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Hi everyone,

Randall Kindig of the Floppy Days website (www.floppydays.com) interviewed me for a podcast about the history of the Spectrum. Well, more than an interview, it's a conversation between two retrocomputing aficionados. The podcast is part of a series focused on the Spectrum - there is also a very interesting interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles Ltd.

The podcast is divided into two parts, the next one will be published soon.

Enjoy :-)

[Spectrumpedia]

Hi everybody,

it is with great pleasure that I annonunce you the release of the new Spectrumpedia in its second edition, revised and enhanced in every part. It is now divided into two volumes.

The Spectrumpedia, for those new to it, is the most comprehensive work ever written about the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It focuses on various aspects such as history, technology, software houses, clones, new software and hardware, emulation and so on. It first appeared in 2012 for the 30th anniversary of the Spectrum's launch.

Please note that at present it is available in Italian only, but a translation is underway. Although my spare time has noticeably decreased these days (maybe you noticed that I pretty much disappeared from this forum lately), I managed to translate half of the first volume so far, and I plan to have it available as a free sample before the Spectrum's 40th anniversary. Hopefully the second volume will be ready within the first half of May. Check the link at the end of this post or this thread for news about the translation.

A free of charge digital edition in PDF format for consultation purposes on PCs and mobile devices can be downloaded from my website. It is distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC International 4.0 license. Even if you do not understand Italian, I suggest you to take a look at it so that you can get an idea of the work's scope and depth. There are so many corrections and enhancements it would just be too long to mention.

The Italian printed edition is already for sale. It is possible that once completed, the English translation will also be published on paper.

Link: https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/sp.html

[https://zanklesoft.itch.io/cronopios-y-famas]

Another title from my past production has been revised and re-released under the Zankle Soft label. This time it is Cronopios Y Famas, which - if I remember correctly - was the first adventure game made with AGD version 4. An interactive homage to Julio Cortázar, Cronopios Y Famas is a surreal and light-hearted dynamic adventure inspired by some short stories by the notorious Argentine writer. Guide a Cronopio - a strange, offbeat and a bit wacky character - to find the lost key to his home while solving puzzles, interacting with other Cronopios and the precise and orderly Famas, whilst avoiding the Esperanzas, beings that do not like Cronopios and always try to give them a good bashing!

Cronopios Y Famas draws on the surreal humor of the original stories. For those who don't know them, however, the puzzles might be quite tricky. For this reason, a complete solution and a map are included with the game.



This is a new version which substitutes the previous one. Changes are as follows:

• The management program has been rewritten from scratch in pure ASM.
  
• The background frame has been retouched.
  
• A scene has been added when a certain action is performed.
  
• Some rooms have been partially redesigned and/or populated with Esperanzas.
  
• After colliding with an Esperanza, a short "grace period" follows, during which you are invulnerable.
  
• The "bad ending" message (a quote from Caminito) has been translated from Spanish in the respective languages.​
  
• When playing on a 128K, an original composition named "Tango Del Cronopio" plays in the background.

Download it from: https://zanklesoft.itch.io/cronopios-y-famas

[Cousin Horace,]

ù


Hi everyone,

today I released a new version of a game under the Zankle Soft label. This time it's Cousin Horace, a 5-part epic starring the US-born relative of the character all Spectrum aficionados know and love. It is a mix of platform, shoot-em-up, puzzle solving and maze exploration, with an immersive plot illustrated by "Spectrumized" pictures and comic book-styled in-between screens.

Cousin Horace runs on a ZX Spectrum 48K and later models. Game and documentation are available in six languages.

The game was rated 90% and awarded a Sizzler award in Retro Gamer #136. It has also been released on cassette by Bitmap Soft, but it is currently sold out. Please contact them if you are interested in a reissue.

Download it at its page on itch.io and have fun!

Tomorrow at 19.00 Central European Time, Sergey Yakimovich will present on his YouTube channel my new game: Italia 1944. The game will be available in the next few days and released under my own label, Zankle Soft. My previous games will all be re-released, and several of them revised and updated, under it. More news soon!

The direct is aimed at the Russian public, but I will be speaking English, so that (almost) everyone else can understand as well (hopefully!).

See you there!



Here follows the press release - like in the good old days!

What is ZANKLE SOFT?

