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WELCOME to SINCLAIR BASIC Sticky

A topic by Gazzapper created May 06, 2017 Views: 2,872 Replies: 48
Viewing posts 1 to 21
HostSubmitted

Please feel free to introduce yourselves and enjoy this Sinclair BASIC 'Retro Coding' Jam.

If you have any Game Jam or Sinclair BASIC or Tool questions please ask in the FAQ forum.

Enjoy!

Hi. I will try to make something 馃榾

HostSubmitted

Thanks! Sinclair BASIC is a lot of fun to use.

Due to work related "stuff", I'm either going to have no time in June, or loads of time in June. So I thought it'd be worth at least getting joined.

steve

HostSubmitted

Good stuff - You don't need to worry about creating anything advanced - Just have fun creating what you can.

Submitted

Hi there! My name is Felix. I grew up with the Speccy. On my first day with the machine, having neither games nor a manual, I just poked at it until something worked: printing a number, and drawing a short line. Could never give up programming again after that...

More recently I made a couple of Spectrum games using the ZXBasic cross-compiler, but that can be quite involved, so despite my best intentions a third never materialized (even though the second one has been my greatest success so far). I did have a plan however, which will end up being repurposed for this jam. It's very modest, but hey, the point is having fun, right? Line-number BASIC rocks, and it still has plenty of fans, too. So unless something goes wrong, count me in.

P.S. Call me spoiled, but I'm going to use BASin. Nostalgia has its limits. :P

HostSubmitted(+1)

Welcome! I too caught the bug early and from the humble ZX Spectrum :)

Over the last couple of years I built some Speccy-inspired Android apps!

And yes, it's about having fun!

Submitted(+1)

This looks fun. I use to program little 'Choose your own Adventure' style games in BASIC when I was a kid on my 48k. Mainly learning from the magazine type ins. I picked up a ZX81 Basic book at a charity shop last year and have finally gotten round to reading it this afternoon in preperation for the Jam. Though I'll probly do the game with the 48k in mind as thats the spectrum that I'm fondest of. I actualy learnt machine code a couple years ago with a mind to programming a speccy game but never got round to it. I think doing it in BASIC sounds alot more fun though.

Submitted (1 edit)

Another one joining. Will try to submit something. I will try because 30 years had been since my last program in Spectrum BASIC. :-)

If you did some programing in the meantime, you'll tear your hair out by the limitations. I really got spoiled with all the elseifs, loops and whatnot ^_^

Submitted

Seconded. Luckily I had practice with line-number BASIC just recently. Tip: plan the layout of your source code in advance.

(+1)

Planing in advance? Are you crazy?! ^_^

HostSubmitted

Welcome and have fun re-familiarising with Sinclair BASIC!

(+1)

Hi everyone!

Anders from Sweden here. The ZX80 was the first computer I ever touched, back in 1980, when I was six years old. My father bought it as a kit, if I remember correctly. We added the ZX81-like ROM, some extra RAM and a sound synthesizer to it, and in 1982, we bought the 48k ZX Spectrum.

Then, I was already hooked. Now, I have been working as a software developer for about 20 years, but I will never forget my Speccy. I made something Spectrum-like in Javascript a while ago. I hope you like it: JavaScript emulation of ZX Spectrum bitmap and a little BASIC

HostSubmitted

Welcome Anders! I too am a software developer because of the humble Speccy. Your javascript parser looks good! 

Submitted

Andy here.  Had an '81, then a Speccy.  Did a lot of recreational programming back then, dabbled with assembly.  Done a lot of hobby programming since (currently enjoying Arduino things), but I still return to the Spectrum.  It's so comfortable!

Today I've messed around and decided on what I'm trying to do - faffing and seeing how fast I can make things move as I'm trying for something arcade-game-y.  I'm using the attributes to check for collision, and having a lot of fun.  I might even be up to the stage where I am 'designing levels' - ooh ya.  I'm going to knock together something crude to do that on the speccy too - if I have time maybe it'll be a level editor too!

HostSubmitted

Great stuff! I will check it out when it's done :)
Sinclair BASIC is great for simple ideas. Imaginative approaches to the limits of Sinclair BASIC is a lot fun to solve and there's a great feeling when you get something that works really well.

(+1)

Wohoo, i just "won" a game against myself in my game! Well there is no win state in the program yet, but i finished the goal. Adding win check will be easy plus i have to add check for no possible legal moves. But after that 2 player version is done and i'll start to work on AI.

Go speccy!

