"not a Spectrum game"

[StooB]

There were no plans to release any these games on the Spectrum - to even suggest it is ridiculous!

What's so ridiculous about making a Spectrum port of a game existing for C64?

Did you know for example that versions of Pirates (https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=24363)or Wings of Fury (https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=28047) were "planned" for Spectrum? Whatever "planned" means..

Both of those fit on cassette though. How can you port a disk-only C64 game to the Spectrum if they couldn't even make a C64 tape version?

[beanz]

Both of those fit on cassette though. How can you port a disk-only C64 game to the Spectrum if they couldn't even make a C64 tape version?

Multi load, skillful coding, "cut down" version...they managed to get Carrier Command a 16bit 1mb+ game on the speccy 128k. Not to mention Gunship, Stealth fighter etc etc, all much larger 16bit disk based games.

[Einar Saukas]

Almost all of the Infocom adventures - those compatible with Z-Machine versions 3, 4, 5 and 8 to be precise - can be converted to the +3 disk format. Owners of a DivIDE with ResiDOS can also run them. There are some limitations however, e.g. the UNDO command is not implemented due to memory restrictions. However, as it was already said, they were not planned specifically for for the Spectrum.

I covered the issue in detail for the GamesArk.it portal almost six years ago. The article (in Italian) is here.

That's exactly the information I needed. Thank you!

I have added a link to your article in ZXDB, and the other titles you mentioned in your article were also added to the ZXZVM list.

You mentioned that you managed to produce playable +3 disk files for several titles. We already have some of them (in format DSK), but the following titles are still missing:

Beyond Zork
Bureaucracy
A Mind Forever Voyaging
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
Trinity
Zork
Zork II
Zork III

Whenever you have some free time, could you please recreate these +3 disk files and send them to us? Thanks!

[StooB]

Multi load, skillful coding, "cut down" version...they managed to get Carrier Command a 16bit 1mb+ game on the speccy 128k. Not to mention Gunship, Stealth fighter etc etc, all much larger 16bit disk based games.

It's not an issue of getting a bigger 16-bit game into an 8-bit. The problem is that these games are designed for playing from disk. Ultima needed to access 140k of data in 1981 before the Spectrum even existed. If it was realistic to produce a cassette-based version then they'd have done it for the Apple ii or the Atari 8-bit, or the C64.

[beanz]

Multi load, skillful coding, "cut down" version...they managed to get Carrier Command a 16bit 1mb+ game on the speccy 128k. Not to mention Gunship, Stealth fighter etc etc, all much larger 16bit disk based games.

It's not an issue of getting a bigger 16-bit game into an 8-bit. The problem is that these games are designed for playing from disk. Ultima needed to access 140k of data in 1981 before the Spectrum even existed. If it was realistic to produce a cassette-based version then they'd have done it for the Apple ii or the Atari 8-bit, or the C64.

As were gunship and Stealth Fighter...again amongst many others, and again they were still converted to the speccy. How they were originally designed for the original platform doesn't prevent them from being reworked to work on a "lesser" system...as demonstrated by the far larger 16 bit disk based games.

Tape games were not really a thing in the US (on systems like the C64), so the fact companies like Infocom etc may not have produced a tape version doesn't mean it wasn't possible, it means the US market (infocom being a US company) didn't justify a tape version.

That leisure suit larry point and click that recently came out for the speccy is another great example of what is possible.

[8BitAG]

I think it's a case of just going through the magazine references appended to the games and checking none of them relate to the Spectrum. If there are zero Spectrum references then the game should be deleted from ZXZB.

Some *do* have ZX Spectrum related references...

For example...

Elvira - Mistress of the Dark...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 8&page=125

(may be a mistake by PR or the magazine... or just an over-ambitious publisher... but it says SPECTRUM there)

Presumably the Ultima games got added because of this throwaway line "Wherever possible we'll be converting them to the Spectrum as well..."
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 839&page=5

[Ralf]

Good spot!

So my intuition was good, there are some mentions in mags (correct or not, it's another issue) that these games were "planned" or maybe better to say "considered" for Spectrum.

Of course it's database maintainer's decision if we keep game entries based on such weak evidence or not. And yes, we can be sure here that they weren't made for Spectrum after all

[Alessandro]

Hi Einar, I just sent you the files you asked me for. I made them readable with ZXZVM 1.12 and modified the ZXZVM.BAS program so that it automatically loads the story file on the disk. I also made the disks bootable from the +3 start menu.

[Einar Saukas]

I think it's a case of just going through the magazine references appended to the games and checking none of them relate to the Spectrum. If there are zero Spectrum references then the game should be deleted from ZXZB.

Some *do* have ZX Spectrum related references...

For example...

Elvira - Mistress of the Dark...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 8&page=125

(may be a mistake by PR or the magazine... or just an over-ambitious publisher... but it says SPECTRUM there)

Presumably the Ultima games got added because of this throwaway line "Wherever possible we'll be converting them to the Spectrum as well..."
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 839&page=5

Makes sense! These references indicate some of them were once considered for the Spectrum, but never released. That's similar to other never released games in the database.

Thanks!

[Einar Saukas]

Hi Einar, I just sent you the files you asked me for. I made them readable with ZXZVM 1.12 and modified the ZXZVM.BAS program so that it automatically loads the story file on the disk. I also made the disks bootable from the +3 start menu.

Awesome! Thank you very much!!!

[Alessandro]

Awesome! Thank you very much!!!

You are welcome

I also noticed that the archive hosts the old 1.03 version of ZXZVM. It would be the case to replace it.

[Einar Saukas]

Good point! I will add it in the next ZXDB update.