Spectrum game disassemblies

speccy4eyes · February 2005

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody knows if there are any websites which collect spectrum game disassemblies or listings? I have been thinking it would be great to get as many listings of spectrum games together in one place. I imagine the only ones that exist are ones that have been reverse engineered by other people but it would be great to get hold of some original listings complete with comments etc. Do any exist?

I have partially disassembled Knight Tyme 48k and I wanted to share it with like minded others, but I couldnt find such a site.

Maybe I'll have to start my own :)

edy.wss · February 2005

I think that's a good idea. It would be very interesting to read code reviews and special tricks from the disassembled sources. But probably there aren't any websites which collect disassembled Speccy games yet. So if there were a few sources I would make a homepage for them as the part of the WSS website.

best wishes,
Edy / WSS
http://wss.sinclair.hu

kmatveev · February 2005

Great idea! I've already began my own ZX-REVerceENGineering project. I have some progress with Flying Shark and Soldier of Fortune. I will be glad to share my discoveries.

thx1138 · February 2005

I could provide the listing for Football Manager :D

LOL

cascarria · February 2005

I remember that the program block of Manic Miner contained several lines of the original assembly code of the game, there were some interesting "CHEAT" labels in it.
That's the only piece of original code for a classic Speccy game that I've ever seen, it's hard to find it in the net.

Humbug · February 2005

I think CAuldron was a bit of a speccy disaster......

Glad I can be of help :D.......

speccy4eyes · February 2005

Good to see there is a bit of interest in this. I will have a look at making a webpage (if I get time).

Saying that, maybe it could be part of the WOS archive? It would be nice to see a "Game Listing" stored with the other items in the database, like screenshots, adverts etc.

I wonder if any game authors could be persuaded to supply the original listings? :)

Anybody know what the legal situation would be with placing reverse engineered listings in the public domain (ie on the web?)

Philip Kendall · February 2005

Copyright violation, pure and simple (at least in the UK).

speccy4eyes · February 2005

Damn.

So, basically its the same as putting the game snapshot on the web then?

We could always do what WOS do and put them up until somebody objects to them being there and then take them down. Would this work?

Philip Kendall · February 2005

On 2005-02-17 16:11, speccy4eyes wrote:
So, basically its the same as putting the game snapshot on the web then?

Well, yes. It basically is a snapshot!

Code Monkey · February 2005

Hey Philip I notice you're up to 999 posts now. Are you planning anything special for your 1000th post, or may I make a request?

I've recently discovered a fascinating page which calls itself the comp.sys.sinclair FAQ, but don't know what it is or how to use it. Could you tell me if there's a place on the web where I can find a guide to using this "CSS FAQ", or if there's another FAQ which explains its purpose? Perhaps you could post a link? :p

Ta muchly.

vanpeebles · February 2005

maybe for his 1000th post he could actually be polite and helpful, instead of a being rude obnoxious tosspot :)

Dunny · February 2005

On 2005-02-17 23:04, vanpeebles wrote:
maybe for his 1000th post he could actually be polite and helpful, instead of a being rude obnoxious tosspot :)

Tbh, I've never found him to be anything but helpful. Sure, 75% of his posts point out where people are mistaken, and the other 25% are pointers to an FAQ...

But only where it's needed. You lot wouldn't believe how much he's helped some of us behind the scenes.

D.

jamieangus · February 2005

On 2005-02-17 23:14, Dunny wrote:

On 2005-02-17 23:04, vanpeebles wrote:
maybe for his 1000th post he could actually be polite and helpful, instead of a being rude obnoxious tosspot :)

Tbh, I've never found him to be anything but helpful. Sure, 75% of his posts point out where people are mistaken, and the other 25% are pointers to an FAQ...

But only where it's needed. You lot wouldn't believe how much he's helped some of us behind the scenes.

D.

O really? Aw shucks then, I'll forgive you Philip for your boundless sarcasm.

May your daffodils never wilt.

Cordially,

Jamie

Woody · February 2005

On 2005-02-17 23:14, Dunny wrote:
You lot wouldn't believe how much he's helped some of us behind the scenes.

Most certainly!

vanpeebles · February 2005

ah well ill take your word on that :) just going by what i see on here

cyborg · February 2005

Being told when you're wrong is far more helpful then saying nothing and continuing on regardless.

CKay · February 2005

Yeah Cyborg, but like you, he doesn`t suffer fools gladly... or as in the Mame forums - it must be a bit boring/frustrating having to cover the same ground/easy knowledge base time and time again...

and if your one of us that`s just pleasantly plodding along (possibly drunk or high) and asks a stupid question then... hehe, then you can be a bit intimidated... :)

...............

It`s been mentioned how having the source is basically the same as publishing/hosting the/a snapshot...

Surely its worse, in that it`s the actual code to the game and hence something from a company that`s never been released, as opposed to a snapshot of something that was released...

But, maybe, that`d be a good thing, as with films, books, even art it is by law that for learning or even discussion/review purposes you can include/use/publish like 15-20 percent of a subject matter, and surely no-one wants a complete dissasembly for game X, menu, generic keyboard snanning etc, but merely anything that is exceptionally relevant or amazing/fast code, just cool, then this could be waay cool...

