Female Spectrum programmers...
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Female Spectrum programmers...
Prompted by another thread, my mind got to wondering who were the big-name female programmers for the ZX Spectrum during its heyday?
Hand on heart, I can't currently think of a single one. In fact, as I type this, the only female I can think of that's in any way related to this side of the business is Ocean's Dawn Drake -- but I think she was/is an artist, rather than a programmer.
So.. who are the female Joffas / Bagleys / Ceccos, and what were their games?
Hand on heart, I can't currently think of a single one. In fact, as I type this, the only female I can think of that's in any way related to this side of the business is Ocean's Dawn Drake -- but I think she was/is an artist, rather than a programmer.
So.. who are the female Joffas / Bagleys / Ceccos, and what were their games?
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Veronika Megler - The Hobbit
ZX Soft - ALIEN(BUGFIX) - GB Soft - Demoscene
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Ah yes -- good call. (Though I personally didn't enjoy that game.)
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Replying to my own thread, I suppose Helen Reidy counts -- Skool Daze etc.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Hmm. Or perhaps not? She might've been on the marketing side.5MinuteRetro wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:52 pm Replying to my own thread, I suppose Helen Reidy counts -- Skool Daze etc.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Outside of "proper programming", there were lots of female text adventure authors using utilities such as The Quill, GAC and PAW.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
She also co-wrote Penetrator (which it is obligatory to like ).5MinuteRetro wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:50 pmAh yes -- good call. (Though I personally didn't enjoy that game.)
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Tina Billet who made Mrs Mopp
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=3315
I haven't seen any info about her or photo however so feel free to share if you have some
and of course Dawn Drake
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=3616
actually a game artist not a programmer, please decide if it counts
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=3315
I haven't seen any info about her or photo however so feel free to share if you have some
and of course Dawn Drake
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=3616
actually a game artist not a programmer, please decide if it counts
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Angela White, who iirc co-authored Zombie Zombie with Sandy White
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
I see the need for another ZXDB field [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention]. Gender.
Peter
PS. That was a joke.
Peter
PS. That was a joke.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Not a programmer, but I was researching a bit about Karen Davies https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=7883
Karen started on the original Imagine Software, she was a fabric designer, and seems that working with patterns helped her to quickly start working with pixels. She worked on Imagine, Denton Designs, Ocean and Special FX, and Mobygames shows she was involved on the industry until 2002 (https://www.mobygames.com/developer/she ... rId,40506/).
Tony Pomfret, Jonathan Smith and Karen Davies
She also had a brother working with her (Chas Davies, I think), so, sometimes is not clear who was involved on what project. I wold love to have more information about her, specially at Ocean/Special FX, since the information on the ZXDB looks incomplete, for example, on Wikipedia she is mentioned on Hudson Hawk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Hawk_(video_game)
Karen started on the original Imagine Software, she was a fabric designer, and seems that working with patterns helped her to quickly start working with pixels. She worked on Imagine, Denton Designs, Ocean and Special FX, and Mobygames shows she was involved on the industry until 2002 (https://www.mobygames.com/developer/she ... rId,40506/).
Tony Pomfret, Jonathan Smith and Karen Davies
She also had a brother working with her (Chas Davies, I think), so, sometimes is not clear who was involved on what project. I wold love to have more information about her, specially at Ocean/Special FX, since the information on the ZXDB looks incomplete, for example, on Wikipedia she is mentioned on Hudson Hawk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Hawk_(video_game)
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
St Bride's, who also ran a school for young ladies (and later older pupils of both sexes) with some dubious sides...
http://live.worldofspectrum.org/infosee ... user/45#82
http://www.crashonline.org.uk/26/stbrides.htm
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27p ... 930103.txt
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27p ... 930207.txt
And:
Hanan Samara, who founded and headed Dalali Software.
Nicole Baikaloff, member of the Gang Of Five team.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Completely randomly, I met one of her (adult) kids in a pub a few years back, who told meRalf wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 1:16 pm Tina Billet who made Mrs Mopp
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=3315
I haven't seen any info about her or photo however so feel free to share if you have some
- she died
- she was an ardent feminist (may surprise a few here who've played Mrs Mopp!)
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
I remember Anita Sinclair (Magentic Scrolls?) getting a profile in Sinclair User.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Sorry to hear that.Completely randomly, I met one of her (adult) kids in a pub a few years back, who told me
- she died
- she was an ardent feminist (may surprise a few here who've played Mrs Mopp!)
How did you know meeting someone in the pub that he was a kid of Tina Billet?
And do you have any more info? How it happened that she wrote a game?
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
I always thought Sandy White was female!DouglasReynholm wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 1:50 pm Angela White, who iirc co-authored Zombie Zombie with Sandy White
Linda Wright springs to mind, author of text adventures Agatha's Folly and Cloud 99.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
And to be politically correct allow it to have at least 256 valuesI see the need for another ZXDB field Einar Saukas. Gender.
Peter
PS. That was a joke.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Well, if you're allowing users of Quill, PAW, GAC, etc, and not just "proper programmers" then there are lots...
Sue Medley, Diane Rice, Karen Tyers, Mandy Rodrigues, Sandra Sharkey, Dorothy Millard, Sharon Harwood, Edwina Brown, Doreen Bardon... etc. etc.
The text adventure community was full of female players, playtesters, authors, writers and magazine editors.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Although, with no little irony, every single one of them would be recorded in binary.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
I feel terrible for saying this but I did kinda mean 'real' programmers -- not just talented (or not-so-talented) story-tellers that mastered an adventure-writing tool. I mean, cripes, even I once penned a simple adventure in GAC, and I'm a proper idiot.
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Oh, no... as a PAW user myself... I completely agree. It's not proper programming. It's just that people started to mention utility users.5MinuteRetro wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:30 pm I feel terrible for saying this but I did kinda mean 'real' programmers -- not just talented (or not-so-talented) story-tellers that mastered an adventure-writing tool. I mean, cripes, even I once penned a simple adventure in GAC, and I'm a proper idiot.
Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
There's a really good interview with her in issue 3 of Classic Adventurer:SteveSmith wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 2:36 pm I remember Anita Sinclair (Magentic Scrolls?) getting a profile in Sinclair User.
http://classicadventurer.co.uk/
Lots of interesting facts, such as she's a long-time pal of Clive Sinclair (no relation).
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Re: Female Spectrum programmers...
Definition of loop : see loop