A game to port to... to make for... ZX Spectrum ?

[Ivanzx]

Last year, there was a Spectrum game released that involved a short Italian-American man in red dungarees who has a big moustache, works down pipes with a spanner (when he is at work at all), has a royal girlfriend who is always being abducted, and was the subject of a film in 1993 which everybody hated. The owner of the IP of this Italian-American man is fanatically litigious, and the chances are that game was available for about a day or so before it was kyboshed by the lawyers. I've checked in ZXDB and it's not listed. And due to said potential for litigation, I've deliberately not mentioned anyone or anything directly, but YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEAN. Of course, there may be someone who has recently joined this forum who was lucky enough to grab hold of a copy of that game at the time, even if it would be a better idea to ask the original programmer (who is also known for making Dizzy XII: Underground that didn't use any Codemasters-derived game engine and is therefore not "Distribution Denied").

However, given that this game with the Italian-American man exists in the first place and actually works, and given that some screenshots of the Spectrum version of The Great Giana Sisters were published in the magazines of the day, and given that there are some more recent TGGS games out there that haven't been DMCAed, and given that there is someone here who is offering to port C64 games to the Spectrum, and given that I've just explained how it should be easier to do now that it was 30-odd years ago...

...is anyone putting 2 and 2 together here and not making 5?

The game you first mentioned is here:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35108

[Ivanzx]

So to sum up : Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken, Pool Of Radiance, Last Ninja, Last Ninja 3, The great giana sisters, one on one...

I was afraid your expectations to be high but I'm reassured ...

My favorite in the lot would be Great Giana Sisters though..... I'm going to study the C64 version.....

Haha or what about Sam´s Journey?

BY the way, there was a fanmade map of a possible Spectrum version of Great Gianna Sisters, but I can´t find it right now...

[Pegaz]

So to sum up : Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken, Pool Of Radiance, Last Ninja, Last Ninja 3, The great giana sisters, one on one...

I was afraid your expectations to be high but I'm reassured ...

My favorite in the lot would be Great Giana Sisters though..... I'm going to study the C64 version.....

If it's not too late, here are my suggestions.
Barnsley Badger first came to my mind because it is a game that fits perfectly for Spectrum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9nzSNvsTtA

Or P0 Snake, something simpler but very addictive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnTIJwW9luw

[+3code]

BY the way, there was a fanmade map of a possible Spectrum version of Great Gianna Sisters, but I can´t find it right now...

I think that can be viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2478

I vote for Ultima

[TMD2003]

The game you first mentioned is here:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35108

Hmmm. I must have been looking in the wrong place. Seems the Big N has left us alone... so far.

[toot_toot]

An early “missing in action” game would be great, games that were advertised for the Commodore 64 and Spectrum, but the Spectrum version was never released, but games that are early enough to be hopefully easy to convert over!

Here’s a couple of suggestions

Congo Bongo

Advertised as coming soon from US Gold as part of their Sega range of games, but was never released

Up n Down

Advertised in magazines and on the back cover of the Sega releases like Tapper but again was never released.

I don’t think there’s an easy way of searching for “never released” on here, but those are two fun, but simple, games that should be easier to make - hopefully!

There’s a lot of early US Gold imported games that got a Commodore 64 release but didn’t get a Spectrum conversion - Forbidden Forrest, O’ Riley’s Mine that could also fit the bill?

If you also look at the early “10 Computer Hits” compilations from Beau Jolly, you’ll find there’s a lot of early Commodore 64 games that weren’t on the Spectrum versions - because they hadn’t been converted. Games from Commodore focused publishers like Taskset.

http://compilation64.blogspot.com/p/10- ... -hits.html

If you go to that link you’ll see the first one and up to the third release they had quite a few different games. There’s games like Seaside Special, Ancipital (Jeff Minter’s games are a good call), Superpipeline 2.

While it would be nice to see something complicated like Maniac Mansion or Last Ninja, I think it’s probably way too much to ask for. Something that’s a simple arcade game, but it’s still fun today and was never released on the Spectrum should be more achievable and hopefully be quick to do.

