Spectrum Computing

Cheers guys!

EDIT: I've added an alternative download source for the PDF file, get it from here:
https://easyupload.io/g4mbbs
This one will expire after 30 days, which is at the end of July.

By the way, the first download site ... I have no idea if it's dodgy or not, I managed to download from there with no problems as I tested it once, and as I'm writing this there have been 79 downloads. You'll need to activate JavaScript to see the download button though, so I can understand why people are wary of it.

Rorthron wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:23 am Any chance of an alternative download link? The first doesn't work for me; the second has too-low resolution for me to read.

The second link actually has pictures in a quite high resolution. Set your browser to fullscreen and click on the pictures, that will make them appear bigger. On 1920x1080 there should be no problems reading anything, or are you on a 4k monitor?

Thanks. The new download link works fine.

I was using my phone on Imgur, so definitely not a 4K monitor!

Looks nice, and the magazine styling seems very authentic. I like how you managed to capture something of the different forum members' personalities (with a bit of artistic license).

It looks so good, that I'm adding it to the official list of magazines in ZXDB!

...Well, that was suitably daft...

Loved all the doctored screenshots, that must have taken ages to do.

Hello again!

It saddens me, but I got a lot less feedback on WoS than I got here even though (as I mentioned before) the mag was based mostly on WoS people and forum posts. I guess they're all too busy posting in the Chit Chat section to notice my "present" ...

Okay, my replies but without quotes:

@djnzx48
Thanks, for it to look as authentic as possible was absolutely the plan, that's why I made sure it looked old and "used" like a real 80s issue of Crash, even though it's dated June 2020 ... and I had fun capturing the personalities, of course using a bit of exaggeration and artistic license. Wasn't going to be utterly politically correct either, that's where all the stereotypes (in the letters etc.) came in!

@Einar Saukas
Haha, for real? That would mean it gets preserved and won't disappear into obscurity a few weeks from now - thanks! I hope you liked being a reviewer, reviewing a game made with your own graphics engine

@Morkin
Daft is my 2nd name!
You're right, the screenshot indeed took ages as I had to come up with ideas for each game - did you count the pixels?
The Street Fighter ones were easy as I just took some from the 'net and reduced the colour count drastically. At least now I know how to manipulate "raw" Speccy screenshots to make them look like they're being displayed on a dodgy 80s TV set.

Keep the feedback coming, it's appreciated!

XTM wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:00 pm It saddens me, but I got a lot less feedback on WoS than I got here even though (as I mentioned before) the mag was based mostly on WoS people and forum posts.

Welcome to SC forums!

Love the 'Steve Davis Snooker 128K' addy

But remember kids - You need to be 18 to buy it, so don't forget to change your birth year on your profile.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I've not read all of it (yet) but the bits I have read had me in bits.

Well done, mate. It looks absolutely fantastic.

This is superb! It looks so authentic; you're a design wizard.

Quite a few of these fake games actually have legs. Especially "Plonker", that would be an ace Everyone's a Wally style production.

Loads of great references. I'd never heard of Bloggo's POW, but a quick google solved that mystery.

Thanks for putting this together. You've done a fantastic job of capturing the Crash look.

It's "official" now:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/magazine/327/Crap

Looks very authentic, like some old mag printed on so-so quality paper and scanned
I'll make a proper reading of it soon,

Cheers guys. I aim to please! British people (well, those who actually are) telling a German something he made is funny must be a rare accolade.

For some things referenced in the Bloggo's Pow intro text (before the three reviewers speak), I highly recommend you watch this video of Ashens losing it. It is absolutely priceless!
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adkWiJA9xR0[/media]

oh, please, can we get those SCUMSOFT games?! i am especially interested in Combat Skool Daze, it sounds like an instant hit!

(somebody, please! Spectrum NEEDS that game!)

Just read "my" review of Plonker and lol'ing. Me a "master gamer" - hah! I might play these supposed difficult games but in reality I ain't that good at them. I'm just relentless and never give up until completion (although Sekiro I gave up on at the farting/crapping ape). Boozy's 10x the player I''l ever be.

The review comments are just great - loved PSJ talking about wine gums

The Joffa interview was magic.

And the brilliant Steve Davis Snooker 128k easter egg.

I'd happily pay a few quid for a proper print version of this.

Great work! Very authentic looking. I like how you've made the white pages slightly brown like a real Crash! I've printed this out to stick in with my real Crashes! Good work.

I hope CRAP will have a sequel... next issue could be "Crap Your Sinclair"

Maybe a daft question, but who's the dude on the cover..?

I'm seriously impressed with how much effort you've put into this to make it look so authentic even down to slight blurring of text near the gutter, and the content is brilliant as well. My only gripe would be that I felt the whole aspect of Lie actually responding to people on the letters page totally unbelievable.

It's a shame that people on World of Chit Chat didn't respond more to your post over there but I guess the ones in the mag who've migrated over here have done so and I just have to say again that this is one of the best produced homages/spoofs/anythings(?!) that I've seen in a long time - well done, you!

