MAIN MENU     INTRODUCTION THE PHOTO CASEBOOK GIG ARCHIVE DJ SETS ANCIENT REVIEWS PRE-OGG-CAST MIXTAPES ZX SPECTRUM PAGES       ASSOCIATED WEB PAGES     THE HAMMER OF RETRIBUTION OGG-CAST HAMMER OF RETRIBUTION PRODUCTIONS THE DIAMOND HAMMER: MINECRAFT CREATIONS RICK DANGEROUS RESURRECTED ZX SPECTRUM BASIC PROGRAMS AND ENHANCED VERSIONS OF EXISTING TYPE-INS All the 1980s microcomputers were designed so that their end users could program them themselves. Some were inevitably better at it than others; whizzkids like Matthew Smith (Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy), Adrian Sherwin (The Birds And The Bees, Antics) and Timothy Closs (Bomber Bob in Pentagon Capers, I, Ball) were teenagers when they wrote the games I've specified there, and three of them are considered all-time greats; others couldn't even understand anything beyond PRINT, GOTO and LOAD, let alone machine code. For those of us in the middle there were the magazines that, usually, contained a section of printed program listings that the readers had sent in and had published, and we could amuse oursleves typing the listings in, and finding they didn't work because of one error somewhere amongst ten to 200 lines of BASIC... Weren't we spoiled, the Sinclair owners; we had Sinclair Programs, a magazine entirely dedicated to such listings! I had a three issues from 1982-83- as well as a few issues of Sinclair User and ZX Computing - and typed in quite a few myself, sometimes thinking (as ten-year-olds tend to do) I knew better than the original authors and "corrected" what I thought was their mistake, only to wonder why the programs didn't run properly! Later on, though, in my twenties, I did know better in some cases, and took to enhancing some of those 1982-83 type-ins with features I thought were missing - in some cases, rescuing them from being lumped in with the worst Spectrum games of all time (though I think it is very unfair to compare a type-in with a game sold commercially). Other programs I've written myself - either because I've had a brilliant idea that I can only program on the Spectrum (because my grip of C is only just above non-existent) or because the fancy has taken me to do so for no reason other than the same amusement of typing in other people's programs as I did 20-plus years ago... MY OWN PROGRAMS (MOSTLY) PROGRAM / FILENAME / SIZE DESCRIPTION Casio MG-777 Game I casiogame1v11.tzx - 8.5 KB casiogame1v11.dsk - 190 KB A calculator with three games on it? It happened circa 1980 - and I had one when I was a nipper. I remembered enough of Game I to be able to recreate it on the 128K Spectrum (it uses the PLAY command). The object is to change all the numbers in the grid to the highest number possible, using the keys around S to substitute for the numeric keypad. The +3 disk version is considerably easier to load and save the high score table from. Game II was a fruit machine (of sorts) with animated tumblers (I'd never be able to do that in Spectrum BASIC, even now) and Game III was a crude Whack-a-Mole that steadily increased speed and the game ended if your response was too slow. The Hammer Of Retribution Ogg-Cast XLIV introductory program ogg-cast.tzx - 9.4 KB The strange noises at the beginning of this Ogg-Cast were instantly familiar to Spectrum users of all generations! It wasn't just tape that Spectrum programs could be stored on - I hear reports of vinyl records being used, and even the signals being broadcast on TV and radio. So I thought - why not bring that back? I suspected that trying to load a program from a 128 kb/s MP3 wasn't going to work (and it didn't), but I've provided the tape image for anyone who wants to know what would have happened. The screen was made using BMP2SCR and it... sort of looks like a screen from Hexen...? Maths I: Gregory-Leibniz series maths1.tzx - 1.4 KB A program to calculate π via the Gregory-Leibniz series. The series converges very slowly, still not having decided on its fourth decimal place after 100,000 terms. Maths II: Pythagorean triples unavailable A program to calculate Pythagorean triples - originally developed in conjunction with my Sixth Form maths teacher in QBASIC circa 1996; I converted it for the Spectrum but it has since been lost. It may be possible to recreate it, though I remember the routine to not generate any duplicates (i.e. 3,4,5 and 4,3,5) was very finnicky. Maths III: the Fibonacci series unavailable A program to calculate the Golden ratio by generating the Fibonacci series. Also lost in the mists of time, but should be so simple to recreate and I'll do a better job than I ever did before. Maths IV: Basel problem maths4.tzx - 1.1 KB A program to calculate π (indirectly as π²/6) via the Basel problem. The series converges faster than the Gregory-Leibniz series, reaching the fourth decimal place at 29,146 terms. However, the limitations of the Spectrum's arithmetic (i.e. 1/n² approximates to zero at seven decimal places) that the value calculated stops at 1.6449210 after 65,497 terms (²/6 = 1.6449341 to 7 decimal places). Maths V: Quadratic equation solver maths5.tzx - 1.2 KB A program to calculate the roots of quadratic equations via the familiar Quadratic formula. This program is so simple a chimpanzee could have written it, but I was mainly using it (and Maths IV) to show off my user-defined graphics for mathematical functions (square root, powers, π, infinity, etc.) Maths VI: Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula maths6.tzx - 1.6 KB Another program to calculate π, using the modern and very accurate Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula. I wrote this without being prepared for how very fast the series converges - it reaches the Spectrum's maximum seven decimal places in only six terms! Number Shuffler shuffler.tzx - 571 B A short program, which takes the numbers 1 to 7 contained in a string, and shuffles them by taking one number from a position inside the pack and moving it to either the start or the end. With all the PRINT statements removed, this was incorporated into v4.0 of Shuttle Master (as featured below). Scandinavian Flags (v9.0) scandflags9.tzx - 6.1 KB A simple routine which draws 32 official, unofficial and proposed flags that use the Scandinavian cross. The chances are you've never heard of some of them. NOTE: This program uses the RAM disk with the LOAD !"