[Ralf]

Allow me to add a few more suggestions.

Knoorkie
A Polish clone of Dizzy, you could port graphics just with palette change from C64 to Spectrum

https://youtu.be/yoqZeZU_QO0?t=104


Ugh
Something with interesting gameplay and really not that big that I always wanted to see on Zx Spectrum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOKZ2LxJoUk

[redballoon]

How about something original?

[toot_toot]

Something else worth considering is a recent crack/fix Commodore 64 legends Hokuto Force. They often go back to old C64 games and add trainers but sometimes add bug fixes and other improvements. Their games are quite often in the "old and forgotten, but still really good" category.

If you go to to the CSDb advanced search https://csdb.dk/search/advanced.php

Set to search for Releases, set Group Name to Hokuto Force, then scroll down to Release Specific Criteria and select C64 Crack and the Released between range to something like in the past 3 years, you'll get quite a few games in there that could be a good inspiration to convert. Games like Doughboy, Lode Runner's Rescue, High Noon, Wizard of Wor, Agent USA and more have been updated which still play really well today, but haven't been converted to the Spectrum.

[majikeyric]

How about something original?

I suck at game concepts but if you have an interesting idea and graphics skills, let's go

Something else worth considering is a recent crack/fix Commodore 64 legends Hokuto Force. They often go back to old C64 games and add trainers but sometimes add bug fixes and other improvements. Their games are quite often in the "old and forgotten, but still really good" category.

I'm a member of Hokuto Force on C64

Thanks for all your interesting suggestions, I have started to work on The Great Giana sisters though, I'm actually working on the scrolling engine.

ZX screenshot of the level1 scrolling with RAW converted graphics...

[4thRock]

I too think that something original would be best. Or at least something inspire by, but not a copy.
Sure, take Giana as starting point but don't follow it blindly. You might end up with a perfect conversion of a mediocre game

If I may, I'd suggest you do Baby Jack or Bombo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzE4uW-UW38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIFusC5ZLh0

There aren't many Bomb Jack clones for the Spectrum

PS - I have converted the NES tiles for Blues Brothers level 1 (and most of level 2). Also the sprites.
If you have any interest, I can share them.

[Ivanzx]

Thanks for all your interesting suggestions, I have started to work on The Great Giana sisters though, I'm actually working on the scrolling engine.

ZX screenshot of the level1 scrolling with RAW converted graphics...

Wow, you are aiming high! There is a lot of colour there, please keep us posted about your progress

[Ralf]

Thanks for all your interesting suggestions, I have started to work on The Great Giana sisters though, I'm actually working on the scrolling engine.

Yep, that's ambitious.
Speaking of scrolling engine, it will be probably much bigger challenge on Spectrum then it was on C64. C64 offers hardware sprites and scroll and Spectrum offers just a raw CPU power. So you actually don't port the game but write it from scratch.

There is a version of Giana Sisters on Amstrad CPC. You may check it, it's rather slow and Spectrum version is going to be slow too unless you use some clever tricks.

You may like to check Spectrum games wi
th best horizontal scroll like Cobra, Zynaps or Stormlord. Some info is also in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=194

[Sokurah]

My skills would probably not be good enough to attempt a conversion of The Great Giana Sisters, but I've thought of it often enough to have decided that IF I were to try, then I'd take a real close look at Turbo The Tortoise, as I think that engine would be perfect.

[majikeyric]

I wanted to let you know that things are progressing very well

[TMD2003]

Crikey o'blimey! That's going to blow the we-never-saw-it version into a patch of Japanese knotweed the size of UY Scuti.

Checkmate, people who try to sell copies of the original that may or may not be real for £10k!

[Ralf]

If I may ask, how are you going to scroll the background?

Looking at the graphics, it will be hard to do smooth scrolling with them without some serious colour clash.

So will it be 8 pixels scroll? Or flip screen game? Or something else?

[Swainy]

I wanted to let you know that things are progressing very well

How are things progressing on this?