The actually game with everything fits completely into 128kb, however there isn't room to play it and the way the Spectrum memory works, means it can't keep it all in memory. Multi-load actually gives me quite a bit of free memory with all that stuff in so everything is. Since the multi-load version is intended for real users, I cut the fancy title screen and game intro as dying would cause a massive reload. The same with the animated driving background in the ending. This wasn't a problem on disk where loading is very fast. In theory I could include them but I assume the load would be too long.
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ohh that makes sense! sacrificing the fancy intro and animated ending for shorter reload times is a pretty reasonable trade-off, especially for people playing on real hardware haha. 😭 did u find it difficult deciding which visual extras to cut, or was keeping the gameplay smooth always the priority?
Originally I could only fit one level + boss into 128k, so the main concern was always memory. Luckily there is a type of compression called ZX0 which helps alot. I had originally cut the crushers and lifts in the warehouses and junk yard, as well as spikes and robots, but I somehow found the memory. The only thing for speed was reducing the number of enemies at one time so it didn't go too slow
so u actually managed to bring back some of the content u originally had to cut! ZX0 compression sounds like it made a huge difference btw, i've really enjoyed chatting with u about your games haha would u be comfy continuing our little game dev convo another platform? no pressure at all if you'd rather stay here!