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Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:24 pm
by 8BitAG
If a credit *is* felt appropriate, then the spelling needs to be corrected. :)
http://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.ph ... el_id=9884

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:41 pm
by Rorthron
The Cholo PDF instructions are actually for the BBC Micro.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:04 pm
by Rorthron
The programming credits for Gyron (the "compilstion") are missing. They should be:

Ricardo Pinto, Dominic Prior, Philip Machan, Mark Whigton (all Torus)

https://archive.org/stream/sinclair-use ... 7/mode/1up

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 12:12 am
by Einar Saukas
Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:24 am The entry of Sorcery (Virgin Games) shows a strange (at least for me) loading screen:

Image

Instead of the classic

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/pub/sin ... orcery.scr

The first one seems from a re-release or fan-made version.
Fixed. It will show the original loading screen first, after the next ZXDB update.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:48 pm
by 8BitAG
The game...

Loony Bin
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=16874

is not an "arcade adventure"...

it's a "text adventure" made with The Quill.

(Tim Gilberts has just discovered it in the "Gilsoft archive" :) )

(The adverts also refer to it being an adventure)
✓ Reviewed

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:40 pm
by 8BitAG
Also, from Tim Gilbert's collection...

The Semi-Detached at the End of the Street
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=15138

was initially published in 1984 by Simple Soft (UK, presumably)

on the B-Side of...

[New entry!] The Rubber Maze

Which was presumably also a text adventure written with the Quill.

See https://twitter.com/timbucus/status/1086737896982355968
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Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2019 3:13 pm
by druellan
Fairlight II seems to display the alternate loading screen instead of the retail one:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=1715
✓ Reviewed

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:01 pm
by Einar Saukas
druellan wrote: Sun Jan 20, 2019 3:13 pm Fairlight II seems to display the alternate loading screen instead of the retail one:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=1715
Done. It will be fixed in the next update.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:58 pm
by druellan
Astro Blaster is listed twice on the database.
One is the official version: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=294
The other https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=4000116 is a pirated version from Argentina. This version is exactly the same as the Timex version (I want to discuss that later) but with the loading screen replaced.

Not sure if this is correct or not. Being a pirated version, is not a re-release, so not sure if worth adding the TZX to the official entry and delete the other one; but on the other hand, not sure if worth to have it listed on its own entry. What do you think?

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:25 pm
by StooB
Things that don't exist

Beach Volley (485) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Ocean (10508) (the files at WoS are a from a cracked Spanish version, and the box front shown is the same for all formats). Original publisher should be Erbe (4437).

Inspector Gadget (2489) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Melbourne House (9522) (the scrapping was reported here: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 63&page=20). Original publisher should be Erbe (4437).

Vampire's Empire (5540) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Gremlin (5561). Original publisher should be DroSoft (4025).

None of these titles had a Hit Squad (14438) re-release:
Firefly (1772)
Passing Shot (3629)
Legend of Kage (2848)
Superbowl (5058)

None of these titles had a Ricochet (12321) re-release:
Confuzion (1048)
The Covenant (1098)
Gobbleman (2074)
Helichopper (2280)
Throne of Fire (5243)

Maze Mania (3092) was not re-released on the Rack It (11956) label (the snapshot is of a Rack-It version, so it was presumably planned)

ACE (56) and ACE 2 (59) were not re-released individually by Encore, only as a compilation.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:46 pm
by richl
Whilst I agree about Beach Volley, Inspector Gadget etc I'd still stick with the original publisher as Ocean, Melbourne House etc as they would have licensed them to Erbe, even if they chose not to publish the games themselves in the UK. They were the ones who produced the games and originally advertised them etc.

I guess it's kind of confusing having entries in the database that refer to the Erbe versions as "re-releases" as they're not really but I don't know if there's a better way round it? Could you add some note to the effect that they were advertised for UK sale but then only released in Spain via a third party?