ZANKLE SOFT is a new reality among creators of games for "retro" systems, in particular for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It has been founded on the initiative of Alessandro Grussu, enthusiast developer for this platform since 2012.

Both previously released games, many of them revised and updated, as well as completely new titles will be distributed under this label.

The first new release will be ITALIA 1944, a mixture of role-playing game and graphic adventure, completely icon-controlled, set in the Italian Campaign of World War II.

At the same time, new editions of LOST IN MY SPECTRUM and APULIJA-13 will be released. Other titles will follow.

ZANKLE SOFT awaits you on its web page: zanklesoft.itch.io

Hi everyone,
after last year’s positive reception, I published my new Spectrum Annual.
52 pages of game reviews, a report on the Next, an article on the Power Up! Action Pack, an interview with Jose Rodriguez (the author of ZX Basic), development notes on my latest games, Funky Fungus Reloaded and Ad Lunam Plus, and previews of my upcoming projects.
The Annual is available in three languages: Italian, English and Spanish.
And it’s completely free!



Download it from here: http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/annuario.html

[Ad Lunam Plus.]

Ad Lunam was a proof of concept, designed to fit into the humble ZX Spectrum 48K. Here is its big brother, Ad Lunam Plus.



The game is now a 128K exclusive - although I have, as for several of my other titles, considered to make a TR-DOS version which can be run on the 48K with a DivIDE/DivMMC. and ESXDOS - and features graphics for many of its sections and AY sound for national anthems and end-of-game congratulations.


Will you impersonate Von Braun or Korolev?


The main menu

There are other tweakings and enhancements, for instance "pilots" are now aptly called "astronauts" and "cosmonauts" and you can even see their faces when selecting them for training.


Choose an ability to train John Glenn in

In the R&D section, you are now able to see pictures of what you are actually researching.


Soviet research and development main menu


American rockets

Facilities (previously called "structures") can also be seen now, even when they are under construction/repair.


The advanced training facility is being built, while launch pad 1 hosts a rocket for a planned mission

You can now follow missions from the control room.


Engines started, lift off

End-of-turn messages and communications will be shown as papers on a desktop.


The president is pleased with our work

The game is currently at version 1.0 and like its predecessor is available in Italian, English and Spanish. Please report any feedback about possible bugs/strange behavior/typos etc. here or to my email address (shown in the manual).

Enjoy!

Download

[Al's Spectrum Annual 2020,]

2019 was an exceptional year in terms of both quantity and quality for the Spectrum homebew scene. Wishing to have a say about the titles that impressed me the most, I was going to make a video for my YouTube channel. When the new year came, however, I thought I would have liked to do something different. Something more lasting and detailed than that. Thus I conceived the idea of an annual magazine hosting my views about 25 games that I picked from those released in 2019.

I also wanted to do something a bit wider in scope and asked for an interview to the groups behind El Mundo del Spectrum and Bitmap Soft, which they both kindly accepted. And since I obviously cannot review my own games, I wrote a feature about Sophia II and Ad Lunam, a behind-the-scenes view with facts and insight.

Finally, I added some anticipation about my Spectrum-related projects for 2020.

This is what you will find in Al's Spectrum Annual 2020, a 32-pages A4 PDF magazine for Spectrophiles everywhere, simultaneously published in Italian, English and Spanish. Download it for free from:

http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/annuario.html

Enjoy!

[Doom Pit,]

Hi folks,

after making Seto Taisho To Kazan available for free, me and Graham Richards of Monument Microgames agreed to do the same for another game of mine.

Doom Pit, the official sequel to Clive Townsend's Death Pit, may now be downloaded from my website.

This release has been cleansed of the AGD "ULA Plus bug", which caused false colors to be displayed under certain configurations (e.g. the ZX Vega).

Enjoy!

Hi folks,

Seto Taisho To Kazan, the bonus game included with the physical edition of Seto Taisho Vs Yokai, is now freely downloadable. You can download it from my website (link is almost at the bottom of the page).

Also notice that the "ULA Plus" bug of AGD, which made both games be displayed in false colors under certain configurations (e.g. the ZX Vega), has been fixed.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for more news!

Hi everybody,

this is my first project made with ZX-Basic: Ad Lunam, a strategy/management game for the 48K ZX Spectrum where you are put in charge of the space program of the United States or of the Soviet Union. Starting from 1956, you must send a crew on the Moon and safely back to Earth within 20 years.

