Spectrum Computing

It's looking super cool and very smooth! Looking forward to future updates. Great job!

BloodBaz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:07 pm I spent many hours last year advancing the disassembly and annotation of Atic Atac but I'm in a quandry about the legalities of making the disassembly public domain. As you started with a disassembly of JetPac, can you advise me on if I should be allowed to push Atic Atak disassembly onto GitHub or similar?

i believe that if you will clearly say that the code is not your own, but a disassebly, there should be no problems. i also think that you should legally own the game, but IANAL. i mean, distribution rights for Ultimate games are unclear, so you'd better have your own.

Jetpac dissassembly is not available online, however there is a skoolkit file which allows you to create a dissassembly if you have an original rom, this is how it is possible to share it legally, because it can only be made it you have the actual rom itself, and by that I mean the cartridge rom.

Will you post the patch Here too? Please, im not a facebook user and im no Patriot user too. Maybe itch.to?

Sorry, not Patriot, patreon

BloodBaz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:07 pm I spent many hours last year advancing the disassembly and annotation of Atic Atac but I'm in a quandry about the legalities of making the disassembly public domain.

I did Atic Atac a couple of months ago to help Tom-Cat with some details for the C64 version. Some kind soul has put it on GitHub here -- like you I wasn't comfortable with doing it myself! Might be interesting to compare them and see if we agree on the logic.

I've done most of Sabre Wulf too, which I started when I was working on TileMap. The similar engine code meant I was familiar with their seemingly scattered handler logic, so I got most of AA done in a week or so.

Game is released, and the full review is here:

https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... ac-rx.html

Perfect!!!! Im so happy.......

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEdP0VyNiKw[/media]

Rev_Stuart_Campbell wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:59 am Why isn't this getting more love? It's a substantial and excellent reworking of one of the Speccy's most iconic games that gives it a whole new lease of life. Is it because you have to faff around with it a bit?

Have you seen the review on Planeta Sinclair? More love is impossible (10 is the limit)...

Rev_Stuart_Campbell wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:59 am Why isn't this getting more love? It's a substantial and excellent reworking of one of the Speccy's most iconic games that gives it a whole new lease of life. Is it because you have to faff around with it a bit?

No offence to anyone, but personally I don't see the need for these remakes, or reworkings, of classic games, other than as proof of concepts.

Apart from a graphic restyle, which in my humble opinion is not better than the clean and simple look of the old sprites, and a few modifications, this is basically the same game of 1983, with all of its obvious limits. I'd rather stick with the original, although I have played it ad nauseam back in the day, and I would hardly spend my already scarce free time by playing it again.

Even if it "only" gives re-definable keys it still makes a classic game more playable. But I like the graphic updates also - great job ! Getting V-synch right to remove flicker would have helped Jetpac, but as I remember Imagine's Arcadia (for instance) was very flickery and would benefit a lot if that were possible. Also Arcadia had trouble reading the keys for later releases of the Spectrum. If it's possible to fix it now, why not ?

And the Penetrator keys fix made that game so much better

When it comes to retro games, there are many there that have annoying flaws that could have been fixed to improve them. AST Moore has fixed quite a few.

Can't wait to see the Lunar Jetman update ...

Alessandro wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 2:25 pm No offence to anyone, but personally I don't see the need for these remakes, or reworkings, of classic games, other than as proof of concepts.

the same can be said about the whole Speccy scene. ;-)

i guess it is basically the same nostalgia that drives other developers, only from the slightly different PoV. like, "oh, i always dreamed about fixing this and that in that game, and adding those two features, and..." and why not? in the end of the day, a developer had some fun, and it's already great. and there could be other people who liked The New Look and additions. double win.

but nevertheless, i can understand your fellings. i believe i am usually feel the same when i see new AGD/Churera game. ;-)

If you're playing this on a Next and you try to save a snapshot to preserve your high score don't do it while the tune is playing as it doesn't like it and reloading it back in just results in a reset. Apparently it's due to the music driver. I've been told to stop the music playing by pressing a key then save your snapshot and that should work. https://www.facebook.com/MJones54321/vi ... 750122524/

I will give this a try later, I'm really looking forward to it! There was an updated version of Jetpac released a couple of years ago (can't remember it's name now), which did change the layout, but with this new version it really does feel like it's been totally updated while keeping the same classic gameplay. Almost as if Ultimate themselves released an updated version for their compilation release towards the end of their time with the ol' Speccy.

The upcoming 3D version of Atic Atac takes care of that one but I'd love to see the other earlier games updated too, Tranz Am, Psst and Cookie could all do with some extra improvements. Cookie especially would be amazing as a twin stick shooter, or at least with the automatic firing of the Smash TV computer conversions. I always found Cookie a bit too hard but see how it was probably imagined at the time as a twin stick shooter like Robotron 2084, but kept back by the technical limitations. Underwurlde could probably do with a bit of an update, but maybe it's just changing the awful way the enemies kept on knocking you down the screens that made it really frustrating to play. Even something simple like having the enemies only affect an energy bar instead of knocking you down would make it a hundred times better!

MarkRJones1970 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 9:22 am If you're playing this on a Next and you try to save a snapshot to preserve your high score don't do it while the tune is playing as it doesn't like it and reloading it back in just results in a reset. Apparently it's due to the music driver.

It's the same on other Spectrums using a divMMC and esxDOS to snapshot. Investigation and a fix are in the works.

Thanks for the comments guys. As for the idea that "it's basically the same game as 1983", well that is kind of the point, isn't it? It's fundamental to keep the core gameplay and I would have failed if it didn't feel like the same game at its heart. For this reason, you might not fully appreciate the subtle differences if you just watch a video. If you give it a chance you will find the changes do impact on how you play the game considerably.

As for personal motivation, there are many reasons for doing something like this. Aside from the educational value it has, the challenge of taking on such a beloved game without annoying the entire community by doing so was also something that appealed to me, it created a pressure that you might not get from working on an original. The amount of time taken to get the balance right between the new and the old in a way that is both fun and respectful is probably more than you might imagine. As someone who is interested in the history of video games, it also presented a thoroughly enjoyable challenge of digital archaeology, and thus the additional powerups and collectables I added were, I think, a nice way to include a lot of nods to history without breaking the main game.

So in that sense it's all something of a love letter, but of course, in the end it shouldn't be taken too seriously. To me it's like doing a cover version of a favourite song, you won't interpret it in exactly the same way as the original, but you are doing something that other people enjoy without taking anything away from what is already there.

I watched a couple of the videos - one has jetpack noise and one doesn't?

yes, there is a version with AY effects but I have not completed it yet.