Introduce yourself!

Introduce yourself. Pimp your website, competition, event or other activity here, as long as it's Spectrum related.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

I'm afraid that thread will be a civil war...

(Seriously, I don't know which game R-Tape is referring to! :lol: )
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

Guys, look, I like a joke as much as the next man but this particular topic is not something to muck about with.
cthutu
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by cthutu »

R-Tape wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 9:29 pm Guys, look, I like a joke as much as the next man but this particular topic is not something to muck about with.
:D

I actually prefer Mutant Monty to Manic Miner actually.
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

cthutu wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 9:32 pm I actually prefer Mutant Monty to Manic Miner actually.
I never mentioned Manic Miner, even though that is unquestionably the best game beginning with M. I'm just asking that when the day comes every true Specchum looks into their heart and does what's right.
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

I'll be honest - I'm already bricking it and we haven't done "L" yet.
cthutu
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by cthutu »

That one is easy: Lords of Midnight (I have to, I'm porting it for the Next).
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yang
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by yang »

I am yang from Slovenia. I received my first computer ZX Spectrum 48k as a kid from my uncle in ~1985 and I still have it. I am collecting also other vintage computers and recently I got interested about retro-Spectrum stuff again, because I see that there is still an ongoing community. As a kid I only knew how to LOAD " " the games through the MC Cassette player and view them on CRT TV and I didn't use the Spectrum for anything else back then. I used it for about ~8 years until I eventually replaced it with a more recent PC x86 hardware, and since then it was being stored, together with the remaining cassettes.
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

yang wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 2:16 pm I am yang from Slovenia. I received my first computer ZX Spectrum 48k as a kid from my uncle in ~1985 and I still have it. I am collecting also other vintage computers and recently I got interested about retro-Spectrum stuff again, because I see that there is still an ongoing community. As a kid I only knew how to LOAD " " the games through the MC Cassette player and view them on CRT TV and I didn't use the Spectrum for anything else back then. I used it for about ~8 years until I eventually replaced it with a more recent PC x86 hardware, and since then it was being stored, together with the remaining cassettes.
Double welcome! Hope you find some nice MIA in your cassettes.
Ralf
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Ralf »

Hello Yang.
I suppose you know the website about Spectrum games from ex Yugoslavia? If not, check it:

http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/yu/index.php
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BiNMaN
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by BiNMaN »

can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to joining

howdy folks
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

BiNMaN wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:59 pm can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to joining

howdy folks
Hello!

I keep seeing your name pop up on various projects like Kingdom Crystal 2017 but I'm still waiting for a Bog Brother's reunion :-p
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BiNMaN
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by BiNMaN »

R-Tape wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:23 pm
BiNMaN wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:59 pm can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to joining

howdy folks
Hello!

I keep seeing your name pop up on various projects like Kingdom Crystal 2017 but I'm still waiting for a Bog Brother's reunion :-p
I'm seeing CodenameV later today, we still discuss ideas but never seem to pin the time down...

but who knows ;)
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Welcome, BiNMaN!
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Seven.FFF
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Seven.FFF »

Helloooo BiNMaN :)
Robin Verhagen-Guest
SevenFFF / Threetwosevensixseven / colonel32
NXtel NXTP ESP Update ESP Reset CSpect Plugins
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stformatjez
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by stformatjez »

Hey everyone, I'm Jez :D I've been into the Spectrum since about '83 I guess. Favourite games include Manic Miner, Flying Shark, Renegade, Rastan, River Rescue to name but a few.

