ZX80 SITE

General games-related topics
Moggy
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:00 pm

ZX80 SITE

Post by Moggy »

I don't know if this site has cropped up before but there are some interesting O files here including one called grandstand which is the nearest thing I've seen to football manager.
Some will be familiar I'm sure but still worth a visit I think.
Apologies if it's already been mentioned.


http://microwave.gr/giannopk/zxcomputer/index.htm
neazoi
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:59 am

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by neazoi »

This page has been moved to a different location as well, under my main site:
http://qrp.gr/zx80/

Tons of software and hardware tips for building your own ZX80 (etching PCBs from scratch). Enjoy!
Moggy
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:00 pm

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Moggy »

There is a poor mans version of football manager called grandstand amongst the software which was a magazine type in and unfortunately who ever did the typing omitted one single forward slash in the program listing which causes you to go through an entire season only to end up with your own team playing against itself for the final game, ie Stoke versus Stoke, then kerash!
Last edited by Moggy on Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fruitcake
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Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:53 pm

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Fruitcake »

Moggy wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:30 pm unfortunately who ever did the typing omitted one single space in the program listing which causes you to go through an entire season only to play your own team on the final game then kerash!
Oops, sorry! :oops:

Do you recall which line? Have you submitted an updated version back to the Type Fantastic website?
Moggy
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:00 pm

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Moggy »

Line 5. After Gosport in the listing. There has to be 9 chrs in a line then a forward slash so 7 letters for Gosport, 2 spaces then the forward slash. to be honest though there is so much more wrong with this game as to make it totally unplayable.

You will have to excuse my ignorance re Type fantastic as I honestly don't know what that is as I'm not clued up as most. :oops:
Fruitcake
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Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:53 pm

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Fruitcake »

Moggy wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:45 pm Line 5. After Gosport in the listing.
Thanks. Oh yeah, I see the problem now!

I typed the game into the EightyOne emulator a few years back. The latest release of EightyOne would make the job a lot easier now because the listing could be typed into Notepad (or some other text editor) and then read in by EightyOne and automatically converted to a .p file.

Moggy wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:45 pm to be honest though there is so much more wrong with this game as to make it totally unplayable.
The game stands out for me because it is one of the few 16K ZX80 games available, and unbelievably was published in ZX Computing magazine issue June/July 1985! Mike Hyams had a few other ZX80 games published in ZX Computing around that time also (hopefully I didn't mess up typing in those ones...).

Moggy wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:45 pm You will have to excuse my ignorance re Type fantastic as I honestly don't know what that is
It is a website with the audacious aim to have every program printed in the various ZX magazines published in the UK in the 1980s typed up and available for download. It covers the ZX80, ZX81, Spectrum and QL. So far just over half of all programs listed there are available (2387 of 4668 listed, but the site shows many more have been submitted and just waiting to be made available). So its a very useful resource of ZX80 and ZX81 programs. Ever since I stumbled across it I have been submitted programs every now and then.
Moggy
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Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Moggy »

Thanks for the info Paul, a most excellent site which is richer for your contributions and which I see has another of Mike Hyam's creations called Chart topper. This is one I play to death when I'm in the mood as simulations are my bag and confirm no errors with this one and is a nice piece of software.

The let downs I find with Grandstand is a) too much reliance on the rnd generator for results which at times are totally out of kilter with reality unlike football manager which threw up the odd shock result this game relies so much on the rnd function that the weighting system becomes meaningless. b) the said weighting system seems to be governed solely by the moral and energy level. You could field 10 Bobby Charltons and 5 Peter Shiltons but if the moral level is low you will not win a single match regardless of team strength and therefore be unable to build the moral level back up.

One of the nicer points of football manager was the listing of a players position ie striker defender etc. This game omits that entirely so unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of 70's-80's footballers and their playing positions you can end up buying/fielding half a dozen goalkeepers and be left wondering why your midfield skill level is in the toilet, not that this matters as I have fielded crack squads and been hammered by the no mark utds of the world on a regular basis so not really shock results more of a coin toss.

The thing is also is that even when the game's running correctly you are unlikely to finish a season as the cash you have at the start is so low that it runs out very early on and you end up being fired.

A few alterations to the program re cash and moral/energy levels gives a bit of a fighting chance either that or I'm just really crap at playing simulations! :lol:
Fruitcake
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Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Fruitcake »

Ah, I see. The game implementation is lacking, rather than bugs. Although ZX80 BASIC is more primitive than ZX81 BASIC, it ought to be possible to runs a decent simulation that is similar to Football Manager (or perhaps even a port of it...).

Mike also wrote two other large ZX80 programs - Streets of London (ZX Computing Aug-Sep 1984) and 3D Maze (ZX Computing Oct-Nov 1983). I made bug fixes to both of these (the original and fixed versions are available from the Type Fantastic).

Moggy wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:39 pm You could field 10 Bobby Charltons and 5 Peter Shiltons but if the moral level is low you will not win a single match regardless of team strength and therefore be unable to build the moral level back up.
Well I don't follow football (but it is nice to hear names I actually recognise!), but surely moral would be low if you found yourself in a team of clones and cheating by fielding a team of 15 players.... ;-)
Moggy
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:00 pm

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by Moggy »

I have the two other games you mention and find them most enjoyable.

What I would like to give a big thank you for is a program I found on type fantastic called SPRF - Single Precision Prime Factorisation. I could never get it to work at the time as the original listing was in my opinion a bit of a mess, but now 30 odd years later I have it so thanks again Paul. :D
neazoi
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:59 am

Re: ZX80 SITE

Post by neazoi »

I can't figure out how to make the 2nd level start on the darkstar2 flicker free game for the zx80. They say "space" is enough, but on the emulator the "door" doesn't seem to open to get the ball out and start playing on stage 2.
It would be nice to know as this is one of the very few flicker-free games available.
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