Reid's For Fun

Posted Jan 09 by Steven in Photography 1 min read

January has rolled around and it felt fitting to update my blog’s title screen image for the New Year. I was fortunate enough to get away to warmer areas and was able to capture this picture. It is my mood of late, looking out towards the horizon. My goal is to make this blog relaxing and open, a refreshing place to come and enjoy life for a bit. Perhaps a lot of what I share is looking back with my retro work. But there is that mystical quality to it all. If anything, I can relax with a drink each time I visit my site. Hope you can as well.

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# blog¹⁹  # header²  # image⁸  # picture³ 

Posted Dec 25, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 11 min read

Now, Water Bug II is an interesting game for me. I was so excited when completing the first version, that I wanted to build another version with ten more boards. The funny thing is, the games look a lot alike. In fact, if you weren’t paying attention, I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought you were playing the same game. Let’s dig deeper on both the similarities and the differences.

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# monthly¹²⁵  # retro⁷⁸  # zx81¹⁶² 

Posted Nov 30, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 16 min read

For most of the day, I’ve been thinking about my Water Bug game as I never really gave it a proper write-up. Finally got around to playing it again, I was surprised to find elements in that I thought were unique to Water Bug II are actually in this version. That made me want to walk through each board, understanding better what I had done, what worked, and what didn’t. Let’s dive right in.

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Posted Oct 31, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

Like many teenagers in the early eighties, I was playing video games on my Atari VCS. Yars’ Revenge was a popular purchase, and I spent many hours dodging that stupid missile and trying to take down the shields of the Qotile. It then should come at no surprise that I tried to recreate that game at 13. My attempt on the ZX81 didn’t look horrible, but it sure played bad. Let’s see how much.

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Posted Sep 25, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 8 min read

My original plan was to create an z80 assembler version of Moon Lander. But with the trailer release for the next Matrix movie, I found myself revisiting another program. Built entirely in machine language, Z80 Digital Rain expands on my previous version with a splash of color. Let’s dive deeper.

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# monthly¹²⁵  # retro⁷⁸  # zx81¹⁶² 

Posted Aug 21, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 8 min read

Last month, I shared an old moon landing program I wrote back in the early 80s. Right after that, I decided to give it a bit of a face lift, updating the visuals without changing the game play. Moon Lander v2 is my updated game, yet still the same BASIC code under hood.

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Posted Jul 31, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 6 min read

When I first started programming, one of the games we would play on the old teletype machines was a simple moon lander game. The premise is you would use your thrusters to softly land on the moon. Moon Lander was my take of that program a few years later.

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Posted Jun 24, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 7 min read

As a young teenager, I often wrote programs that I would integrate into other play. In this case, I had probably watched War Games again. The idea of a computer talking to you made for some fun fantasy play. Comp Control a little pretend play where my lowly ZX81 mimicked a much more sophisticated world. I’m sure I was running around my room thinking up some crazy way to save the world.

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Posted Jun 20, 2021 by Steven in LEGO Renders 3 min read

While watching a review for the new M1 iMac, they ran the typical Blender test as a benchmark. That wasn’t overly surprising, but the reviewer did say something that peaked my interest. Apparently, the latest version of Blender now supported Apple Silicon. Tucking that tidbit away at the time, I got around to downloading LTS 2.93 today and giving it a whirl.

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# apple¹⁰  # arm¹  # blender⁶¹  # lego¹²⁶  # m1² 

Posted May 31, 2021 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 5 min read

I was hoping to have finished Gem Quest by now, but May didn’t afford much time. With Summer arriving and the pandemic seeming to be winding down, at least in Boise, my attention is elsewhere. With a short list of ideas, I decided to play off last month's theme. Picture in Motion isn’t new, but it is more interesting to watch.

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# animation¹⁸  # graphics⁴  # monthly¹²⁵  # retro⁷⁸  # zx81¹⁶²