What's there to be heard behind the hill?
kAMIKAZe'97
All have, perhaps, know that Spectrum
in the West died in a commercial computer
(Only the "scene": demomeykery and
other enthusiasts). But what happened to those companies and
programmers, who became famous for it on the Spectrum? On the
basis of popular computer magazines over the past 3-4 years can
be traced the activities of these firms, which I tried to do.
So, here we go:
First, it is no secret that many well-known on the Spectrum
manufacturers toys, in principle, the producers were not ...;)
explain: for example, appeared on any other computer (Amiga,
C-64, Atari, IBM) new game which
enjoyed a certain popularity.
The company is interested in obtaining the greatest profit, and
seeks to move it to other platforms, but its staff members
might not be programmers on Z80, and therefore, this work rely
on any another firm or person (for example - SimCity,
author - Maxis, the author at the Speccy - Probe).
That is precisely such "cross platform" company virtually
nothing is lost after withering away of the Spectrum. Notable
examples - Ocean, Psygnosis, Gremlin Graphics
(Gremlin interactive), Virgin (Virgin
interactive), Domark, Codemasters,
Activision, Core Design, etc. firms smaller, focused only on
the Spectrum died almost immediately (Dinamic, TopoSoft,
CRL, Hewson (too), MirrorSoft, etc.).
Now go through the firms.
-Codemasters: specialize only
on budget software (deshevoe. .. (in the sense
for the price!)). Last game at the Spectrum yet
went somewhere before 1993. In 1994 they published a collection
of games SMASH 1916: Sky High Stuntman, SAS Combat Simulator,
The Guardian Angel, Super Hero, MiG 29, Ghost
Hunters, Super Robin Hood, Frankenstein
Junior, Super G-Man, Terra Cognita, KGB
Super Spy, Ninja Massacre, Arcade Flight
Simulator, Kamikaze, Poltergeist, Lazer
Force, and everything was practically on the Spectrum
culled. Instead, they tried to Spectrum
to occupy with their games other platforms, but the quality of
their products were not satisfied with the Amiga and PC users
and, therefore, began to specialize Codemasters at 8 and 16-bit
game consoles. Already in 1994 at the ECTS (European Computer
Trade Show) in London, they are exposed to
Console Global Golf, Excellent Dizzy,
Capt'n Havoc, Drop Zone Dino Racer, Micro
Machines 2. Roam the world and their other work
poslespektrumovskogo period: Micro Machines 1, CJ Elephant
Fugitive, Cosmic Spacehead, Dinobasher, etc., but the firm
can already be considered dead, since their game
remained on urovne Speccy, and such
Level one is not satisfied. At the same
while their counterparts from the Big Red Software, which
released for Codemasters best work, still managed to rebuild
and even managed to Coy what issue (eg Big Red Racing for PC).
However, at ECTS 1996 Codemasters has announced Micro Machines 3
for Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn, see what comes of it ...
-OCEAN: Spectrum after the decline continued to release
games in large numbers and now clings to all the major
platforms.
-Psygnosis: continued to write games and was recently
purchased by the Japanese with the giblets and now writes
potryasmeyshie games at different Platform: Discworld,
Benefactor, different Lemmings, Formula 1 (PSX), Krazy Ivan,
Wipeout 2097, Destruction Derby 1'2, and so
etc.
Interested in the fate of Spectrum, and many programmers.
For example, John Ritmen (John Ritman), dates back to ZX81,
then a 1983 released their game Cosmic Debris, one year later
released Matchday (published by company Ocean). Next were
issued: Batman (a huge success, selling 100,000
copies, which at that time was incredible)
Matchday 2, Head over Heels. All of these games
out and Commodore-64. With the end of an eight-bit computer era
Ritmen working at RARE, specializing in games for consoles,
which participates in the creation of Donkey Kong Country. He
then founded his own firm Cranberry Source, which worked on the
game Citizens, published by Microprose, and now over
Quintessential Art of Destruction. It He uses a new
three-dimensional algorithms called Landscape System. When
Ritmena Asked whether it was difficult to move from
Spectrum on the PC, he replied: "Gentlemen, this is
is only computers! "
