Spectrum Computing

spider wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 7:53 pm Mind you Turmoil I did quite like I must say.

DouglasReynholm wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 8:47 pm Well, it was very slick

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 11:34 pm Spectral Invaders has the charm of being considered one of the first Spectrum games, published in 1982.

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 1:17 pm Yeah, from doing research for this, I've learnt that Bug-Byte (and its future labelmate Quicksilva) had games ready for the Spectrum pretty much off the bat. QuickSilva especially so, according to this story from an employee.

P.S. The only involvement Matthew Smith had in the development of The Birds and
the Bees was to talk Bug-Byte into providing me with a TRS-80 Model 3, and a
graphics editing tool (hence "Graphics aided by Matthew Smith" in the title
screen). That and a few programming tips...

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 1:17 pm

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 11:34 pm Spectral Invaders has the charm of being considered one of the first Spectrum games, published in 1982.

Yeah, from doing research for this, I've learnt that Bug-Byte (and its future labelmate Quicksilva) had games ready for the Spectrum pretty much off the bat. QuickSilva especially so, according to this story from an employee.

hitm4n wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 10:16 pmWhen i think about Manic Miner though, i would always think "Software Projects" rather than BugByte, maybe thats the version i had. Interestingly, what were the differences in the 2 releases?

• In Processing Plant, the enemy at the end of the conveyor belt is a bush in the original, whereas the Software Projects one resembles a PacMan ghost.
• In Amoebatrons' Revenge, the original Bug-Byte amoebatrons look like alien octopuses with tentacles hanging down, whereas the Software Projects amoebatrons resemble the Bug-Byte logo - smiling beetles, with little legs up their sides.
• In The Warehouse, the original game has threshers travelling up and down the vertical slots, rotating about the screen's X-axis. The Software Projects version has 'impossible triangle' sprites (i.e. the Software Projects logo) instead, which rotate about the screen's Z-axis.
• The Bug-Byte cheat code was the numerical sequence "6031769" - based on Matthew Smith's driving licence. In the Software Projects version this changed to "typewriter".
• Internal code changes meant that a new POKE was required for infinite lives.

Turtle_Quality wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 7:06 pmBug Byte Pool

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 1:17 pm

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 11:34 pm Spectral Invaders has the charm of being considered one of the first Spectrum games, published in 1982.

Yeah, from doing research for this, I've learnt that Bug-Byte (and its future labelmate Quicksilva) had games ready for the Spectrum pretty much off the bat. QuickSilva especially so, according to this story from an employee.

Morkin wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 1:10 pm Will probably still end up voting for 'you-know-what' (as long as it's not going to appear under Software Projects.

Years before Grand Theft Auto corrupted our youth, there was David Turner’s arcade-platformer teaching us to steal cars. As scouser Mic Mechanic your aim is to rob Sheikh Abdul Al Kohol of his prized vehicles – by navigating through 26 increasingly difficult single screen levels containing trampolines, conveyer belts, swinging ropes and moving platforms. You’ll need to collect an oil jug, fill it with stolen oil from the leaky tank, and then drop it into the (increasingly expensive looking) cars, which will then drive away to the next stage. This would be easy if it weren’t for a couple of angry Arabs patrolling the play field. These could well be the most unintentionally hilarious characters of the era - they frantically wield sticks and rush around menacingly – but at each junction they change direction randomly. This causes them to behave very erratically, and they could often appear to spend more time playing on the ropes and trampolines then dealing with you. When cornered, Mic was not completely helpless if he’d previously filled his jug. He could drop a little oil for the Arabs to fatally slip on, although Mic himself was similarly vulnerable, so care needed to be taken.

Graphics were very nicely drawn and animated and although colour clash and flicker were present it was never enough to spoil the fun – and the lenient collision detection allowed for nicely fluid fast-paced play. Throughout the action a musical accompaniment of ‘March Of The Toreadors’ played – but as it is only 24 bars long you’d soon be pressing ‘enter’ and replacing it with sound effects or silence (and speeding up the action slightly by doing so).

Helpfully a ‘training mode’ was offered which enabled starting the game at level 9 (‘I’) or 19 (‘S’) but played without keeping score. This was great way to see some of the later stages, which would otherwise have been a gargantuan task.

We now live in politically sensitive times where this kind of game and inlay blurb would never be created for fear of offending someone. That’s a great shame as this game is immensely good fun with inventive level design and excellent gameplay. It has consequently aged far better than many of its more famous contemporaries.

David Turner was just 18 when he wrote this, and I take my oil-stained hat off to him.