uMIA some games 3

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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Ralf
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uMIA some games 3

Post by Ralf »

As promised, a new batch of MIAs
Not only Russian ones this time, but generally Eastern Europe. Mainly for connoiseurs ;)

Image

1. Rubik Cube

Alias (Russian name): Kubik Rubika
Genre: Puzzle
Author: Alone Coder https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... bel_id=768
(yes, the same man who wrote Wolfenstein for Zx Spectrum)
Country: Russia
Language: Russian
Year: 1999 (found in some info file that I don't attach)

It's an isometric implementation of Rubik cube with nice animations of turning. Try it, the keys for diffent turns are visible on the screen. But the main problem is it being monochrome with colours replaced by different gradients of black and white. Maybe someone would be able to play it but not me, it looks all the same and is totally confusing.

2. Helespont

Czech board/logical game. I didn't went much into understanding it's rules but I believe it's something about replacing the white and black pawns on their positions

Genre: Board game.
Publisher: Amisin https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... bel_id=821
Country: Czech Republic
Language: Czech
Year: 1984

3. Lion

A simple attempt, in probably some complied Basic to make an arcade adventure game in some Asian kung fu related climate. The keys are Z,X,Enter

Alias: Lion. The revenge (or maybe it should be the proper name???)
Genre: Arcade adventure
Publisher: AC Soft (I hope I get it right from loading screen)
Author: Eugene Cherepanov
Country: Russia
Language: Russian, Englishh
Year: unknown (199x for sure)

4. Zycie maklera

It's probably an adaptation of some British Basic listing to a Polish game. In this version it was translated, music and custom font were added. I would say it's enough to call it a mod not a crack but please make your choice

Would be great if somebody knew the original. It's an econimical simulation about managing a mine. Miners can go on strike etc.

Genre: Strategy game:Managememt
Publisher IKS (it was a Polish computer magazine, the info is in the game as REM instructions in the Basic listing)
Authors (of mod): P.Waskiewicz, M.Bydlon
Country: Poland
Language: Polish
Year:1989

The download:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/ns0xzm
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R-Tape
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by R-Tape »

Just bumping this "find the original game" quest. What strategy management game is this a MOD of?
4. Zycie maklera

It's probably an adaptation of some British Basic listing to a Polish game. In this version it was translated, music and custom font were added. I would say it's enough to call it a mod not a crack but please make your choice

Would be great if somebody knew the original. It's an econimical simulation about managing a mine. Miners can go on strike etc.
The title means "Life of a Broker", but that may not be closely related to the original.

If anyone can solve it in time for the next update (~tomorrow) they can have my most reliable grey +2 as a prize*

*but not in a real sense.
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MatGubbins
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by MatGubbins »

R-Tape wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 8:12 pm If anyone can solve it in time for the next update (~tomorrow) they can have my most reliable grey +2 as a prize*

*but not in a real sense.
It's a prize, but you are keeping hold of it, but the winner has to come to your gaff - at a pre-arranged time and date, at the winner's expense, and then have a game or two from the limited cassettes available :- Sunbucket, El-Stompo, Biscuits In Hell and a dodgy copy of Jet Pac. If you are lucky you might get a glass of Spar orange squash and a couple of Happy Shopper Bourbons. Kicking out time is 6pm. Bring your own joystick.
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

There are also C64, C16, Plus/4 and Atari 8-bit versions of Zycie Maklera.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/ycie-maklera_

http://www.mobygames.com/game/commodore ... -maklera__

http://www.mobygames.com/game/ycie-maklera

The earliest is apparently the C64 version (1986). That might be the original.
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

Rorthron wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 8:54 am There are also C64, C16, Plus/4 and Atari 8-bit versions of Zycie Maklera.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/ycie-maklera_

http://www.mobygames.com/game/commodore ... -maklera__

http://www.mobygames.com/game/ycie-maklera

The earliest is apparently the C64 version (1986). That might be the original.
Autoformatting is messing up the second link (to the C16 and Plus/4 version). If you click on the quote button, you can see the right address.
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

I've found it!

It was a Polish C64 type-in from issue 2 of IKS (Informatyka - Komputery - Systemy) magazine in 1986, converted to the Spectrum in 1988.

I claim my prize!

http://pismowidok.org/index.php/one/art ... ew/314/654

Courtesy of Google Translate:

"Let's take a closer look at Life broker from 1986. This game originally distributed as comprising 110 lines of code in Basic, a program for the Commodore 64 computer. Listing was published on two pages of the second issue from 1986 magazine "IKS (Information Technology - Computers - Systems) ", An addition to the" Soldier of Freedom ", a press organ of the Polish Army. Of course, the game was also offered by the stock exchange "pirates"....