Moved on to the Atari ST in '90 (couldn't afford an Amiga!) and now run the ST Format magazine website www.stformat.com. I say I run it, I haven't actually updated it for about 2 years :lol:

Other retro interests include Tamiya RC cars, Space Lego and an unhealthy interest in G1 Transformers (pre '86) and their more recent Masterpiece counterparts :lol:

If you're dead bored and fancy a laugh, check out my Arcade/Spectrum/ST etc etc Picade emulator review, with a short Manic Miner / JSW intro :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o_nRplktDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nl9HrNaQ9E
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Spector
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Spector »

Hello - I'm Spector and have posted on a lot of retro forums through the century, and I couldn't resist coming on here. You have a great up to date archive of Speccy games, and the forum looks pretty good too. Looking forward to some good arguments! :D
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Welcome, Mr. Spector! :)
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R-Tape
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by R-Tape »

I recognise that badge! Hi Spector.
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Turtle_Quality
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Turtle_Quality »

Hi,
I'm Thomas. I had been doing some simple games programming as a 15 year old on friends' ZX81s and Acorn Atoms (both 1k), and was hoping to get my own computer -maybe a VIC20. Then at a computer show in April 1982 , at a crowded Sinclair stand, Clive announced the ZX Spectrum. As the flashbulbs popped and reporters asked questions about it, a spotty 15 year old shouted "What's the keyboard like ?" Clive stretches over the tables around the stand, I stretch through the crowd, to prod those rubbery keys. Late that night I persuaded my dad to loan me a massive £175 and I phoned in an order on the Sinclair hotline.

I don't remember how long it took to arrive, 6 or 8 weeks maybe, but I still got it before many of the major software houses had one. I remember being at a show in August asking ... maybe it was Quicksilver... if they would bring out Centipede because I was struggling to write my own version in basic, but they just wanted to buy my precious Spectrum from me - no way !

I got the PSS compiler by hacking it out of Light Cycles, and liked writing noisy games with nested for next loops and out commands. Sent some in for a PSS Compiler competition including a nice lunar lander (with a sprite routine written in assembly with the Spectrum manual and poke commands) and a crappy but extremely noisy game called Mazeball, that got picked up by PSS related company Wildest Dreams. You can still find Mazeball in the archives but sadly my lunar lander is lost to time. Earlier this year I tracked down my first cassette copy of Mazeball

I'd also written a short compress / decompress routine in assembly, and when I went to buy a Multiface from Romantic Robot in Kilburn, I asked if they compressed data before they dumped it all to tape. Apparently they hadn't thought of that. I offered my code for a free Multiface. They had about 130 bytes spare when my code was about 200, and I spent a couple of weeks reducing the code when I should have been doing homework, and got my free Multiface worth £40. Which went on to sell countless numbers on Spectrum then Amstrad, but I had geek cred.

So now I'm trying to push the grey cells, try to recreate that sprite code, and squeeze out an excessively noisy puzzle game - I was so taken with Sega Columns in 1990 I went home and wrote one on my Sam Coupe. Then maybe back to lunar lander.
Definition of loop : see loop
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Einar Saukas »

Nice story :)

Please tell us your full name, so we can add missing author information in the Mazeball entry at https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=15606
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Turtle_Quality
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Turtle_Quality »

Einar Saukas wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:29 pm Nice story :)

Please tell us your full name, so we can add missing author information in the Mazeball entry at https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=15606
Thomas Quillin

Mazeball was a complete ripoff of a game I played on a BBC computer which annoyingly addictive. I went home and got the game running in about 10 minutes (well it was a very simple game). Then I spent about 4 hours writing sound effects, there was quite a nice one if you get a high score, and a better one if you fail to get a high score. It's entirely compiled basic.

I got none of the royalties promised by Wildest Dreams, apparently the founder ran off with cash he'd borrowed to setup the business.
Definition of loop : see loop
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Ast A. Moore »

Turtle_Quality wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:03 pm They had about 130 bytes spare when my code was about 200, and I spent a couple of weeks reducing the code when I should have been doing homework . . .
My kind of guy!

Welcome to the forums, Thomas!

