Retro Software: our first release - Zap!

[thedark]

can i also by a downloadable file where i can pay for...

name a price in euro's please...
than i want a copy...

[Wouter Scholten]

I can't see the video. Is there a non-flash one? (I don't want to install flash on my home PC)

And my main question, since the real fun with BBCs is experimenting and changing: is the source code included?

[Kecske Bak]

Sadly, there isn't any source code - so you can have even more fun disassembling before you start experimenting

I don't like web browsing with Flash (ironic given how much of my time I've spent making Flash animations for web sites over the past ten years), so I use the Ubuntu GNU/Linux OS with the SwfDec plug in rather than the official Adobe one. That allows me to have Flash switched off by default, and the only Flash videos I view are ones I click on to play.

[Dave Footitt]

Excellent, I always thought retro BBC titles would struggle to get into double figures, never mind sell close on 40.

Very inspiring, congratulations to all involved!

[Wouter Scholten]

Sadly, there isn't any source code - so you can have even more fun disassembling before you start experimenting

No, that's old and not fun any more. It was interesting in 1984-1986 but now it's just a drag. If the author doesn't have the original source any more, he would be in the best position to disassemble + annotate it.


I'd rather pay a tenner for this game if it came with source, than the very low price the game is now, without source...

[RobC]

Just to confirm that I got my copy on 3.5" disk earlier in the week and I did manage to get it to run under ADFS on my Beeb.

Had to change one line in one of the loaders but it worked without any problems after that - which is more than can be said of my attempts at playing the game...

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Rob

[timmy]

Sadly my real Beeb is in moth-balls, but as soon there's a download or SSD on CD i'll be PayPalling myself a copy! (so count that as a pre-sale )

I wonder if you'll get past 50... ?

[Arcadian]

Thanks again to everybody who's supported Retro Software's first release - we're very grateful for all the feedback, and it's really pleasing to receive so many positive comments not just about the game, but also the packaging and coverart too! (Ant/Greg: can I quote your comments on the Zap! homepage?)

Tonny: unfortunately it's not possible to purchase download-only at present (though seeing as the CD version isn't ready either, if you were to buy the 5.25" or 3.5" release, I'd also email you an .sdd or .adf - as long as you asked nicely and promised not to resell the floppy! ).

Wouter: the FLV video was created/provided by the author of the game and we don't have versions in any other format, unfortunately (I suppose I could create a BeebEm vidcap of myself playing but that would be too embarrassing as I'm rubbish at most games). Perhaps you could rip the FLV from the dailymotion server and download an FLV>AVI/MPG convertor?

DaveF: Never mind 'close on 40' ... we're now just one sale away from hitting the 50 mark!! Though there were only two sales last week, and they were to the same person!!

Still, I'm sure there are hundreds of other STH members reading this who are just about to order their own copy (right??? ).

Timmy: Sell > 50 units? I think that would be a safe bet now ...

[Lion]

I played my 5.25" version yesterday for the first time - impressed! It runs really smoothly and is genuinely fun - if very difficult.

I actually made my own .ssd version by copying the disc to my GoMMC, works just fine in BeebEm.

Would you like a higher quality gameplay video? I'd be happy to make one.

[Arcadian]

Ooh - yes please!

Bonus points if you can create a vid where the ship doesn't disappear at the beginning!

[irrelevant]

Well I've just ordered my copy, finally ... So that's definitely at least 50 sold..

[woody.cool]

I've still not got myself a working Beeb to play it on yet
When I do get myself a working Beeb .... it'll be the first game I fire up!

[Arcadian]

Now 51 sales (thanks Rob and, if you're reading, Mick C! ).

WoodyC: oops sorry, still haven't had time to check those Beebs out yet ... doing all the Retro Software stuff is eating up rather a lot of my time at the moment!

[regregex]

can I quote your comments on the Zap! homepage?

Sure. --Greg

[antpotter]

(Ant/Greg: can I quote your comments on the Zap! homepage?)

Permission granted Sir!

[Lion]

OK, here's a video of me booting the game and playing it quite badly.

http://blog.davidglover.org/things/Zap.mp4

Should play in QuickTime or iTunes or VLC or mplayer or RealPlayer or pretty much anything except, I believe, Windows Media Player.

[Arcadian]

Greg/Ant: thnx X2

And cheers for that, David!

Now, see what you're missing out on, Wouter? That's gotta be THE smoothest/fastest shooter on the Beeb right? (Excluding Syncron of course, which was just TOO quick!).

And regarding source code, I /think/ we did manage to recover the program that generates the Mode 7 "Zap is Loading" screen! (I can send that along if you want ... but only if you buy the game! !).

[timmy]

Nice shooting commander!

I see the explosions block out a sprite if it passes under it - is this because it plots black pixels or just doesn't bother with the pixels underneath?

And what's so special about the code that generates the mode 7 loading screen?
Or just generate it from text?

Not criticisms tho! Just interested in how it all works

[woody.cool]

WoodyC: oops sorry, still haven't had time to check those Beebs out yet ... doing all the Retro Software stuff is eating up rather a lot of my time at the moment!

Hey, it's not a major problem .... I'm busy with plenty of stuff at the moment.
It would be nice to get a Beeb at some point, but I have plenty of machines Acorn and otherwise to keep me going in the mean time.
My Electron is getting quite a bit of use these days

[Arcadian]

A HUGE COLLECTION OF ACORN BBC COMPUTERS / ELECTRON ETC
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0469435081

I've just noticed something very interesting that's included in the above auction ... let's see if anyone else can spot what I'm talking about!

--Dave

[retroclinic]

You mean my refurbed PSU?

....and maybe that copy of Zap?

[Arcadian]

You mean my refurbed PSU?

Actually no ... I hadn't spotted that!

....and maybe that copy of Zap?

Bingo!!!

[AJW]

So this guy has bought Zap for all of 2 weeks and now wants to sell his whole collection of 8-bit hardware and software? That's hardly an endorsement.

[Dave Footitt]

Well it looks like some kind of dealer bloke anyway, so probably is unaware what Zap even is

[retro_junkie]

Well if you believe the write up, he's a genuine collector who needs the money to fix his car.... could be true! If he didn't buy Zap!, that still means somebody else did and sold it to him even quicker!

[AJW]

I'm amazed DaveM hasn't asked him.

[merman]

Got my chance to play this at Console Combat and really enjoyed it.

Scored 743 in the Battle of the 8-Bits competition, then topped it with 1023 later in the afternoon...

[witchfinder]

I also finally got to play it at Console Combat (and Dave forced me to buy a copy even though I don't have a working disk drive! )

I got 930-ish on my first go, but much less on subsequent goes - beginner's luck!

I love the scoring mechanism - 1 point for each enemy killed, regardless of how big/fast/dengerous they are! Sort of the antithesis of games like Giga Wing where the scores go into the billions...

A top notch shmup for it's era anyway, and definitely a challenge!

[MatthewThompson]

Challenge !! , i'll say it is !!! by the way some enemy's are worth 10 points if you didn't know.

[BeebMaster]

I got my copy at Console Combat (along with everyone else in attendance who didn't already have one).

I played it a few times during the weekend, quite good fun!

Scored nearly 200!