Spectrum Computing

Has anyone else noticed the difference between the Robot Messiah .scr displayed on SC, and the screen that's displayed when you load the tap or tzx?


Loading screen displayed on SC


Actual loading screen

The screen with the Alphabatim logo is the correct version - I've checked every tzx and tap I could find of the game, including the version given away with Crash in 1989, and they're all the same screen. The red border and logo stay on the screen when the game is loaded to form part of the menu - plus it matches the inlay.

So where did this other screen come from? I know the same screen is on WoS and it has probably been kicking around for years, but it must've been uploaded by someone - was it a pre-release version? And why was it flipped?

I also have a theory about who designed the screen. Mike Smith is credited with graphics for the game, but if you compare it to Gunrunner (signed "MS"), or any other games Smith was involved in, it's a completely different style.

The same could be said of most of Christian Urquhart's games, but there are some exceptions. To me, looking at the detail and the use of BRIGHT and non-BRIGHT attributes, this looks very much like the work of F David Thorpe. Christian Urquhart would've known him (or at the very least known of him) through his Ocean games like DTD and Hunchback, for which Thorpe designed the loading screens.

There's a disked version by Mike Blum (available here) which has this title screen -- I assume that's where it originated?

Good spot fellas. The screen currently in the archive has code* hiding under the attributes at the bottom left...



...which is more typical of later cracks and snapshots (isn't it?)—like the SCL disk version you link to Stu. And this Mikhail Blum chap was active in the 90s and possibly well beyond, exactly when files would be floating around and being uploaded to old WoS?

So the screen with "Alphabetim" should replace the one that is currently there...aye?

*it's code to wait for a keypress and start game.

Lee P wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 4:56 pm I also have a theory about who designed the screen. Mike Smith is credited with graphics for the game, but if you compare it to Gunrunner (signed "MS"), or any other games Smith was involved in, it's a completely different style.

Mike Smith isn't credited with any role in the DB - could it just be that he did the in-game graphics and we assume he did the loader? As for style - I wouldn't say it was that far away from the Gunrunner, so I could believe Mike did both. I do love the idea of discovering a new FD Thorpe screen though!

R-Tape wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 8:01 pm Mike Smith isn't credited with any role in the DB - could it just be that he did the in-game graphics and we assume he did the loader? As for style - I wouldn't say it was that far away from the Gunrunner, so I could believe Mike did both. I do love the idea of discovering a new FD Thorpe screen though!

Mike is credited with graphics in the game, not the DB:



I need to look through other Thorpe screens to see what they look like without attributes. But not tonight.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 7:54 pm So the screen with "Alphabetim" should replace the one that is currently there...aye?

Yep correct.

If it was from a crack I wonder why this Mikhail chap went to the bother of reversing it. For shits and giggles, I suppose.

Probably reversed it because they wanted Alphabatim in the bottom right corner (probs so the end of the m forms part of the border... colour change to yellow is a bit crap though) and they'd have to erase the debris on that side if they didn't flip it.

They also cleaned up the title text and the border which added a bit of colour clash at the top so it's not a straight mirroring.

EDIT: What did Socrates say though? "We are all dust in the wind, dudes and I love San Diemas"?

ParadigmShifter wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 11:39 pm Probably reversed it because they wanted Alphabatim in the bottom right corner (probs so the end of the m forms part of the border... colour change to yellow is a bit crap though) and they'd have to erase the debris on that side if they didn't flip it.

They also cleaned up the title text and the border which added a bit of colour clash at the top so it's not a straight mirroring.

It's the opposite. The Alphabatim version is the original.

Oh ok weird probably wanted to remove the publisher then I guess so no idea why he would reverse it then

Lee P wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 11:32 pm Yep correct.

Sorted.

If it was from a crack I wonder why this Mikhail chap went to the bother of reversing it.

You seem to have special powers in spotting these things. As we've seen, mirroring is a powerful technique and fools most of us.

In other news, keep an out for my new game TODOR HAISSEM.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 9:00 amIn other news, keep an out for my new game TODOR HAISSEM.

Is that based on Rodot Messiah, by Alphadatim? Hope you don't get sued by Chrispian Urquharp.