Spectrum Computing

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:16 pm Oh, and I forget how we define machine type—as the very minimum requirement or as a subset of features—but Yankee now uses the AY chip for sound effects. So, perhaps, it should say “ZX-Spectrum 48K/128K” now and/or “Features: AY Sound”?

As [mention]Ast A. Moore[/mention] says, the latest update of Yankee in Iraq (ID 30373) makes a few changes to classification that I didn't consider:

Minimum model should be 48K/128K
Also a member of the AY Sound group (group 1025), and redefinable keys (group 9005)

(I'll sort the screenshot Ast)

R-Tape wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:32 pm (I'll sort the screenshot Ast)

No rush, Dave.

Also noticed that 180 is listed as Features: AY Sound. Seriously doubt that a game from 1984 would feature that.

Regarding groups, can I just add that there are a lot of details I never knew about (and some I tried not to think about!) when making new entries. It's best not to start reporting recent releases here for things like AY Sound and redefineable keys (let's do Yankee while it's fresh though). When I understand ZXDB structure better I'll go back over these (with help), but there are too many to do as normal bugfixes.

djnzx48 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:26 am From what this article seems to say, this should be the page for Megus. Roman Petrov is not Megus, but someone who shares the same name as him. Also, they are apparently both from Russia (rather than Ukraine).

Edit: if this is the case, the credit for Chopper Duel should be changed to refer to Megus. Additionally, Roman Petrov (from Saint Petersburg, according to the wiki) who wrote Arcade Voleyball may be a different person from the other two.

There is only one Megus, he is from Russia, Yoshkar-Ola. But there are three Roman Petrov people.

One is Roman Petrov, Megus (Russia, Yoshkar-Ola):
Chopper Duel
Scorched Earth

Second is Roman Petrov (also Russia, Yoshkar-Ola):
RIP (Real Infrormation Packer)

The third Roman Petrov is from Saint Petersburg:
Arcade Voleyball

FWIW, Scorpion had nothing to do with this utility https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=23696
Well, definitely not "our" Scorpion.

Patrik Rak wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 4:41 pm FWIW, Scorpion had nothing to do with this utility https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=23696
Well, definitely not "our" Scorpion.

That seems to be Scorpion from Taganrog, Russia.

This one looks more like a ZX Spectrum title - and NOT ZX81
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=0035205

kolbeck wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 11:15 am This one looks more like a ZX Spectrum title - and NOT ZX81
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=0035205

Similarly (from the same "Adventures for your Spectrum" book)...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35202

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35203

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35206

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35204

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=35207

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=7902
Karlo Computer Software, Ukraine, Yenakiieve

I belive that Gogin
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=5423

and Sergei Smirnov
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=13126

is the same person. Proof:
https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/g/gogin/qid:121556/

Hi! Looking at the info [mention]Rorthron[/mention] uncovered about Players on the Covert Artists thread, I've found that usually Sonic Graffiti is credited for the music on the ZXDB, but they are mentioned on the instructions as "original music", and then usually Andy Severn ported the music to the Spectrum. Sonic Graffiti was usually Gerrard Gourley, that worked on many platforms, so, we are not sure about the source.

Some examples:

The Race:
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY SONIC GRAFFITI
MUSIC CONVERSION BY ANDY SEVERN

Saigon Combat Unit:
ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE: SONIC GRAFFITI
AY MUSIC CONVERSION: ANDY SEVERN

3D Snooker:
MUSIC by SONIC GRAFFITI and converted by ANDY SEVERN

Mutant Fortress:
AY music Sonic Graffiti
AY player & conversion Andy Severn

So, right now I'm crediting both Sonic Graffiti and Andy Severn for the music, I think this is the correct way to do it. What do you think?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=1333
Ascendancy Creative Labs, team from Belarus, Grodno

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=14468 imho, The Oliver Twins is not a person, but team or company of Andrew and Philip Oliver (who are persons).

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1425&p=25075&hilit=Izhevsk#p25075 - please take a look at my comments. I've just noticed that Izhevsk is still in database. It's a mistake, it's not a label, it's a city in Russia.

moroz1999 wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:29 pm https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=14468 imho, The Oliver Twins is not a person, but team or company of Andrew and Philip Oliver (who are persons).

Hi, I'm not sure the Oliver Twins were a company. All their work went through Codemasters didn't it?