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:11 am
by StooB
richl wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:46 pm Whilst I agree about Beach Volley, Inspector Gadget etc I'd still stick with the original publisher as Ocean, Melbourne House etc as they would have licensed them to Erbe, even if they chose not to publish the games themselves in the UK. They were the ones who produced the games and originally advertised them etc.
"Original publisher" is a quite ambiguous term when we also have "original price" and "original publication" which do refer to the first published version, although I'm not sure there's any better way to word it.
richl wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:46 pm I guess it's kind of confusing having entries in the database that refer to the Erbe versions as "re-releases" as they're not really but I don't know if there's a better way round it?
Yes, I don't see why entries should be called "Re-release #1", "Re-release #2" etc in the releases table. Just flagging the "Original Release" seems sufficient to me.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:51 am
by StooB
Updated, now that releases can be marked as "Never Released"
Things that don't exist

Beach Volley (485) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Ocean (10508) (the files at WoS are a from a cracked Spanish version, and the box front shown is the same for all formats).
  • The Erbe (4437) release should be the "Original Release", the Ocean release should be marked "Never Released".
Inspector Gadget (2489) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Melbourne House (9522) (the scrapping was reported here: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 63&page=20).
  • The Erbe (4437) release should be the "Original Release", the Melbourne House release should be marked "Never Released".
Vampire's Empire (5540) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Gremlin (5561).
  • The DroSoft (4025) release should be marked "Original Release", the Gremlin release should be marked "Never Released".
None of these titles had a Hit Squad (14438) re-release:
Firefly (1772)
Passing Shot (3629)
Legend of Kage (2848)
Superbowl (5058)
  • All these releases should be removed
None of these titles had a Ricochet (12321) re-release:
Confuzion (1048)
The Covenant (1098)
Gobbleman (2074)
Helichopper (2280)
Throne of Fire (5243)
  • All these releases should be removed
Maze Mania (3092) was not re-released on the Rack It (11956) label (the snapshot is of a Rack-It version, so it was presumably planned)
  • The Rack-It release should be marked "Never Released".
ACE (56) and ACE 2 (59) were not re-released individually by Encore, only as a compilation.
  • These two releases should be removed.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:07 am
by StooB
StooB wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:44 pm Superman - The Game (5069)

- original publisher is Telecomsoft (14343), not Firebird (4722) according to the original inlay (not available here, but uploaded by zzapmort to archive.org: https://archive.org/download/spectrumin ... nlay01.jpg)
Update on this one:

"Original Publisher" should be Beyond (1662), who published the C64 version.

Releases:
  • the release by Beyond should be marked as "Never Released"
  • the "Original Release" is from Telecomsoft (14343) in 1986 (see: http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-beyo ... -Ownership)
  • the Prism Leisure (11640) release is correct (same inlay, but with a Prism logo over the Telecomsoft logo, they also used unsold Telecomsoft cassettes)
  • the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
  • the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:53 am
by StooB
Dates for Players Premier (11553) releases:

5458 Turbo Cup Challenge (1990 - from cassette label)
11670 Super Ski Challenge (1990 - from cassette label)

Players (11554) releases:

1600 Eliminator (1990 - from inlay)
4022 Ranarama (1990 - from inlay)
1775 Firelord (1990 - from inlay)
2341 Hollywood Poker (1988 - from inlay)
2523 Eagles Nest (1988 - from inlay)
2933 Los Angeles Police Department (1991 - from inlay, nb: this for the 2nd Players release, not LA Drugs Bust)
2957 Macadam Bumper (1990 - from inlay)
3898 Prohibition (1990 - from inlay)
2458 Impossaball (must be 1990 - as it is "Collectors Edition 2" inbetween Elimator #1 and Ranarama #3)

Also:

2256 Hawk Storm is Players not Players Premier.

Mastertronic Plus (9372) releases:

Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing (426)
Fighting Warrior (1757)
Enterprise (1636)

were all released in 1989 according to their inlays.

and

Manic Miner (3012) - Mastertronic Added Dimension (9370) release is from 1989 (from inlay)

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:19 pm
by Rorthron
As discussed in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1146&start=20#p17070
Rorthron wrote: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:17 pmThe Millipede entry in that link doesn't look right:

1. It looks like the same game as Megapede. Should it not be combined with Megapede?
2. The translation is called Ciempies, but that is not listed as an AKA.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:30 am
by jpablo
Hi there!
StooB wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:07 am
  • the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
  • the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version
In fact, there exist two releases from Zafiro, the first being released under the Zafi Chip label (circa 1986), and the second one under the Z Cobra label (circa 1987). So I'd say it should be adjusted instead of removed.

