Back To BASIC(s)

[The_Laird]

I have been telling myself for years that I would get back into programming but never did. That is until this week and broke my foot at work laying me out for over a week at least.

 

Back in the day I owned a wonderful 128k Spectrum +2a with its simple Sinclair basic and cheap blank casettes it was a programmers dream and I was an avid programmer. Head of my computer club at school and passing my Computer Studies GCSE with an A I wrote many games and programs in basic on on both my Spectrum and the school BBC Micros. They were all lost many years ago as I moved onto the ST and consoles and moved all over the place.

 

A few years ago I picked up a Spectrum once again as I began to collect at a rapid pace but never gave it much love as the Atari's took over again. However as I began to think about picking up programming again I intended to go for my Atari 800XL but found the basic confusing and different to what I knew and today I returned to my first love, the Sinclair Spectrum.

 

It wasn't well known in the US but sold massively here and with its awful use of colour was sometimes ridiculed by C64 users but featured much higher resolution a far more useful basic and the Yamaha AY sound chip later seen in the ST as well as 128k of ram. Today I pulled out my Spectrum 128k +3 complete with a built in disk drive and set about to program a game in basic.

 

I started writing a fruit machine simulator which I have called Speccy Slots and in just a few hours I achived alot and here I will document it and hope I encourage others to pick up programming a classic machine once again.

 

Speccy Slots - Day 1

 

* Set out what I wanted to do and worked out rough graphic designs based on screen size

* Wrote the code for all the graphics used to represent the slot machine symbols

* Wrote a random number generator and added variables to decide how it displayed the slots

* Added logic for jackpots and chance so that acheiving them was balanced.

* Put in a simple title screen and instruction screen

* Put in screen images for when you win

* Set up the values for wins and a cash value that updates with each spin

* Game over sequence set-up

 

For just a few hours I am really happy with what I have achieved and it has certainly helped me once again understand how to use sub-routines, variables, screen positions and simple graphics routines. In my next build I hope to add sound, a better title screen, improved game logic and bonus features.

 

Below I show some crappy screenshots of what I have done so far:

[JamesD]

I have been telling myself for years that I would get back into programming but never did. That is until this week and broke my foot at work laying me out for over a week at least.

 

Back in the day I owned a wonderful 128k Spectrum +2a with its simple Sinclair basic and cheap blank casettes it was a programmers dream and I was an avid programmer. Head of my computer club at school and passing my Computer Studies GCSE with an A I wrote many games and programs in basic on on both my Spectrum and the school BBC Micros. They were all lost many years ago as I moved onto the ST and consoles and moved all over the place.

 

A few years ago I picked up a Spectrum once again as I began to collect at a rapid pace but never gave it much love as the Atari's took over again. However as I began to think about picking up programming again I intended to go for my Atari 800XL but found the basic confusing and different to what I knew and today I returned to my first love, the Sinclair Spectrum.

Welcome back to the wonderful world of 8 bits and BASIC.

 

 

It wasn't well known in the US but sold massively here and with its awful use of colour was sometimes ridiculed by C64 users but featured much higher resolution a far more useful basic and the Yamaha AY sound chip later seen in the ST as well as 128k of ram. Today I pulled out my Spectrum 128k +3 complete with a built in disk drive and set about to program a game in basic.

The C64 supports 320x240 and the Speccy is 256x192. Lots of games drop to a lower resolution on the C64 but it does offer higher resolution.

 

 

I started writing a fruit machine simulator which I have called Speccy Slots and in just a few hours I achived alot and here I will document it and hope I encourage others to pick up programming a classic machine once again.

 

Speccy Slots - Day 1

 

* Set out what I wanted to do and worked out rough graphic designs based on screen size

* Wrote the code for all the graphics used to represent the slot machine symbols

* Wrote a random number generator and added variables to decide how it displayed the slots

* Added logic for jackpots and chance so that acheiving them was balanced.

* Put in a simple title screen and instruction screen

* Put in screen images for when you win

* Set up the values for wins and a cash value that updates with each spin

* Game over sequence set-up

 

For just a few hours I am really happy with what I have achieved and it has certainly helped me once again understand how to use sub-routines, variables, screen positions and simple graphics routines. In my next build I hope to add sound, a better title screen, improved game logic and bonus features.

 

Below I show some crappy screenshots of what I have done so far:

Looks like a nice start!