Before you even attempt such a task you must research new spacecraft and equipment, plan and carry out missions, recruit and train pilots, and try to stay ahead of your opponents.

The game has not yet reached its final stage, and is currently at version 0.2. Users should be able to play it to the end, although some features have not yet been implemented, fine tuning is needed and bugs might still be present. So beware!

For now, game and documentation are only available in English. Italian will follow, then Spanish, and possibly other languages as well. There's a very large amount of text in it, so translation won't be an easy task.

Download link will stay unchanged on every release. Here it is: http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/zx/AdLunam.zip

Feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

[Download]

Hi fellas!

Here is the second chapter of the princess-magician's story: Sophia II.

Two years have passed since Sophia defeated the evil sorcerer Yojar. The Emperor named her Princess, and her land became the autonomous Principality of Xixerella. Under her wise rule, the small region has become a haven of peace, prosperity and tolerance. But something obscure has already set its eyes upon it... Once again, Sophia, as the champion of her people, must face overwhelming perils and use every knowledge and skill she possesses, in order to defeat the new menace!

The game is essentially an enhanced remake of Matthew Smith's first title, Styx, which ran on the 16K Spectrum. And like Styx, it is divided into three parts. Each one of these is larger than the levels of Sophia, thus the two games are roughly the same size. However, while in Sophia the player's action did not vary across the levels, in Sophia II the action will be different:

• The first part, like in Styx, is a dungeon populated by monsters, which exit is guarded by the Spider Queen.
  
• The second, again like in Styx, is an underwater maze, with a boss invented by me at the end, the Giant Seahorse (Styx had no final enemy at this stage).
  
• Finally, in the third level, the player must reach the top of a tower, where the Grim Reaper, like in Styx, awaits.

Another difference with Sophia is that, in the best tradition of historical Spectrum games, the soundtrack is entirely composed with renditions of pieces of classical music, while in the previous game it was based upon folk tunes, with the exception of W.A. Mozart's Dies Irae for the final level.

Thanks to the efforts of Ersh and Bedazzle, game and documentation will be available in eight languages right from the start!

And now some technical details:

• This is the first time I employed AGD 4.7X (version 4Ke), albeit for just about 5% of the total work on the game proper. I also included a couple of scripts by Allan Turvey in order to avoid some occasional flicker to white of the colored sprites, and to add more graphical detail to the third level, including conveyor belts.
  
• Graphic design for the dungeon was inspired by Binman's excellent work for Ghost Castle, while the bones were based on a graphic found in Gauntlet.
  
• For the second time - first one was in Seto Taisho Vs Yokai - there are not one, but two endings, although the second one is not hidden (i.e. you have to perform a certain action in order to access it), but can be chosen right from the Options menu through the difficulty level - another feature I implemented for the second time, after having introduced it in Apulija-13 V2.0.
  
• I Improved AGD's native script for moving platforms, because it had the occasional tendency to let the player sprite "slip" through them in certain, albeit rare, occasions.
  
• The TR-DOS loading routines have been totally rewritten by employing the shadow ROM's system call to $3D13, thus allowing for smaller and faster code. I also had to find a way to make the disk versions compatible with the Brazilian clones of the Beta Disk 128 interface. After perusing the CBI-24's user manual, and some experimentation, I managed to do it.

But above all - I hope you will enjoy the new chapter of Sophia's adventures!

And if so, please vote for it in the ZX-Dev remakes competition 

Download

Hello everyone!

Apulija-13, the game that Jonathan Caldwell himself listed among those better showing what you can do with AGD, is back - and it's bigger, bolder and better than ever!



