MtM

Thru the Wall was very good fun as I recollect, yes, I played that too, like you it was a rubber keyed 48k model, never got the Six Pack

you had Andy, but did have a fair few other tapes, mainly originals, I had managed to get hold of, I may have had original MM but I suspect

I had a copy of JSW, or maybe the other way around. I did have an original JSW at one point with the colour code card in it.

 

Although simple that is a really good clear diagram above about computers and how they input and output and would not take

much changing today I think, names are different but the process is the same. I reckon anyway!

 

Thanks for that Andy a great trip down Memory Lane. Anyone else? There must be other good stories out there about

Spectrum Christmasses etc.

10 hours ago, Spider said:

Great story!

Mine arrived October 84

I've recounted the story before so I'll not do it again unless its wanted. 🙂

I do recall having to use a (terrible) ancient 12 or 10 inch BW TV at one point, the one with the single dial tuning on that kept drifting to due a dirty potentiometer track at a guess.

Yes go on Andy lets hear it!

 

It took several months before I managed to get hold of a colour portable tv for the old Spectrum, my goodness that

was such luxury then it really was. Not sure what people would make of the concept of a portable now, certainly not

a b&w one! I kept that portable for years too it was a Ferguson, great little colour tv.

Hello all,

 

Just thought I would start a topic about the above, i.e. this coming Christmas, if anyone has

anything they want to say about what they are doing this year, what it means to them in terms

if MM & JSW, or anything really.

 

Personally, I got my first Spectrum at Christmas 1984, which meant from that time onwards I was

playing MM & JSW and gave myself a royal headache on Boxing Day that year due to staring at the screen

on MM for hours! Great times! But I always have an association of being happy and playing those games at

Christmas, so naturally I will be firing them up this Christmas too.

 

It is a pity there are no Christmas related mods that I can think of to play though I am sure JSWDanny

will correct me if I am wrong about that 🙂 

 

I suppose to broaden it a bit there are other games I associate with Christmas too, not least The Little

Computer People Project, from 1986, I think I had just got a disk drive for my CBM and that was something

I spent a lot of time on.

 

But nothing will ever replace playing MM on a large old CRT telly with the red gun of the crt not working

properly sometimes so the colours being off on Boxing Day 84. As the saying goes you never forget your first time, and

that Christmas playing MM & JSW has stayed with me ever since. Happier, easier times, even if we

were on the edge of a nuclear war with the USA & Russia at the time 😉

 

So in between family time this year that is an important tradition for me firing up those games and experiencing

a tiny bit of the same excitement from nearly 40 years ago. I daresay I am not alone! Strange when MS wrote those

games could he have ever thought all these years later people would still be playing them and writing new ones?

 

Let's hear those recollections everyone has about Christmas and JSW & MM! There must be a lot better tales

than mine!

 

I hope we all have a great Christmas and New Year!

 

I have just rung the cell number Danny and left a message from Maria for him 😉

 

Hello All,

 

Given the time of year thought it might be time to dust this thread off, as Christmas is clearly approaching - I have seen it in the supermarkets!

 

How about some Christmas style demos and music being posted again? I can only apologise for my lack of ability in creating such materials but I know there are uber talented folks on here who can do it!

 

It is still my plan one day when I have time to do an MM mod, called Manic Christmas, with 20 Christmas themed rooms etc and a suitable story to accompany it, but it will have to wait until I retire I expect 😉

 

I will fire it up on my Next at some point and give it a whirl ... thanks for flagging it up Andy!

 

Incroyable! Bravo!

The sad thing is we will never see their like again or experience that same joy when games came out like those on the list. Oh well. At least we can drink legally now 😉

 

This is a brilliant topic, very interesting for fans to hear of how things were created by their creators.

On 8/22/2022 at 5:16 PM, Norman Sword said:

To clear up any confusion on JSW2.

yes I wrote JSW2,JSW2+

Norman, you have earned your legendary status of part of the JSW lore. However ... do you perhaps fancy having a go

at JSW3? Maybe only you could do it Norman! How about a Kickstarter to get it funded? What will it take!?

On 8/22/2022 at 11:09 PM, SymbolShift said:

Nonsense, we all know that Crem is the real Matthew Smith 🤣

Is he? Fantastic come on Crem let's have all the stories then!

 

When are we getting the official JSW3? 😉

 

4 hours ago, SymbolShift said:

My mind is blown. I thought you were being sarcastic! It's a great honour and privilege to conversate with the actual DPR.

Just for the record I am actually Matthew Smith 😉 Well, I have been to Wallasey before anyway ... 🙂

 

I am not, of course, Matthew Smith, that is just a joke! Maybe he _does_ read these forums and may yet reveal himself?

 

14 hours ago, Norman Sword said:

I must be getting old.

When I wrote JSW2 I do not remember calling one room "bacon rashers and corn cob"

It happens to us all Norman eventually 😉

 

On 8/7/2022 at 8:25 PM, Spider said:

That is a good point, and something I had (somehow) overlooked. 🙂

However I'd expect a 'full run' to generate 28000 to 35000 typically. The idea of the extra life does make sense.

