Introduce yourself!

[Ast A. Moore]

Hi [mention]jumperror[/mention],

Welcome to SC!

[WhatHoSnorkers]

Hello! I had a ZX81 and then a +2 back in the day, and got back on the BASIC horse this year.

I typed in the Usborne "Write Your Own Fantasy Adventures For Your Microcomputer" programs. I wanted to add them to the World of Spectrum website but I didn't realise it was... not updated. Would it be useful here?

I have a silly YouTube channel but the games I've typed in I'd be happy to supply here if I knew how! I did all the games from Virgin Games "Adventures for your ZX Spectrum" and some others that might be missing.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmKA-M ... rhPBsWzJg/

I just like typing in games!

[R-Tape]

Hello!

What ho!

I'd be happy to supply here if I knew how!

Yep we can add them to the archive. I've sent you an email.

For starters they can be added as a zipped bundle to the book IDs, here and here. Whether each type-in should get invidual IDs would have to be decided.

[Lethargeek]

hi, long time on wos & zx-pk, but right now this forum seems more lively

[barry]

Hi, decided a few days ago to finally try to teach myself BASIC on a 48k speccy. I refuse to use the 128k and plus versions, it has to be 48k for those sentimental vibes!
Been trying a few emulators and making a few bleeps and whatnot. Considered buying a speccy but instead just ordered some zx key stickers to stick on my pc keyboard, hopefully that works.
So yeah that's that!, happy new year!

[Ast A. Moore]

Welcome to SC, [mention]barry[/mention]!

[R-Tape]

Hi, decided a few days ago to finally try to teach myself BASIC on a 48k speccy. I refuse to use the 128k and plus versions, it has to be 48k for those sentimental vibes!
Been trying a few emulators and making a few bleeps and whatnot. Considered buying a speccy but instead just ordered some zx key stickers to stick on my pc keyboard, hopefully that works.
So yeah that's that!, happy new year!

Welcome Barry! The plus version is fine by me, but I agree about 48K BASIC - codewords all the way. You might want to consider entering this year's crap games comp. It's a great fun and a way to hone your skills.

[WhatHoSnorkers]

I do find it strange. Even back in the day when I had a +2 I rarely used 128K mode to type things in. Looking at it now, I think having the cursor in amongst all the lines just feels weird. The actual typing of PEEK and POKE isn't too bad... it's the "where is the cursor what am I doing" stuff that makes me prefer finding the keywords.

That and you don't get more memory without being clever, I think.

[TheGoodDoktor]

Greetings from Liverpool

I got a Speccy when I was 10 and it changed my life! I started playing games and then got more and more into programming - I still played games most of the time of course! I dreamed that one day I would become a games programmer.
I've now been a professional games programmer for 23 years! I'm one of the founders and the technical director of Lucid Games.
Unfortunately we don't do much Z80 programming in the games industry anymore but I like to dabble in my spare time to help keep my aging mind sharp.
I'm particularly interested in reverse engineering old games and seeing how the programmers back in the day did stuff.

All the best,
Mark.

[Ast A. Moore]

I'm particularly interested in reverse engineering old games and seeing how the programmers back in the day did stuff.

Awesome, [mention]TheGoodDoktor[/mention]! Great to have you on board, Mark.

[R-Tape]

I do find it strange. Even back in the day when I had a +2 I rarely used 128K mode to type things in. Looking at it now, I think having the cursor in amongst all the lines just feels weird.

That's how I feel. Why would one choose to type RANDOMIZE when you can just press "T"?! It's win-win because you don't have to degrade yourself by wilfully spelling RANDOMISE with a "Z".

Mind you, I'm pretty rusty. I've been using BASIC again for my CGC entry and got through about 10 possibilities before I found "AT".

[WhatHoSnorkers]

I now have a ZX Spectrum 48k mug... but also this website was really useful:

http://slady.net/Sinclair-ZX-Spectrum-keyboard/layout/

It's even got an alphabetised list. I now understand WHY they had keywords (to save memory). At the time I thought it was just to save typing

[vanpeebles]

Hello!!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Hello!!

