itch.io

Hi, congratulations on this enhancement of a classic. I loved Wizball and even finished it on my trusty 48K back then :-)

I noticed a couple of issues. First, the game does not work on the +2A/+3. It freezes upon loading. A quick look with a debugger under emulation shows a continuous loop between locations 50003 and 50033 (a JR NC instruction in the latter jumps back to the former).

In addition to that, the TAP file uses a non-standard loader instead of the common ROM one, and it is therefore unusable with memory card-based devices such as the DivIDE and DivMMC.

Could you please investigate into this? Thanks!

Thank you for your quick reply and the fixed version, I confirm that the updated file runs on the +2A. So far I just reached the Centipede stage, and everything looks great, it really conveys the gameplay of early shooters.

Thank you for your quick reply and the fixed version, I confirm that the updated file runs on the +2A.

On a side note, I saw that you can end a level just by placing the parts of the Sinclair logo in any order, i.e. not necessarily on a single line and respecting the "sin-cla-ir" sequence. Is that intentional?

Hi, congratulations on your first game for our beloved Spectrum! I am enjoying it.

I noticed that the 128K version of the game is not compatible with the +3/+2A due to the usual IM2 indexing issue. It freezes upon loading. By changing the value at location 24803 of the main program into 59 instead of 57, the game will run correctly. Tested on both emulation and real hardware.

Could you please release a fixed version? Thanks!

Hi, that's a very nice shooter, thanks for making and releasing it!

I noticed that the 128K version of the game is not compatible with the +3/+2A due to the usual IM2 indexing issue. It freezes upon loading. By changing the value at location 33509 of the main program into 59 instead of 57, the game will run correctly. Tested on both emulation and real hardware.

Could you please release a fixed version? Thanks!

Hi dim zed! Thanks a lot, I am so glad you both enjoyed the game. Further enhancements would require putting my hands back into the source code, and honestly I do not feel like retouching it very much. It would be better to create a new game from scratch, like a sort of stand-alone expansion.

Besides, there is another title I started working at until about a year ago, La Pucelle, but due to lack of time, more pressing matters to cope with etc. I kept it "frozen", waiting for better times. That's life, alas :-/ Should you wish to know more, you can read the preview article and watch a demo video on this page:

/blog/655419/la-pucelle-new-game-under-development-demo-video-1

Hi elseniorx1989,

the bonus levels are those originally released on tape for Bitmap Soft. The only differences are the Zankle Soft logo in both loading screens and the copyright message in the main menu screen. Everything else is identical.

Gracias Packo!

Hopefully things will become clearer with the next few announcements...

Cheers!

I hope you like the game then! :-)

Thank you so much!

Thank you!

Hi, as per the instructions, you have to press 1 and 2 to move the cursor horizontally, then 0 to choose your option.

Please note that keeping the keys pressed does not repeat their input, you have to push them repeatedly. If you load the joystick file, you can keep the lever left or right to move the cursor instead.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! :-D

Ciao e grazie del tuo commento!

Come ho spiegato nell'annuncio, oltre al logo Zankle Soft nella schermata di caricamento e al messaggio nello schermo del menù iniziale, la differenza con la versione 2019 è che ora Funky Fungus parte con 9 vite anziché 5.

Ricorda che su 48K il gioco può girare solo in formato TRD e su DivIDE/DivMMC con ESXDOS 0.8.6 e superiori.

A presto!

P.S. Ma per caso sei il disegnatore di quel fumetto con la vampira scollacciata? :-D

Thank you!

Gracias a ti, me alegro que te gusten!

Gracias Eusebio!

Hi, Death Pit was officially released on tape together with Doom Pit for Monument Microgames, in an exclusive double cassette bundle. Death Pit was previously unreleased and Clive Townsend kindly accepted it to be distributed on tape by MM. I was then asked if I could provide a sequel for it and so Doom Pit was born.

