Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
- PeteProdge
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Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
And here we come to the coder behind two of the ZX Spectrum's most prolific games of all time.
Let's be honest, this really is a two-horse race, isn't it? Here's my shortlist, you'll know which two stick out heavily:
Andre's Night Off by C&VG (type-in listing)
Jet Set Willy by Software Projects
Manic Miner by Bug-Byte Software
Styx by Bug-Byte Software
Gaming pedants can point out that technically, there is also Manic Miner by Bug-Byte Software, but it's 99.9% identical to the Software Projects version, just some enemy sprites changed, so I'm not counting that as a separate game.
Still, let me know if there's anything that needs changing before next Sunday, when I start the poll for Best Game By A Coder Deported From A Dutch Commune.
Let's be honest, this really is a two-horse race, isn't it? Here's my shortlist, you'll know which two stick out heavily:
Andre's Night Off by C&VG (type-in listing)
Jet Set Willy by Software Projects
Manic Miner by Bug-Byte Software
Styx by Bug-Byte Software
Gaming pedants can point out that technically, there is also Manic Miner by Bug-Byte Software, but it's 99.9% identical to the Software Projects version, just some enemy sprites changed, so I'm not counting that as a separate game.
Still, let me know if there's anything that needs changing before next Sunday, when I start the poll for Best Game By A Coder Deported From A Dutch Commune.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
I typed in Andre’s Night Off BITD believing the hype in the mags description . The lesson here kids is to never bother typing in a type in, wait 40 years for someone else to do it, download it, play it and think ‘thank feck I didn’t waste precious hours typing this bilge in’
Thanks to all the people that do type these in, I’m am very grateful, honest.
Thanks to all the people that do type these in, I’m am very grateful, honest.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
That looks good to me. It's not as if we can include Attack of the Mutant Zombie Flesh Eating Chickens from Mars. I know my 1-2-3, but I'll be interested to see which of the two horses wins.
I'm struggling to think of other coders that made such a name for themselves with so few titles. Kevin Toms?
I'm struggling to think of other coders that made such a name for themselves with so few titles. Kevin Toms?
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
I'm getting 'what have the Romans ever done for us?' vibes
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Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Alright alright! - apart from Toms, Singleton, White, Escort and Reidy, which other coder made such a name for themselves with so few titles?
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
I'd go for manic because jsw is too hard and buggy.
In manic there is a better sense of progression.
The first level is great,challenging but doable.
In manic there is a better sense of progression.
The first level is great,challenging but doable.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
I'd have said that Singleton (13 published games) and Reidy (9 + the Omnicalc spreadsheet) were actually quite prolific. Even Kevin Toms managed to put in a respectable 6. I suppose they've all got that one game, or at least series of games, that outshone everything else that they did, but they're all comfortably ahead of Smith in terms of published output.
White and Estcourt bear comparison though, at just three games each. Wilcox has only two, but I thought we were looking for people with a good reputation.
Anyway, on topic, what about Jet Set Willy 2? I'd be inclined not to count it but it's not even been mentioned yet, so should probably be discussed before someone brings it up in the middle of the poll. It's basically just the Amstrad version of JSW ported back to the Spectrum and passed off as a sequel. While it's got significant differences to JSW, Smith didn't really have anything to do with that, so just sticking to the original version seems fair.
White and Estcourt bear comparison though, at just three games each. Wilcox has only two, but I thought we were looking for people with a good reputation.
Anyway, on topic, what about Jet Set Willy 2? I'd be inclined not to count it but it's not even been mentioned yet, so should probably be discussed before someone brings it up in the middle of the poll. It's basically just the Amstrad version of JSW ported back to the Spectrum and passed off as a sequel. While it's got significant differences to JSW, Smith didn't really have anything to do with that, so just sticking to the original version seems fair.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Oh Megler.... SHADDAPPP!
(Sorry for the off topic Prodge. I'll be good :–))
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Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
There's Alan Cox whose only game on the Speccy is the 128K-only text adventure Blizzard Pass. Admittedly, not a hugely well-known game to Spectrum users. He became famous after that, with some dabbling in some penguin-fronted operating system that's done alright for itself.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Julian Todd is only credited with Fat Worm Blows A Sparky. So I guess he's the definition of a one hit wonder.
