Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 Forums

[bobs]

As of about 5am this morning I've started my first ZX81 title - a conversion of my Spectrum game "Dominetris" - which itself was written as a test to see if I could still write for a Spectrum, so it's fitting it is also my first attempt for the ZX81.

It's actually going well - the game is playable, but doesn't look all that pretty at the moment - so I thought I'd ask for some help...


* Is there an archive of ZX81 games anywhere, so I can download a few and take a look at the competition?
* Do most of you have access to a 16K ram pack, or is 1K preferred for games? (I've noticed the 1K game competition, but usually...?)
* What is "usual" for a ZX81 game - in-game instructions, re-definable keys, high-score tables, etc etc?
* Are there any tools to help mock-up screens with (I've found ZXPaintyOne, which is excellent for graphics, but is there something similar which also does text?)


For the moment I'm intending of sticking with standard ZX81 graphics, rather than (pseudo) hi-resolution, as I think that's part of the charm of the machine, but you never know.

Many thanks!

[yerzmyey]

Hi, Bobs.

Yes, here are some collections (rather huge):

http://roms.zophar.net/sinclair-zx81/all

http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/indexframes.html

http://www.zx81.nl/files.html

and others.


Also, most used is surely 16K Ram Pack. So making games for 16K is disarable.




"Usual" for a ZX81 game is mostly in-game instruction.
Re-definable keys would be nice however I suspect not every time RAM amount allowes it. You can make instead two rigid setups: CURSORS+ZERO and QAOP/M.
When the game took too large amount of RAM people make usually two versions of the game in two P files. One is with cursors, another with qaop.
High-score tables? Hm. I suspect they are but maybe other guys could add something?

[bobs]

Yes, here are some collections (rather huge):

http://roms.zophar.net/sinclair-zx81/all
http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/indexframes.html
http://www.zx81.nl/files.html

and others.

Thanks for those - I'll have a trawl later today...

Also, most used is surely 16K Ram Pack. So making games for 16K is disarable.

Thought so - especially with emulators.

"Usual" for a ZX81 game is mostly in-game instruction.

Okey-dokey.

Re-definable keys would be nice however I suspect not every time RAM amount allowes it. You can make instead two rigid setups: CURSORS+ZERO and QAOP/M. When the game took too large amount of RAM people make usually two versions of the game in two P files. One is with cursors, another with qaop.

Re-definable keys are something I have in most of my Spectrum games, so no problem adding it to my ZX81 ones as well. Personally I'm not a fan of QAOPM, so will probably default to the cursors.

High-score tables? Hm. I suspect they are but maybe other guys could add something?

Again, no problem.

Cheers!

[yerzmyey]

>>Also, most used is surely 16K Ram Pack. So making games for 16K is disarable.
>Thought so - especially with emulators.
---------
Well, actually rather in real ahrdware. Most people has 16K, I think, many of German users have 32K or even 1Mb, so 16K is OK for real hardware.


>Re-definable keys are something I have in most of my Spectrum games, so no problem adding it to my ZX81 ones as well.
-------------
Actually it would be great. Normally people don't remember about it here - or they don't have enough of RAM.


>Personally I'm not a fan of QAOPM, so will probably default to the cursors.
---------
If redefinable - then OK, but if it would be any rigid key-setups, still I would be very grateful for QAOP/M (Space isn't OK for ZX81 in games) as a version or a redefine.