Thank you, I am glad you liked the magician princess' adventures!
I hope you will enjoy the other games as well :-)

No, you should be able to enter the village after you destroy all of the Flak. Remember that to destroy them you must select the Attack icon while standing in their sector, after eliminating the artillery squad of course. Which version are you playing? Can you send a snapshot at zanklesoft (at) gmail (dot) com ?

Well, the enemy doesn't just stand still - if you don't attack him, he will find you and attack! ;-)

Hi, the bug should now be fixed, please download the file again and tell me if everything works now

Hi, thank you for discovering this bug. I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.

Hi truf and thank you for purchasing the game and for asking.

As hinted in the manual, the explosives have landed not very far from your starting point. Search for them in the areas located north and south of that point. Please remember that their location, like that of the partisans, changes every time you start a new game.

Once you find the explosives, you will automatically pick them up. To destroy a FlaK, defeat the artillery squad, then select the Attack icon.

Hope that helps!

Hola Packo! Thank you so much for your kind words!

Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed the game :-D

Gracias Packobilly! Enjoy!

Macanuuuudo!!

Ciao e grazie del commento :-D

Rispetto a quella Monument Microgames su cassetta, per questa versione cambia solo l'anno di prima uscita, che è quello reale (2018 non 2017) e ovviamente l'etichetta. Ero contento del risultato finale e l'accoglienza era stata veramente positiva, quindi non avevo motivo di cambiare alcunché ;-)

Per le prossime uscite rivedute ci saranno invece delle novità, come già avvenuto per Lost In My Spectrum e Apulija-13.

Thank you for passing by here! :-D

Hi Athanasius, thank you so much for appreciating the collection. In fact it was the attempt to bring the Liftoff! board game to the Spectrum, looking at BARIS - which was made by the same author, by the way - as an inspiration. I am glad that it was so well received. I hope that the sources will inspire other authors to create other games of this kind, we need more of them!

My own game testing and players feedback suggests that the first part can be solved between 40 and 60 minutes at normal difficulty level. As for the second part, depending on your ability to solve the puzzles, you could keep going at it for days, weeks, maybe more? :-)

Hi iLKke and thank you for your question.

In the past I used dedicated tools, especially AGD, to provide the basis for my games, but in the last few years I discovered ZX BASIC and used it to make Italia 1944, Ad Lunam and Ad Lunam Plus. Other parts of my games are written in Z80 Assembly from the beginning.

ZX BASIC is a programming language available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It is developed by Jose Rodriguez and enhances the traditional Sinclair BASIC with great features such as new commands and functions and a much more open structure. Programs written in ZX BASIC must then be compiled to machine code with a dedicated command-line utility.  Other parts are written in straight Z80 Assembly.

If you wish to know more about it you should visit this website: https://zxbasic.readthedocs.io/en/docs

I also interviewed Jose for my 2021 Annual, you can freely download it from: https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/annuario.html

Gracias ejvg de tu comentario. Apulija-13 fue mi segundo juego y entonces intenté hacer un ejemplo de "survival horror"; es verdad que tiene elementos de acciòn, pero el juego es una aventura dinàmica en su esencia. Como es de costumbre en este género, la mayoria de las veces es mejor evitar a los enemigos que atacarlos, y utilizar los objetos donde sirven.

Un saludo!

Hi Athanasius,

thank you very much for appreciating Italia 1944, and the other games as well. It is great to know that the care I put into making the game and documentation can be noticed and appreciated as you did.

There will be more reissues coming this year, so stay tuned! :-)

Gracias Oscar! Me alegro que hayas disfrutado tanto del juego.

Thanks! I hope you like playing it :-)

Hello everyone,

my name is Alessandro, I am an enthusiast game developer for the ZX Spectrum system and have been making games for this system since 2012, but only recently I established a page here on itch.io.

I just released my first game here, Italia 1944 - a mix of RPG and text adventure, completely icon-controlled, in two parts.

The game is available for sale at this page: https://zanklesoft.itch.io/italia-1944

I also re-released one of my previous games, Sophia, which is freely downloadable from https://zanklesoft.itch.io/sophia

Other re-releases will follow, often with revisions and enhancements.

Stay tuned!