Interesting are also the fate of conversion of this game - although the use of the term "conversion" may be somewhat exaggerated in relation to the short program in Basic, quite slightly different between the then hardware platforms. In addition to the ZX Spectrum version in 1988, the Atari version for computers was released, the author of which in general has abolished the parameter related to the costly employment of new employees. In 1994, or as many as eight years after publication in "Żołnierze wolności", the program appeared again - in the pages of the "Commodore & Amiga" magazine. As his own work, he sent it to the editorial office of Paweł from Gdańsk, which was reprimanded only for the spelling mistake reproduced in the copied code in the word 'sale'."
Ralf
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Ralf »

Thanks for the research guys!

I didn't realise that there are versions for other computers. I definitely should check it first.
But I knew that there was a listing in IKS magazine.
I just believe this listing in IKS isn't original but it is a translation with some other changes of some another listing, probably an English one.
Translation is mentioned in the game comments.

So I believe it's a very convoluted story of this particular file ;)

1) Somebody writes a game in Basic
2) Somebody else translates it to Polish
3) IKS publishes it as a listing
4) Another person adapts it for Spectrum, types it in and adds font and music
5) Yet another person (probably from Russia) converts it to TR-DOS (notice that it's a .scl file)

I'll try to find this IKS on Polish sites and see what they exactly write. A quick search failed for me but I'll dig deeper
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by R-Tape »

Great work Detective Rorth. You're not having my +2 but you do get promoted to Chief Inspector, a belted raincoat, a sidekick and a defining character flaw.

I've added this as a comment: Converted from a C64 Type-In from Issue 2 of IKS (Informatyka - Komputery - Systemy)

Perhaps the original game that all this stems from will turn up, it sounds quite distinctive.
Would be great if somebody knew the original. It's an econimical simulation about managing a mine. Miners can go on strike etc.
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

Ralf wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:13 am I just believe this listing in IKS isn't original but it is a translation with some other changes of some another listing, probably an English one.
Translation is mentioned in the game comments.
Why do you think the C64 isn't the original listing? Could "translation" mean conversion from the C64 version?

The C64 version doesn't mention translation, as far as I can see. The Atari conversion refers to "translation" (in English).
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Ralf »

Why do you think the C64 isn't the original listing?
In the Spectrum version listing there is a REM comment with word "przetlumaczyl" which means "translated". It could in theory mean converting from C64 but the better word would be "przekonwertowal" - "converted" or something like that.

But I would say it's also some intuition. Miners in the 80s were very British subject due to these miners strikes, Thatcher and so on;) I read somewehere that if not these strikes, there would be no Manic Miner, Monty Mole and other miners and mining related games. Miners were just in everyone's consciousness (and subconsciousness) ;)

The title is also a bit stupid. "Makler" in Polish means a broker, someone who trades stocks at Wall Street, not runs a mine. So maybe some lame translation from another language???
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

You can see the original listing of Zycie Maklera here, on pp26-27:

https://archive.org/stream/InformatykaK ... 6/mode/1up
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Rorthron
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Rorthron »

The write-ip in IKS adds nothing:

"Trudne jest zycie maklera. Masz szanse stac sie millionerem. Twoj majatek to akcje kopalni rudy, czy zrobisz na nich fortune? - wszystko zalezy od Ciebie. Program na Commodore-64 przeniesie Cie na gielde. Czy potralisz zarobic?"

(Sorry for any typos. I know no Polish.)

Google Translate:

"It is difficult to live a brokerage. You have a chance to become a millionaire. Your estate is a mine of ore, will you make a fortune on it? - everything depends on you. The program on Commodore-64 will take you to the market. Have you ever made a profit?"

The context does not seem very British to me. Zycie Maklera seems to take a capitalist approach: running a mine to get rich. The miners' strike in the UK had a socialist agenda: it was anti-capitalist and about protecting jobs. I also doubt mines would have been seen at the time as a route to getting rich: they were being shut down for being unprofitable.

(On a separate point Manic Miner was not inspired by the miners' strike, but by Miner 2949er. It was released a year before the strike started. You are quite right, though, that Monty Mole was inspired by the strike.)
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Re: uMIA some games 3

Post by Ralf »

Again great research Rothron which I should do myself ;) I'll remember about you in such difficult cases ;)

You convinced me that it doesn't feel British - a game about becoming rich from a mine released at the moment when mines were closing.

You know people, I'm a bit suspicious about original Polish games. In the past I discovered several times that sothething that seemed a genuine Polish production was actually a translation, without mentioning it anywhere in the game.

But here I would say now that the case is clear. The game was released in IKS as a listing for C64 and was adapted for Spectrum by the guys mentioned in the 1st post. Case closed.
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