I agree it should be in this case 'Persons', rather than 'Person' which would be more appropriate, but the only options we have currently are as follows:

HI,
Avalon + Dragontorc has a MIA release date.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=15868

Release info can be found in a Jan. 1986 issue of Popular Computing Weekly:
https://archive.org/details/popular-com ... 5/mode/1up

(should it also be added as News/note?)

druellan wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 3:53 pm Hi! Looking at the info @Rorthron uncovered about Players on the Covert Artists thread, I've found that usually Sonic Graffiti is credited for the music on the ZXDB, but they are mentioned on the instructions as "original music", and then usually Andy Severn ported the music to the Spectrum. Sonic Graffiti was usually Gerrard Gourley, that worked on many platforms, so, we are not sure about the source.

Some examples:

The Race:
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY SONIC GRAFFITI
MUSIC CONVERSION BY ANDY SEVERN

Saigon Combat Unit:
ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE: SONIC GRAFFITI
AY MUSIC CONVERSION: ANDY SEVERN

3D Snooker:
MUSIC by SONIC GRAFFITI and converted by ANDY SEVERN

Mutant Fortress:
AY music Sonic Graffiti
AY player & conversion Andy Severn

So, right now I'm crediting both Sonic Graffiti and Andy Severn for the music, I think this is the correct way to do it. What do you think?

Seems reasonable to me.

There are 2 videos for Bronx game (the Spanish one). And one of them is from Twice Shy game.

sho wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 10:22 pm HI,
Avalon + Dragontorc has a MIA release date.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=15868

Release info can be found in a Jan. 1986 issue of Popular Computing Weekly:
https://archive.org/details/popular-com ... 5/mode/1up

(should it also be added as News/note?)

And another
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 88&page=32

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19393
Sanyok (short form of Alexander), label of Aleksandr Duryagin from Ukhta, Russia


https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19191
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19192
Demens Deum is nickname of Ilya Prokhorov


https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19182
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19183
Gooseberry Code is not a company, it's nickname of Anatoliy Kuris


https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=13400
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=19184
Vyacheslav Tretyak and Sinus is the same person, he is not from Russia, he is from Grodno, Belarus

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=9273
Route to Jupiter is a Group from Ukraine.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=9377
Mat & Ziutek label should either become a team or be split to Mat (Maciej J. Woloszyk) and Ziutek (Andrzej Siuda) separately.


https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... bel_id=264
Age & Ega are a team:
Andrey Yegorov, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia
Grigoriy Yegorov, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=10100
N. Novgorod is not a person or label, this is Nizhniy Novgorod city, Russia

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=6412
Izhevsk is not a person or label, this is Izhevsk city, Russia.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... l_id=13199
Shadow Soft (Russia) is not a company, it's nickname of Vladimir Kladov.

The information on Software Farm's high-res ZX81 releases is inaccurate and incomplete:

ROCKET MAN

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=29249

FORTY-NINER

This has two IDs with different publishers and other information differences:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=28887
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=28888

I think they should probably be consolidated under the publisher Software Farm.

BOOSTER

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=32003

Incidentally contains a useless comment that should perhaps be deleted.

Z-XTRICATOR

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=31886

All three games are missing information. The following link has most of it, including high-res inlay scans:

http://www.pictureviewerpro.com/hosting ... refarm.htm

I recently added Legends Of Bytes to ZXDB. This magazine is an excellent source of information about Speccy game authors! Someone fluent in Russian should be able to obtain lots of useful information still missing from our database.

It's currently published by a guy called Gennadiy. If someone has his contact information and could invite him to our forum, I bet he would enjoy participating in this thread

Hercules by Alpha- Omega Software:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=2298

The existing inlay is actually the Power House re-release.

The original A-O Software inlay is in [mention]Mort[/mention] 's archive.org site:

https://ia800701.us.archive.org/view_ar ... nlay01.jpg

I'm sure we'll have it here soon!

By the way, the artist in the game entry is Tim White. I suppose it refers to the Power House re-release inlay, and, if you see the AO inlay above, it seems have been made by Phil Gascoine because of the drawing style and the signature.

What do you think?

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 2:28 pm Hercules by Alpha- Omega Software:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=2298

The existing inlay is actually the Power House re-release.

Correct.

This inlay currently has the following description: "Cassette inlay (#1)".

This page has a section called RELEASES that contains the following line: "Re-release #1: The Power House".

My apologies if the way this information is presented wasn't clear enough.