Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

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moroz1999
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Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by moroz1999 »

A guy here claims that he's got a CD with Programmers Development System, which also contains some source code for the games like Blob The Cop, may be full Dominion (heclaims it even builds) and some other possible sources, routines and materials (like Castle Capers). All of this possibly belonged to Paul Griffiths.
http://www.habisoft.com/irmia/comentarios.asp?id=348
http://www.habisoft.com/irmia/comentarios.asp?id=349

Unfortunately, Paul's permission is required for publicly posting anything from the CD. I've tried to contact Paul on Facebook, but no look. It kills me thinking that there may be working Dominion game unpublished, or may be something else? And all what's required is a simple yes or no from the author. At least to publish the binary for whatever compiles into binary.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by djnzx48 »

According to this interview, Paul Griffiths has (or used to have) the source code to Joe Blade IV, and considered finding it again. But it doesn't seem like he ever released it.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

I can't help you with Paul Griffiths unfortunately but would really love to see this stuff too.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

Something is going on :)

Image

Can't give the direct link, I guess. It's on "Spectrum For Everyone" Facebook group.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by djnzx48 »

Interesting! Are any of the disk labels readable in the photo?
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ivanzx »

Indeed, it is in the Spectrum for everyone group, and Steve Brown has already contacted him :)

So, hopefully we will get some news soon! :)

The post can´t be linked here, but if anyone wants, i can provide the link via PM ;)
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Gilby »

Just an update re. this, Paul is very keen to get his development discs preserved, however he had been unable to get to the post office due to the lockdown for a while now... I'm sure we'll get there at some point.

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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

Great news, maybe we see this soft online one day!
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

Did anything came out of it? Any news?
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by ^m00h^ »

In 2016, i came across a blog from a Portuguese fellow who has a source disc from Players for a cross-platform development system for z80 PDS (as far as I understand). http://www.habisoft.com/irmia/. I managed to contact the author of the blog, as it turned out, there is a full version of the Dominion game on that disc with intro, 3 full levels and final cut: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... id=0001428

A message from Potugese guy:

In the first disk there is an intro, a final, 3 finished levels and the main code, everything seems to work as far as I tested. In the second disk there are the sources for a demo (did it become published?) and other things. The only unfinished thing I have seen is the loading screen, as you can see in the next post.


only the loading screen is not completed: http://www.habisoft.com/userfiles/image/03/PDS2_8.png
but the mate does not want to publish Dominion, since the rights do not belong to him: http://www.habisoft.com/irmia/comentari ... id=348#898

i gave him a link to wos. There is no prohibition on free distribution: https://worldofspectrum.net/infoseekid.php?id=0001428

Griffiths allowed his Spectrum software to be freely redistributed. Unfortunately we don't see any specific wording.

In 2017, Moroz1999 tried to communicate with Griffiths via Facebook, but he did not answer, his friends are Andrew Joseph, a dizzy fan, Andrew said that he seems to have these files too. Andrew was surprised that the files somehow reached Portugal, and he will talk to Paul. And since then - only silence.
Last edited by ^m00h^ on Tue Dec 28, 2021 1:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ivanzx »

Hi!

Habisoft is not portuguese, he is Spanish ;)

So, what can we do in order to get this released? Do we need to talk to him? (I can try to reach him, I have common contacts).
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by ^m00h^ »

Hi Ivan,

yes, could you please to talk with him ?

oops the link on wos where distribution is allowed should be:

https://worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub ... loadpics=3
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ivanzx »

I contacted Habisoft ;)
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by ^m00h^ »

Hi Ivan,

great news! How is his mood on this issue?
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Slider »

Ivanzx wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2021 9:27 pm I contacted Habisoft ;)
Hello, friend!
What about news? What Habisoft says?
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Mr.Bojangles »

Hello!
Sorry to bump again.

Since last post in 2021 Mr. Griffiths has done a very interesting YT interview,
where He, among other things, mentions getting rid of 4 PDS systems about 20 years ago:


This sale was briefly discussed in this Usenet topic back in 2004:
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.si ... KuR7qQ4_AJ

My guess would be, that one of those systems years later reappeared on sale
and then ended up in Mr. Habisoft's possession in 2015.
https://www.retrogames.co.uk/040013/Oth ... opment-Kit

So, thing to note here, Gentlemen, is the fact, that likely more than one person has this CD.
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

Hello people, I have some really good news! :D

A few days ago I received a lot of data coming from Paul Griffiths.

I don't know the exact history of it. I got it from our friend @Andre Leao who said I may
do with it anything I'd like. So what's better to do with it than to share it with others? ;)

Here's the download:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/oivks7

@PeterJ I hope I'm not breaking any rules here. If you think otherwise, feel free to remove the link.
I especially removed the source codes for denied games.

If you check it, it contains a lot of development data, finished and probably unfinished.
Especially there are source codes for Paul's games, some well known and some true missing gems.

I have spotted:
- Dominion: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... m/Dominion
- Mean Machine https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... an_Machine
- some totally unknown tennis game

and there are probably more.

Have a look, it's worth it!

And now, are there any volunteers going to work on it, sort the stuff and try to compile the games? ;)
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ivanzx »

Excellent news, Ralf and Andre! Thanks!

Maybe it would be nice to create a separate thread to attract the attention of possible coders/experts that could compile or put them together :)
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Ralf »

Maybe it would be nice to create a separate thread to attract the attention of possible coders/experts that could compile or put them together
I also made the thread on zx.pk.ru (the well known Russian forum). Actually I count on these guys :)

Of course, I could probably do it myself but I have much too much projects and zero experience with PDS system. So I will gladly leave it to the others :)
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by jpnz »

I've had a really quick look at this and there does seem to be some tangible stuff in there

This is Saracen (from the PDS\Programming\Spectrum\Saracen-5-4-93 directory)



Looks like a tech demo - QAOP keyboard controls and SPACE to pause/crash!?

A snapshot is here - just press any key to start
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by goodboy »

jpnz wrote: Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:37 am I've had a really quick look at this
you can share DosBox with emulation of PDS ?
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Mr.Bojangles »

Thanks so much for this!
Dominion outro works on its own, but rest of the game has to be assembled from parts
Image
There's so much of everything it'll take some time to go through
Even PSX and Saturn stuff
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by jpnz »

goodboy wrote: Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:32 pm you can share DosBox with emulation of PDS ?
Have a read of this thread regarding getting PDS up and running - this technique should work for assembling/transferring Saracen and European Soccer Challenge

The other sources, like Dominion, seem to have different file extensions compared to Saracen and may need to be assembled with a later version of PDS - haven't looked yet
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by jpnz »

jpnz wrote: Tue Apr 18, 2023 1:19 am Have a read of this thread regarding getting PDS up and running - this technique should work for assembling/transferring Saracen and European Soccer Challenge

The other sources, like Dominion, seem to have different file extensions compared to Saracen and may need to be assembled with a later version of PDS - haven't looked yet
I'm sorry, there's a stupid link in the original post - it's really this thread - meh
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Re: Programmers Development System (Dominion and some other sources)

Post by Mr.Bojangles »

To skip necessity to capture serial, PDS can output directly to file with:
SEND MSDOS,file.ext
Undocumented feature.
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