What's new in version 2.0:

- This version is based upon the Director’s Cut, but also runs on 48K Spectrums (without AY background music) and has two more screens.
- The ‘forced perspective’ has been dropped in favor of a top-down view similar to that of Laser Squad, with the aim of making game locations wider and more orderly.
- Game area proportions are now 1:1.
- Two difficulty levels: easy/hard.
- The extra part is now accessible through a secret code that the player must discover.
- A separate key for picking up objects is not needed anymore; this is now done by pressing the FIRE key.
- A new information panel has been added.
- Sprites are no more all white.
- Jonlan now wears his typical golden armor (as in Laser Squad).
- Sprites for the walking Jonlan, the white human enemy and the alien globe have all been retouched. In particular, Jonlan now points his weapon only when he shoots.
- A death animation for Jonlan and an explosion animation for the surveillance droid have been added.
- Enemies now cause damage more slowly.
- The surveillance droid now explodes on contact with Jonlan.
- Human enemies now occasionally drop a box containing a small amount of health or ammunition when eliminated.
- Several small changes to the scenery elements: some (doors, crates, the energy core, beds etc.) have been redesigned; the walls of the various sections of the base are now different from each other. Their disposition in several screens has also been modified.
- Half of the objects are now randomly placed at game start.
- All of the objects are now visible.
- A new object has been added, the fire extinguisher.
- Instead of leaving the bomb in front of the energy core, Jonlan must now touch the core while carrying the bomb to place it.
- Some minor changes to text messages.
- Additional sound effects.
- (128K only) AY background music.
- New keyboard redefinition routine, allowing the user to choose any of the keys.
- High scores table.
- The loading screen has been retouched.

Game and documentation are still available in six languages - Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Download it for free from: http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/zx/A13_V20.zip

Enjoy!

[Lost In My Spectrum.]

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

Here is my New Year's gift to you: the new version of my first Spectrum game ever, Lost In My Spectrum.

The objective is simple - help Alessandro escape from his Spectrum by collecting all the objects in each screen and reaching the exit (although a couple of screens don't have any!) before time reaches zero.

Full instructions will be available as soon as possible    Controls: Keyboard (redefinable), Kempston, Sinclair. Default keys are: Q = left, W = right, M = jump, H = hold.

48K (multiload) and 128K versions available.

Six languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.



What's new in version 2.0

The game is now divided into three sections of 10 screens each. All of the previous 20 screens, including those from the Extended Version, have been included, together with the Epilogue final screen which was absent from the Extended Version. Starting points can be recalled later by entering a code, which is given at the end of the previous section; to play the first section again, just press ENTER at the code insertion screen. The section loaded last can be played after the game is over, unless the player chooses another section or the game is loaded again.

The 10 brand new screens are (English version names):
- Ancient Ruins (B-1)
- The Pink Inferno (B-2)
- The Mages’ Guild (B-3)
- Pirates, Ahoy! (B-4)
- Egg Heads (B-5)
- Back With The U.F.O.’s (B-6)
Is There Life On Mars? (B-7)
Fearful Symmetry (C-7)
If The Poop Hits The Fan (C-8)
Tape Loading Error (C-9)

Almost all of the previous 20 screens have been modified to make the game less difficult and more enjoyable. Some examples:
- Objects in “Homage To Mondrian” are now visible and there is no exit, the game moves on when the last object has been collected.
- No more “move or die” at the start of “Revenge Of The Joysticks”.
- Platform blocks on the Maneki Neko are now visible.

Other new features:
- New sprite types: moving platforms, cannonball, bouncing enemy.
- Many new sprite images, including the main character’s.
- The main character now has a death animation.
- Sprites are now not always of the same color in each screen.
- Objects now glow.
- Custom sound effects for jump, object collection and level exit.
- The melody of F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s “Lerchengesang” is heard between sections (48K only) and at the end of the game.
- Time now runs about 10% slower.
- High scores table.
- New key redefinition routine, which allows all keys to be selected.
- End-of-game congratulations message.
- “The 155 Blue Bubbles” had its name changed to “The 160 Blue Bubbles”.
- “Nekollection” had its name changed to “Jack-in-the-boxes”.
- The “stage completed” message has been omitted.

The 128K version plays background AY music â€" a medley of background tunes from several Spectrum games â€", loads all the sections together, and displays a short animation at the end.

Download it from here

[Sophia,]

Hi everyone!

I am glad to introduce you Sophia, the master wizard girl on a mission to save the Empire from destruction and humanity from enslavement!



A brand new game for the ZX Spectrum inspired by such classic titles as Cybernoid, Equinox and Druid, with the following features:
- 4 levels
- 85 screens
- 20 different enemy sprites
- 5 tunes
- Final boss fight
- Successful end of game sequence

Game and printer-friendly documentation available in six languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Designed for models with 128K RAM but can run (without AY sound) on 48K/+ ZX Spectrums equipped with Beta Disk/Plus D/DivIDE/DivMMC interfaces.

