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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 1:13 pm
by 8BitAG
The page for Adventure by Nigel Brooks
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... /Adventure
...has magazine references that do not refer to that specific Spectrum port of the game, but to the original mainframe game (or other conversions of that game) and should be removed as many of these reference pre-date the release of the Nigel Brooks Spectrum conversion by several years...
Namely...
C&VG (Computer & Video Games)#30 - 1984/4114 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 1&page=114
Micro Adventurer#12 - 1984/1011 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature - First adventure
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 13&page=11
Micro Adventurer#14 - 1984/124 (PDF) (VIEW)Letters
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 115&page=4
Popular Computing Weeklyv.2 #13 - 1983/3/31 - "week#5"27 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 48&page=27
Popular Computing Weeklyv.2 #22 - 1983/6/2 - "week#1"41 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature - Tony Bridge's Adventure Corner
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 57&page=41
Popular Computing Weeklyv.2 #36 - 1983/9/8 - "week#2"37 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 71&page=37
Sinclair User#23 - 1984/2135 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature - Mind Games ...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 3&page=135
Sinclair User#32 - 1984/11146 (PDF) (VIEW)Feature - Adventure feature
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 2&page=146
Which Micro? & Software Review1983/484Feature
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 05&page=84
*THIS* is the only reference from that magazine reference section that refers to the Nigel Brooks Adventure...
Popular Computing Weeklyv.5 #49 - 1986/12/4 - "week#1"24 (PDF) (VIEW)News/Note
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 37&page=24
NB: All the references in the *Magazine Reviews* section *are* correct.
Also... *see post below*
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:23 pm
by 8BitAG
Connected to the above...
The Serf's Tale
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/6 ... Serfs_Tale
Tony Bridge's PCW column states that this would be released in time for Christmas 1986.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 37&page=24
The current date of release in the database is 1987. There is a copyright notice on the back of the inlay that mentions 1987 so 1987 should probably remain as the date of release. *no change necessary; although my gut feeling is that this was prepared in time for Christmas 1986
However...
The Serf's Tale needs a *derived from* connection to...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... /Adventure
...as they are basically the same game.
You may even consider combining the entries. I would.
The reviews on the back of The Serf's Tale inlay are actually reviews of the original release of the game under the title Adventure.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 8&page=104
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 3&page=151
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:44 pm
by 8BitAG
According to this review...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 82&page=30
There was a second text & graphics version of the text adventure
The Adventures of Barsak the Dwarf
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/5 ... _the_Dwarf
...which was self-published by the authors in 1985
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=999
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=999
An appropriate re-release entry needs to be added to the game entry.
I'm unsure if you are able to tag the game both text-only and text-illustrated.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:47 am
by druellan
Hi! [mention]Audionautas[/mention] something interesting: The Clone by K. Burkhill -
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... /The_Clone A type-in tape duplication tool published in 1984 on Your Computer:
https://archive.org/stream/your-compute ... 2/mode/1up
Now, on the magazine you can read: K. Burkhill, Deeside, Clwyd. Clwyd is in Wales, so, could be Keith Burkhill himself?
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:17 am
by druellan
Slaine:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... rum/Slaine has some complete credits inside the game, including roles:
So, the author list can be completed with:
Neil Dodwell: Design
Jason Austin -- Design, Code
Dave Dew -- Design, In-game graphics
Glenn Fabry -- Cover art
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:10 am
by Audionautas
Oh! absolutely, I'm pretty sure is him. According to this coverage of Space Harrier (
https://archive.org/details/ComputerAnd ... 3/mode/2up), he talks about Rhyl, also in Wales. For that reason I assumed on previous researching about him that he lived there at the time, but it's not too far away from Clwyd (15-20 kilometers), both in North Wales. Likewise, how many K.Burkhill lived in North Wales and were coders at the time?
Anyway, it's not odd to come across on magazines this kind of utility programs written by famous coders in years to come. By January 1984 (month/year of that Your Computer issue), Burkhill had only done Missile Defence for Anirog, so it was a newcomer yet. I would add this utility to his softography.
All the best!
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:22 am
by 8BitAG
Audionautas wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:10 am
Oh! absolutely, I'm pretty sure is him. According to this coverage of Space Harrier (
https://archive.org/details/ComputerAnd ... 3/mode/2up), he talks about Rhyl, also in Wales. For that reason I assumed on previous researching about him that he lived there at the time, but it's not too far away from Clwyd (15-20 kilometers), both in North Wales. Likewise, how many K.Burkhill lived in North Wales and were coders at the time?
Clwyd isn't a place (if you've been using Google to work out distances then you've probably been using the river!
)
Clwyd is an old county name. Rhyl was in Clwyd, when that county existed. There were quite a lot of North Wales coders but, yes, it's extremely likely it's the same guy.
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:33 am
by 8BitAG
The date of release for Colossal Cave
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... ossal_Cave
should be 1984 (not 1985)
The November 1985 PCW column linked on that entry says it was produced 18 months ago, and the advertising linked on the entry is from May 1984.
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:33 am
by Audionautas
8BitAG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:22 am
Clwyd isn't a place (if you've been using Google to work out distances then you've probably been using the river!
)
Clwyd is an old county name. Rhyl was in Clwyd, when that county existed. There were quite a lot of North Wales coders but, yes, it's extremely likely it's the same guy.
