On The ZX Spectrum - A New Speccy Newsletter

[Wizwords]

Hi all,

I've started a Spectrum-themed newsletter. First one will be on Friday 9th June and every four weeks after that.
It'll be mostly nostalgic to begin with, a full breakdown is on the Landing Page.

You can sign up here: https://onthezxspectrum.eo.page/onthezxspectrum

Thanks for your support!

[PeterJ]

Excellent @Wizwords,

I look forward to reading it.

[Wizwords]

Thanks Peter!

[Dodgypenguin]

Looking forward to it.

[Wizwords]

Just scheduled the first On The ZX Spectrum newsletter to go out at 5pm tomorrow.

To join the 175-odd people who have already signed up, head over to https://onthezxspectrum.eo.page/onthezxspectrum

Thanks for your support!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Just got the first newsletter... I like it!

[Wizwords]

Just got the first newsletter... I like it!

Muchas Gracias Juan!

[hendrikbez]

Good day, I did subscripe to newsletter, but did not received it yet

[PeterJ]

I did subscripe to newsletter, but did not received it yet

Mine went to my spam / junk folder

[equinox]

Tried signing up, got a captcha (identify the traffic lights), did so, not sure whether it succeeded or not since I got no message afterwards. We'll see!

[Wizwords]

Tried signing up, got a captcha (identify the traffic lights), did so, not sure whether it succeeded or not since I got no message afterwards. We'll see!

hi mate, pm me your email and I'll check

[Wizwords]

Mine went to my spam / junk folder

Yeah this is a problem using these mass distribution systems

[hendrikbez]

Still did not receive issue 1.

[Wizwords]

Still did not receive issue 1.

have you checked your spam folder? if it's not there, pm me your email and I'll check you are on the list.
Issue 2 is going out at 5pm today

[Wizwords]

Still did not receive issue 1.

Hi Hendrik, I've got you, you're on the list, but you signed up after the first one went out, hence why you haven't got it.

[Lee Bee]

Cool! Who needs Crash and YS when we've got online publications like 'It Lives' and now 'On The ZX Spectrum' Well done to those of you keeping the community alive!

[Grongy]

Subscribed, but haven't got anything, can you check my email please? (grongy91)

[Wizwords]

Subscribed, but haven't got anything, can you check my email please? (grongy91)

You also subscribed after the first newsletter went out, however you should have received the small updates.
The next one is going out in 3 hours.
Check your spam folder.

[AlWo73]

Cool! Who needs Crash and YS when we've got online publications like 'It Lives' and now 'On The ZX Spectrum' Well done to those of you keeping the community alive!

Cheers @Lee Bee

Here's the link if anyone's not aware!

https://sites.google.com/view/linktozxs-il/home

Thanks,
Al

[equinox]

Just read the latest one. Nice to see Hewson's Anarchy getting some attention: a real favourite of mine. When I got it, the blasting tank cover made me think "zzz, a military shooty game", but it's such a nice action puzzler, though the time limits can be annoying, and after the last(?) level it just goes black and crashes... well, it did for me.

Being assigned to develop a cricket game when you don't understand the sport sounds absolutely horrible.

What's wrong with BC Bill?!

[Wizwords]

What's wrong with BC Bill?!

Nothing particularly, but it worked nicely for the alliteration with bloody

[Wizwords]

Still did not receive issue 1.

did you get #2 Hendrik?

[Wizwords]

Subscribed, but haven't got anything, can you check my email please? (grongy91)

did you get #2?

[Wizwords]

Bonus Newsletter with an interview incoming for Patreon supporters this friday

[TMD2003]

Being assigned to develop a cricket game when you don't understand the sport sounds absolutely horrible.

Being assigned to develop a cricket game when you do understand it is still horrible. I've been following cricket for 32 years and I still can't place all the fielding positions instantly the way players and commentators can. The programming must be an absolute nightmare. There's the way the weather conditions, the hardness of the pitch, the amount of grass and the green-ness of the grass affects the way the ball will move in the air and bounce, then there's the speed of the bowler... and that's only considering seam bowling and what happens until the ball has reached the bat. Never mind the amount of weird balls that spinners have gained in their arsenal in the days of Warne and Muralitharan, which at least Spectrum programmers never had to deal with. What happens when the batsman hits the ball? Think of the position of the bat, the angle of the bat face, the angle with the ground, where the batsman is standing relative to the stumps, whether there is any really late swing or turn from the ball, whether there are any nearby fielders at short leg or silly mid-off sledging the batsman for not being able to bat or what his mum did with sailors last night which will undoubtedly affect his concentration, not to mention the constant level of inane bonhomie constantly spouted by the wicket-keeper inducing the fielders to come on lads, don't let your heads drop, and irritating the batsman into wanting to chop his head off. (Or maybe that's just Ben Foakes who seems to be capable of Niagra Falls levels of drivel.) We haven't even touched on modes of dismissal, though maybe this would be the easy bit - an electronically-generated ball bowled by an electronically-generated bowler would always be tracked perfectly, so there would never be any decisions for the electronically-generated umpire to make - either the ball is definitely going to hit the electronically-generated stumps or it isn't, either the electronically-generated fielder has definitely got his electronically-generated fingers under the ball or he hasn't, either the fielder has flicked the ball away before his electronically-generated foot touched the boundary rope or it didn't, there are no contentious decisions and the electronically-generated umpire's decision is not just final, it is a statement of absolute truth.

Mike Singleton may have been capable of cramming Lords of Midnight into 48K (well, 41K, really) and keeping charge of where Luxor the Moonprince and all his pals were and what they were doing at any one stage, but give him a cricket game - even with 128K available - and I'll bet he'd run away screaming.