Spectrum Computing

C - Match Point

Didn't know PSD had come out on the Speccy. I had both on the ST. Captain Blood took a lot of effort to get into, to master the icon-based dialogue with the aliens (which didn't help being conceived in a foreign language to start with, so the single-word interpretation of each icon you were given co...

This is an impressive set of very inspiring early games, as I look at the landscapes of Combat Lynx and I see the open-worlds of Just Cause . Turbo Esprit would be Driver if the view would just rotate around the corners. And Scuba Dive makes me shudder at how many times I've drowned and realised it'...

So are you saying playing a note at a random point in a frame might sound bad? If that was directed at me then no, there's no argument. It doesn't sound bad exactly, just I expect a bit farty as it's constantly stop-start, and it's a harsh-sounding square-ish wave behind that as it's all 1s and 0s ...

Head Over Heels plays short melodies when you pick up various objects, though there's nothing plays continuously. It's really just an extension of the sound effects. In my own games the beeper sound effects are done by twiddling the speaker bit high/low off the back of a more vital loop of code (e....

Tough choice between Space Harrier and Commando . Back then I was all over Space Harrier , but now I've got a dozen different and better ways to play it. But as for Commando , I'd rather play the Speccy version than the arcade, as I think it's actually the better game. Afterburner and Galaxy Force a...

Hmm. I'm sure I've seen that Aztec Sunstone somewhere before...

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... s_of_Sunak
(scroll to end)

Given that it has 50% more of both 'Great Utilities' and 'Adventure Games' than 'Arcade Games', I'm guessing it's an early PD library trying to vaguely disguise the fact that you're buying into a giant Cassette 50 scheme without the calculator watch or quality control, rather than a lending library ...

The Muncher , like Action Biker , only had the endorsement as far as the loading screen. The game itself had nothing to do with the brand. As for Mad Mix , I've seen various screenshots - looks like the C64 and ST versions might have had the PEPSI logo on the scoreboard at the bottom of the screen,...

I think this is expecting a lot. And what, no official multi-game ROM cartridge version? :cry: At least it's not ridiculously over-priced, but I don't really get the appeal. I know there was one of those pathetic spoil-someone's-day-out-of-sheer-spite hoo-hahs within recent memory, but a bit of poki...

Well remembered! But why does the database list it as Test Cricket , when the title International Cricket is all over the loading screen and cassette inlay? Interesting that they put the effort in to making the insurance company's logo readable, but just did the word 'Cricket' at the bottom of the s...

None spring to mind, besides Weetabix and Wimpy. and the Wimpy one was just to try and legitimise a rip-off of Burger Time . I vaguely remember software companies (Ocean for example) putting their own logo in the background of sports games as sponsors. I don't know if Action Biker had any KP Skips l...

From what I can tell of the way Space Harrier runs, it picks a few (three?) sprites that it's going to use on a level, and pre-scales them in software to different sizes along with making masks, at the start of a level, and again, just before the end-of-level baddie appears. Then the level is made u...

I don't think I've ever seen this, or any other game like it, do match-ups and eliminations whilst individual pieces are still able to fall into space below them - whether they're still under player control, or whether they're 'physics'-falling because pieces under them have just been eliminated.

The COMCON plug-programmable joystick interface supported two fire buttons. To go with it, they re-wired a load of Quickshot II joysticks so that what was normally the +5V line to power the auto-fire circuit, was re-jigged to be the switch line from a second fire button. Most 80s joysticks' cables o...

What you can do is wire a second joystick cable into a controller and that (through up, down, left, right, fire) gives you effectively five more buttons. But the circuits must be completely separate. You can't share a commond 0V wire with the other joystick cable. For a +2 Spectrum, you could also t...

Mostly you really need to play this level keeping ahead of, and below, the centre of the screen. That way things hurtling down the middle of the screen will pass behind you, but you have to be ready to fire on anything coming at you head-on. Also practise using a charged shot and try to time it so y...

By 1985, the Spectrum had evolved to 128k, and by 1987, 180k was possible with +3 disks. Nearly 40 years later, why would we "downgrade" the Spectrum? Shouldn't developers be free to use any size up to 180k if they wish? Yes, most developers won't need it, but if you wanted a game with lo...

But so enraging when a Speccy-clueless "multi format comparison" video loads the Spectrum version in 48K mode and assumes it has no music... I think the trick is to sabotage it. The mistake is trying to pander to these people. There were plenty of perfectly legitimate ways to program a 48...

Let's face it, you can write a 48K game that pushes that particular machine spec way beyond what anyone would have said was impossible, but there's always going to be someone ready to give you a crappy review because he had a +2A and your game isn't playing incessant AY lift music like he thinks it ...

always hated the wall-hugging weapon in R-Type , not even because of its movement pattern seemingly covering less space but because it being so weak in comparison to any other I play the arcade version under emulation rather than the Speccy version these days, but that weapon is so much more useful...

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 11:58 pm The Plagues Of Egypt got this, with four votes!

Noah got only one.

Sadly ironic that Noah didn't even get a pair of votes.
And after he was expecting a flood.
Never mind, let's hope he can take that on board, and move on.

That's very good. I like how you've used black edges on the background objects, and how that lets you use light and dark shades without affecting the background colour. Also the highlights and shading is impressive for such blocky limitations! I'd like to see a bigger player sprite though, in more t...

I heard the staff of the first moon all quit when they learned the staff of the second moon were getting paid more for shorter hours...

Now vertically, this would have to move in whole characters, but there's a way of hiding that in the gameplay. The trick is, you don't scroll vertically every time the player jumps or drops down, unless they're about to fall right off the bottom of the screen - in which case they should already be f...