Oh! thanks for the clarification. Yes, I used Google to work out distances, in this case between Deeside and Rhyl, but I took miles instead of kilometers, so it's a little bit more far away than I said previously.
All the best!
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:55 am
by 8BitAG
Audionautas wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:33 am
Oh! thanks for the clarification. Yes, I used Google to work out distances, in this case between Deeside and Rhyl, but I took miles instead of kilometers, so it's a little bit more far away than I said previously.
I live nearby.
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:05 pm
by R-Tape
Author
benkid77 is none other than [mention]Digital Prawn[/mention] (via personal correspondence).
So can these be linked: person "Digital Prawn" (id 3801) is the owner of nickname "benkid77" (id 19198).
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:25 pm
by StooB
Marble Madness Deluxe Edition (1986)
The only review for this specific release is Your Sinclair's review in
May 1987.
All the other magazine reviews and references should be moved to the original
Marble Madness entry.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:53 am
by Turrican
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... ctrum/Vera
It is listed here for 48K Speccy but in the game's site it is for 128K as minimum.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:05 pm
by Stu
Links to Atari games are slightly broken -- should be a straightfoward fix, they just need 'html' in the url replaced with 'php'. For example, for
Rescue on Fractalus, the urls are as follows:
Code: Select all
Atari 5200: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=658
Atari 7800: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=2693
They need to be changed to the following:
Code: Select all
Atari 5200: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=658
Atari 7800: http://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2693
The same applies to Atari 2600 links too, eg.
Beamrider needs to be changed from:
Code: Select all
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=23
To:
Code: Select all
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=23
Atari 8-bit links also seem to be broken but it looks like these need to be individually fixed. The link for Rescue on Fractalus is currently:
Code: Select all
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?MENU=8&VERSION_ID=5983
This would need to be changed to:
Code: Select all
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-rescue-on-fractalus_5983.html
EDIT: Actually after looking at the file that atarimania.com serves up for Atari 8-bit links and some experimentation, it looks like Atari 8-bit links could be replaced with
Code: Select all
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe_VERSION_ID.html
(where VERSION_ID is taken from the existing url) eg. for Rescue at Fractalus:
Code: Select all
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe_5983.html
However the problem does seem to be on their side -- it looks like they're serving up a PHP script that should redirect you to the correct page, but it gets downloaded instead. So if they fixed that then I guess Atari 8-bit links would work again. However I don't know how long it's been broken, whether they're aware of the issue, how quickly they'd get it fixed etc. so I guess it's up to you whether you'd rather wait for them to fix it, or update the ZXDB links so they work without waiting for their fix.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 3:19 pm
by Stu
Repton is listed as having a C64 version but according to
gamesthatwerent.com no C64 version was ever released.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 8:53 pm
by PeterJ
Compac for the ZX81 does not have the authors or the release information.
Authors are JD Rogers and C Hogg. It appears on page 100 of ZX Computing October / November 84 issue.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 1&page=100
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:50 pm
by Audionautas
And we can't forget that JD Rogers is the same guy who did a lot of music for Hewson games on the Amstrad, Spectrum and Atari ST. So this ZX81 game should be linked to his softography too. He along with his mate Colin Hogg started coding games for the ZX81 (they published several 'type-ins' in magazines), later on they worked together in three titles for the Amstrad CPC (The Scout Steps Out, Biospheres, Radzone), after they parted ways, Dave went on to compose music for Hewson as a freelance.
All the best!
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:09 am
by PeterJ
The article is a really good read [mention]Audionautas[/mention]. Especially interesting was the way they stored the screen area. Looking at the photos of them both, you would not put them as working together.
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:05 am
by Audionautas
PeterJ wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:09 am
Looking at the photos of them both, you would not put them as working together.
Hahaha, absolutely! Dave seems like a serious guy in his glasses, beard and tie. It even looks way older. Instead Colin has the look of the perfect teenage bedroom coder from the 80s.
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:58 am
by Stu
Pengwyn doesn't have a publisher listed -- it should be Postern
https://archive.org/stream/02-big-k-mag ... 1/mode/1up
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 11:50 am
by Stu
Zut Alors! is by Brian Asbury -- he isn't credited in-game as far as I can see but the readme for the Amiga version mentions that he wrote it (I've pasted the relevant bit
here).
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 12:27 pm
by Stu
The comment for
The Pettigrew Chronicles could probably do with some expansion; as per
https://archive.org/stream/computer-vid ... 6/mode/1up the game is "a 2-cassette pack containing the best of Pettigrew's Diary and Operation Safras" -- two BBC/Dragon 32 games which are made up of multiple parts, so Pettigrew Chronicles seems to be a grab-bag of bits from those two games.
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 12:53 pm
by Stu
Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:39 pm
by StooB
They Stole A Million (1986)
wasn't released until mid-1987; "Ariolasoft have finally gotten their Christmas '86 release, They Stole A Million ready to into the shops." -
ZX Computing 6/87
Edgar Belka is the programmer, not the creator. The designer is
Chris Palmer of
Tigress Marketing. Sources:
here and
here
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Re: Little bugs in the database 4
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 11:45 am
by Stu
CD-Player was included with
Powerplay as well as
Crime Busters.
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