I couldn’t leave well enough alone. All that analyzing and nitpicking of the original Space Lander made me wonder what it might be like if I had rewritten it. Almost 28 years later, here is the reborn version of Space Lander 2011.
August’s Program: Space Lander
Okay, this may not be the large program I promised, but I choose Space Lander for a different reason: it's horrible! Okay, maybe it isn’t that bad, but it definitely wasn’t one of better programs. This was from 1983, clearly one of my earlier attempts. Actually, it is kind of refreshing reminder how much better my programming has become. If this helps others learn, then by all means check out the listing.
July’s Program: Sugar Cube Munch
Another simple program. Like many that I wrote for the ZX81, Sugar Cube Munch was small with a singular purpose. In this case, the goal is to eat all the cubes of sugar as quickly as possible. Once all the sugar is eaten, the game is over and the number of turns is revealed. You can give it a try by using the ZX81 arrow keys 5,6,7, and 8 to move around.
June’s Program: Beo One
I was searching through my stack of programs and decided to choose a short and sweet program for June. Beo One is definitely short, clocking at just 33 lines of code. Well 35 if you include the two new save and run lines I added. This is a simple talking head graphic program, which is the sweet part.
May’s Program: BOLT
Can you believe it! First day of the month and I have a program uploaded! Okay, so it is another graphic one and isn't very exciting, or long. But hey, you can't blame me for not trying!
April’s Program: Sphere
I’ve been a bit busy this month so I choose a relatively short program in order to not miss my self imposed deadline. To that end, I present to you April’s belated graphic program: Sphere. This program will easily run on a 2K ZX81. With some trimming, if you are so inclined, it will probably run in the original 1K of RAM as well. Although I doubt too many people with a ZX81 have less than 16K of RAM. Take a look at the listing to get a feel for how small this program really is.
March’s Program: Lock £ Fire
March’s program is Lock £ Fire. I wrote this graphic game in 1985, although I have to admit I don't remember it much. It is a bit hard to play as the keys aren’t very sensitive and the aliens jump around as you try to “lock” onto them. It doesn’t help that I used an odd keyboard layout which adds to the difficulty. The aliens are shooting at your shield and, if they get through, the game is over. Note that you don’t kill the aliens, but they may change their look. When you shoot them enough, the next level starts. Every 10 hits will clear some of your shields as well. Boy, I must have been in one of those moods when I wrote this.
Digging for Old Books
For some time now I’ve listed the ZX81 books I own on my original ZX81 web site, but I hadn’t put much effort in searching the web for them. Mainly this was because I already own them, but mostly because it never occurred to me to do so. I ran across an online copy of Sinclair ZX81 BASIC Programming which made me wonder what other books existed out there. Sadly, my search uncovered very little legitimate books. However, World of Spectrum did have a good number of the books and cover art available.
February’s Program: Golf
This month’s program is a simple game of Golf. Although not overly exciting, it does show off a few ZX81 BASIC features.
Major ZX81 Updates
A few things have changed over the list eight years. As I wind down the use of my ZX81 site, incorporating it my main one, much of below is invalid. That doesn’t mean that changes weren’t important at the time. Ideas come and go, and it is good to remember where we came from. Below is a recap of what was.
New ZX81 Programs Section
I’ve added a new ZX81 Programs section that lists all of my ZX81 programs available so far. The list includes the name, a brief synopsis, and options to list or run the program as available. I still need to add a more complete description option. The code is there, I just haven't decided how I want to deal with the pictures. But hey, at least you can run every program I had available before, plus a few new ones.
January’s Program: Water Bug II
I did it! After a lot of recording, cleaning, and tweaking I was finally able to get Water Bug II loaded! Hit the link, wait for it to load, then hit enter to give it a whirl. Then use the 5, 6, 7, and 8 keys to move (left, down, up, right) just as they are on the ZX81 keyboard.
Slow Going
I really meant to have a number of my programs converted this month. I found a tape player and have been trying to load my ZX81 programs off the original tapes; however, I keep running into a problems.
Celebrating Thirty Years of ZX81
This years marks the 30th anniversary of the Sinclair ZX81 home computer. To celebrate, over the next year I plan on updating my ZX81 site with site updates and monthly spotlights.
Celebrating Thirty Years of ZX81
This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the ZX81's debut. Hard to believe this little wonder is turning thirty and how much the world has changed. My goal is to celebrate the occasion by continuing to update the site with new content. I’d like to do a monthly showcase of programs as well.
Pardon the Dust and Debris
I’m in the process of updating the old flat design of this site into a more dynamic one. The original site was designed in the nineties for use on GeoCities and its various requirements and stipulations. Now that GeoCities is dead and the content has been moved to better hosting, I’m taking the opportunity to migrate the site to WebAPP.
Fun with Z-Code (aka Inform)
Okay, I’ve been a fan of adventure games, and specifically Infocom games, for most of my life. I have fond memories of playing great games such as “Planet Fall” and “Zork” when I was in high school on my C64. However, even before playing those games, I was playing and writing games on my ZX81 using a very simple adventure engine.
LEGO and ZX81 Geocities Content Moved
Yahoo! will be shutting down Geocities tomorrow, 10/26/09, which means an end to my old LEGO and ZX81 website. Although I hadn’t updated those sites much since Yahoo! turned off ftp access, Geocities had remained my presence on the web for almost 12 years. Sad to say, it will be sad to see it go.
ZX81 Emulation and PHOTON98
A few years back, I started to convert some of my old ZX81 programs so they could be use in various ZX81 emulators. That project was mostly my way of trying to preserve some printouts from my now faded programs. I was curious if I there was a way to emulate those programs in a web site. Surprisingly, the answer is yes!