
by Mike Davies
Mon Jul 02, 2018 7:11 pm
Forum: Other Retro Stuff
Topic: Your top 5 arcade games
Replies: 23
Views: 6035

Re: Your top 5 arcade games

1. Time Pilot
2. Commando
3. Green Beret -- I have this vague memory of the sprites being huge
4. 1943
5. Star Wars
by Mike Davies
Fri Jun 29, 2018 2:38 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Friday quiz - bonus round
Replies: 19
Views: 3935

Re: Friday quiz - bonus round

4. Cookie
by Mike Davies
Thu Jun 28, 2018 3:21 pm
Forum: Programming
Topic: 3D Chess 2K18
Replies: 345
Views: 68712

Re: 3D Chess 2K18

Also, I think the Kings and Queens are swapped in the above image. The king for either colour is the piece with a + at the top. The pieces on c4 and c7 look like the kings, but they are supposed to be the queens (which are sitting on g1 and g8, where the kings should be).
by Mike Davies
Wed Jun 27, 2018 4:38 pm
Forum: Hardware
Topic: ZX Vega+ Discussion
Replies: 151
Views: 35839

Re: ZX Vega+ Discussion

Sir Clive is no longer a director of RCL. Poor health has been given as the reason. There's some misdirection going on in RCL's statement. Sir Clive never was a Director or Shareholder of RCL. The Companies House records show that it's Sinclair Research Ltd as the Shareholder (https://beta.companie...
by Mike Davies
Wed Jun 27, 2018 4:11 pm
Forum: Programming
Topic: 3D Chess 2K18
Replies: 345
Views: 68712

Re: 3D Chess 2K18

arkannoyed wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:37 pm Something like this;

Image
Oh nice, Reti - Alekhine, Baden Baden, 1925, after ...Rxe3!
by Mike Davies
Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:24 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Do text adventures actually need graphics?
Replies: 2
Views: 995

Re: Do text adventures actually need graphics?

I guess the answer lies in: Are there any adventure solutions that rely on something in the graphics and not in the text? That would be the only time a text adventure would need graphics.
by Mike Davies
Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:02 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Clive Sinclair: hero or zero?
Replies: 51
Views: 11091

Re: Clive Sinclair: hero or zero?

Sir Clive is the face of Sinclair Research and the Sinclair Spectrum. Just like Steve Jobs was the face of Apple, the Macintosh, the Macbook, the iPhone. I can probably name a few people on the original Apple Macintosh team, just as we can name the team that created the BBC Micro (right?). Though, t...
by Mike Davies
Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:16 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: First and final: Martech
Replies: 10
Views: 2735

Re: First and final: Martech

The first Martech game I bought was Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix, I did enjoy that, well, I learned the Brazilian F1 track quite well. BITD I wished I could have bought Catch 23, that looked amazing. Well, this post taught me something new, I didn't know Screen 7 was Martech -- I've discovered High St...
by Mike Davies
Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:12 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: What happened to ZXAce?
Replies: 9
Views: 2343

Re: What happened to ZXAce?

Sorry to revive this after so long but... I love this resource. Why not shove some kind of homepage at zxace.com? Thank you for the support and feedback. I'm happy that the basic magazine reader is useful to people other than just myself. Not too bad for a weekend's worth of hacking. The magazine r...
by Mike Davies
Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:25 pm
Forum: Programming
Topic: Compression for chess game data... what to use?
Replies: 13
Views: 4230

Re: Compression for chess game data... what to use?

Found this article talking about various chess move compression while trawling on a different project:

https://triplehappy.wordpress.com/2015/ ... mpression/
by Mike Davies
Sat Mar 24, 2018 8:12 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Federation
Replies: 6
Views: 1678

Re: Federation

I have the double-jewel release of Federation by CRL on cassette, if that helps.
by Mike Davies
Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:46 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best classic Speccy game beginning with G: vote
Replies: 30
Views: 6835

Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with G: vote

Green Beret is the one I've sunk the most hours into. Only recently got near to the end of stage 2. I love stage 1, though. But still, next to The Great Escape, I love the Great Escape. Denton Designs at their finest. Although, once you know the solution, it's a bit too straightforward. So I spend t...
by Mike Davies
Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:04 pm
Forum: Preservation
Topic: Ocean Draw
Replies: 4
Views: 1718

Re: Ocean Draw

This is one of the big reasons Spectrum retro is so interesting recently; Mark R. Jones going through and publishing various bits and pieces of developing Ocean games back-in-the-day. It's fascinating stuff, not just the sprites and graphics, the unused graphics/sound in Wizball, the playable demo o...
by Mike Davies
Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:37 pm
Forum: ZXDB Discussion
Topic: ZXDB Magazine reference corrections
Replies: 16
Views: 4308

Re: ZXDB Magazine reference corrections

Hi @Mike Davies because of the disk space requirements and my financial budget for this I take scans from archive.org so not sure we can fix that one, but all the ones we can sort in ZXDB are great to have. Thank you. Ah, I didn't think to check the source of the image to see where it's hosted. My ...
by Mike Davies
Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:22 am
Forum: ZXDB Discussion
Topic: ZXDB Magazine reference corrections
Replies: 16
Views: 4308

ZXDB Magazine reference corrections

I thought I'd start a thread about magazine reference errors that we can correct. My first one: Death or Glory: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=1293 There are 3 Sinclair User references, two of them are a "Review", but they happen to be the same issue (69), pages 11...
by Mike Davies
Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:30 pm
Forum: Website
Topic: Moderator Action
Replies: 95
Views: 20235

Re: Moderator Action

Personally I like the idea of replacing the "Off Topic" section with something like "Other Retro Topics". There would be still room for a wide variety of subjects like old TV series or Atari games, but not for completely unrelated and/or controversial discussions that are appare...
by Mike Davies
Wed Mar 07, 2018 9:54 am
Forum: Website
Topic: Moderator Action
Replies: 95
Views: 20235

Re: Moderator Action

Several people have assumed in this thread that the posts C.Born made here were the same as the ones he has made on WoS. They were not. There were similarities, but do not presume that if you have read the WoS read, you have read the posts made here. I did not see the post in question, so I'm guilt...