Controls: Keyboard (fully redefinable), Kempston, Sinclair.

File formats: TZX (accelerated with SetoLOAD), TAP, TRD, SCL and MGT.

Freely downloadable from: http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/Sophia.html

Have fun!

[SETO TAISHO VS YOKAI,]

Hello everyone! SETO TAISHO VS YOKAI, my new game for the 128K ZX Spectrum, is out today.

It is a platform game where you, as Seto Taisho, the "Crockery General" of Japanese folk tradition, must fight against the Yokai, the monsters and goblins of Japan, in an effort to liberate the country from their overwhelming presence - which Seto itself contributed, with its misuse of magic, to unleash.



Features:

• Three levels of 12 screens each, plus a boss screen for each one of them and a bonus screen
• 9 enemies, 3 bosses and 1 bonus character
• A different background music for each level
• SetoLOAD, a new turbo loading scheme, specially devised for the game
• Game and manual in five different languages: Italian, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese
• Secrets and surprises for you to discover
• More file formats than you can shake a (chop)stick at

Download it (cassette inlay cards available separately for each language) from the web page hosted on my website:

[size=130]http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/seto.html[/size]

Have fun with the Yokai!

Hi everybody,

I have been invited to the launch of the ZX Vega, the new console based on the ZX Spectrum, as the author of Cousin Horace, one of the 1,000 games included with the inital bundle. It took place last 8th of July in London.

My impressions have been reported in this review on GamesArk. It is in Italian but of course you can translate if with Google Translate or a similar tool. Hopefully there won't be too many Hungarian Phrasebook-style mistranslations

[COUSIN HORACE]

Hello everyone!

After many months of work, finally COUSIN HORACE is here, my new game for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48/128 - an epic adventure with the following main features:

• Five different chapters for a mix of platform, shoot-�em-up, puzzle solving and maze exploration.
• An immersive plot illustrated by �Spectrumized� pictures and comic book-like in-between screens.
• Comes in TZX (Biturbo-II fast loader) and TAP format.
• Game and documentation immediately available in six different languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

But who is Cousin Horace, actually?

The idea came to me by looking at the cassette inlays of the versions of Horace games made for the Timex Sinclair 2068, the American clone of the Spectrum. The character portrayed on them bears very little resemblance to the one we all know and love, although the games themselves are indistinguishable from their Spectrum counterparts.



I then imagined such character not to be the British Horace, but his American cousin � incidentally going by the name of Horace as well � living his same adventures, or a sort of parallel life if you prefer, on the other side of �The Pond�. Hence COUSIN HORACE.

Each chapter poses a different challenge for the player, requiring different skills to be negotiated. By successfully ending each one of them (except for the last chapter, of course) the player will receive a code to enter after loading the next one in order to start it.




The game was developed with the help of several programming tools, among which La Churrera, Arcade Game Designer and Shoot-Em-Up-Designer.

Download it from my web site (link at the bottom of article)

Have fun!

[Spectrumpedia]

Hello, I just joined this forum after having been contacted by zapiy on the World Of Spectrum one.

I am chiefly interested in the Sinclair ZX Spectrum range: I even developed some games for it recently and wrote Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book about it to date, which at present is only available in Italian, both as a free PDF download and printed book (published by Universitalia Editrice) for sale. I started work on an English edition but suspended it last year mainly due to work reasons and attention diverted by other retro-related things (having some attempts at game design), although I am considering taking it up again later this year.

I am also assistant editor for an independent Italian website about current and retro gaming and computing, GamesArk. In the past I also wrote several articles and reviews for it but nowadays I mainly check other contributors' work before their release. However I am currently working at an article about a recent visit I paid to the Computing History Museum in Cambridge, UK.

My released games for the Spectrum are:

Lost In My Spectrum

Apulija-13

Funky Fungus (128K only)

Al's Double Bill (128K only)

Cronopios Y Famas

They are all available in several file formats and with game and documentation in several languages (download links are at the bottom of each page).

I am also currently working at a new game in five episodes, which at present is about 65% done. It's called Cousin Horace and you can read more about it in the official thread in the WOS forum.