[mention]Einar Saukas[/mention] - if there isn't already a category for DIGITAL would it not be a good idea to make one rather than having it categorised as PAPER? Even if there was a printed copy of this (which I'm sure XTM would be able to confirm) then I'm sure there have been (and will be) other mags and similar that are only available as PDF etc.... right?

richl wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:36 am @Einar Saukas - if there isn't already a category for DIGITAL would it not be a good idea to make one rather than having it categorised as PAPER? Even if there was a printed copy of this (which I'm sure XTM would be able to confirm) then I'm sure there have been (and will be) other mags and similar that are only available as PDF etc.... right?

Actually I have nothing to do with this. ZXDB doesn't even have categories for magazines. It's the SpectrumComputing site that inferred it's PAPER because it's stored as PDF.

Although I personally think this is an accurate classification. This magazine is produced as PDF but it's designed to mimic a real paper magazine. If you print it on paper yourself, you will get the same result as old magazines that were originally produced in a computer, then printed on paper for distribution.

Perhaps someone can suggest a better category than PAPER for magazines that look this way? As opposed to electronic magazines (DISK, TAPE, etc).

Sorry, I never really know who does what and tend to just see anything on SC as part of ZXDB directly and vice versa. I only tagged you because you'd mentioned it was now official earlier in the thread.

It should be a magazine but PAPER really is misleading as presumably that implies that it was printed when it wasn't. A scanned copy of CRASH magazine would be PAPER because that's the medium it was produced and distributed on but a digital-only title can't be classed in the same way. I know you could print it out but you could also easily convert it to a video format and watch it on a TV but that wouldn't make it a DVD or Blu-ray etc...

Likwise, I wouldn't expect a database such as MobyGames to classify a digital-only game as DISC when no physical version was released even if it could be released on that format a later date.

Anyway, without me banging on too much, I just thought I'd mention it because it seemed (to me) to be an inaccurate way of describing it.

richl wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:54 pmSorry, I never really know who does what and tend to just see anything on SC as part of ZXDB directly and vice versa.

There's no need to apologize! I was merely pointing out that ZXDB doesn't have information to distinguish if a certain magazine currently available as JPG or PDF was scanned, or originally produced this way.

But I see your point. The term PAPER is misleading. It would be better to adopt a broader term instead.

I know that SC currently classifies magazines in 4 categories:

• DISK: Electronic magazine in disk format.

• TAPE: Electronic magazine in tape format.

• TEXT: Text only magazine in plain text (TXT) format.

• PAPER: Non-electronic magazine in JPG, PNG (an image per page) or PDF (multiple pages) format, without distinguishing if scanned or produced digitally.

Is there a more generic term for a non-electronic magazine? Perhaps it could be simply called "MAG"?

Alright, replying to various people in order of posting:

@Vampyre
'sup master gamer! That was just another joke of course simply because you kept mentioning the Dark/Demon Soul's Games. On the other hand, by now you should have learned how to down that 'alf a lager without problems, even zx1 could do it!
Sorry, no print version from me, if you want one you have to make it yourself. Or ask Mark R Jones how he did his. I'd assume he cut the each of the double-page files into two halves in some proggy like Photoshop, then rearranged them to the typical (for 12 pages) format "1 2 11 12", "3 4 9 10", "5 6 7 8" on 3 sheets printed on both sides, then stuck the whole thing together.

@MarkRJones1979
Cheers, hope you liked the text in the Joffa tribute too (as I was kinda unsure how people would react to this weird idea of talking to a ghost). My secret regarding the colours and texture on every page looking so real is simple - I scanned original pages from various of my own Crash issues, then used Photoshop to make clean space for my own text. The Clone Stamp, layer masks and the "adding noise" filter are extremely useful! Of course there was still tons of fiddling around with pixels here and there as I didn't always keep the original page layout ...

@Einar Saukas
A sequel with the next issue being "Crap Your Sinclair"? I'm afraid someone else will have to take up that task, as I don't hold much nostalgy for that mag, I grew up with Crash from age 13 (which helped my English loads) but only saw issues of the other 2 major mags every once in a while ... just couldn't get used to their style, Crash all the way for me.

@Morkin
Read the very first post of this topic again and you'll know who he is! Couldn't really have a cover for the only Crap Smash in this issue as that's the only game that actually exists, albeit not on the Speccy.

@richl
Thanks for the praise! I spent way too much time trying to get it look like that but at least it got noticed. Mister Lie F. (as well as a few other of the World of Chit Chat members I picked as reviewers/letter authors) hasn't yet responded to this thing at all so I doubt he read it (or ever will for that matter). I'm looking forward to Pavero's reaction on here as he had the whole section of Playing Tips to himself, and his tips on ACS (from Code Basterds) helped me a lot.

Great work!! Thanks for making this available.