Spring is in full swing and I’ve taken time away from running to complete a few LEGO renders. The topics range from movie blockbusters, old BASIC sets, to random sets from Pinterest. I even did some experimenting with Mecabricks rendering to see how it compared with mine. Here are four images to show off this Spring.
Taking a minor departure this Memorial Weekend, my ZX81 program is actually from my childhood best friend. Neighbors during our time in Italy, Jeremy and I spent a lot of time together playing with our LEGO bricks, D&D, and on our computers. U.F.O is a simple shooter game that takes a unique approach to graphics.
The eighties were a turbulent time. Political turmoil grew out of the Cold War, which wasn’t loss on this teenage programmer. The vocal leaders of the US and the USSR bubbled up often in the pop culture of the era and the esclation of war. It shouldn’t be surprising that I’d create an animation depicting that escalation.
With the arrival of Spring and warmer weather, I found myself inspired by the cheerful colors. Looking through my pins for ideas, a rainbow sparked my creativity. Thoughts of an Easter hunt with eggs and grass completed the theme. The blocky nature of the LEGO bricks invoke adolescence and whimsy.
After posting my artistic image of Custombricks’ Moai, I decided to share the models on Mecabricks. I probably should have checked first, as I found others had already shared. Oops. Nevertheless it was also an opportunity to download and render the models for a more realistic image.
Although I posted this on Flickr awhile back, I’m getting around to sharing on my blog. I was looking for something quick to render and had this Moai of Rapa Nui from custombrick in my Pinterest. Not thinking twice, I was off to Mecabricks to build the scene.
In my youth, I often looked to real games for inspiration. Card games were one such source and one I drew from often. Some attempts, like Stud, were simple high and low games. For March’s program, Hit tackles the more complex Blackjack, eschewing graphics to focus on gameplay.
Although I enjoyed that moon picture on my blog, it’s been there far too long. In looking for something new in 2019, I decided to use a picture of a playful sea turtle. The photo, taken while I was in Mexico in January, shows the backend of the turtle as it swims away. I thought that fitting for my blog where I hope you take a bit of each article with you when you leave.
As February closes, I thought it fitting to recap my renders this month. Four in total, although not quite one a week. Added to last month’s render, I’ve almost shared as many as last year. Hopefully this means a lot more LEGO fun is in store for the rest of year. Let’s walk back through them and see what I’ve been up to.
I dug into some older games for February’s program, Missler. A simple yet effective game, Missler is a great example of programs I dealt with in the eighties. In this case, you must maneuver our anti-missile artillery in an attempt to stop the incoming barrage.
The start of the 2019 year is passing quickly, so I needed to get a game in quick. I found a short little program called Trench Runner, but to my surprise, it had two listings. So, I took advantage of the situation and am offering two ZX81 games for January.
It’s been awhile since I rendered a LEGO model. Checking into Mecabricks, I noticed a comment that the name plate for my Sydney model had been added. Although someone had been kind enough to add it to the model, the render was now out of date. So, I got to work updating it!
Over the holidays, I dug through my listings to see what was left. I still have quite a few left, but the pile is definitely smaller. I’m starting to come across games I don’t remember as much. The Monster, this month’s program, is one such game.
I’m running a bit late this month, but I’ll try to make it up by offering a larger game. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Eighties unless it was almost impossible to play. But, at least it looks good.
Although November is often thought of as “No Shave” month. I prefer to leverage it as an opportunity to improve my writing skills in National November Writing Month. For this year’s NaNoWriMo, I’m focusing on finishing Steel Strong. I can’t wait!
Funny enough Lander, October’s game of the month, came out after my Lander 2 game. Weird, huh? No matter, it is a fast and sometimes difficult, sometimes easy, video game. Go give it a try, then let’s dig deeper.
September has come to a close and I’m on the edge for getting my program of the month out. So, I chose Raceway as a simple game that is both tough and satisfying. My high score is 40. Can you beat it?
August’s game is a somewhat deceiving. On the surface, it is a simple direction shooter. Be careful, though, as those asteroids speed up. It may start out easy, but Asteroid £ Metor will frustrate you—as it did me. After you give the game the retro try, let’d dig deeper into it.
Here it is in July and I have another one of my dodging games to share. But, this one is a little bit different. You don’t need to dodge all of them, or in this case go through all of them. Nevertheless, if you want the juicy bonus points, you need to grab as many of the blocks as you can. The twist is how the pylons change as you play.
You may, or may not, have noticed the lack of writing on my ZX81 site. You might think I gave up, moved, on, or forgot my password. Nope to all three. It’s way worse. I’m changing things up! TL;DR: You can head over to my main site (https://www.reids4fun.
I seem to like avoid the wall games. I wrote many of them over the years, inspired by other games I played like “Cavern’s of Mars.” It isn’t a surprise as the ZX81 made it pretty easy to write a vertical scroller. For Death Maze, I added a little twist. Is it enough to make the game fun to play? Let’s find out.
I had lots of ideas as a teenager. Many of them became actual programs, while others languish in my notebooks. Others made it a bit further, becoming programs on my ZX81, but never finished. A journey abandoned is still a journey. Let’s explore one such program this month: Tower of Love.
Jim notified me earlier this month that I’d missed one of his remakes of my ZX81 programs when I blogged about them earlier. Tower Dodge for the MC-10 is Jim’s version of my updated Pole Dodge 2. Not sure how I missed it as he rewrote it back in 2014. Of course, I can’t believe I wrote mine back in 2012! Time sure flies—get the pun? Anyway, let’s dive in and see what’s new.
Wait what? Another month? Another game? You betcha! April is upon us, and pretty much over. So, to pass the time I introduce Blaster, a shooter with a twist. Use Z to move left, . to move right, and M to fire. Not the most exciting game ever, but you’ll find it hard enough to spend a few minutes with it.
Taking a turn from games, March's program is a bit more useful. Although not as flexible as some modern programs, Bar Graph does the job. Add some data and print. What could be easier? Well, a lot.