I suppose it -is- possible that is after completion if say caverns were completed without too much air remaining (less bonus) and maybe not sending Kong to his doom twice. Hmm. 🙂

Yes it might of been completed by one of the lesser mortals 😉

 

9 hours ago, Spider said:

Looks good to me! 🙂

I do not see any immediate relevance in the scores however. They are not a div/mod of each other nor are they of any ZX particular value.

 

Yeah I agree Andy and looking to see the extra life I wondered if someone had actually wrapped it and played it through at least once

to get back to the Central Cavern. Oh well, no real mystery.

5 hours ago, Norman Sword said:

The Thomas the tank engine graphic is from the Perils of Willy. Which at that time was a VIc 20 only game

The 2nd picture shows about a 1/3 of what I disposed off (in magazines alone)- there are six stacks of magazines in this photo. 



 

 

 

My goodness, what hidden treasures are among that lot! We had a good clear out during the first lockdown but I have kept my

old computer mags, well my single remaining issue of Crash and my Zzaps.

 

But I understand, eventually it seems like that stuff is dragging you down a bit.

 

Do you have a motorbike Norman? Just the cover that is over the magazines, looks like a motorbike cover. Could be a

car cover I guess.

 

Thanks for clearing up the Perils of Willy image, I had seen that inlay before but just never put it together with the

image of the old SP card.

 

He was/is a talented guy Roger, is he still with us or doing anything computer related do you know?

3 hours ago, JianYang said:

  

I'm not sure if you're talking about an actual 1982 game that looked like this or just mean that this would have made me look like a genius programmer by 1982 standards.

If it's the latter: I conned my way to a Speccy in 1983 by showing my mother's boyfriend the following program:

I told him this was probably the shortest possible word processor and he was so impressed that he insisted on paying like 80% of a 48K Spectrum (I would have been happy with a 16K) for my next birthday and my mother begrudgingly (she thought that math and computers were a waste of time and I should rather do something worthwhile with a future like languages, art or classical music) paid the rest.

So even in 1983 you could still convince people that you're a programming genius with much less. If I had shown him the program above I might have ended up with a Cray-1.

 

 

I should of said that is almost a game by 1982 standards really Jian. Good work on getting your Spectrum! I think we all probably had some kind of story a bit like that if we got Spectrum's as kids, tried to justify it by saying, "I will use it for my homework!" when really you just wanted to get a pirate copy of Match Day or something like that 😉

I can remember a salesman in an independent computer shop near me selling C64's simply by loading off tape Ghostbusters on and pressing the space bar so you heard the sample it would play that said "Ghostbuters! Ha ha ha ha ha ..." and people buying them on the strength of that alone! But in retrospect why not? Adults then didn't really know any better which worked to our advantage 🙂 

On 7/27/2022 at 11:48 PM, JianYang said:

Something simple in Basic, showing off Speccy's amazing alpha-blending capabilities. But mostly trying to pressure @Spiderinto finally opening his treasure chest. 😉

 

rectangles.tap 474 B · 3 downloads

That is almost a 1982 style game there Jian! 😉

I wonder why those scores in particular? Do they mean something, should I know really?

 

Here it is folks ...

 

In truth, I do not think it is worth 25 bills. However, it is what it was sold as, just not worth that

amount. You pays your money and takes your chance.

On 8/2/2022 at 12:01 AM, Norman Sword said:

At present I am dumping tons and tons of magazines, disc,tapes, games. Most have already gone. Today I uncovered this. Nearly went in a skip.

The doodle was by my daughter some time in the very distant past. At least she drew on the back

Norman I dread to think what other material went into the skip!

 

But thanks for that, it's great computer game artwork, unlike the cgi stuff of today.

 

I notice something like Thomas the Tank Engine in the bottom left corner, was that symbolic of something? I don't remember SP having the licence to do the game?

 

The artist does have a highly recognisable style.

Thanks for that Norman, much appreciated. I will report back on anything I order.

10 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

I won't. I'll still be across the pond, all things going as planned. However, my return to Europe *will* happen either next year or the following one, so I might make it to the 2024 one perhaps. Please keep asking! 🙂 

Hiya Danny, of course I will keep asking 🙂 Not been to a retro event in a long time, be good to

get to one. I had thought about the Crash event in November but Walsall is further away. And everyone loves Blackpool!

 

If I do go I will take some pics and put them up here. I could do with a t shirt with Miner Willy on it really for id purposes.

 

Anyone got a good working link and recommendation as to where I could get one please? Preferably in the UK

but if it has to ship then okay!

 

 

Play Expo is on again this October in Blackpool if anyone is going?

 

Don't all shout up at once! 😉

 

I may well go this year though.

Do they mean Danny that they don't fly pigs as cargo in the USA?

 

The North Americans have never understood JSW! 😉