[The_Laird]

Did a load more work on this today:

 

Speccy Slots - Day 2

 

* Getting 3 ZX Symbols now puts you into a bonus game

* Bonus game 1 added - Roll the dice and if you throw a 6 you light up the first bonus symbol

* Added sound effects

* Bonus game 2 added - Find which cup the invader is hidden under

* Some new graphics including bonus symbols and messages

 

I still want to improve the game logic a bit more and improve the title screen 2. I also plan to add a 3rd bonus game and then when you have lit all bonus symbols and the Jackpot symbol you complete the game.

 

Found things alot harder today. Had to do alot of debugging as my program got larger and more complex but found just stepping away for a while helped me think about where I might have gone wrong and what I could do better. The game is running perfect now with no bugs at all (that I have discovered anyway) and takes up 11k of memory!

[The_Laird]

Just realised I never added the new screenshots:

[sh3-rg]

Missed this thread originally, is this a conversion of Fruit Pursuit or an entirely new, not-typed-in-from-a-magazine-listing game? Either way, great effort.

[The_Laird]

Its an entirely new project, probably about 90% complete now. The only think it misses is the 3rd bonus game which I planned to be penalty shoot out with the Space Invader in goal.

 

I moved onto some other projects to help me get more familiarised again with stuff like joystick routines, collision detection, user defined graphics and computer AI.

 

I first did Mega Games 1 which is finished and then moved onto Laserbots which started off as a demo but kind of evolved into a Robotron type game.

Edited September 14, 2010 by The_Laird

[sh3-rg]

Is Mega games 1 a compilation you've been working on? Ayn details? Seems to have gone a long way from just a fruit machine.

[carmel_andrews]

Nice lot of gamez there Mr Laird.....Any chance of a port/conv. to the yummy A8 (using sommat like turbo basic or if you want real slow Atari basic)

[The_Laird]

Is Mega games 1 a compilation you've been working on? Any details? Seems to have gone a long way from just a fruit machine.

 

Mega Games 1 is a compilation yeah it consists of:

 

Rainbow Squash - A simple bat and ball game where your bat moves closer and closer to the top of the screen giving you less time to hit the ball.

 

Shuttle Lander - I did this game as part of a project when I was at school on the BBC Micro. Was the first ever thing I did on an ST too. So I did a Speccy version with nicer graphics. Your shuttle moves ever closer to the ground and you have to use the directions to "thrust it" so it lands on the runway right. There are difficulty modes to make it faster or slower.

 

Bobsleigh - This game was actually in a book I had, not 100% my own work. You just have to steer your Bobsliegh down a scrolling course. I added user defined graphics to it, difficulty modes that adjust the speed, a title screen and sound.

 

Nice lot of gamez there Mr Laird.....Any chance of a port/conv. to the yummy A8 (using sommat like turbo basic or if you want real slow Atari basic)

 

I have played around a bit with the A8 but it was so different to the Speccy with its use of graphics and alot less simple to just jump into. I am sure I will go back to it at some point but its packed up at the moment due to lack of space. I havn't even worked on any Spectrum stuff for at least a month as I have been busy with other stuff.

 

Here are a few more screen shots. 1 of Laser Bots and the rest of Multi Games 1.

[sh3-rg]

Nice lot of gamez there Mr Laird.....Any chance of a port/conv. to the yummy A8 (using sommat like turbo basic or if you want real slow Atari basic)

 

Maybe when he's finished with this:

 

(Containing such great games as Fruit Machine, Rainbow Squash and Bobsleigh... OK, not exactly Steve Davis Snooker 128, but hey...)

 

 

He will move on to this and 'write' some 1337 a8 stuff, too:

 

 

[+CyranoJ]

Nice lot of gamez there Mr Laird.....Any chance of a port/conv. to the yummy A8 (using sommat like turbo basic or if you want real slow Atari basic)

 

Maybe when he's finished with this:

 

(Containing such great games as Fruit Machine, Rainbow Squash and Bobsleigh... OK, not exactly Steve Davis Snooker 128, but hey...)

 

 

He will move on to this and 'write' some 1337 a8 stuff, too:

 

 

 

Hey I've got both those books at my parents. I'll have to dig them up next time I'm home

[carmel_andrews]

Have not seen either

 

But i will be looking at the plethora of A8 books i do have

Edited September 16, 2010 by carmel_andrews

[WOS Sard]

Maybe when he's finished with this:

 

(Containing such great games as Fruit Machine, Rainbow Squash and Bobsleigh... OK, not exactly Steve Davis Snooker 128, but hey...)

 

 

He will move on to this and 'write' some 1337 a8 stuff, too:

 

 

 

Now now ... to be fair to Kizza, the fruit machine game he is (cough) writing is not in that book. The 3 games that ARE though, as he finally pointed out to us are..

 

BOBSLEIGH..

