Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Whether it's Mire Mare or a BASIC tape you found in the attic, it needs to be preserved digitally. Post here and experts can help to do so.

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Kweepa
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Kweepa »

R-Tape wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:40 pm
Digital Prawn wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:05 pm ...tape magazines...
I haven't looked at those in detail before, they should definitely be added, it looks like they don't have ZXDB IDs yet so I'll take care of those. Didn't some of them have inlays?
April has an inlay in the (zip) archive, but no others.

How about any zx80 games? I'm going to assume that Jupiter Ace games are not going in ZXDB.

I have gotten as far as the Dharma Initiative Computer sim... :)
Adding the tape magazines to the list (presumably one screenshot will be enough there).
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Kweepa wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:16 pmHow about any zx80 games?
Yes! Actually we already have a few ZX80 titles:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... machine=18

Kweepa wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:16 pmI'm going to assume that Jupiter Ace games are not going in ZXDB.
I think it should. This machine is "Sinclair-ish" and we already have some Jupiter Ace material inherited from WoS, for instance:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=2000524
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PeterJ
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by PeterJ »

ZX80 and Ace titles would be great but I would probably want the inclusion of a tick box to opt in to including them in searches.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

PeterJ wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:49 pm ZX80 and Ace titles would be great but I would probably want the inclusion of a tick box to opt in to including them in searches.
Excellent idea.

This site should also have a tick box to include crap games in searches (disabled by default).
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Guesser
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Guesser »

The 2009 compo had an entry for the ZX81. Screenshots for other machines will be an issue - need another amendment to the screenshot policy ;)
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Kweepa
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Kweepa »

Einar Saukas wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:54 pm This site should also have a tick box to include crap games in searches (disabled by default).
Crap ZX Spectrum games are Spectrum games too :(
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Kweepa wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:27 pm
Einar Saukas wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:54 pm This site should also have a tick box to include crap games in searches (disabled by default).
Crap ZX Spectrum games are Spectrum games too :(
Sure. Thus the reason we are cataloguing them all.

But we don't want occasional visitors to search for a few titles and conclude that most Spectrum games are crap. People should only get crap titles when they are intentionally looking for crappiness!
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Guesser
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Guesser »

Some c.g.c entries are more playable than some of the stuff shovelled out in the 80s though :lol:
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Guesser wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:58 pm The 2009 compo had an entry for the ZX81. Screenshots for other machines will be an issue - need another amendment to the screenshot policy ;)
Good point.

Standard ZX81 screens should use SCR format. You can ask Thomas for help on this if needed, he's our resident ZX81 expert.

For other machines, please ask here!
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Guesser wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:20 pm Some c.g.c entries are more playable than some of the stuff shovelled out in the 80s though :lol:
Agreed. Thus the reason a few games like "R-Swype" can be searched, despite the fact it's a CSSCGC game.
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Guesser
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Guesser »

Einar Saukas wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:28 pm Standard ZX81 screens should use SCR format.
You mean convert screenshots to spectrum screens?
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Guesser wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:33 pm
Einar Saukas wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:28 pm Standard ZX81 screens should use SCR format.
You mean convert screenshots to spectrum screens?
I mean SCR format represents screens of 256x192 pixels, so it's appropriate for both Spectrum and ZX81 standard screens.
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Guesser
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Guesser »

Einar Saukas wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:57 pm I mean SCR format represents screens of 256x192 pixels, so it's appropriate for both Spectrum and ZX81 standard screens.
Should a "house style" be defined for the attributes when converting the screenshots, i.e. bright on or off?
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Einar Saukas »

Bright off.

Thomas has been already generating ZX81 screens this way.

