
An emotional trip to the 80s: Developing Games for the Speccy - todsacerdoti
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PedroGuida/20200504/362225/An_emotional_trip_to_the_80s_Developing_Games_for_the_Speccy.php
======
canada_dry
> _ZX Basic allows to inline assembly instructions!!! This is a killing
> feature_

This feature got 14yo me to devour the Z80 Programming guide by Rodnay Zaks
[i]. Which, introduced me to concepts like the address bus and registers that
served me well through my 30+ year IT career.

[i]
[https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_3rd_Edition...](https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_3rd_Edition_1980_Sybex/mode/2up)

~~~
beagle3
The built in ZX Spectrum basic did not, though; What did you use? I remember
using Picturesque assembler after giving up on hand-assembling instructions
(though, I still remember a few random Z80 codes....)

~~~
canada_dry
> The built in ZX Spectrum basic did not

It's possible I'm mixing it up with the Sinclair ZX-81 (which I had before the
Spectrum).

At any rate, I ended up purchasing/installing a Z80 assembler EPROM
(replacement for the original Sinclair ROM) which IIRC had a rudimentary
debugger. I wonder if anyone else recalls such a thing?

~~~
beagle3
Likely the ZX81 - external / replacement ROMs were more common for it (and for
its predecessor, the ZX80) because there wasn’t enough ram for much software.

The ZX spectrum had 16K and 48K models (with the latter being significantly
more popular from day 1 and the only one available a while later). most
software depended on specific addresses in the built in ROM, the 64K address
space was fully utilized AND there was enough RAM so software in ROM wasn’t
popular.

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Joeboy
Trying to write games for the Spectrum was pretty painful. I got as far as
writing some sprite routines using the decimal opcodes in the back of the
supplied manual as a reference, saving to cassette whenever I made any
progress. But the enterprise basically collapsed under its own impracticality
before I got far.

I later learned that a lot of commercial developers were writing code using
assemblers on larger systems and subsequently transferring it to the Spectrum.

~~~
the_af
> _I later learned that a lot of commercial developers were writing code using
> assemblers on larger systems and subsequently transferring it to the
> Spectrum._

I believe the same happened with other microcomputers, like my beloved C64,
right?

I'm not sure about the Amiga though. I never owned one, but a friend who did
told me it was a joy to program with. And its games looked fantastic. Were
Amiga games written using an Amiga?

~~~
zozbot234
The Amiga line had several high-end, workstation-like models (2000, 3000,
4000) that would've been used for software development, among other things.
The 3000 and 4000 also had versions in a tower-case form factor (i.e. like a
modern PC, not a 1980s "pizza box") and there was an option to get the Amiga
3000 with a proprietary Unix operating system.

~~~
phs318u
Indeed. AT&T Sys V Rel 4.

[https://amigaunix.com/doku.php](https://amigaunix.com/doku.php)

------
ilaksh
Here's an experiment I did that might be interesting to ZX people:
[https://youtu.be/BjeVzEQW4C8](https://youtu.be/BjeVzEQW4C8)

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PeterStuer
WoW, that looks so much more advanced than the HiSoft Pascal and HiSoft
Assembler I had at the time. I still have the cassette tapes in the attic of
my parents house somewhere.

~~~
ilaksh
Interestingly (perhaps somewhat tragically? lol) there is still a HiSoft and
David Link recently seems to be making websites.

[http://www.hisoft.co.uk/](http://www.hisoft.co.uk/)

In 2016 I sent him 20 pounds for HiSoft Assembler to slightly assuage my guilt
for the massive amount of old software I downloaded over the years. He really
appreciated it. Pretty sure I sent to the other Dave also (I hope).

~~~
PeterStuer
I actually paid for the Pascal and Assembler at the time. I still have the
cassettes and plastic spiral bound A4 manuals somewhere.

------
mysterydip
Just finished publishing a small game on iOS and Android yesterday. Things
have sure changed, development and distribution alike!

~~~
Insanity
Kudos! What did you use to make the game?

~~~
mysterydip
Thanks! AppGameKit Studio. Basically a cross-platform virtual machine that
runs my bytecode in Vulkan or OpenGL.