 

 

RAINBOW SQUASH (which he forgot to mention)

 

 

And totally out of the blue.. SPECTRUM DICE

 

 

Now there's nothing at all wrong with taking some already existing typeins, jazzing them up a little, putting a better front end on etc etc, PROVIDED you are honest about that 100 percent from the start. However, I cant help but think on this occasion (and with your track record on this matter firmly in mind) that you havent really been so fully, have you Kizza? Do you think ?

 

Stuff like this is hardly a good idea, and somewhat unfair on the original authors I would say.

 

 

Copyright of whooooo ???

[psj3809]

I feel really embarassed for Kizza / The Laird.

 

For those who dont know this user (Who used to be called Kizza) made a bold statement that he wrote a few games back in the 80's which were very successful such as 'Steve Davis Snooker'. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0004896

 

He never wrote this game at all, it was just a stupid lie to get some attention off fellow retro gamers. Walter Mitty, sorry Kizza, sorry I mean The Laird was found out but over and over made out he did in fact code that game (and others). Due to his date of birth on his profile it seemed like he coded the games when he was about 12 years old and managed to get them published etc ! He then changed his date of birth on his profile so he would seem older and make the lie more convincing.

 

Despite many people coming here to tell the truth he still made out he wrote Steve Davis Snooker and others !

 

And now here he is, years later, a different username and again doing the same Walter Mitty routine and making out hes some great programmer here to help people. Its embarassing. I dont know what condition Kizza has but he seems to constantly do his Mitty impression to impress people.

 

Yeah he 'might' have written that first game (The problem is now its like boy who cried wolf, who knows if he did really write it or not) but the other games are from that book which he 'amazingly' didnt mention as WOS Sard mentioned above. I really wouldnt be surprised if 'Speccy Slots' is a type in from another book.

 

Come on Kizza, this is embarassing.

 

Atari Age is a great community, i love browsing the website and forum. But once again seeing Kizza talking crap trying to impress people is embarassing.

 

You'll be telling everyone next you invented the internet and discovered the Beatles.

Edited September 16, 2010 by psj3809

[The_Laird]

I already said I used some stuff from type in listings (from a book called The Complete Spectrum by Alan Scott) and played around with it a bit and added some of my own stuff.

 

Speccy Slots is 100% original code except for the dice bit which I mostly did a copy off as I couldn't get the original type in code to work properly and do what I wanted to do so I re-wrote it.

 

Rainbow Squash was again code that I typed in and wasn't really what I wanted so re-wrote parts of it.

 

I already said Bobsleigh is near enough the same as the one in the book. Just made a few slight changes.

 

Shuttle Lander is 100% my own work and so is Laser Bots.

 

I am not hiding anything at all here and would be more than happy to let anybody see the code if they were willing to pay for the price of the postage and blank disk.

 

I really don't see why some people need to follow me around 24/7 and troll every thread I contribute too

Edited September 16, 2010 by The_Laird

[WOS Sard]

I already said I used some stuff from type in listings (from a book called The Complete Spectrum by Alan Scott) and played around with it a bit and added some of my own stuff.

 

Speccy Slots is 100% orginal code except for the dice bit which I mostly did a copy off as I couldn't get the original type in code to work properly and do what I wanted to do so I re-wrote it.

 

Rainbow Squash was again code that I typed in and wasn't really what I wanted so re-wrote large parts of it.

 

I already said Bobsleigh is near enough the same as the one in the book. Just made a few slight changes.

 

Shuttle Lander is 100% my own work and so is Laser Bots.

 

I am not hiding anything at all here and would be more than happy to let anybody see the code if they were willing to pay for the price of the postage and blank disk.

 

I really don't see why some people need to follow me around 24/7 and troll every thread I contribute too

 

And has been pointed out to you, there's nothing wrong with using someone elses (rather old) code, tidying it up and implementing it into something you are doing. Provided you say that's what you are doing from the word go. However it has taken you until now to even acknowledge that Rainbow Squash and the Dice code was not your work originally, no matter how much you have "rewritten" them. Even with Bobsleigh, Sh3 RG had to squeeze the details out of you (something he already knew by the way) and yet you still failed to mention the others. Its just not good programming etiquette Kiz.. and whats more you know it!

Sticking your © under it is just asking for trouble if you ask me.

 

As for "Shuttle Lander" and "Laserbots" being your own work, noone has claimed otherwise. I certainly do hope they are yours. To quote what YOU said to me on JSII recently, " Is someone feeling paranoid? " I do however seem to remember a few Atari ST games you said that about also, so you will forgive me if I take what you say with the slightest dash of skepticism.