David Webb did E.T.X., Spookyman and Starion.
Stephen Crow is credited on a few titles but I think at most of them are for graphics. His sole-coder games are: Laser Snaker, Factory Breakout, Wizard's Lair, Starquake and Firelord. Quite some CV!
David Webb did E.T.X., Spookyman and Starion.
Stephen Crow is credited on a few titles but I think at most of them are for graphics. His sole-coder games are: Laser Snaker, Factory Breakout, Wizard's Lair, Starquake and Firelord. Quite some CV!
ZX Spectrum Reviews REST API: http://zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Shouldn't JSW2 be in there? I mean it's his game engine and half his levels.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
It's not his engine as it has been completely rewritten, so it definitely shouldn't be there.
Website: Tardis Remakes / Mostly remakes of Arcade and ZX Spectrum games.
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation & Sqij.
Twitter: Sokurah
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation & Sqij.
Twitter: Sokurah
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Some of his level design remains though but fair enough. I'm surprised that someone just rewrote all that code.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Most of the rewriting was to get JSW running well on the Amstrad CPC. The optimizations freed up a lot of memory, allowing a bunch of extra rooms and new features to be worked in.
Porting the new engine back to the Spectrum was comparatively straightforward, so I believe.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
JSW2 ... The code is completely different to JSW1
JSW2FF started life on the CPC464 then was ported back to the Spectrum
As far as I know (but I have not had the chance to ask him) M.S did not have any direct involvement in the creation/development of JSW2 , I stand to be wrong here which is fine.
For that reason I feel JSW2 must be excluded from Matthew's game list. Granted that all his room designs were used in it though.
JSW2FF started life on the CPC464 then was ported back to the Spectrum
As far as I know (but I have not had the chance to ask him) M.S did not have any direct involvement in the creation/development of JSW2 , I stand to be wrong here which is fine.
For that reason I feel JSW2 must be excluded from Matthew's game list. Granted that all his room designs were used in it though.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Mike Singleton wrote for 8-bit machines other than the Speccy, and went on to write stuff like Midwinter on the ST and Amiga, and later games for the PC and consoles too. Far more than just Lords of Midnight and its sequels. Matthew Smith did sod all outside a couple of Speccy games. Though they were good games - he made a name for himself by not delivering any more sequels!
- PeteProdge
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Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
When I read this claim, in the middle of playing Scrabble on a hand-held, I was shocked. I almost dropped my Game Boy Color.
https://www.digitiser2000.com/main-page ... th-created
https://pixelatron.com/blog/matthew-man ... interview/
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
A single credit for "additional programming" on a Scrabble game that'd be otherwise unremarkable if it didn't have his name on the credits doesn't exactly refute what Joe said.
The simple truth of the matter is that Smith's early successes burned him out and he's still not entirely recovered from it. Honestly, I don't blame him. He had fame thrust upon him while still young and it's not like there weren't plenty of well-adjusted Spectrum developers who struggled to get to grips with the popular platforms of the 90s either. There's absolutely no shame in it.
Singleton just seems like a poor comparison because he bucked that trend and managed to get a thirty year career out of video games that only really ended with his death. Lords of Midnight might forever be his high point, but there are still plenty of hidden gems to hunt down among the rest of it.
The simple truth of the matter is that Smith's early successes burned him out and he's still not entirely recovered from it. Honestly, I don't blame him. He had fame thrust upon him while still young and it's not like there weren't plenty of well-adjusted Spectrum developers who struggled to get to grips with the popular platforms of the 90s either. There's absolutely no shame in it.
Singleton just seems like a poor comparison because he bucked that trend and managed to get a thirty year career out of video games that only really ended with his death. Lords of Midnight might forever be his high point, but there are still plenty of hidden gems to hunt down among the rest of it.
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
Does David Braben and/or Ian Bell count?
Re: Devfinitive Edition (Matthew Smith): discussion
I think they can. I heard they can do really hard sums as well.