(1 edit)

Hello, I'm Matteo Trevisan aka Toolkitman, i started with my first basic computer with a C64 at 6 years old in 84'. I never used a Spectrum until this year that i found fuse emulator and i made by myself a fully recreated compatible keyboard working also with my built ZX Sinclair Spectrum system for Raspberry pi. I started programming some games with the book of Gary Plowman and able just to code in Applesoft and Microsoft Basic i made my own programs and games. I hope to be soon an owner of an original and true Sinclair Spectrum. In this Jam session i have published some games and soundtracks i have made. I hope you all enjoy my works.. because programming for fun or not for fun is alwayse a work! ; )

Submitted

That's admirable, starting out with old 8-bit machines so long after they stopped being a thing. How do you find the platform so far, seeing as you haven't grown up with its limitations the way I did?

a friend of mine is offering to me a zx81 not 128k but still a sinclair

HostSubmitted

Welcome Matteo!

Have fun and there is plenty of time of work on your ideas.
ZX81 is fun, I hope they are giving you one with 16k ram pack :)

(1 edit)

Thank you Gazzapper! I  alwayse have fun : ) programming. It's really beautiful see something born from nothing. For the Computer it's a Timex Sinclair 1000.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Hi everybody! My name is Marco, I'm from Italy. My first computer in the 80s was a Speccy (actually a +2); it heavily influenced my life, since it made me fall in love with computer programming. I still love old computers and particularly Sinclair machines and In my (little) free time I like to develop simple programs for them, mainly using C, but I am also learning Assembly.  My BASIC is a bit rusty, BTW I will try to submit something to the Jam!

HostSubmitted(+1)

Great stuff! Your entry doesn't need to complex...just have fun! :)

Submitted

Thank you! :)

Submitted

Does anyone know what a good BEEP combination is for a sort of "you can't do that" sound?

Submitted

Sorry, no. For Lost in the Jungle I used a simple buzz, and all my previous Speccy games were silent. Could use a good source of sound effects myself.

HostSubmitted(+1)

2-3 Tones : higher Pitch followed by Lower Pitch...followed by longer Lower pitch

e.g. 

BEEP .2,-3:BEEP .3,-6: BEEP .7,-15

Submitted

OK Cheers i'll give that a go

Submitted(+1)

OH yes thats a lovely sound!

Submitted(+1)

HA and the reverse is a nice victory sound too!

(+1)

I was started makeing a fake Coco Tandy computer interface but i have found a way to make an Operating System in BASIC incredible what a JAM can do! : ).

Submitted

*Flumps over finish line.*

Hi; I'm Ian and I'm a software developer living around the Cambridge area in the UK.

I meant to pop in here earlier and say hi, but its been busy. Finally managed to upload something, even if it was less than I wanted. Been great fun though, and learnt a lot (which is always great).

Submitted(+1)

Congratulations! And celebrations!

HostSubmitted(+2)

Hi - Extra day added....as want to get the 'nearly-dones' to submit :)

(+1)

Uh, so because life's a bitch, i couldn't make it in time. Trying to finish the game now, but the AI has mind of it's own and sometimes it does really wierd stuff ^_^.

Will post link to finished game as soon as it's done in this forum.

So sad i couldn't make it in time tho...

Submitted

It's okay, it happens. I'll be happy to try out your game whenever it's ready.

I think i just fished out last bugs. Will post link shortly.

BTW, where should i put .tap file so i can link qaop online emulator? I don't have my own ftp atm and it doesnt take google drive or dropbox shared files...

Submitted

Afraid I never used qaop, went with JSSpeccy for my own games.

same thing. don't know where to host my files so jsspeccy can read them...

Submitted

Right here. You can download JSSpeccy and embed it in a webpage of your own. View source on my own entries to see how.

(+1)

Well i did it somehow. It's not ideal and i didn't know how to link it from itch.io, so i just put link in game description, but it's there ^_^

(+1)

ok so here is the Royal game of Ur. Will post it to facebook basic group as well, hopefully someone will play it ^_^

https://rikokun.itch.io/the-ro...

Submitted

Oh, wow, this was totally worth the wait. Better presentation than any game that made it in the jam, smooth gameplay, and it's fascinating to see what backgammon used to look like seven thousand years ago. :P Congratulations!

(+2)

I hope there will be more of thease, next time i'll try to work faster 馃榾

HostSubmitted(+1)

Thanks Rikokun.... Maybe I will run another next year for when new owners get their ZX Spectrum Nexts. :)

(1 edit) (+1)

This Jam was for the 35 years of ZX Spectrum and 53 years of Dartmouth BASIC : ). You will have to wait another Birthday i think for the next Challenge : ) enjoy the games published!

there is another birthday next year ^_^