 

And lastly, checking against your claims and trolling your every post, are NOT the same thing. No matter what you may wish others to believe. After 2006, are you really that surprised ?

[The_Laird]

He hardly had to squeeze it out of me, all he did was ask about it. I had not previously talked about it as this topic was not about my Multi Games project it was about Speccy Slots.

 

I have already mentioned elsewhere that I was using that book to help me familiarise myself with Spectrum basic again and using bits of code from it. I also got some useful help with stuff from people on WOS, its actually surprising how much a remembered just from reading through the listings.

 

I will be most likely taking my Speccy to Jagfest to discuss some stuff with the other coders there and I know there are a few people who will be interested in it there.

[WOS Sard]

And thats good. I'm deadly serious when I say that I hope your programming goes well. You probably have more talent than me at it, thats for sure.

As for the other matter, I think even you would agree that perhaps in future, being a bit clearer, a bit sooner, would avoid any problems like this later on, and we shall just leave it at that.

 

Fairy nuff ?

[carmel_andrews]

A couple or more things Mr WOS/Sard

 

Re: Steve Davis Snooker claim, Having never seen/played the spectrum version (but have seen and played the A8 version), if the A8 version is anything to go by I am guessing and assuming that the spectrum version was also coded/programmed in assembler/machine code, and from what i remember Laird mentioning to me and others, he is more proficient in BASIC, and i don't think you could get the same results from a basic program to in anyway resemble that of an assembler/MC equivalent (even if you did compile the basic version)

 

Also, I think you will find that our friend Laird went by the name MR Kizza and not Kizza (if his former AA nom de plume is anything to go by) so I think you might be getting our friend laird mixed up with someone else (bearing in mind that someone else might have registered the name Kizza on your service/site before our friend laid started using it)

 

Lastly Mr WOS/Sard, we are a happy bunch here in the main and we don't take it too kindly for newcomers to start causing trouble (or sh!tstirring as i like to call it) amongst/with fellow members/users, perhaps you should that taken up that particular point up with Mr laird in private (using the 2 private messenging systems here on AA) then try airing your dirty laundry out in public

 

Just a thought, that's all

Edited September 17, 2010 by carmel_andrews

[The Starglider]

 

Also, I think you will find that our friend Laird went by the name MR Kizza and not Kizza (if his former AA nom de plume is anything to go by) so I think you might be getting our friend laird mixed up with someone else (bearing in mind that someone else might have registered the name Kizza on your service/site before our friend laid started using it)

 

No, it's the same person.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/91776-the-best-8-bit-gaming-computer/page__view__findpost__p__1118803

[sh3-rg]

we don't take it too kindly for newcomers to start causing trouble (or sh!tstirring as i like to call it)

 

What people really don't take too kindly to on AtariAge is misleading members and just plain fibbing... unfortunately that's what we have here, again.

 

Hey Carmel, all you have to do is click someone's username & you can find out all sorts of information about them from their profile For instance, WOS Sard : Joined: 14-August 06. He might not post much but he's no noob, nor is he "sh!tstirring" when he's pointing out facts. They might be hard facts to digest for some, but facts they remain.

 

Mate, arm yourself with some & consider them for a moment before posting or jumping to the defense of people who might not deserve it.

 

I think you might be getting our friend laird mixed up with someone else

 

Nah it's the same Mr.Kizza/The_Laird/laird of Forsyth/LynxGOD that, in his Mr.Kizza guise, left AA and JS2 on Feb 16 2007 for a new life managing a bar in Spain (where apparently they hadn't yet heard of the fantastic Internets) but then magically re-emerged as moderator (well, now ex-moderator...) LynxGOD 2 or 3 days later on JS2 and The_Laird on AA some time later still. That's why his Kizza & The_Laird accounts here are merged, once it was discovered... although it remains to be seen whether he stuck by his "I moved to Spain" story in order to help the lifting of his banned account here. I suspect so, but that is not entirely relevant to your misunderstandings.

 

So yes, it is the same person who claimed to write Steve Davis Snooker 128 and a host of other Spectrum games (that actually do exist, unlike SDS128) here on AtariAge. The same person who claimed to have written 6 Atari ST games on Little Green Desktop that, hardly surprisingly, have all been credited to other authors.

 

He is now claiming to have 'written' more Spectrum games, this time bizarrely just type-in listings from printed works.

 

Quite why someone would go to such lengths to pretend to be the author of 25+ year old games and now 'new' 1980s games that already exist, written by other people... well... you'd need a decently qualified psychologist to get anywhere with that i suspect.