Hello!

[Spud]

Hello!!

Hello!

Hallo!!!

[patters]

Mind you, I'm pretty rusty. I've been using BASIC again for my CGC entry and got through about 10 possibilities before I found "AT".

I programmed 95% of Artillery with a Recreated ZX Spectrum Bluetooth keyboard specifically for ease of keyword input before I discovered that on Fuse for Mac you can simply hit cmd-K for a handy display of the ZX keyboard template for those occasions you forget a placement. Still, I scored some authenticity points.

[azimov]

Hi! I'm azimov from Spain (sorry for my english), I love the Sinclair Basic and that's what I do, since later 80's, but it was in 2019 when I released various new games (some AGD testing too) and made it public thanks to the social networks created around our loved Zx Spectrum. Some of them you can find in my itch.io.

https://azimov.itch.io/

Actually I'm on Bytemaniacos Basic contest, and one of my games appears in the 2019 Woot magazine (The Day Before The Day The Earth Stood Still).
Thanks to all community I hope to continue learning programming and enjoying this wonderful machine.

[Ast A. Moore]

Welcome to SC, [mention]azimov[/mention]!

[R-Tape]

Hi! I'm azimov from Spain (sorry for my english), I love the Sinclair Basic and that's what I do, since later 80's, but it was in 2019 when I released various new games (some AGD testing too) and made it public thanks to the social networks created around our loved Zx Spectrum. Some of them you can find in my itch.io.

Nice to see you here!

...and one of my games appears in the 2019 Woot magazine (The Day Before The Day The Earth Stood Still).

I think I completed this. There is no congratulations screen is there, just the same screen that you can't leave?

[azimov]

Hi! I'm azimov from Spain (sorry for my english), I love the Sinclair Basic and that's what I do, since later 80's, but it was in 2019 when I released various new games (some AGD testing too) and made it public thanks to the social networks created around our loved Zx Spectrum. Some of them you can find in my itch.io.

Nice to see you here!

...and one of my games appears in the 2019 Woot magazine (The Day Before The Day The Earth Stood Still).

I think I completed this. There is no congratulations screen is there, just the same screen that you can't leave?

Yes, just a screen that connects the end of the game with the start of the movie, I just try to put no text in the whole game except the keys to move. You can see credits if go up to the sky in the screen where you have to land. Thanks R-Tape!

[akeley]

Hi folks,

I grew up with ZX Spectrum behind the Iron Curtain back in the Eighties. Well, what I actually owned - after many years of begging & scraping funds - was a Timex 2048, but it was all about Sinclair Spirit of course.

Then I moved on to other machines and when emulation kicked in I actually avoided the ZX because nostalgia was too strong...I didn't think I could handle that emotional load Only came back to this a few years ago and now I even have a real one - finally a *real* Spectrum, ha! - sitting on the desk next to me.

I'm a gamer at heart, first and foremost, and love playing and researching the old titles, especially the really obscure ones. There aren't many places to discuss this hobby these days outside social media (which I don't use), and this site looks reasonably sane so I thought I'll join in...

[MarcusJ]

Hi All

I'm an 8-bit computer collector... which began when my ZX81 arrived at the age of 12ish... and then a steady stream of spectrums Atoms and Beebs crowned with an Amiga500 before ending up with PCs for work and gaming...

PC gaming is great but it doesn't quite have the 'press play' and go make your tea depth to it

Marcus

[R-Tape]

Welcome Akeley and Marcus!

PC gaming is great but it doesn't quite have the 'press play' and go make your tea depth to it

For the average Speccy game, at best I'd be able to make toast or a pot noodle—and that would be legging it!

[WhatHoSnorkers]

With my PS3, if I have a new game to play at lunchtime, there's usually enough time to put it in, go to the shops, buy a pizza, come back, heat the oven, cook pizza and eat it before I get to play... what with the system update, restart, game update, install and then the unskippable menus

[RWAC]

Yes it's amazing how we went from long loading times with the spectrum to zero loading times with cartridge based consoles and now we've got mega loading times!