Thirty Tag


Articles with tag thirty.
A New Year of ZX81 Programs
Well, the celebration of thirty years since the introduction of the ZX81 is now over. For the last year I've been bringing you an original ZX81 program each month as a tribute to my first computer…
Posted Jan 10, 2012 by Steven 2 min read

December's Program: Creature
I can't believe December is here and the year is almost over. To celebrate the last program of the month, I present Creature, an animation program. Unlike many of the smaller programs submitted throughout the year, this one is the largest weighing in at 14KB…
Posted Dec 03, 2011 by Steven 3 min read

November's Program: Lander 2
November is here and the year is flying by. This month's program Lander 2 is an earlier one from 1983. Oddly, the game displays Space Lander. Not very original as I've used that name before. I'm using the name I noted in my listing. Although it has graphical elements, it is really just a counting g…
Posted Nov 03, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

October's Program: 1985
October's program is one of my later games from 1985 which is aptly named 1985. It has decidedly simple game mechanics. It is an alternative reality 1985 where the Earth is gone. Humans are colonizing Earth II, but you need to clear the mountains for agriculture needs…
Posted Oct 03, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

September's Program: Odyssey
This month I present another simple game, Odyssey. It doesn't include instructions, so here is a quick synopsis. An evil computer has trapped you in a space ship. To escape, you have to remove the memory boards in order to shut down the computer. Sounds familiar…
Posted Sep 03, 2011 by Steven 3 min read

August's Program: Space Lander
Okay, this may not be the large program I promised, but I choose Space Lander for a different reason: it's horrible! Okay, maybe it isn't that bad, but it definitely wasn't one of better programs. This was from 1983, clearly one of my earlier attempts…
Posted Aug 17, 2011 by Steven 3 min read

July's Program: Sugar Cube Munch
Another simple program. Like many that I wrote for the ZX81, Sugar Cube Munch was small with a singular purpose. In this case, the goal is to eat all the cubes of sugar as quickly as possible. Once all the sugar is eaten, the game is over and the number of turns is revealed…
Posted Jul 03, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

June's Program: Beo One
I was searching through my stack of programs and decided to choose a short and sweet program for June. Beo One is definitively short, clocking at just 33 lines of code. Well 35 if you include the two new save and run lines I added…
Posted Jun 06, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

May's Program: BOLT
Can you believe it! First day of the month and I have a program uploaded! Okay, so it is another graphic one and isn't very exciting, or long. But hey, you can't blame me for not trying! May's program is BOLT from 1984. It creates a lightning bolt with a circle and embossed BOLT logo. Cool huh…
Posted May 01, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

April's Program: Sphere
I've been a bit busy this month so I choose a relatively short program in order to not miss my self imposed deadline. To that end, I present to you April's belated graphic program: Sphere. This program will easily run on a 2K ZX81…
Posted Apr 26, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

March's Program: Lock & Fire
March's program is Lock & Fire. I wrote this graphic game in 1985, although I have to admit I don't remember it much. It is a bit hard to play as the keys aren't very sensitive and the aliens jump around as you try to "lock" onto them…
Posted Mar 26, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

February's Program: Golf
This month's program is a simple game of Golf. Although not overly exciting, it does show off a few ZX81 BASIC features. One oddity of the ZX81 is that π (pi) is built in, something I haven't seen in other languages. In this case, it is used to calculate the direction of the golf ball…
Posted Feb 19, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

January's Program: Water Bug II
I did it! After a lot of recording, cleaning, and tweaking I was finally able to get Water Bug II loaded! Hit the link, wait for it to load, then hit enter to give it a whirl. Then use the 5, 6, 7, and 8 keys to move (left, down, up, right) just as they are on the ZX81 keyboard. Water Bug II was a…
Posted Jan 22, 2011 by Steven 2 min read

Celebrating Thirty Years of ZX81
This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the ZX81's debut. Hard to believe this little wonder is turning thirty and how much the world has changed. My goal is to celebrate the occasion by continuing to update the site with new content. I'd like to do a monthly showcase of programs as well…
Posted Jan 01, 2011 by Steven 1 min read