 

So I hope that sets things straight for you. Read the old AA threads, the WoS thread and the JS2 threads. Then you will be able to come back here and post safe in the knowledge that you are in possession if more of (if not quite all) the facts.

 

For me, AtariAge should be about being creative with old machines, not with the truth.

 

 

sh3-reservoir gods^reboot

 

EDITs: remove erroneous link/image & clarity

[WOS Sard]

Thanks Sh3.. there is really very little for me to add to that. I will however say that when you post and claim something in public, you get replied to in public. Its generally the way forums work.

 

Just a thought that's all...

[The_Laird]

From somebody who got banned from JS2 and here for having multiple accounts thats pretty rich but you don't see me following you round the forum bringing it up in every single thread do you Mr. kZa/K-Klass/sh3-rg ?

 

This thread is not about dragging up old crap from the past or talking about things that have no relevence to this discussion at all.

 

I have clearly mentioned above the parts of code I used that were not mine and even where I got them from, even Sard was gracious enough to admit that and credit to him. I have also said I would have no problem showing people the code or sending it to them to prove its my own work.

 

And you really would be wise not to talk about things you really know nothing about or check your facts before you comment in regards to certain things. My accounts here were MERGED AT MY REQUEST as Albert can verify, I was never actually banned from here it turned out to be a mistake with regards to merging of my accounts, I have family and friends who live in Tenerife (part of Spain by the way) and its well known I lived there myself for 3 years so yes I go there quite often if you really need the proof I can even scan my Spanish residencia etc.

 

Maybe if you spent as much time coding as you do following me around the internet and posting pages on your website then Reboot would have delivered the more complex and advanced games many Jaguar fans are waiting for.

 

I wish you luck with your future projects and look forward to playing them as much as the next Jag fan.

Edited September 17, 2010 by The_Laird

[carmel_andrews]

So let me get this right sh-3...not that i want to start anything

 

Would you mind very much people dredging up the past as far you you are concerned and making that available to the general public 'i.e doing one's dirty laundry out in public' (since you must remember that all posts and threads within atariage (excepting those in the off topic section) are viewable from outside of Atariage, hence why i stated that what i said in a general/generic content and asking that if Wos had a particular issue or problem with whatever laird said or claimed then he could have easily mentioned that particular issue or problem to laird directly in private (via one of the 2 private messenger systems available here on AA)

 

Or am i right in thinking that AA is no longer a community and that we pride ourselves in simply point scoring by dredging up the past or dwelling on the past of others

 

And by the way sh-3 i was not defending or backing up anyone i was merely offering my opinion (in a general/generic sense)

 

I do not need to avail myself of any facts as I am not so interested in dreging up the past or dwelling on the past of others, since by default when you dredge up the past and the past of others you tend to focus on the negative aspects and put that in a present context/tense (i am sure you know the phrase 'history repeating itself')

[sh3-rg]

K-Kool

Eh? K-Kwhool? Kizza... don't go making stuff, ffs, what will people think?! My account (singular) on js2 was kZa - it was only one account, as you should know being an (ex-) moderator there. I was banned because I disliked Gorf's lies there as much as I dislike yours here. Being banned from JS2 is a medal I wear with pride.

 

This thread is not about dragging up old crap from the past or talking about things that have no relevence to this discussion at all.

 

Well, it seems you lying saying you wrote Spectrum games this year has parallels with you doing the same in 2006.

 

I saw that as being relevant, not dragging up old crap.

 

I have clearly mentioned above the parts of code I used that were not mine and even where I got them from

 

Not even close you haven't. Rainbow Squish? Dice? And the rest, Mr.Kizza... and the rest...

 

I have also said I would have no problem showing people the code or sending it to them to prove its my own work.

 

If you are totally squeaky clean & honest I suggest you post here, in a code box, for all to see and examine, your Space Shuttle code.

 

Do not ignore this, you offered, I'm accepting.

 

Do not take days to post an obfuscated edit, post, tonight, Space Shuttle. Then we'll talk.

 

And you really would be wise not to talk about things you really know nothing about ... I have family and friends who live in Tenerife (part of Spain by the way) and its well known I lived there myself for 3 years so yes I go there quite often if you really need the proof I can even scan my Spanish residencia etc.

 

That's hardly the same as packing up, leaving the UK & moving to Spain where there are no Internets to work behind a bar... then turn up on JS2 3 days later as LynxGOD. Where do your lies & wiggles cease, Kizza?

 

Maybe if you spent as much time coding as you do following me around the internet

 

Hardly, Mr.Kizza, I found an old post of yours from months ago where you were, again, claiming to have written more Spectrum games I happened to know you didn't.