I know there`s probably software laws apart from general film/book type ones, you lot know more `bout that than me... so ah`ll get me bomber jacket ...

robert@fm · February 2005

On 2005-02-17 23:04, vanpeebles wrote:
maybe for his 1000th post he could actually be polite and helpful, instead of a being rude obnoxious tosspot :)

Philip Kendall may be a (ahem) "sanctimonious twit" sometimes, but surely "rude obnoxious tosspot" is taking it too far? :p

Besides, he's always helpful, even in sanctimonious mode... :)

Alessandro Tommasi · February 2005

...don't you all guys get it? Philip's an automatic replyer!!! :)

Philip Kendall · February 2005

On 2005-02-18 02:50, CKay wrote:
Surely its worse, in that it`s the actual code to the game and hence something from a company that`s never been released, as opposed to a snapshot of something that was released...

That probably depends on what's actually being published: if it's a disassembly of the released code, that's a purely automatic process and adds no "value" over the raw binary data itself. Any value added content would be the comments etc on the disassembly, for which the copyright would be owned by whoever wrote them.

If you're talking about the actual original source code from which the game was first compiled, you're probably right (although I'd be much more interested in where you got the source from in the first place!)

But, maybe, that`d be a good thing, as with films, books, even art it is by law that for learning or even discussion/review purposes you can include/use/publish like 15-20 percent of a subject matter

Please provide a reference to the statute (or possibly case law) to which you are referring. The fair use provisions in the CDPA 1988 (deliberately) do not specify what proportion of a work is fair use and what is not.

On other notes, the Shadow Skimmer author did publish (some of) the source for that a few years ago. I'll see if I can find the copy I grabbed at the time.

[ This Message was edited by: Philip Kendall on 2005-02-19 00:14 ]

Philip Kendall · February 2005

I appeared to have missed a trick here... apologies.

On 2005-02-17 23:14, Dunny wrote:
the other 25% are pointers to an FAQ...

Have you read the 11 Rules of Writing Related FAQs about the use of "a" and "an"? :)

mjwilson · February 2005

On 2005-02-19 00:18, Philip Kendall wrote:
I appeared to have missed a trick here... apologies.

On 2005-02-17 23:14, Dunny wrote:
the other 25% are pointers to an FAQ...

Have you read the 11 Rules of Writing Related FAQs about the use of "a" and "an"? :)

That link suggests "let your ear be your guide", so I guess it depends on whether you pronounce "FAQ" as the initials "F A Q" or a one-word "fack". :cool:

John Elliott · February 2005

There's a disassembly of Manic Miner on my website:
http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Jsw/manic.mac

As for distributing disassemblies while (hopefully) not infringing copyright, my suggestion would be to use IDA scripts. The version of IDA I use is 3.7 freeware (downloadable from http://sac-ftp.externet.hu/utilprog7.html as IDAFW.ZIP). This can be made to write script files containing your comments and labels but none of the original code, and to merge them back in.

For examples, see http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Jsw/jsw.idc (JSW) and http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ZX/sna.idc which is a generic get-you-started IDC file for .SNA snapshots.

[ This Message was edited by: John Elliott on 2005-02-20 11:06 ]

Dunny · February 2005

On 2005-02-19 00:18, Philip Kendall wrote:
I appeared to have missed a trick here... apologies.

On 2005-02-17 23:14, Dunny wrote:
the other 25% are pointers to an FAQ...

Have you read the 11 Rules of Writing Related FAQs about the use of "a" and "an"? :)

Lol.

I pronounce that particular acronym as "eff ay cue", so the "an" is justified in this case. That doesn't mean I pronounce all TLA's that way...

D.

jonathan · February 2005

This probably isn't what you're after, but anyone who asks is welcome to the commented source code for my Area 51 and Amusement Park 4000 minigames.

robert@fm · February 2005

On 2005-02-19 12:10, mjwilson wrote:
That link suggests "let your ear be your guide", so I guess it depends on whether you pronounce "FAQ" as the initials "F A Q" or a one-word "fack". :cool:

Fack that... :p ;)

Crabfists · April 2007

I have found the partial disassembly to Knight Tyme I did years ago. I had real fun taking it apart and I got quite far but it just took so long to make progress. Anyway, I've put it on the web if anybody fancies taking a look. Feel free to do what you want with it, like host it on other sites or take the disassembly further. Obviously, if the author or anybody else objects to this I will take it down.

www.skratchy.co.uk/knighttyme

I used the interactive disassembler (IDA) to produce the listings. If you've never heard of IDA and are interested in disassembling stuff you should defo check it out. Its an amazing piece of software.

zub · May 2007

FWIW, I have been working on a disassembly of Rebelstar, with ports to the SAM Coup? and the MSX. I haven't released the source yet, but I'll make a proper announcement when it's all ready.

jp · May 2007

A few partial disassemblies here: http://www.icemark.com/downloads/index.html

dm_boozefreek · May 2007

jonathan wrote: »

This probably isn't what you're after, but anyone who asks is welcome to the commented source code for my Area 51 and Amusement Park 4000 minigames.

I'll take a look at the Area 51 source, that would be pretty cool, and if it's commented that'll be even better. Of course my Z80 skills are rustier than Mels wanking elbow, but I like looking at stuff like this. I might learn something from it.

As most on here know ye olde platform games are just my thing, from Manic Miner to Coconut Capers, love em' all (well most of em').

Is the source code for these games on your website?

Or will you post them up somewhere?

Spectrum game disassemblies

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