Classic Vs Homebrew

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Do you play more Classic Spectrum games or Homebrew?

Poll ended at Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:34 pm

Classic games
7
33%
Homebrew games
8
38%
Both in an equal degree
6
29%
None of them
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 21

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Ivanzx
Manic Miner
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Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Ivanzx »

Here is a question I have done in many places of the virtual world where I wander :)

Do you play more classic games or Homebrew or both? What appeals more to you? What role do you think Homebrew has in the current scene?
Wall_Axe
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Wall_Axe »

I download homebrew to my ZXDS , I find most of it to only entertain for a few minutes because Im not really into puzzlers which most of them seem to be.
I just downloaded sword of ianna which I think will be a game i play a lot
I played the Castlevania game a lot until I got to I think the first boss, he was hard and I lost interest

Homebrew shooters dont hold my interest for long

I used to have the tape of Cosmic Wartoad but it got wiped due to being too close to a speaker so I had to download that and Frankie goes To Hollywood to see if they were still good.

Played Rebelstar Cobra and Ranarama quite a lot
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Classics games all the way.

When someone releases a new game, I sometimes download and play it. Many are good to play, but I'm always missing games like Green Beret, Hypersports, Skool Daze, Pyjamarama, Fairlight, ... they're unrepeatable.
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ramsrc
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by ramsrc »

To be honest, I am not much of a game player these days. I find the hardware side of things more interesting. Having said that, I do occasionally play the classics.

I keep thinking I need to check out of the homebrew stuff, but as yet, I haven't really got around to it.
A hollow voice says "Plugh"
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PeteProdge
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by PeteProdge »

Barely touched any 'new' games at all, until a month ago when I saw a homebrew programmer demonstrating his Columns-esque game to the Oliver Twins at the Spectrum35 event. It looked intriguing, so I made a note of the game's name - Buzzsaw - and gave it a bash last week.

I was not expecting much, thinking it was just going to be another Columns clone with a few tweaks, but it's actually far better than Columns itself and there's enough originality there to say it's not really a clone. A bit of Tetris is in there, but the huge pleasure in gameplay is watching the slaughter of all the space-wasting critters. Kiss that, Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

There's a nice touch in that there's a multi-colour engine that throws more than two colours into certain character cells. This is evident in the game, and highly evident in the menu system. A superb game that has the Speccy punching above its weight. It is based on the homebrew Atari ST game of the same name.

I had only thought I'd be playing around in it for a few minutes. Two hours went by and I didn't notice.

I've also been having a look at that Boriel ZX BASIC compiler that lets you write Spectrum games on a modern computing platform using BASIC and BASIC-ish language in any text editor. A list of example games made with it are here, I've played a few, and while they're not stunning AAA classics, it's quite astonishing to realise that these were put together at the level of BASIC. Very inspirational.
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R-Tape
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by R-Tape »

75% homebrew, 25% classic. The very best of modern homebrew (Sword of IANNA, Buzzsaw, Brunilda, Suvivisection, Mole Rat) is right up there with the very best of the classics IMO, but they appear once a year if we're lucky. The dev tools are so much better these days, and don't forget AGD, so we have a higher baseline quality with (not counting the crap game comp) fewer howlers.

To be honest I'd like to see a few more slightly ropey new games not made using the latest tools as they are often fun and different.
Ivanzx wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:34 pm What role do you think Homebrew has in the current scene?
I think it plays an important role in keeping the scene alive.

Edited - the last bit didn't sound right.
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R-Tape
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by R-Tape »

PeteProdge wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 9:10 am There's a nice touch in that there's a multi-colour engine that throws more than two colours into certain character cells. This is evident in the game, and highly evident in the menu system. A superb game that has the Speccy punching above its weight. It is based on the homebrew Atari ST game of the same name.
And by the author of the same name :-)
Ralf
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Ralf »

I play new games as they appear.

Unfortunately real life sucks and I often don't have time to play them thoroughly. It's often that I download something and play it for 5 minutes and that's all. Actually I feel quite guilty about it as I'm a developer myself and know how much someone's effort went into creating it.

Yet when some game is high above average in its quality I'll play it to the end for sure. Recently I completed Sword of Ianna.

I someptimes play classics too but only these ones that are easy for some quick fun - Jetpac, Renegade, Mikie, Ping-Pong. I actaully don't imagine playing something big like Jet Set Willy, Dizzy 5, Lords of Midnight today. It would be just a waste to start something that I won't finish and what I saw before so there isn't any excitement about new release.

In the past I recorded quite a lot, maybe two hundreds or so games for Rzx Archive. I was actually not only fun but also some kind of mission for me. But nowadays I lack games that would be fun, easy enough and not recorded yet ;)
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Spud
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Spud »

I play more new titles than old, but I rarely visit old titles that I've never played before. For example I've never played Stonkers, Lords of Midnight, The Sentinel or other noteworthy stuff and despite all the chatter about them I've never thought about playing them now. Typically the old games I play when I get the urge are the ones I loved back then:

Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy, Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Batty, Chuckie Egg, A Day in the Life, Give My Regards to Broad Street, Show Jumping, Who Dares Wins 2, Panzadrome, Target Renegade, Feud and Wriggler.

I play as many new titles as I can get my hands on, even if it is just for five minutes and I enjoy buying the real copies of them occasionally.
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Joefish
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Re: Classic Vs Homebrew

Post by Joefish »

About 50:50, as I'm more likely to bring up a classic game for a quick go (and often it's Manic Miner), but I'm just as likely to go for something in MAME. But when I do play a new Speccy game, if it's a particularly good one, I'll be playing it for longer.

But every time someone posts a poll, I see far more new games listed that I've never heard anything about. Unfortunately they're not always that inspiring, and going through a long list in one sitting to find the best can get a bit boring!
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