First and final: Ocean Software

[eudemian]

The first Ocean game, strictly speaking, was Kong as it was the first released under the Ocean title. Although there were inlays printed for Spectrum Games KONG but never used. The first title under Spectrum Games was Road Frog as this was the first title completed (early Nov 1982) and duplicated for Spectrum Games. The next was Monster Muncher and Caterpilla followed by Frenzy. There was a bit of a rush to get the games to the tape duplicators so I quickly wrote a few lines of basic to plot the loading screen which is why all Spectrum Games load screens looks like vector graphics. I had written my own graphic editor for the parts that couldn’t be created with the basic plot command and we bought a copy of Melbourne Draw later for the screens but I kept the basic theme. (The only reason for the load screen look was the film Time Bandits, I liked the poster art which had a perspective plot but it was a bit empty so added a pyramid which was easy to plot given I already wrote the plot basic whilst messing around one day previously)

How do I know this? I was there and wrote Road Frog, helped David review the games coming in and mastered all games for duplication including the loader and creating the load screen (I was never known for my graphic abilities). Road Frog was my very first game so I accept and forgive the criticism. There was a ZX81 version of Road Frog but David Ward didn’t want to release ZX81 games. A Missile Command like game was late and eventually released as Armageddon under Ocean following the name change. (Another quickly cobbled load screen but no pyramid this time). Some games in the early adverts were what we came to call vapourware.

I have been rummaging through my loft and have all the mastered Spectrum Games titles except Rocket Command that I put away at the time. The mint ones are at a picture frame shop for framing but these are spares.



We eventually became organised and had tape inlays printed for masters and pre production samples. Here is a cropped picture of the first printed preprod inlay (printed around Aug/Sept 83) whilst still at the old building and I was still using them when we moved.



Paul

[Ralf]

Hi, welcome to the forums !

I guess you may have quite a lot of interesting stories to tell

[Vampyre]

Excellent post, thoroughly enjoyed that.

Dunno if I'd call Daley Thompson a "little known" athlete in 1984. By the time the game came out he'd already won Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic Golds, won 1982's BBC Sport Personality of the Year and been given an MBE in 1983. Along with Carl Lewis, Maradonna and Seb Coe I would say he was one of the most recognisable athletes in the world across all sports. Having his face on it was a massive endorsement of the game at the time.

[Einar Saukas]

The first Ocean game, strictly speaking, was Kong as it was the first released under the Ocean title. Although there were inlays printed for Spectrum Games KONG but never used. The first title under Spectrum Games was Road Frog as this was the first title completed (early Nov 1982) and duplicated for Spectrum Games. The next was Monster Muncher and Caterpilla followed by Frenzy. There was a bit of a rush to get the games to the tape duplicators so I quickly wrote a few lines of basic to plot the loading screen which is why all Spectrum Games load screens looks like vector graphics. I had written my own graphic editor for the parts that couldn’t be created with the basic plot command and we bought a copy of Melbourne Draw later for the screens but I kept the basic theme. (The only reason for the load screen look was the film Time Bandits, I liked the poster art which had a perspective plot but it was a bit empty so added a pyramid which was easy to plot given I already wrote the plot basic whilst messing around one day previously)

How do I know this? I was there and wrote Road Frog, helped David review the games coming in and mastered all games for duplication including the loader and creating the load screen (I was never known for my graphic abilities). Road Frog was my very first game so I accept and forgive the criticism. There was a ZX81 version of Road Frog but David Ward didn’t want to release ZX81 games. A Missile Command like game was late and eventually released as Armageddon under Ocean following the name change. (Another quickly cobbled load screen but no pyramid this time). Some games in the early adverts were what we came to call vapourware.

I have been rummaging through my loft and have all the mastered Spectrum Games titles except Rocket Command that I put away at the time. The mint ones are at a picture frame shop for framing but these are spares.



We eventually became organised and had tape inlays printed for masters and pre production samples. Here is a cropped picture of the first printed preprod inlay (printed around Aug/Sept 83) whilst still at the old building and I was still using them when we moved.



Paul

Welcome!

Releases from Spectrum Games are listed here (just click on each game title to see further details):

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=13639

We currently don't have author names for some of these titles, including Road Frog. This information is also missing from other game databases that I checked (like MobyGames). Could you please provide this information?

It will be even better if you can also provide each author's role(s) for each title, according to this list:

• Code
• Game Design/Concept
• In-game Graphics
• Inlay/Poster Art
• Level Design
• Load Screen
• Localization/Translation
• Music
• Sound Effects
• Story Writing

[ZXDunny]

I have been rummaging through my loft and have all the mastered Spectrum Games titles except Rocket Command that I put away at the time. The mint ones are at a picture frame shop for framing but these are spares.

If you have a copy of Cosmic Intruders, it may be worthwhile getting in touch with one of the preservation chaps - the game is currently MIA and we'd love to get it archived if that's acceptable to you.

[Morkin]

I quite liked those early Ocean loading screens. Quite iconic.

[DouglasReynholm]

Just when I think I've heard everything about the Spectrum's glory days (not really), someone posts some gold, great stuff and more please? Kong actually was my first Spectrum game, can't actually remember my last, possibly Robocop on the Spectrum?

Edit: Paul Owen's '0 lives left' at the game over screen still rankles.