Cheers,
Juan

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:43 am
by StooB
jpablo wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:30 am Hi there!
StooB wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:07 am
  • the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
  • the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version
In fact, there exist two releases from Zafiro, the first being released under the Zafi Chip label (circa 1986), and the second one under the Z Cobra label (circa 1987). So I'd say it should be adjusted instead of removed.

Cheers,
Juan
Yes, the 1987 Z Cobra release is already listed at Superman. It's re-release #4 from Zafiro that needs to go.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:49 am
by jpablo
Yep - you're right, sorry. It definitely should go.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:07 pm
by 8BitAG
These games have "authored with DAAD" in their comments section but have not yet been associated with DAAD in the "authored with" field...

La Aventura Espacial https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5975
La Aventura Original https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5977
Chichen Itza https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6078
Cozumel https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6183
Jabato https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6493
Los Templos Sagrados https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=7082

The "DAAD" in the comments section needs to be removed and an "authored with DAAD" added to those entries.

DAAD only currently shows three games...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=30013

On a related note... DAAD is now also available with the message language as "English", as well as the original Spanish.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:12 am
by Einar Saukas
8BitAG wrote: Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:49 pm (Also note that the original publisher of the Spectrum version of Castle Warlock was The Guild)
What exactly do you mean?

The archive currently says this game was published as standalone by Adventure Probe Software, and inside compilations by The Guild. Is this correct?

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:37 am
by 8BitAG
Einar Saukas wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:12 am
8BitAG wrote: Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:49 pm (Also note that the original publisher of the Spectrum version of Castle Warlock was The Guild)
What exactly do you mean?

The archive currently says this game was published as standalone by Adventure Probe Software, and inside compilations by The Guild. Is this correct?
I believe that the "headline" publisher in the archive should reflect the initial publisher? Certainly not the one who published the game two or three years after... that's why I would say The Guild was the initial publisher.

The Guild published Castle Warlock way before Adventure Probe Software... Adventure Probe only took on Ken's titles after the Guild closed shop in the autumn of 1993. The fact that Castle Warlock may have only appeared on compilations is irrelevant in terms of The Guild being the initial publisher imo.

That makes the date for the Adventure Probe release incorrect, by the way. Adventure Probe Software didn't publish before 1992 and (as mentioned above) they didn't take on the Ken Bond games, from the defunct The Guild, until 1993.

The Guild is an interesting company in terms of preservation and compilations, by the way, because they did "pick and mix" compilations where you could choose which four titles titles went on your tape, from a selection of thirty odd games... meaning that there could be many combinations and permutations of compilation releases out there.

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:20 am
by 8BitAG
Following on from the above post... there are a few gaps in my Adventure Probe (fanzine) collection at key points which is stopping me tying up a few loose ends with regards to the Ken Bond text adventures.

For example, The Base...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5991
is listed as being published by The Guild in 1988.

The Guild did not exist prior to 1991 so this date, in terms of the Guild publication is wrong.

The 1988 date seems likely to refer to the Amstrad version of the game, which was published by Recreation Re-creation Software and, before that by Ken Bond himself. I think, Tony Collins of the Guild and Philip Reynolds (of The Adventure Workshop, initially doing the ports for Tony's The Guild) converted a lot of Ken's games over from the Amstrad to the Spectrum... these conversions were all produced from 1991 onwards. (I would presume that the "Ant" on the loading screen is probably Tony.)

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:23 am
by 8BitAG
In relation to the above, Philip M. Reynolds needs adding as the programmer to the games...
The Test https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=10938
The Base https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5991
The Spiro Legacy https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=10233

Philip's exisiting profile is at http://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.ph ... l_id=11462
✓ Reviewed

Re: Little bugs in the database

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 12:46 pm
by 8BitAG
This game seems to be missing from the database...

Rupert the Bear and Jack Frost (2011)
by Richard Gray
writing as RG Paddler

Text Adventure
Produced using the PAW [info taken from the game itself]

Unofficial license - Rupert the Bear

Richard's website no longer seems to be online, but you can read his bio on an archived page here...
https://web.archive.org/web/20100507123 ... on.com:80/

The Rupert the Bear page doesn't seem to be archived but the file can be downloaded from the TZX Vault...
http://www.tzxvault.org/Spectrum/TZX/Ru ... kFrost.zip

{Richard is on Facebook it seems at https://www.facebook.com/rgpaddler and on YouTube]
✓ Reviewed