Regards,

Einar
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Kweepa
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Kweepa »

Is there an emulator we can use to generate SCR from zx81 games?
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Guesser
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Guesser »

Kweepa wrote: Thu Mar 29, 2018 1:12 am Is there an emulator we can use to generate SCR from zx81 games?
I expect there is, if that's the format people are using, it's just the one I use doesn't. Another option would be to use the ZX81 emulator ROM in a spectrum emulator, then you can just directly make a .scr file but that's making loading things rather more fiddly than it needs to be.
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Lee P
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Lee P »

Do you want me to have a bash at 2015 then?
(It's back online now btw, thanks to deKay: http://csscgc2015.lofi-gaming.org.uk/ )
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R-Tape
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by R-Tape »

Lee Spoons wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 8:55 pm Do you want me to have a bash at 2015 then?
(It's back online now btw, thanks to deKay: http://csscgc2015.lofi-gaming.org.uk/ )
Oh you star, that'd be great.

Good to see the site back, last time I looked it was only on some wayback thingy.
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Lee P
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Lee P »

R-Tape wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 9:03 pm
Lee Spoons wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 8:55 pm Do you want me to have a bash at 2015 then?
(It's back online now btw, thanks to deKay: http://csscgc2015.lofi-gaming.org.uk/ )
Oh you star, that'd be great.

Good to see the site back, last time I looked it was only on some wayback thingy.
No problem, I'll get on to it when I have some spare time (What, 2026? Ed.)
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R-Tape
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by R-Tape »

Just wanted to add that 2014 has been taken. The state of things so far:

[mention]Nomad[/mention] 2003
serbalgi 2007 done
[mention]Kweepa[/mention] 2008
[mention]PeterJ[/mention] 2010
[mention]Spud[/mention] 2016
Guesser 2009 done
MykeP 2014 (thanks Myke)
[mention]Lee Spoons[/mention] 2015
R-Tape/Hikoki 2013 done yet to be added

We're all busy so no worries if you've stalled, no rush, but if you don't think you'll make any further progress then just send me what you have so far.

Or if you want to contribute then pick an unclaimed year and announce it here!
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Kweepa
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by Kweepa »

2008:
I currently have screenshots for everything up to T, including the summary tapes.
I haven't renamed them according to the ZXDB naming scheme though, or checked that the authors are correct in the database.
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CSS CGC 2010

Post by BloodBaz »

PeterJ wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:33 pm @R-Tape

Put me down for 2010.
If you've not already done 2010 yet, then you can get an XML file containing all the info on my CSSCGC2010 site from the games.xml file:
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games.xml
(this is what the site content is sourced from)

All references to snapshots, screenshots, tapes etc. are embedded in the xml and can be downloaded by prefixing
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games/

The xml file is pretty self describing but a schema file is here
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games.xsd

Hope it helps. :-)
BloodBaz
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R-Tape
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Re: CSS CGC 2010

Post by R-Tape »

BloodBaz wrote: Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:59 pm If you've not already done 2010 yet, then you can get an XML file containing all the info on my CSSCGC2010 site from the games.xml file:
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games.xml
(this is what the site content is sourced from)

All references to snapshots, screenshots, tapes etc. are embedded in the xml and can be downloaded by prefixing
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games/

The xml file is pretty self describing but a schema file is here
https://csscgc2010.zxlife.net/games.xsd

Hope it helps. :-)
BloodBaz
Baz! Great to see you!

Some of 2010 is done (I've been collating it)—if you go to the home page and search "Year: 2010" and "Crappiness: Crap only", then you see the screenshots Peter has submitted so far.

The links you provide are above my head, but basically we need the games currently missing a run and, if appropriate, load screenshot (as .scr). If you or Peter were willing to fill in the gaps then it would be a massive help.

The game files are all here already, in the archive file in the CGC 2010 ID. I just need to find time to unzip them and collate them in the correct format for ZXDB. That will probably have to wait until next year, unless someone finishes the screenshots first.

Can you think of a way to present your website/reviews in a way we could host here? For example I converted my 2013 blog into a .PDF.

BWT 2010 is a special year for me: it was the first Spectrum game I ever wrote, and my first submission to the CGC. You did a cracking job that year Baz :D
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PeterJ
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by PeterJ »

I've a list of the 2010 ones I've not done. I will get back to it!
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druellan
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Re: Help wanted - CSS CGC entries

Post by druellan »

Hi! Do you still need help with this or everything is covered? :)
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