[filename]" and SAVE !"[filename]" commands and hence requires a Spectrum 128K or +2. Convert these commands to LOAD "m:[filename]" and SAVE "m:[filename]" to run them on a +2A, +2B or +3. Scroll Counter counter.tzx - 626 B A short demonstration program to show how text can be scrolled pixel by pixel into the next character in the set by POKEing address 23606 - hence giving a rolling counter effect. This would have been used in version 5 of Brick Bucket (see below) but this was never completed. Tribars tribars.tzx - 7.6 KB Four programs which draw Penrose tribars, as seen at the beginning of Jet Set Willy, with various effects, including animation. The diagonal effects are achieved with four user-defined graphics. The first program draws a three-coloured tribar; the second flashes it with its inverse colours; the third cycles it through all seven colours in turn (though in the "wrong" direction); the fourth allows the user to input three colours which the tribar cycles through in the "correct" order. NOTE: This program uses the RAM disk with the LOAD !"[filename]" and SAVE !"[filename]" commands and hence requires a Spectrum 128K or +2. Convert these commands to LOAD "m:[filename]" and SAVE "m:[filename]" to run them on a +2A, +2B or +3. USA Flag usaflag.tzx - 8.0 KB A routine to draw the flag of the United States of America, as accurately as is possible on the Spectrum - i.e. so that the 50 stars are all aligned and there is no colour clash. ENHANCED TYPE-INS PROGRAM / FILENAME / SIZE DESCRIPTION Apple Thief (v3.2) applethief32.tzx - 8.0 KB Changelog: applethief.txt Original program by Tat Tung in Sinclair Programs, July 1983 issue Link at World Of Spectrum and download at The Type Fantastic A game I liked quite a lot once I'd gone to the effort of typing it in, a view not shared by World Of Spectrum! Once I'd worked out how to use the jumps to eat all 600 apples on screen I found there was a second level... and a third, and so on until the game crashed when level 10 should be reached (as an INK 10 command is invoked). The author must have thought nobody would ever get there, but I did (by cheating, admittedly). Version 2 fixed this problem, made the green apples less game-breaking, and added an end sequence. Version 3 increased the number of orchards from 7 back to 10, tidied the score bar, and added a hold key. Version 4 was supposed to make a flashy jump sequence and get rid of the invisible apples, as well as add some 128K enhancements, but it never happened. Full details of what was improved and when is in the changelog. Brick Bucket (v4.0) brickbucket40.tzx - 8.8 KB Changelog: brickbucket.txt Original program by Ken Rylett in Sinclair User, January 1983 issue Link at World Of Spectrum and download at The Type Fantastic A standard "catch the falling objects" game where the random number generator sometimes made it impossible to reach the brick because it was dropped from too far away! I thought this one was ripe for improvement from the outset... Version 2 introduced a crude level counter, made the game drag less after each brick was dropped and realigned the bricks counter with the score. Version 3 added an intro sequence and instructions, improved the level counter and introduced promotion by two levels for catching all ten bricks. Version 4 doubled the number of levels and required catching more bricks for promotion to the next level. Version 5 was due to add an end sequence, scroll the level numbers up and down with a POKE 23606 (shown in the Scroll Counter routine above), and introduce a "joker" to thwart the computer's attempts to throw a brick too far away. Full details of what was improved and when is in the changelog. Shuttle Master (v4.0) shuttlemaster40.tzx - 11.5 KB Changelog: shuttlemaster.txt Original program by M.J. Rapps in Sinclair Programs, March-April 1983 issue Link at World Of Spectrum and download at The Type Fantastic Launch from the NASA base, grab the satellites, return without crashing. Sounds easy? It was too easy and I was having none of it! Version 2 added a UDG for the satellite and a radiation counter, version 3 increased the satellites to seven and doubled the radiation hazard, and version 4 required the satellites to be collected in a specific order (hence the Number Shuffler program above). Full details of what was improved and when is in the changelog. "SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE TWO" PROGRAM / FILENAME / SIZE DESCRIPTION Graphics Control (v3.2a) gc32a.tzx - 12.2 KB A powerful program to edit user-defined graphics and character sets. More on this on the UDG and character sets page. Classified as "somewhere between the two" due to being a combination of my own work (i.e. the simple bits) and two existing programs from 1980s type-in magazines. Sámi Flag samiflag.tzx - 8.1 KB A program that draws the Sámi flag, via some DRAW commands instead of CIRCLE and a very slow flood-fill routine (which wasn't my work so don't blame me).