- Stephen Nichol
Happy New Year and A New Game From Me!
9th January 2015
HAPPY NEW YEAR (HOPEFULLY!)
Towards the end of last year, I revealed that I had set myself the aim of completing two ZX Spectrum games by the end of the aforementioned year. Well, I've almost been successful, releasing the game on 2nd January 2015, and then removing a minor glitch and adding a quick command mentioned in the forums by 7th January 2015.
The name of my game is "When Alex Didn't Do It", an adventure made with The Graphic Adventure Creator (GAC), a compiling editor program available on the ZX Spectrum in 1986, and featured on the Your Sinclair Magnificent 7 covertape in January 1992.
The game is comprised of three 48k loads, named Parts 1 to 3. The password to access Part 2 is displayed upon completion of Part 1, and the same again after finishing Part 2 to access the third and final part.
The Spectrum version (currently the only version) of the game is 100% free to download and play, and as well as the three tape images, there is an Instruction Manual included as a .txt with a full list of standard and quick commands, as well as some clues for anyone who gets stuck.
Until the game WADDI shows up in any archives, you can download it on the loading screech Downloads page.
I was determined to finish the game by now, as I'm planning to design and build a homebrew 8-bit computer in 2015 - my ulterior motive for ordering the FIGnition back in the Spring of last year, although the machine I am hoping to build will be designed around the good old Z80.
I'm hoping this project will be completed by the end of December 2015, and the first stop I am taking along the way, is to follow a trainer design called the ZAP (Z80 Applications Processor) as outlined in the book Build Your Own Z80 Computer by Steve Ciarcia of Byte Magazine fame.
My FIGnition, incidentally, is in need of a bit of love. It worked the first two times I plugged it in but, after a few months in a box, I took it out and plugged it into the telly, only to discover the signal was fuzzy. After joining the FIGnition forum, I received a lot of help in tracking down the problem - which turned out to be a single misplaced connection, and I mean connection, not component - the other connection of the same component was in the right place.
It should have been easy to correct, but it furthermore turned out that I had used an indequate solder, and the connections were torn out when I removed the resistor from the PCB.
To be totally honest, I did most of my 8-bit computing last year on a ZX Spectrum +2B so, I didn't miss the FIGnition's 8 buttons all that much.
So, if you choose to play my Speccy games, I hope you enjoy them, and maybe you'll find my new adventures in old-style hardware interesting as well.