Computer Magazine Listings
I was browsing through some really old multi format computer magazines and found some Speccy game listings. They were popular during the first half of the 80s and then seemed to suddenly disappear.
Did we get tired of them? I personally found them to be a great source of free software, plus it helped me learn how to program.
Did we get tired of them? I personally found them to be a great source of free software, plus it helped me learn how to program.
Post edited by sj_howlett on
Comments
I was the same, spent hours typing in programs and learnt the fundamentals of good/bad programming. I did not just look at ZX Spectrum BASIC listings either, I was happy to scan others machines for interesting ideas. One of my favourite magazines was Personal Computer World and I even had one of my own wee programs published there as "Program of the Month". :D
Paddy
Spent many an hour with a friend playing a game on the ZX-81 we typed in, no idea what it was called but you went down a mine shaft (or an asterix representing you did) and dug for gold as the water slowly rose and got out before you died for the best points.
I think you've summarised the situation spot on. The quality of commercial Speccy software grew fast in a short space of time. Eventually the gap became to much.
That seems familiar to me. I wonder if there is an archive on the Internet specifically for Sinclair related listings?
/Pedro
Have you tried Type Fantastic?
Link here
How cool! I wasn't aware of that site. I think I can help the author with a couple of missing pieces too 😀
I don't think so. It was a change in the market that caused the focus of magazines to shift. Before 1982/1983 it was a hobby market made up of people who wanted to program and tinker with electronics. That group was overwhelmed by the much larger number of new buyers who were only really interested in games. That's when the magazines changed -- SU became a gaming magazine and Crash/YS were purely about games and entertainment.
Sinclair was large enough to support one hobby magazine in the english speaking market (ZX Computing) and I'm surprised how long it lasted but it looks like most other hobby magazines survived by becoming muti-format, which unfortunately usually means less ambitious topics.
Write games in C using Z88DK and SP1
It's about time that I did another update, so get any missing typed-up type-ins that you've got sent in to my email address at The Type Fantastic and I'll include them in an update at the end of this month.
I think Input did include sections on typing mistakes in it's later magazines.
Just went through the first 25 issues of Sinclair User looking at the program listings, and the four annuals, nothing there that looked like it. :/
Maybe it was from another magazine, I used to get a few.
Miner by Philip Turner, from Sinclair Programs!
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/type-ins/sincprog/sp8402.zip
I remember typing in a VIC-20 listing for a snake game (back when such things were fairly new, I expect) from YC, and it was a really neat little thing, especially when a month or two later the mag printed an alteration that allowed joystick control.
Most of the other efforts I eventually typed in were not memorable. Hmm, except one: Tony Crowther did a listing for a mag, Commodore User maybe, perhaps called Baby Monty. You controlled a small mole in a rowing boat, you had to row left and right to go through gaps in platforms as water rose.
Between printing errors, the low quality of most BASIC games, and boredom from typing, I gave up bothering. As has been noted, the quality of even budget games rose quickly, and when I got my first job I had more spare cash, so there wasn't much need for games listings.
Nice little game, thanks for sharing. The sort of thing I think I'd have spent a lot of time on too. Having came onto the Spectrum scene late (Christmas 1989 or 1990, I can't quite remember) I feel I missed out on the glory days of the early 1980s. I was too young then anyway. Before the Spectrum we had a Commodore 16, with which I enjoyed dabbling a bit using BASIC, despite my young age at the time.
Later Listings were less (and for Atari ST and Amiga, but you could got much better Freware on disc without typing anything), too much PC stuff so many people moveed to other magazines. "Happy Computer" turned into a PC-only magazine and soon disappeared.
There are also other cool type-in Magazines in Germany:
"Computer Kontakt", "Homecomputer", "C.P.U.", "Computronic" and others.