Image
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
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Ivanzx
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Ivanzx »

Turtle_Quality wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:03 pm Hi,
I'm Thomas. I had been doing some simple games programming as a 15 year old on friends' ZX81s and Acorn Atoms (both 1k), and was hoping to get my own computer -maybe a VIC20. Then at a computer show in April 1982 , at a crowded Sinclair stand, Clive announced the ZX Spectrum. As the flashbulbs popped and reporters asked questions about it, a spotty 15 year old shouted "What's the keyboard like ?" Clive stretches over the tables around the stand, I stretch through the crowd, to prod those rubbery keys. Late that night I persuaded my dad to loan me a massive £175 and I phoned in an order on the Sinclair hotline.

I don't remember how long it took to arrive, 6 or 8 weeks maybe, but I still got it before many of the major software houses had one. I remember being at a show in August asking ... maybe it was Quicksilver... if they would bring out Centipede because I was struggling to write my own version in basic, but they just wanted to buy my precious Spectrum from me - no way !

I got the PSS compiler by hacking it out of Light Cycles, and liked writing noisy games with nested for next loops and out commands. Sent some in for a PSS Compiler competition including a nice lunar lander (with a sprite routine written in assembly with the Spectrum manual and poke commands) and a crappy but extremely noisy game called Mazeball, that got picked up by PSS related company Wildest Dreams. You can still find Mazeball in the archives but sadly my lunar lander is lost to time. Earlier this year I tracked down my first cassette copy of Mazeball

I'd also written a short compress / decompress routine in assembly, and when I went to buy a Multiface from Romantic Robot in Kilburn, I asked if they compressed data before they dumped it all to tape. Apparently they hadn't thought of that. I offered my code for a free Multiface. They had about 130 bytes spare when my code was about 200, and I spent a couple of weeks reducing the code when I should have been doing homework, and got my free Multiface worth £40. Which went on to sell countless numbers on Spectrum then Amstrad, but I had geek cred.

So now I'm trying to push the grey cells, try to recreate that sprite code, and squeeze out an excessively noisy puzzle game - I was so taken with Sega Columns in 1990 I went home and wrote one on my Sam Coupe. Then maybe back to lunar lander.
Its always interesting to have people that were in the industry in the 80s, and also interesting to hear the stories behind them!

By the way, have you thought about remaking Mazeball in the Spectrum? There is now a compo that may interest you ;) !

http://zx-dev-mia-remakes.proboards.com/
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Turtle_Quality
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by Turtle_Quality »

Ivanzx wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:02 pm
Its always interesting to have people that were in the industry in the 80s, and also interesting to hear the stories behind them!

By the way, have you thought about remaking Mazeball in the Spectrum? There is now a compo that may interest you ;) !

http://zx-dev-mia-remakes.proboards.com/
Thanks Ivan ZX

I never really considered myself "in the industry", just knew a few people who were... Now if I'd got past that interview at Bubble Bus in '84 ...

On a Mazeball remake, to be fair the game looks tedious now, I'd have to find a way to make it interesting to play. There's a few Atari VCS games I'd love to remake in expanded Spectrum format - Combat, Adventure, Maze Craze, Warlords.. I still play those with my 8 year old son (except Warlords, searching for a paddle alternative). What I love about these and many Spectrum games is that playability is the core not flashy graphics.
Definition of loop : see loop
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oblo
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Re: Introduce yourself!

Post by oblo »

Greetings from Spain!

Long-time ZX Spectrum user, I started borrowing/using 48ks from friends/school and learning from programming books that were on the public library, until I could afford a +2A. Since then, I like to "mess" with anything about our speccys (gaming, harware and software) but after all this time I still considered myself a "seasoned amateur", mainly because I barely can read assembler :roll:

I discovered yesterday this forum so I decide to register to share what I can and to ask what I (still) don't know. Anyway, here are a few links with some of the games I developed until now:

O-trix
O-cman
2x1 Depthcharge/Escape
O-Puzz Attack!

... and in a few days I hope to release a new one :)

Later!
Cheers.
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